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Ibtisam Mahameed Reception |
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Written by Staff
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Wednesday, 06 May 2009 |
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On April 27th, 50 people gathered at the E&O Trading Co. in downtown San Francisco to honor Ibtisam Mahameed, a recipient of the 2009 “Unsung Heroes of Compassion” award presented by the Dalai Lama. Selected for her tireless work across religious, cultural, and geographic barriers to improve the status of women and bring a just peace to the Holy Land, Mrs. Mahameed is a quietly powerful woman. One of her main projects centers on giving courses to Arab women to allow them to develop skills with the goal of being able to find a job. To provide a framework for this Women’s Empowerment work Ibtisam is building, with her husband Soughbi’s help, the Women Center for Hagar and Sarah in her village of Fureidis in Northern Israel. “I’d dreamed of working with women in my village who have never received support from the local council or government. Women had no decision-making power, not for themselves and not in their homes. There is one decision-maker, and it’s the man. I had trouble with a world in which men decide things for me so I acted independently—in order to be an independent woman and to give women a chance for a better future. Things have changed. It happened right after they built a high school and women began to be educated—they learned they could be independent.”
Snacking on a delightful assortment of hors d’oeuvres, guests were treated the opportunity to speak with Mrs. Mahameed, her husband, as well as a number of members of the Global Hub Support Staff, including Executive Director Charles Gibbs and President William Swing. Following a viewing of “We Unite,” the compelling short film on URI, Charles Gibbs introduced Ibtisam who then briefly addressed those gathered through a translator. Bringing together longtime supporters and those new to URI, the reception was an opportunity to pay tribute to this incredible peacebuilder whose work brings hope to a region so often beset by fear.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 30 November 2009 )
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