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Middle East
Association of Training and Retreat Centers
MEATRC
Activities' Report
2001 / 2002
During the Loccum Meeting in Germany in September
2000, a decision was made by the OIKOSNET members to work on the theme of
Non–Violence, Conflict Resolution, Reconciliation and Mediation as
a common theme and as a Global focus for the period between 2000 to 2005.
As an association whose member centers have to deal with the issue of
conflict on a daily basis, MEATRC has recognized the importance of dealing
with this theme on a global level. Concurrently, MEATRC has asked for the
period of two years to work on building the capacity of the member centers
in the association so that they can effectively deal with the common
theme. In the past two years, MEATRC has accomplished almost all that it
had planned to do, with one activity on the regional level awaiting
execution in November of 2002. The work of capacity building will continue
during the next three years as MEATRC joins the rest of the associations
in working with the theme of nonviolence and conflict resolution.
The following report highlights the activities that
have taken place on the regional and sub-regional levels from July 2001
until December 2002.
1- Executive Committee Meetings
a. The Executive Committee met in November 25-28,
2001 in Aiya Napa Conference Center /Cyprus. In addition to the regular
business that the committee conducted, including discussing the financial
report and the different reports of the activities conducted in the
different sub-regions, the following issues were discussed.
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To
carry out two small training programs in Syria before the end of
December 2001 for young leaders at the St. George Center in Syria and
the Kaseb Conference Center. These activities were planned and approved
earlier by the Executive committee. |
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To
carry out training program in May or September 2002 for the centers in
Egypt focusing on the issue of “ Reconciliation. “ |
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Approving the printing and the design of the MEATRC calendar for the
year 2002. The purpose behind printing the calendar was to introduce the
work of member centers and the work of MEATRC by using a calendar. The
work of twelve Centers was highlighted as a result. |
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Updating the information on MEATRC’s member centers in order to
establish a website |
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Carry
out two Internet E-Communication training programs in cooperation with
the Vesper Society as part of the Network 21 Project. It was decided
that the first training program would take place in Lebanon for the
Syrian and Lebanese member centers. The second training program was
decided to take place in Egypt for the Egyptian member centers. Due to
the political situation in Palestine and the difficulty of reaching the
three aforementioned countries, it was decided that the member centers
in Palestine would not take part in these training sessions.
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The
Executive Committee nominated and voted in favor of appointing Rev.
Serop Megerditchian to the position of Secretary. Rev. Megerditchian
from Aleppo/Syria replaces Mr. Rafiq Louis, whose function as the
secretary of MEATRC could not be continued due to his leaving his
employment with CEOSS, which has two of its centers as MEATRC member
centers. |
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Hosting
the Global CLLT. The dates that were originally proposed for holding the
CLLT at the Ayia Napa Conference Center in Cyprus were 11 Nov-2 December
/ 2001 Upon consultation with the OIKOSNET members, the dates that were
set for the CLLT were moved to up to29 September – 20 October 2001. The
September 11th events have changed the plans and the date for
the CLLT was moved to June 8-28, 2002. It was decided that Fr. Youssef
Andraws and Dr. Nuha Khoury will attend the event and will help with the
organization of the CLLT. |
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Three
centers from MEATRC were selected to participate in the “Dialogue for
Understanding” project. The 3 centers are: |
Dar- Alinaya, Saida- Lebanon
St. Mark Center, Cairo- Egypt performance
Forum of Intercultural Dialogue, Cairo- Egypt
b. An Executive Committee meeting took place on
23-25 September 2002 in Cairo. On the agenda for the meeting, in addition
to the regular business, the discussion focused on the following issues:
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Assessment of the Global CLLT, the
participants from the Middle East, and MEATRC’s performance
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Preparation for the Regional Meeting in
November, 2002
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Planning for the 2003 programs
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Closer cooperation with the EAACLE
c. An Executive Committee meeting took place on
26-27 November 2002 in Aiya Napa Conference Center, Cyprus. The discussion
focused on the following issues:
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MEATRC
Website |
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Changes
on the WCC and their influence on MEATRC |
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MEATRC’s General Assembly, which will be held in Cairo in November 2003.
