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United Nations Women’s Guild of Geneva

March - April 2016

Spring Edition

With all our good wishes

From the UNWG Executive Committee

Spring is nature’s way of

saying ‘Let’s Party!’

- Robin Williams

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CONTENTS

Dear Members We have unfortunately been unable to find a new sponsor for printing our newsletters. To keep our commitment to our members who do not have internet access, we will send an abbreviated Listings of Events by post. The newsletter will be emailed to other members with internet access. UNWG newsletters can also be found at http://www.unwg.ch/ Thank you for your kind understanding. The Executive Committee

3 President’s Welcome 10 Visits & Culture and Cookery Club

4 Coffee Mornings 11 Book Club

5 Executive Committee members 12 Languages List

6 Projects from around the World: Colombia 13 Activities List

7 Projects from around the World: Yemen 14 Notices

8 Project Completion Report from Yemen 15 Editor’s Messages

9 Nominating Committee 2016: Vacant Posts

English Newsletter Editor: Karen Rowland

Photographers: Margaret Tomassi and Genevieve Auroi

Distribution: Budi Maher & team

Website Management: Olga Mednikova

UNITED NATIONS WOMEN’S GUILD

Villa les Feuillantines, 8-14 Avenue de la Paix, 1211 Genève 10 Tel: 022 917 33 86 Email: cfnu.unwg@bluemail.ch

Opening times: Monday - Friday 9.30am-12.30pm Monday & Thursday 2.00pm to 5.00pm

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President’s Welcome

Dear Members,

To start 2016 enjoying togetherness, members had the pleasure to meet on 12th

January at the Bar Escargot for the first coffee morning of the year, offered by all our members. Thanks to the large turnout we could taste a wide range of specialities, attractively displayed on the tables that the Hospitality team had decorated with taste under the conduct of Carmen Falaize.

I wish to thank the members of the Hospitality team who come to the Palais des Nations at around 7 am before eve-ry coffee morning in order to decorate the tables, display the dishes and prepare the coffee, the tea and the soft drinks. Let me take this opportunity to name them one by one : Carmen Falaize, Zohra Ahmadi, Bernadette Thon-nart, Janine Jacquel, Monique Weder, Hannelore Zehdi, Yen –H Lu. At the welcoming desk , Rita Casimir, Parvati Menon and Edith Mayer Wallin are receiving us and registering us with a great smile.

As it is tradition for the coffee morning of February, the Permanent Mission of Switzerland offered this event on 2nd

February. Our Honorary President, Mrs Nicole Fasel-Rossier made us the pleasure of her presence. Our deepest thanks to her as well as to Stephanie Guidi, Jacqueline Parpayouné-Gayard, Pascale Fontaine and Patricia Losio. Mrs Fasel-Rossier introduced the speaker, Mrs Viktoria Kurt from “Union Fribourgeoise du Tourisme” who present-ed the city and the canton of Fribourg. This presentation will certainly have led a number of members to consider visiting this part of Switzerland.

We gave a special round of applause to Luzia Sebesta Schmid, absent abroad, for the organization of the February coffee morning since 2013. She chooses every year an interesting thema and an excellent speaker for this meeting. She also coordinates the preparation of the buffet, which is made of a diversity of Swiss specialities offered by the Swiss members of the Guild. The February coffee morning is meant to thank the permanent missions in Geneva for their participation in and contribution to the Bazaar in the previous fall. This year we extended the invitationo not only to the staff members who had worked at the Bazaar, but also to the spouses of the permanent representatives. There was a good response, which shows how committed those ladies are to the success of our Bazaar.

