The Sabeel staff started welcoming the young women at 5:00pm in order to start the program for the evening. This was the first meeting for the young women of Sabeel, and the age range was from 28 to 55 years old.
The program began with Sawsan Bitar of Sabeel introducing the event and giving a brief description about the work of Sabeel.
Mrs. Dina Khoury Nasser then began the session about health and family. Mrs. Dina is a licensed Nurse. She works at the Augusta Victoria Hospital and manages the infection control department.
The information that she passed on to us included how to care for ourselves and our family members by eating right and getting involved in a healthy life style. She also talked about what to do in case of an emergency and how to deal with it. Her talk inspired a lot of discussion and facilitated good communication among the women.
The 22 women who attended this event seemed to really enjoy it; they asked questions, gave comments, and had discussions. After the presentation, a paper was passed around for the women to fill out with their contact information so that Sabeel can keep them up-to-date on our meetings. We then discussed possible interesting topics for future sessions, and all of the women seemed motivated and excited. For future sessions, the women were especially interested in learning about stress management, coping with daily pressures, managing teenage children, learning how to balance a woman’s many roles (mother, wife, friend, etc.), and discussing how to bridge generational gaps in society, especially within a family setting.
The women then stayed for a lovely dinner, exchanged thoughts and enjoyed each other’s company. They are looking forward to the next session.