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The
OIKOSNET meeting of 2003, 2hich will be hosted by MEATRC in Cairo in
November 2003 |
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At the
meeting, a representative of the EAALCE was present for part of the
meeting to discuss practical steps to activate the relation between the
two OIKOSNET associations. |
2-Regional Training
It has been the tradition of MEATRC to hold its
annual regional training during the summer months. However, due to the
change in the dates for the Global CLLT, it was decided that two major
events cannot be hosted in Cyprus within the course of a few weeks,
especially that MEATRC will be involved heavily in conducting the visiting
communities for the CLLT as well as helping with the organization of the
course in Cyprus. Therefore, it was decided that the annual meeting
should be postponed to 21-26 November 2002. The training program, which
was held in Aiya Napa Conference Center, Cyprus, was done in partnership
with the MECC and ended the 2-year focus of MEATRC on Capacity building
and introduced the subject of Non–Violence, Conflict Resolution,
Reconciliation and Mediation to MEATRC’s member centers.
One session of the Regional Training was dedicated
to the discussion of MEATRC website, which Vesper Society, through Network
21, is supporting. Shady Hannona, from the International Center of
Bethlehem, discussed the benefits of having the Website, and explained the
technical aspects that the member centers of MEATRC needed to know so as
to send the relevant information for the Website.
3-Sub Regional Training
a. Egypt
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December 6- 8, 2001. A three days workshop on the concept of the
foundational support took place at al- Salam Center in Alexandria. This
workshop was the first of two, the second of which took place in October
2002. Twenty-one participants from different MEATRC member and non
member Centers took part of this training. |
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May 20
–25, 2002. A six-day workshop on Electronic Communication for Directors
of 9 centers in Egypt was held at Bayad Center in Beni Suef. The
training was conducted and funded by Vesper Society as part of the
Network 21 project. Ms. Martina represented the African association
ACLCA at the workshop. |
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October
21-25. A four-day training at Itsa Center was held on “Foundational
Support.” This workshop was the second workshop, the first of which took
place in December 2001. However, one session of this workshop was
dedicated to the issue of violence and participants in the CLLT from
MEATRC were able to share their experience in that session |
b. Syria/ Lebanon
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1 – 2
March 2002. A two-days workshop on leadership training for youth leaders
from the different Churches was held in Aleppo, Syria. The workshop,
entitled “ How to Prepare a Comprehensive Program for the Church Youth,”
was originally scheduled for December 2001. However, due to some
difficulties, the workshop could not be held prior to the March date.
Forty-eight (48)
leaders from different Churches and Centers participated in
this
intensive two-day course and workshop held in Aleppo. This was the first
time that such a large number of people from several churches
participated in such training. The recommendation was that such training
should be continued. |
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A
workshop entitled “No to Violence in Human Thinking” was held in Saidon,
Lebanon on October 28th to November 1st, 2002. The
workshop was attended by the member centers in Lebanon and Syria.
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A
workshop entitled “The Testimony of Love” was held in St. Georgios
Monastery (a MEATRC member Center) on February 21-24, 2002. Forty-five
college-age participants attended the workshop, and they were from
Damscus, Homs, Lattakia and Mount Lebanon. |
c. Palestine
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November 2002-January 2003. A workshop on Volunteers has been organized
by the International Center of Bethlehem for the MEATRC centers and
other CROs that are potential MEATRC members. The workshop, which
aims to increase the spirit of volunteerism, is composed of six
sessions and was designed to equip organizations to develop a cadre of
volunteers for their organizations. |
d. Cyprus
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August
24-29 2002 the Aiya Napa Conference Center (ANCC)
organized a conference on peace and reconciliation in Ayia Napa
Conference Center under the title “Monitoring Civil Peace in Lebanon.”
Three major questions on the basis of more than 125 indicators of the
Lebanese co-existence pact were discussed, which are: |
1. Has there been any progress in the
building of collective memories for the rising generation?
2. How can the position of Lebanon be
strengthened in the regional context?
3. How can the negative impact of nepotism
be limited?
The meeting was attended by a group of 24 persons
representing several important sectors in the Lebanese society: academic,
social, political and juridical.