Mrs Andrea Vazquez de D’Alotto, Chairwoman of the Bazaar 2015, and Mrs Eleonora Lucangeli Serra, Co-Chairwoman, were attending. We thank them very much for their inspired and motivating leadership. Our gratitude goes as well to all other members of the Bazaar Committee. Their hard work, autonomous but coordinated, in har-mony and dialogue, is the cement and concrete that makes the Bazaar a challenge we can take up. On that occa-sion Ms Vazquez de D’Alotto mentioned that Mrs Lucangeli Serra had accepted to be the Bazaar Chairwoman for 2016. The UNWG winter exhibition at WIPO started on Tuesday, 16th February at 18:00 with the opening ceremony pre-sided by Mr Francis Gurry, WIPO’s Director General. Manila Paktian, our Vice-President - Activities, acted as the master of ceremonies. For the organisation of the exhibition she had been able to count on Zoubida Franzoni’s ex-pert collaboration. I thank thanks both for making this artistic event a success once more. I assume that most of you visited that exhibition to honour the talent of our artists, possibly also to buy some of the works, thus contrib-uting to the funding of our programme of scholarships.

Marie Claire De Stickere very kindly offered to take responsibility for the organisation of our spring exhibition of art and handicraft, to be seen from 9

th to 26

th May at the Mezzanine, in Building E of the Palais des Nations.

The welcoming event for the members who joined the Guild since October 2015 will take place at the Villa in March at a date to be announced soon.

A special thank to Sybil De Peic and Fatma Ezzat for the hard work they have accomplished to update our entire database on membership. This huge task took at least thirty full days of work. It had to be done because there were too many erroneous data, too many complains from members who were not included in the repertory or were not registered with correct names or addresses. This was a heavy process but I am sure that we shall all benefit from it very soon. I also wish to thank the volunteers who gave a hand to Sybil and Fatma. You will have noticed that the membership card 2016 is printed in colour and can be inserted at the back of the UNOG badge. We ask you to pre-sent both to your teachers and when you will come to our coffee mornings. For those who do not have a UNWG badge, please do present each time your membership card. We need candidates for the offices within the Executive Committee to be filled by election at the next General As-sembly. Your goodwill, your experience, your talents, your energy and your commitment would be most appreciat-ed. Time is flying; please do contact the members of the Nominating Committee for an interview: Gertrud Attar, Beverley Antille and Elisabeth Kamdem Bukam

Warmest regards Christine Evéquoz

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March The coffee morning on Tuesday 1 March will be kindly hosted by the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the UN and UNWG members in the presence of Her Excellencvy Ms Suraya Dalil., Permanent Representa-tive of Afghanistan to UNOG. Time: 9.30am - 11.30am Place: Building A, Hall 14 access by Door 15, downstairs under Assembly Hall, Palais des Nations, Bus: 8,28,F,V,Z Stop: Appia Cost: CHF3 members only April On Tuesday 12 April, the coffee morning will be kindly hosted by the Association of Wives of African Ambassadors in Geneva led by Mme Diana Saran Diakite. This coffee morning is exceptionally held on the second Tuesday of the month.. Time: 9.30am - 11.30am Place: UN, Porte 39, Bar Escargot Bus: 8,28,F,V,Z Stop: Appia Cost: CHF3 members only For all Coffee Mornings, please present to our Welcoming team, when paying the fee, your 2016 mem-bership card together with your badge. For more details contact: Carmen Falaize (Hospitality) or Peta Girod (Welcome). Their contact details may be found in the Guild Members‘ Directory

Monthly Coffee Mornings

Thank you to all the UNWG members who kindly hosted the January Coffee Morning. It was wonderful to welcome in the New Year together and to catch up with friends. We were also privileged to have Mme Caroline Eichenberger Fuhrer, Director of CAMARADA as our guest speaker. As is UNWG tradition, February’s Coffee Morning was kindly hosted by the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN and its members led by Mme Nicole Fasel-Rossier. This meeting was well attended by 120 members. The table were beautifully decorated and brimming with delightful refresh-ments contributed by the Swiss members of the Guild. The guest speaker was Mme Victoria Kurt from the Fribourg Tourist Board. The talk was insightful and most appreciated by all.

