Notes from the March 1 Meeting

Joining Hands Coordinating Team
Regular Meeting – March 1, 2008

Present: Moderator Nancy Lister-Settle, Elizabeth Smith, Marcia Justice, Sue Nelson, Ken Nelson, Denise England, Linda Powell, Sue York, Margaret Magill

The meeting began with devotions.

Delegation to Egypt
The delegation members reported on the February trip. Elizabeth and Nancy attended the two-day workshop with Together for Family Development representatives and Lionel Derenoncourt and Alexa Smith from the PHP Joining Hands program. The achievements of TFD were celebrated, and the need to continue moving forward was recognized. It is the goal of JH that all networks and partners support one another in campaigns. TFD offered suggestions to Des Moines Presbytery on ways to support their efforts, including joint involvement in Education for All and observation of International Disability Day, advocacy for adequate funding of Millenium Development Goals by the governments of the G8 (Group of Eight - which is composed of USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan), exploration of fair trade opportunities, and bringing more Iowans into the partnership.

Delegation members reported on the visits to:
Minia and New Vision’s project in a school in the area. A disabled student (a young boy with no hands) was included in the regular classroom and the teachers and fellow students told us how the project had benefited all of them. We were especially privileged to present certificates to teachers and certificates and small gifts to each student in the class to recognize the achievement.

Alexandria and Village of Hope’s project with the University of Alexandria. The Faculty of Kindergarten had trained several students as shadow teachers who accompany disabled students, one on one, to the regular classroom to assist them in learning. The young women had created their own handmade teaching tools to meet the particular needs of the children with whom they worked. Families of disabled students pay for this assistance. We were truly impressed with the inventiveness and enthusiasm of the young women in the program. While in Alexandria we also visited Fairhaven where we toured the school and heard from Rev. Gendi and Linda, the headmistress.

Tanta Hospital. We spent a morning with the hospital administrators and toured the entire facility. Our visit included a lavish luncheon with two Americans who have supported the hospital with technical assistance and donations of equipment. We were pleased to see where Denise would be working when she gets to Egypt in July.

El Kom El Akhdar. We visited a rural village and Coptic Evangelical church in a largely Christian community. The church had created an NGO to coordinate social services in the area and they had been involved in much development work including Habitat for Humanity projects. We visited a new construction undertaken by the congregation that will house a nursery school, the church’s fellowship hall, and the pastor’s residence. Pastor Ahmgad, his wife Mary and several people from the church accompanied us to the agricultural land nearby where we enjoyed some tea and fellowship.

Fair Trade. We visited with representatives from Cospe (including Bassem) which is an Italian NGO working on fair trade in Egypt. We then had the opportunity to shop at the Egyptian Craft Center and Nancy brought back a selection of items to show to outlets such as the Fair World Gallery in West Des Moines.

Nancy and Elizabeth were able to visit with many friends among the TFD members at the workshop: Nashat, Samy and Milad, Rabab and Adel, Rafik, Rev. Gendi, Madam Nada, Haidy and Souad, Nabil, Mona—and all of us were treated to feasts in the homes of Mona, Bassem, Haidy and Souad, and Madam Nada.

Strategy Meeting
Nancy reported that Alexa would like to meet with us to talk about how we can be more involved in the goals of TFD. We will invite folks from churches we think might renew their commitment to Joining Hands, and potential new partner congregations. Oskaloosa, West Des Moines Covenant, Perry, Corning, Des Moines Central, Des Moines Westminster and Indianola Trinity were mentioned. It was also suggested that interested congregations outside but near the borders of Des Moines Presbytery should be invited. Alexa had proposed an early June meeting and the group will ask her to select either May 31st or June 7th for her visit.

Joining Hands Conference
The international JH conference to be held in conjunction with the Peacemaking Conference was discussed. We will meet at Chapman College in Orange, California from July 13-18. We are to send two delegates—Nancy will be attending as a planning team member. Denise and Elizabeth expressed an interest in going. Nancy will get word to those who are not present today. Others can go on their own, too. The two delegates from TFD will be Dr. Nabil and Madam Nada, and they will come to Des Moines Presbytery following the conference, most likely until July 26th. We will be responsible for their air fare from California.

Photo Exhibit
There was a brief update on the photo project. All are asked to consider the five categories for the photographs: Women, Children, Religion, Agriculture, and the campaign for children with Disabilities, and what we want to convey to our audience about each. The goal is to introduce people to our Egyptian partners through these contexts.

The next meeting will be May 3rd.