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MIDDLE EAST REGION

Short History

Interest in the small eastern catholic Guides communities was born very early on thanks to the good relations that the Guides of France had with some Middle Eastern Associations. The leaders in Europe helped to establish a real regional life.

In 1973 a meeting was organised in Beirut with the participation of 40 people who were so enthusiastic that they proposed to continue the meetings until 1975, when the war in Lebanon forced the CICG to reduce its activities in the region.
In 1983, Francoise Parmentier was elected to the Secretariat of the CICG and in charge of the Middle East Region, and she set about re-establishing links.
In 1992, a Regional Team was set up under the leadership of Françoise Parmentier and in 1994 the team was made up of local leaders, although no Middle East Guide Association was a member of the CICG at that time.
In 2000, the Guides du Liban became the first official member of the CICG in the Middle East Region.

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Regional Meetings

  • January 1973, Beirut (Hôtel Normandy): Forty participants from groups from Cairo, Alexandria, Damascus, Aleppo, the Guides du Liban, two Italians, one French participant and a Belgian participant. The theme was: "Guiding, a factor for the development of people and communities".

  • September 1978, Cairo: Twenty- five Guide leaders, nuns and chaplains from all over Egypt.The theme was: "The role of chaplain in training Guide leaders and the development of Guiding among Catholics in Egypt, in order to best serve the Church and Egyptian society".

  • July 1985: Thanks to the hospitality of the Guides of Cyprus, a regional meeting was held at the Ecumenical Conference Centre in Ayia Napa. Twenty people attended, coming from Aleppo and Damascus in Syria, as well as Lebanon and Egypt.

  • July 1985, Cyprus: Twenty participants from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt discussed the Christian faith and methods of faith education, the role of women in their society and that which the Girl Guide educational project offered them and relations between Christians and Muslims.

  • Summer 1988, Parakopi, Greece: Thirteen participants discussed the theme of "Being a female Christian Guide leader in the Middle East: Challenges, risks, benefits and advantages".

  • August 1991, Lebanon: 100 Guide leaders from various countries in the Middle East attended to "plant a Cedar of peace". This camp had been prepared during the meeting in Slenfé (Aleppo) in 1990.

  • June 1994: Ten-day subregional camp in Lebanon for 50 young people aged 16-17 from Aleppo and Jordan. Its theme was "Together let us travel the roads of the world".

  • September 1994: A meeting entitled "The Changed Woman"; ("La Dame changée") brought together 100 Guide leaders from Aleppo (Syria) to help them establish, deepen and discover its Christian roots. Heads of associations from Aleppo, Damascus and Lebanon had prepared this camp over four training days at Pentecost 1994.

  • February 1995: 90 Guide leaders from Damascus and Aleppo met for three days of personal and pedagogical training "Love and you will see the unseen"

  • August 1995: Training camp for 100 Guide leaders in Madaba
    (Jordan), based on the same idea of discovering the specific realities of each region by seeking Christian roots in the ground of the Middle East: "Looking back on our history, let us drink the future"

  • February 1996: Training camp in Aleppo (Syria) for 100 Guide leaders aged 19-23 from Damascus and Aleppo. The theme was "Listen to your heart, or you will only hear the murmur of words" and called on participants to pause for a moment, in an existence that was often haracterised by urgency and the tendency not to stop for fear of being arrested.

  • April 1996: Four-day training camp in Madaba for 20 Guide leaders from Jordan.

  • August 1996: Training session on pedagogy and Girl Guide spirituality for members of the Egyptian Catholic Guide Committee in Alexandria.

  • February 1997: Training camp for 20 Egyptian Guide leaders in Upper Egypt, in a small village that was at high risk of attack, but was the reality for these Guide leaders.

  • August 1999: Regional camp in Faraya (Lebanon), for 40 Guide leaders and the heads of the age groups in four countries. Its theme was "Someone is waiting for you to go further".

  • July 2001, Achkout (Lebanon): Camp for 50 Guide leaders and junior commissioners from Jordan Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, in tents. Its theme was "Behold, I send you into the world".

  • January 2002, Cairo: Three-day meeting for 25 Guide from Upper Egypt, Cairo and Alexandria. Its theme was "You are a woman and a gift"

  • November 2003, Amman (Jordan) and January 2004, Cairo (Egypt): Two three-day training camps on communication, each attended by 30 Guide leaders.

  • July 2007, Jordan: Regional camp for 54 participants including 10 Guides from Palestine. "How to walk the path of the Lord despite today's challenges..."

  • July 2008, Syria: Regional camp on "Let us unite in love... and spread our colours" for 50 participants.

  • 2010: Training camp for Egyptian Guide leaders entitled "Belonging" -focus on Catholic identity and reading the Gospel

  • 2010, Rayfoun (Lebanon): Regional training camp on the theme of "Let us sow the seeds of hope".

  • July 2013, Lebanon: Regional training meeting with Lebanese,
    Jordanian and Egyptian Guides on the theme "The road to peace passes through faith".

  • January 2015, Cairo: Training meeting for Guide leaders from Cairo and the uplands. Its theme was "Let us overcome our fears through our convictions and our Christian faith!" Around 30 participants and the Middle East regional team participated.

Gallery

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