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MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2015-16

Manila Paktian

Vice-President for Activities

Ghazala Syeddah Nayyar

Education Sibyl de Peic

Membership Secretary

Nora Ministris

French Recording Secretary

Catherine d’Arcangues Vice-President for Projects

Lib- by

McCutchan

English Recording Secretary

Fatma El Zahraa Kamal

Co-Membership Secretary

Carmen Falaize

Hospitality

Farida Serir

French Newsletter Editor

Vacant Position

Co-Treasurer

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Christine Evèquoz President

Karen Rowland English Newsletter Editor

Diane Vergnaud

Treasurer

Peta Girod

Welcoming

Genevieve Auroi

Public Relations

Latifa Amine Visits & Culture

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The association ‘Lectures partagées’ (‘Shared reading’) was created in 2006 to contribute to the improvement of the lives of marginalized communities, particularly in Latin America, by facilitating their access to reading and information, factors that are essential to development and to responsible citizen participation. In 2012, it launched a new project: to create a reading network in six villages around La Florida, Nariño department, in the south-west part of Colombia. In each village, reading spaces were arranged and equipped with books, games and toys; teachers received the tools neces-sary for their administration and the facilitation of activities, as well as equipment to allow their networking. First results are very encouraging. In total, over 500 children, adolescents and adults are regular users of these reading spaces. They come alone or with their family, to read or play, borrow material, use computers and internet, make photocopies, take music lessons, among other fun and recreational activities. Over 30 volunteers manage these spaces on a daily basis. The Office for Culture of the Nariño department committed to support this project in the future, this will gradually make the project sustainable. The funds provided by the Guild in 2014 were used for the manufacture of wooden shelves by a local carpenter.

Our Projects Throughout the World

Promoting reading in Colombia

Report by Vice President-Projects, Catherine d’Arcangues

The joy of reading (above and right)

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All over the world, the care of autistic children is a great challenge and Yemen is no exception. In 2012, a new charity, the Hadhramout Center for Autism, was created in Al-Mukalla, along the coast of the Arabian Sea. It is the only center of its kind in the Hadhramout province which counts over one million people. It provides comprehensive care for children and young adults with special needs, family counselling and support services for those living in poverty, community awareness and advocacy, and training to increase the capacity of its staff. UNWG support helped the centre create and equip a sensory room. Most children with autism have problems with social interaction, communication and imagination and they feel very isolated. Many have difficulty making sense of their environment. They can be hyper- or hypo-sensitive with any of the five senses. At the same time, autism is a spectrum affecting every person differently so that an individualized approach to therapy is essential. The sensory room is a vital tool in the treatment of sen-sory disorders. It helps the children with attention issues and hyperactivity to learn, it increases their sensory awareness and motor skills and it improves their ability to express their emotions.

Our Projects Throughout the World

Autistic children in Yemen

Report by Vice President-Projects, Catherine d’Arcangues

Sensory learning (above and right)

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Project Completion Report

On behalf of the Hadhramout Center for Autism, I would like to thank you for your generous donation. Your contributions makes it possible for us to contribute into our mission achievement. The sensory room Sensory Equipment is a vital tool in helping to treat a variety of sensory disorders in both adults and children. The project enabled us:

To help the children with attention issues and hyperactivity to learn; • Encourage the children to pay attention and build on their concentration; • Facilitate the therapy process by providing a room for active children; • Increase the sensory awareness and body stability.

It enabled us to prepare Hadhramout Center for Autism give guidance on changes that can be made to a space, be it one room or a whole building, that will benefit children and adults with autism or Asperger syn-drome. This is an introduction to the difficulties that people with autism face, how they are affected by their environment, and how different environments can be adapted to make them less confusing or challen-ging.

Autism is a serious, lifelong condition. People with autism can find it incredibly hard to make sense of the world. Everyday life can be confusing, meaningless or even frightening. Understanding and communicating with other people is particularly difficult, which can leave people very isolated. People with autism have difficulties with social interaction, social communication and social imagination, sometimes known as the triad of impair-ments. Because autism is a spectrum condition, it affects every person in a different way and people will ex-perience different degrees of difficulty.

