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Al-Safina Celebrates 15 Years

For fifteen years Al-Safina has hosted people with disabilities, the first being Ghassan and Youssef from the psychiatric hospital of Ibn Sina. It goes without saying that this occasion was worth celebrating. Several assistants prepared the festivities and many former assistants were invited and came to participate. Almost 100 people were in attendance. Former assistants and members of the Committee shared how Al-Safina was founded and gave their testimony. Many people heard the story in entirety for the first time. Regretfully, Rima Moussalli was not able to be present but she visited shortly before the celebration and kindly recorded her testimony on video. She shared much about the establishment of Al-Safina and stories of the early years. Stan, the coordinator of LArche International was also present and it was an occasion to remember what it means to be linked to the larger L’Arche community. It opens up a world bigger than ours, and allows us to enter a wider community and benefit from others’ experiences. It also means accepting the gaze of another in our lives, and the opportunity to challenge ourselves; to ask ourselves about our personal lives and the community. The ideal of L’Arche is that everyone, disabled and assistants, may discover a path of growth and love in the encounter and develop openness to others and to God. During this festival we also prayed and sang together the prayer of L’Arche in Arabic. Father Nawras, our chaplain, was there to accompany us. We all enjoyed those moments of meeting with the elders who brought us their friendship and support. Sharing stories and memories and the reuniting was a good incentive to stay the course. The festivities ended with a good meal at the workshop. The community is grateful to all those who came, and especially to those who came from afar to attend the celebration.