12 - 18 July 2001
Issue No.542
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 12 - 18 July 2001 Issue No.542 |
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* The dynamic Al-Zahraa Women's Association, an NGO has just organised an event to teach children more about Arab countries. To crown the course, a visit to the Arab League was carefully planned by Mohamed Aly El-Nasser, chief of the Protocol Department at the Arab League.The children were quite excited at the idea of meeting the secretary-general, Amr Moussa. My dear colleague Nesmahar Sayed went along. The group consisted of 80 children, girls and boys from different schools and Moussa made their day. |
The visit, started with the main hall where they had a long conversation with Counsellor Hisham Badr, chief of the cabinet of the secretary-general. Badr imparted to his young audience his optimistic views regarding the role of the Arab League in the coming years. During their visit they also met Counsellor Tal'at Hamed who told them more about the history of the Arab League. Finally Moussa took time out of his busy day to take a photo with them. The children were then guided by Hassan El-Shahed and Sameh Alfonse from the Protocol Department, on a tour of the halls, the mosque and the garden. I must say that the children really got the VIP treatment. |
* What a lovely wedding it was, my dears, I can't begin to tell you. Charming Rita, daughter of famous jeweller Parsegh Kezelian and his lovely wife Sylva or Lilo, as I heard close friends call her, whispered "I do" in a glorious gown especially purchased in France, to her handsome groom Garo Tossounian, owner of Cecil Establishment for Leather Products in Alexandria. The wedding took place at the Club Mohamed Ali and the couple made their entrance to the gardens in a yacht, which was very original. The young couple had chosen Abdel-Halim Hafez's romantic song Ana Lak ala Toul for their first dance.
Among the distinguished guests I spotted famous actress Lebleba, known as Nounia to the Armenian community, businessman Montasser Abu Ghali and his wife, as well as friends and acquaintances both Egyptian and Armenian. The young bachelors were rather peeved at the beautiful bride marrying an "outsider" from Alexandria. Well, they have only themselves to blame for their misfortune I should think. The happy couple danced the night away, non-stop, with the help of celebrated DJ Hani Wahba and flew to the Far East right after the wedding. |
« An exceptionally successful charity concert sponsored by the Arab Council for Childhood and Development (ACCD) which is headed by Prince Talal bin Abdel-Aziz, was held yesterday and lasted until the wee hours of the morning at the Semiramis Intercontinental hotel. The ACCD aims at remedying the problems of street children and is trying to enrol the help of the Arab countries in finding appropriate solutions in order to keep youngsters off the streets and in school. Singers Hisham Abbas, Amal Maher, Saudi singer Mohamed Abduh, the Lebanese 4Cats and the Egyptian Al-Nour Wal-Amal animated this fabulous party, donating their entire cachet to the charities on behalf of which the event was organised. The event, presented by versatile artist Samir Sabri, comprised other items such as dancing shows and a musical titled Street Children performed by actor Hassan Mustafa, written by poet Hamdi Eid, composed by Farouk El-Sharnoubi and directed by Hana' Saadeddin. On the sidelines of the party, an exhibition was organised at the Nefertiti Hall displaying artefacts created by the street children. The party was attended by a galaxy of benevolent figures, businessmen, media people and artists.
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* What cool news for the hot summer: I just heard that the Cairo Opera House started its summer season activities at the Roman Theatre in Alexandria. The world-wide singer Anushka will give a concert at the recently renovated theatre accompanied by Cairo Opera Orchestra, conducted by Sherif Mohieddin, on 14 July. She will sing old and new songs but in an orchestral reinterpretation.
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* The children of the British International School, Cairo, who had paid us a visit recently as you may remember, have sent our editor- in-chief Hosny Guindy their own special thank you notes in the form of long letters, drawings, logos, sketches, etc that showed their keen sense of observation maturity and intelligence. 
* Our dear colleague Hani Mustafa is just back from Avezzano (Italy) where he was a member of the jury at the Desert Rain Independent Film Festival sponsored by the ART network, the Toscana Bank and the Avezzano municipality. Egypt participated with 10 out of the 45 documentaries and short films.
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* Well darlings the Weekly is celebrating a new birth, that of the daughter of our dear colleague Rania Khallaf and her husband, promising novelist Yasser Ibrahim. Rania and Yasser have named their baby girl Aria, a fitting name for the child of such artistic parents. And who knows, maybe Aria will grow up to be a great singer, if it is true that names influence the future of a child.
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* The Doroub gallery has just organised a collective exhibition and guess what: as I was perusing the works on offer I noticed the beautiful work of my dear friend Amani Abdel-Malek who when she is not wearing her artist hat works in a bank. Despite her glaring talent Amani had chosen to study Economics and Political Science which led her to a serious and successful career in banking. Well darlings not all artists have to live in a loft and have paint smeared on their clothes.
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