Many children whith autism have sensory sensitivity. This can affect one or more of the five senses sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. A person's senses can be over-developed (hypersensitive) or under-developed (hyposensitive). Both can have an impact on how people experience, and cope with, different environments. For example, a person with autism may find certain background sounds, which other people ignore or block out, unbearably loud or distracting. This can cause anxiety or even physical pain. People who are hyposensitive, meanwhile, may not feel pain or extremes of temperature. Hadhramout Center for Autism talk about a number of different strategies for making environment and surroundings more autism-friendly. Not every person with autism will need all the strategies covered here, and attempting to modify every aspect of a particular environment would be unrealistic. However, under-standing how different environments may affect different people with autism can help to make the world a more accessible place for them.

It has given opportunities for the children whith autism to participate in educational and social activities. These activities have helped improve their motor skills and the ability to express their emotions.

The young adults have become more aware of their environment through these activities. Improvements in computer skills and other vocational skills is noticed. The teenagers that were involved in the project gained progress in several aspects.

The young boys and girls of Hadhramout Center for Autism extend their sincere gratitude for your support and kindness.

Project Completion Report from Hadramout Center for Autism

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UNWG Annual General Assembly will be held on Friday 27 May 2016 Time and Venue to be confirmed

THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE 2016

Gertrud Attar (Chairwoman): gertrat@bluewin.ch Beverley Antille: 022 758 22 72

Elisabeth Kandem: elisibethkamdemb@hotmail.com

The Nominating Committee welcomes applications for the following posts which will become vacant at the end of June 2016.

Please send us a short curriculum vitae if you are interested in filling any of these posts:

President Shall act as the UNWG Geneva representative at all activities appertaining to the Guild within the UN community and the wider Geneva community. She shall preside at all meetings, shall chair the Executive Committee, and be member ex-officio of all Standing Com-mittees with the right to vote. At the Annual General Assembly she shall present a report on the year’s activities. The President signs all minutes of meetings of the Executive Committee after adoption, and must initial any alterations made. She shall sign occasional letters of congratulations and condolence. She signs all letters of acceptance and refusal of assistance which are presented to her by the Vice-President Pro-jects. She signs the final letter when sending the donation. She should prepare an annual report or summary of Geneva activities for the UNWG – New York for subsequent publication by them.

Vice-President Activities In the absence of the President, the Vice-President must act on her behalf. Assist the President in all her duties.

Co-Treasurer Works closely with the Treasurer. Recording Secretary (English) Attends all meetings of the Executive Committee and takes minutes. Drafts the Agenda for EC meetings. Drafts the Annual Report and prepares the Annual General Assembly.

Newsletter Editor (English) English mother tongue and good knowledge of French required. Computer skills imperative. Collects information from group leaders regarding any changes. Prepares and ensures delivery of the newsletter every 2 months Liaises with the appropriate team for uploading the newsletter on the UNWG website and for the distribution of the newsletter.

Monthly Meeting Prepares each monthly meeting by arranging for a speaker to address the meeting (or must delegate another person to do this). Ensures that the theme for the presentation is approved by the Executive Committee.

Visits and Culture Arranges each month a meeting or a visit of cultural interest for the members interested. The approval of the President or of the EC has to be obtained before preparing the event.

Welcoming Works closely with the Hospitality team to prepare the Coffee Morning. Welcomes new members. Is responsible for the collection of attendance fees at Coffee Mornings.

Contact: Gertrud Attar (Chairwoman): gertrat@bluewin.ch Beverley Antille: 022 758 22 72 Elisabeth Kandem: elisibethkamdemb@hotmail.com

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Cookery Club

Tuesday 15 March: Fete de la Tulipe in Morges

Thursday 19 April: The Salt Mines at Bex

Sign up for visits will held at the March and April Coffee Mornings. Alternatively, contact Latifa by email or by telephone.

Visits & Culture

Organiser: Latifa Amine latifaamine@hotmail.com/076 568 18 75

Cookery Club

Organiser: Ilona Mercz ilonamercz@yahoo.com/078 685 35 66

There is no Cookery Club in March due to closure of the Villa for the

Easter break.

On Friday 29 April, Cam Hang Tran will present specialities from her

home country, Vietnam.

