By Mme Sosostris photo: Sherif Sonbol * What could be more cheerful than children, colours, and greenery? Last Friday dozens of children of all ages were accompanied by their parents to the Mawred Cultural Resource's Second Mask Festival in Al-Azhar Park, writes Rania Khallaf. Sara, almost four, a cute girl with short black hair, has chosen a cat's face. She jumped cheerfully, mimicking a cat, as soon as her face was done. But her mother complained that the colours were not good quality and that the festival was not so well organised, with not enough materials for everyone. Many children went home wearing a sad expression instead. The craft of mask making dates back to 20,000 BC, with the earliest allusion found in a cave in southern France, depicting a person masked in the skin and antlers of a deer. Today a lion or a butterfly on a child's face will make him or her happier than ever. Fast food restaurants such as McDonald's and Hardee's have caught on, with family birthday parties giving fine arts graduates an extra opportunity to practise their skills. * Rawabet Hall, adjoining the Townhouse Gallery's Factory space, has recently celebrated World Refugee Day with the opening of an exhibition of works by refugee children -- a joint UNHCR initiative. Celebrated on 20 June, World Refugee Day underlines both the courage of refugees and the obligation of the rest of us to help them. The exhibit gives children the opportunity to express themselves creatively and, in scribblings as well as shapes and colours, reflect their hopes and fears. (See Exhibitions in Listings p. 16) More news on the World Refugee Day; The Student Action for Refugees (STAR) at the American University in Cairo (AUC) celebrated World Refugee Day with a new round of its annual festival, bringing thousands together to celebrate the cultures and histories of Cairo's refugee communities. The event took place at AUC's Greek and Main campuses. This year's event featured more than 20 bands and dance troupes from Africa and the Middle East. There was also an arts and crafts bazaar, children's activities and authentic food from Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, as well as henna booths, while representatives of various refugee organisations provided information about available services. World Refugee Day, celebrated worldwide, is an international holiday sanctioned by the United Nations in 2001. It serves as a reminder of the plight of refugees across the globe. STAR, a student community service organisation at AUC, was established to raise awareness of refugee issues and offer students the opportunity to work with refugees in practical ways through social service and education. It conducts activities such as arts and crafts bazaars, film festivals, clothing and supplies drives, as well as an English language programme with more than 30 classes and 400 refugee students. * The Hoda Shaarawi Society, headed by Ragaa Mansour, hosted cartoonist and head of the Plastic Arts Syndicate Mustafa Hussein, who gave a lecture on social and political issues in caricature. Among the attendees were Minister of Military Production Sayed Mashaal and Al-Ahram back page editor Mona Ragab. * The Right to Life Association, presided over by Nani Saleh, organised the latest Christian Dior fashion show in Egypt: the 2007 summer collection, with hundreds of wedding gowns. Among the attendees were Minister of State for International Cooperation Faiza Abul-Naga and the wives of the Iraqi, Indian and Saudi ambassadors, as well as fashion designer Birjit and the organiser, Onsi Barakat. * Four young Indians from Bangalore -- Eshwar, 27, Ajez Pasha, 26, Nanjappa Subramani, 27, and Lakshiminarayana Muniramaiah, 22, -- have set out on a cycling world tour to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. They recently arrived in Cairo with their next destination being Cyprus, followed by Turkey. The quartet wear T-shirts displaying information about their mission: "People with AIDS need love and care"; and "World without AIDS is possible." It was their involvement as volunteers in the Indian Red Cross Society and their love of cricket that brought the four young men together. They first cycled across the southern states of India with a mission to raise AIDS awareness, after which they started their excursion in Africa in Kenya, moving onto Kampala in Uganda. After Uganda, they landed in Khartoum before travelling onto Egypt. The four friends are expected to visit 30 countries over the next three years. * The Embassy of Croatia in Cairo recently celebrated its National Day at the Four Seasons Hotel at the Nile Plaza, Enjy El-Naggar reports. The event was attended by a large number of diplomats, both Egyptian and foreign, as well as representatives of the Egyptian government and businessmen. Notably, Minister of Education Yousri El-Gamal, former foreign minister Ahmed Maher and Ambassador of Brazil Elim Ferreira Dutra were guests. Last Tuesday, 25 students from several southern Red Sea cities celebrated the completion of their first year of tourism studies. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), organised the event in Hurghada. The young men and women were offered a three-year scholarship to obtain a hospitality diploma at the êgyptisch-Deutsche Hotelfaschule Paul Rahn, El-Gouna, in Hurghada. The ceremony took place1 on the premises of the German School, in the presence of Abdel-Aziz Saleh, Head of the Tourist Domains Affairs Department of the Tourism Development Authority (TDA); Seifallah Hassanein, CTO, Livelihood and Income from the Environment (LIFE) Red Sea Project; as well as other representatives of the LIFE Red Sea Project and its partners, such as the Red Sea governorate, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and its Natural Conservation Sector (NCS), as well as the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA). *The Egyptian-Lebanese Friendship Association, presided over by Nejad Shaarawi, organised a lecture on improving cooperation between the two countries in the field of tourism. Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garana delivered the lecture, while the chargé d'affaires at the Lebanese Embassy, Ali Halabi, and Lebanese tourism consultant in Cairo, Faisal Fetfet, attended.
