Voices of Inspiration Choir Qawwali troupe Invocations galore For the fourth year in a row, the International Samaa Festival for Sufi Music and Chanting, founded by Intesar Abdel-Fattah, is taking place under the title "Home is the Man" at Al-Ghouri Dome on Al-Azhar Street. The festival features a number of Sufi troupes from different countries: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, Iraq, Indonesia, the Qawwali group from India and for the first time the American Voices of Inspiration Choir: at the opening ceremony Sherif Sonbol was ready with his camera. ( see Listings p.19 ) Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazi, together with the head of the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces (GOCP), poet Saad Abdel-Rahman, inaugurated the activities of GOCP's Ramadan Cultural Nights, held annually at the Cultural Garden in Sayeda Zeinab. The programme includes music and dance performances by, among others, the Ezzat El-Qurashi Sira Al-Hilalya troupe, art exhibitions, pottery workshops and a book fair. The US Embassy organised an evening with Dan Gediman, "This I Believe" foundation director and book co- editor at El Sawy Culturewheel. Egyptian celebrities present received free copies of the book. Gediman had toured Egypt last week to encourage Egyptians to express their beliefs publicly in positive and productive ways through writing their own "This I Believe" essays. Gediman moderated the essay readings and talked about his recent book, which the embassy has translated into Arabic. "This I Believe" is an international organisation engaging people in writing and sharing essays describing the core values guiding their daily lives. Over 90,000 of these essays, written by people from all walks of life, are archived on this link thisibelieve.com, heard on public radio and chronicled through books. The project is based on the popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by Edward R Murrow. Egyptian contestants had been invited to write their own "This I Believe" essays in Arabic on the US Embassy's Facebook page. El Sawy director Mohamed Abdel-Moneim El-Sawy talked about his belief in one's right to choose their creed. Samar Abdel-Rahman, a graduate of the first Leadership for Education and Development Programme (LEAD) cohort at the American University in Cairo (AUC), is one of only 25 African women leaders to receive a Moremi Initiative for Leadership Empowerment and Development (MILEAD) Fellowship in Ghana. MILEAD fellowship is an African initiative aiming to enhance, develop and monitor emerging female leaders in Africa. Representing Egypt, Abdel-Rahman is the only fellow from North Africa this year. MILEAD Fellows are chosen through a highly competitive process based on their involvement in a wide range of social and professional endeavours aiming to recognise remarkable accomplishments in community leadership and commitment to social justice. A market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics has inaugurated its second Ramadan football tournament at the Canadian International College (CIC). The tournament, running through 25 August, will pit 30 teams from Egyptian companies against each other to raise money for the Children's Cancer Hospital -- Egypt 57357. Two teams from the company will be participating. According to Duke Park, the company's Egypt branch general manager, "the company is constantly looking for ways to give back to the Egyptian community, and what better time than to do so during Ramadan. Given the huge success of last year's tournament and our desire to continue to support the Children's Cancer Hospital, hosting the football tournament this year just seemed like the right thing to do. The tournament is also a great chance for us to get out of our offices and interact with other Egyptian companies, and to be able to do that whilst helping sick children, is just great." photo: Ayman Barayez The head of the Egyptian Publishers' Union Mohamed Rashad gave a delightful Iftar at Le Pacha Nile Boat in Zamalek, where the head of the Arab Writers' Union Abdel-Latif Ashour was honoured. The guests included Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazi, Lebanese Ambassador to Egypt Khaled Ziyada, Chairman and founder of Al-Sherouk Publishing House Ibrahim El-Muallim, head of the Egyptian Writers' Union Mohamed Salmawi, Al-Gezira TV anchor Ahmed Mansour and Chairman of the General Egyptian Book Organisation Ahmed Megahed. The Indian Ambassador to Egypt R Swaminathan and his wife hosted a prestigious Iftar at their residence in Zamalek. The Indian troupe Qawwali dazzled the guests after the meal. The Iftar's guest of honour was the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, and present were Minister of Education Ahmed Gamaleddin, President of the International Union of Muslim-Christian-Jewish Dialogue and Peace Education Ali El-Samman, head of Garden City Lions Club Awatef Serageddin, Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Mohamed Hegazi, Bangladeshi Ambassador to Egypt Mizanur Rahman and his Turkish counterpart Héseyin Avni Botsali, Vice-President of the Cairo International Film Festival Soheir Abdel-Qader and head of the Foreign Cultural Relations sector at the Ministry of Culture Hossam Nassar. photo: Abdel-Hay Mokhtar At Al-Gezira garden in Zamalek, the Tourism Development Authority (TDA) inaugurated the second Fawanis (Lanterns) Festival under the slogan "Egypt's Spirit in Ramadan". The festival opened with two performances by Al-Mawlawiya troupe and the Tannoura Whirling Dervishes troupe. Present were Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazi, head of Internal Tourism Magdi Selim, head of TDA Amr El-Ezabi, actor Sameh El-Sereiti and other celebrities. El-Ezabi announced that the aim of the festival was to launch a booth in Dubai Mall in the Emirates.