Time: 14h00 Place: Villa Les Feuillantines Bus: 5,8,22,28, F, V, Z

Tram: 15 Bus & Tram stop: Nations Fee: CHF5

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On Friday 18 March at 2pm in the Villa, we shall be discussing our book of the month: The Heart Of A Dog by Mikhaïl Boulgakov One evening in Moscow on his way back home, the renowned sur-geon, professor Filip Filippovitch, encounters a starving, mistreated mongrel street dog. It's a Godsend for the professor who wants to carry out an audacious experiment by transplanting the pituitary gland of a freshly dead human to a dog's brain. The result is astounding. The dog becomes a man with a foul vocabulary, a thug, an alcoholic and a petty thief like the deceased he is replacing.

On Friday 29 April at 2pm in the Villa, we shall be discussing our book of the month: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin The stories take place in the 1970s. It's a collection of eight linked short stories set in

Pakistan. It follows the lives of the wealthy renowned, K.K. Harouni, his family, his friends, his entourage and his staff. The author describes the privileged life of rich Pakistanis, in contrast to their poor peasants, servants and clerks, the lack of job security and government corruption. In each story we invade the intimacy of a master or a subordinate, what the author metaphorically calls: "another room", in order to discover a new aspect of someone's life or perhaps even unearth: "another wonder".

You can read about the books we have previously reviewed and discussed in our monthly Book Club meetings. Also you can view

the list of books we will be reading and discussing in the coming months, at my website: http://www.1stbookreview.com All the best, Chouhrette

Book Club

Organiser: Chouhrette Bunzl chouhrette@hotmail.com/022 752 11 04

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LANGUAGES

Time Language Group Leader

Mon

09h30-11h00

Arabic French Intermediate & Advanced

Heba Mamish Room 1

10h00-11h30 German Beginners A1 Beate Boehm

11h00-12h30 Arabic French Beginners

Heba Mamish Room 1

13h30-15h30

French B1 Hassiba Oulhaci Room 3

13h30-15h30

French A2 Nadia Mehdi Room 2

14h00-15h30 15h30-17h00

French A1 Farida Serir Room 1

Tue

09h30-11h30 French Conversation Maryse Nicora

10h30-12h00 English Beginner Karen Ransome Room 1

14h30-16h00 Spanish Intermediate Doris Murillo Room 2

Wed

11h00-12h30 Spanish Beginners Connie Castrillon Pilo-Pais Room 2

14h00-15h30 Japanese Kyoko Ohkawa Room 2

Thu

09h30 - 11h30 German First hour Intermediate Second hour Beginners

Michaela Hajnoczi Room 2

13h00-14h30 Intermediate English

Bilqueece Alimohamed Room 2

Fri 10h30-12h30 English Conversation Bertha Dubois

Room 3

Please refer to your copy of the Membership Directory for teachers’ contact details To be eligible to register for any course or activity,

you must show your current membership card upon registration. Bus: 5, 8, 22, 28, F, V, Z Tram: 15 Bus & Tram stop: Nations

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Day Time Activity Group leader

Tue

13h45-17h00 Open Bridge at ILO Eda Bankowski Imogen Lewis

14h00-16h00 Handicraft & Quilting Manila Paktian Room 3

Wed

09h00 onwards Hiking Mahroughe Mary Kazazi Denise Maertens

Edith Mayer Wallin

10h15-11h30 Pilates at ITU Sibyl de Peic

1st, 2nd and 4th Wed

of the month 10h00-12h30

Painting & Artistic Techniques

Chantal Andersen Room 3

12h30-16h30 Mah Jong Chantal Andersen Room 1

Thu

09h30-13h30 Social Bridge Rosaleen Nassif Room 1

14h00-15h00 Pilates at ITU Sibyl de Peic

Fri

09h30-10h30 Fitness Training at WHO

Cornelia Schenck

3rd Fri of the month 09h30-11h30

Jewellery Making Nouzha Ottmani-Mersaoui Room 3

Last Fri of the month

14h00-16h00

Cooking Ilona Mercz Room 3

Last Fri of the month

14h00 - 16h00

Book Club Chouhrette Bunzl Room 3

Please refer to your copy of the Members' Directory

for teachers’ contact details.