4- Publications
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As part
of a campaign to promote the work of MEATRC and introduce its centers to
others, one thousand Desk Calendars for 2002 were printed and
distributed to all the centers of the association, the Associations that
belong to the OIKOSNET, and to other organizations and churches. 12
different centers were featured in this calendar. For each center, a
picture of the center or of the work that the center feels is
representative of its work was printed, along with a brief introduction
to each of these centers. |
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For the
year 2003, another 1000 desk calendars were printed and distributed to
the member centers, to the OIKOSNET associations, and to other
organizations and churches. Centers from the MEATRC association were
featured in these calendars. |
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MEATRC
issued its first electronic newsletter and sent it to all centers on its
mailing list as well as to friends and colleagues. This electronic
newsletter is one of the by-products of the strategic plan that MEATRC
has adopted two years ago in its attempt to build up the capacity of the
Association’s member centers. |
5- Network’21
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MEATRC
took part in the global conference that was organized by Vesper Society
at Chateau Bossey near Geneva (CH) from April 29th to May 4th.
The conference was designed to bring all those who actively participated
in the Network 21 project to evaluate the project’s status and the next
steps that could be taken. MEATRC was invited to the meeting and was to
be represented by three individuals, namely Sister Lucia Labib Shehata
from Egypt as well as Nuha Khoury and Shady Hannona from the
International Center of Bethlehem (ICB). Due to the Israeli Invasion of
Bethlehem and the curfew imposed on the people of the whole area, Nuha
Khoury and Shady Hannona were not able to participate. |
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Two
Communications training workshops were held in Lebanon for the MEATRC
member centers in Lebanon and Syria in December 2002. The first workshop
was held from 2 to 6 December 2002. Eleven (11) participants took part
in this workshop. The second workshop was held from 9-12th
December. Twelve (12) people participated in that workshop. |
6- Hosting & Participating in the Global CLLT:
8 –28 June 2002
In June 2002, MEATRC was able to host the Global
CLLT that was originally scheduled for October 2001 at the Ayia Napa
Conference Center in Cyprus. The CLLT, entitled “To Be Instrument of
Peace,” came at an appropriate time when the world in general and the
Middle East in particular seem to be facing the threat of a brutal and
bloody war. As part of the three-weeks course, MEATRC was responsible for
organizing the visiting communities for the participants. Four visiting
communities were organized, which included Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt,
Lebanon, and Syria. Although Palestine was originally part of the original
program, the Palestine visiting community was cancelled early on due to
the security situation, which posed a threat to the lives of the
participants. The visiting community programs included exposure to centers
and development projects run by both the churches and governments of the
three countries visited.
All region were represented except for the Pacific,
because obtaining visas for the participants from there was a problem. The
total number of participants in the CLLT was 20, whose ages ranged between
22 – 55 years old. The different regions were represented as follows:
Africa 2
Asia 4
Europe 4
Caribbean 1
North America 3
Latin America 2
Middle East 4
The participants from the Middle East were Lara
Nassar (Palestine), Taline Barzakian (Syria) Midhat Ghobrial (Egypt) and
Maged Awad (Egypt). Due to the fact that Lara Nassar was not able to get
her visa on time to join the visiting community she was scheduled to join
in Egypt, Ms. Nassar was able to participate in the last two weeks of the
CLLT in Cyprus. As a byproduct of the CLLT training that the 4
aforementioned individuals will organize and lead a workshop on the theme
of the CLLT to member centers in Egypt.
As to fuller details on the CLLT, Ms. Evelyn Appiah
has sent a detailed report of the event to all the OIKOSNET members.
Final Note
As this report is being written, the situation in
the Middle East is tense and the threat of war is increasing. MEATRC
centers are working at this time under very difficult conditions in order
to fulfill their mission and to continue being places of safety in the
midst of a very unpredictable and unsafe world. The timely subject of
training for the Global CLLT namely “To Be Instruments of Peace,” and the
theme adopted by the OIKOSNET until 2005, namely Non–Violence, Conflict
Resolution, Reconciliation and Mediation, could not have come at a
better time.
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