Soroptimist day in Tajbe

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On the evening of Thursday 10th of December, the rain poured, lightening hardly lightened the sky and the thunder threatened to deafen us but between times 75 ladies from the clubs of Givatayim, Hasharon, Hofit, Netanya, Ramat Gan, Rehovot, Rishon Le Zion and Tel Aviv, made the effort and joined the Taibe Club of Soroptimist to celebrate Soroptimist Day. The Taibe club was founded in 1988 under the presidency of Esther Avinion and the Charter was presented by Marie Jeanne Bosia as the SI/E President. Though Marie Jeanne could not be with us, Esther came with her husband the classical Sorop"mister" and she had the honor of lighting one of the candles at the Candle lighting ceremony.


The "sisters" of Taibe received us very warmly at the Senior Citizens Center and we thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful ethnic foods they prepared for us. After we had eaten our fill, we sat down to listen to greetings by the Mayor, Salach Gabara. He told us of the plans for development of Taibe and about the Senior Citizens Home that was about to be built for more than 500 elderly people and the work for the unemployed that this would bring to Taibe. He praised the voluntary work being done by the Taibe club and at the end of his greetings promised a grant of 5,000 Shekel (1,000 Euros) towards the activities of the club.

Hava Inbar our President, was happy to greet the big crowd of local citizens and our members and hoped that the club would gain more members because of the great work they are doing.

Hanan Nashaf, the club president, gave us an extremely interesting summary of the great many tasks the Taibe Sorops fulfil and we can be very proud of their effort in every field of endeavour.

The sociologist, Mazan Abu Ita, gave a lecture: The Position of Arab Women in Society and in the State of Israel. The lecture was a thought provoking study of the inferior position still held by the majority of Arab women. It reminded me of the position held by women in Israel and elsewhere about 50 years ago when the men had to be educated to accept women as their equals. But the struggle for equality in the community is ongoing although the Arab women are still far more discriminated against in home and in the workplace. The Soroptimist members of Taibe hold positions within the educational, health and social services and it is they who are leading the women's upward social mobility and status. If they do only that, apart from all their other good works, they have done a great deal!

The entertainment was also very special. A male dance group presented Arab dances in the Debka style and a young girl who only started to play the violin six months ago gave a fine rendition of Arab folk tunes. When she played the songs of the "Arab Elvis Presley" the Taibe women joined in with the words.

We had to catch buses and trains otherwise we could have spent much longer creating closer ties with our Soroptimist sisters in Taibe. It was a very successful evening altogether.

Sylvia Flowers, Israel