ACTIVITIES

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UN Art and Crafts Exhibition

at the Palais des Nations

To all members : Our next Arts & Crafts Exhibition at the UN will be held from Tuesday 10 until Thursday 26 May inclusive.

You may already wish to jot down the date of the opening ceremony in your agenda: Monday 9 May at 6pm.

We are looking forward to meeting you all there!

To the artists: Participation is open to all UNWG members who have paid their 2016 membership fee. Come and join us and take advantage of this unique opportunity to show your artistic talent and craftsmanship. Subscription forms will be available at the Villa Les Feuillantines or can be asked by mail at destickere@wanadoo.fr.

Subscription fee: CHF30 on presentation of your UNWG membership card, on the selection day of the artwork.

Deadline for subscription: please return your subscription form before 24 March 2016.

For more information contact: Marie Claire De Stickere 0033 963 401 476 destickere@wanadoo.fr

Save-The-Date: Tuesday 10 May

UNWG Annual Lunch The Guest of Honour at the Annual Lunch will be Mme Fabiola Gianotti. Dr Gianotti was the first woman to be appointed as Director-General for CERN on 1 January 2016. Dr Gianotti is the author or co-author of more than 500 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. She has given more than 30 invited plenary talks at the major interna-tional conferences in the field. She has been a member of several international committees, such as the Scientific Coun-cil of the CNRS (France), the Physics Advisory Committee of the Fermilab Laboratory (USA), the Council of the European Physical Society, the Scientific Council of the DESY Laboratory (Germany), and the Scientific Advisory Committee of NIKHEF (Netherlands). She is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the UN Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-Moon. Included among the “Top 100 most inspirational women” by The Guardian newspaper (UK, 2011), Dr Gianotti was ranked 5th in Time magazine’s Personality of the Year (USA, 2012), was included among the “Top 100 most influential women” by Forbes magazine (USA, 2013) and was classed among the “Leading Global Thinkers of 2013” by Foreign Policy magazine (USA, 2013).

Notices

Dr Fabiola Gianotti

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The Villa will be closed on the following dates: Friday 25 March Good Friday Monday 28 March Easter Monday Thursday 5 May Ascension Monday 16 May Pentecost

CONTRIBUTION DEADLINE for May/June newsletter

Please submit photos in .jpg format only and written text in both English and French in Word

format only, for editing purposes.

Email to newsletter@unwg.ch by

FRIDAY 8 APRIL 2016

All information received after this date will appear in the following edition.

Thank you for your kind understanding! You are reminded to bring your 2016 membership card

together with your badge to all UNWG led courses, events and activities as well as to our coffee mornings.

2016 membership cards can be processed only on Monday mornings at the Villa from 09h30-11h30 or exceptionally by appointment with Sibyl De Peic

at membership@unwg.ch or by phone.

Sibyl will issue a 2016 membership card and UNOG application form as long as all requested documents are

duly completed and presented together with payment slip, ID or photocopy of Carte de Legitimation or any

equivalent. Please contact Sibyl if you have any queries.

CONTACTS

President: president@unwg.ch Newsletter: newsletter@unwg.ch Vice-President activities: activity@unwg.ch Public Relations: public.relations@unwg.ch Vice-President projects: project@unwg.ch Recording Secretaries: secretary@unwg.ch Treasurers: treasurer@unwg.ch Hospitality: hospitality@unwg.ch Membership: membership@unwg.ch Monthly Meetings: monthly.meeting@unwg.ch Education: education@unwg.ch

Editor’s Messages

No Cookery Club in March. No Monthly Meetings in March and April

****UPDATES to Language Course & Activities*** Monday afternoon French A1 class with Farida Serir: Her students should contact Farida for details of this course. 3rd Wednesday of the week Painting class is can-celled due to non-availability of teacher. Thursday English Conversation class with Chris McLean is cancelled. We urgently need the following teachers: A native French speaker to teach French beginners; A native English speaker to teach English conversation; A native Italian speaker to teach Italian beginners and a teacher to teach Bridge for beginners. A teacher for bridge—beginners. Contact: Ghazala Syeddah Nayyar.