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Ehdeniyat 2008 - Article ID:1574

In Friday's issue of the Lebanese newspaper, As Safir, it reports Ehden's forthcoming summer festival, Ehdeniyat.

The report can be read from this link

The Festival which is being organised by the, Al Midan Association , will be from 3rd August to 31st August 2008.

The Festival's programme is set out on the Full Story page. Full Story...

René Moawad Foundation: Annual Ehden Dinner - Article ID:1573

The René Moawad Foundation is holding its annual summer Ehden dinner on Friday, 25th July 2008 at the Ehden Country Club.

This year the money raised will go to a new NGO, called, Association Entraide Sociale (AES), which is working to fight the causes of poverty in Lebanon. Such money will suport its, "Ghadouna" (Our Tomorrow - Our Future) project, and other programmes to take people out of poverty, provide basic healthcare and literacy; enabling them to gain employment and to maximise their potential. All aims which the Foundation supports.

The dinner starts at 9 p.m. and during the evening guests will serenaded by international singing star, Amale Hejazi; Star Academy 2006 Winner, Joseph Attieh and local singer, Maria Doueihy.

There will also be fund raising events such as an tombola, with major donated prizes for the winners.

The guest speaker will be Dr. Marwan Almawi.

Tickets are 50,000LL and for further information and resevations call 03 66 42 77.

The Association of Zgharta visits Patriarch Sfeir, 2008 - Article ID:1572

The Association of Zgharta (Youssef Bey Karam Batal Lebnan) Australia along with the Zgharta Ladies Committee, St. Joseph Zgharta Soccer Club and a number of Zgharta community members paid a protocol visit to the Maronite Eparchy to greet Patriarch Mar Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, in Sydney.

The Zgharta delegation was headed by Bishop Samir Mazloum, Vicar Patriarchal of Ehden-Zgharta. The Association’s Vice President, George Douaihy, welcomed the Patriarch on behalf of the Zgharta Community in Australia.

The Association Secretary, Attorney Rimon Mouawad, delivered an address on behalf of the Association President Sarkis Maksisi, who was absent due to receiving medical treatment at hospital.

Patriarch Sfeir thanked the large Zgharta delegation and wished its members all the very best, praying for a quick recovery for the Association President.

The address of the Association of Zgharta

His Beatitude Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Sfeir.

Lordships the Bishops.

We came tonight to welcome you on behalf of the Zgharta Community in Australia and to wish you a very successful trip.

You are welcome as a very dear guest to our hearts, hoping that you r presence, wisdom and leadership will boost the position of the Maronites as result of the World Maronite Week.

This occasion would not have been possible without the guidance and direction of His Lordship Ad Abikaram whom we enormously respect and coordinate with at every opportunity, especially in matters concerning the canonisation case of Patriarch Estephan Douaihy. The case we are proud to manage in Australia after being nominated by the Patriarch Douaihy Foundation.

There will be a Church Mass to back the case in coordination with the Maronite Diocese on 27 July 2008. His Lordship Bishop Mazloum will celebrate the Mass.

We pray so that God protects you and grant you health.

Photographs of the visit can be seen in the Galleria

Handicraft Exhibition - Article ID:1571

The Women's Cultural Committee of Zgharta Zawie are holding their annual handicraft exhibition at the Hotel Belmont, Ehden between Thursday, 24th July at 5 p.m. and Sunday, 27th July 2008.

Please support this exhibition, part of Edhen's many varied social activities making it a living community.

Saydet Zgharta Hospital - Article ID:1570

The Saydet Zgharta Hospital has purchased from its own resources a state of the art ultrasound machine for the Diagnostic Radiology Department. The machine, "Voluson 730 PRO V" manufactured by General Electric Healthcare, is one of the world's leading ultrasound machines.

The Hospital held a presentation for the machine on Friday, 18th July 2008 for specialists and medical practitioners, followed by a reception.

The Department is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. with no appointment needed. Full Story...

Passing the Mouawad mantle - Article ID:1569

The website, Naharnet, carried on Saturday, 19th July 2008, an interview with former Minister Mrs. Nayla René Mouawad (68), where she is reported saying that her son, Michel (36), would represent the Mouawad family in Lebanon's 2009 General Election.

As to her future, the article wrote that, "her future political effort would focus on allowing Lebanese immigrants to be 'part of Lebanon's decision-making process'."

Minister Mouawad was born on 3rd July 1940 in Bsharri, the daughter of Nagib Issa El Khouri and Evelyne Roch. Her father came from a prominent Maronite family and was related to Bechara El Khoury, Lebanon's first post-Independence President. She was educated at the Ecole des Franciscaines Missionnaires de Marie, Rue du Musee, and subsequently graduated from Saint Joseph's University with a B.A. degree in French Literature and History. From 1962 to 1965, she worked as a journalist for the Lebanese French language newspaper, L'Orient Le Jour.

In 1965 she married President René Mouawad (1925-1989). The marriage at the time cause some consternation in both towns owing to the historic discord between them. They had two children, Rima born in 1966, a graduate of Harvard University and Michel born in 1972, a graduate of Sorbonne University. He is married to Mariel and they have a son, René and two daughters, Nayla and Yara.

Following the assassination of her husband on 22nd November 1989, she founded the René Mouawad Foundation.

She has been one of three Member's of Parliament of Zgharta Zawie since 1991, when at a time when there was no possibility of elections being held, she was appointed Member of Parliament in place of her late husband. She stood and was elected in the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2005 General Elections. In July 2005 she was appointed Minister for Social Affairs, which office she held until the creation of the new Lebanese Government this month.

One of the enduring memories in Zgharta's history is the funeral procession of President Mouawad when his son, Michel then age 17, walked with the, then age 24, former Minister Sleiman Tony Frangieh*, who lost his father in 1978, at the age of 12. Minister Frangieh was appointed Member of Parliament in 1991, age 25, the legal age under the Lebanese Constitution to become a Member of Parliament.

On a lighter note another image, which seems to shock her younger, but apparently, conservative distracters, is the Minister riding passenger on a motor bike in Harissa, 2006.

[*Born 18 October 1965; death of father 13 June 1978; appointed MP 7 June 1991] Full Story...