Hanayna Social Network

Annual Beit Hanina Conference.

Salam all,

When I was living in California, I had a friend from BirZeit village, and during the 6 years living in the states, every single year, my friend used to take few days vacation to attend BirZeit annual conference.

Basically, BirZeit community is doing this every year in a certain place, sometimes is LA, Chicago, Amman and I think last year it was in BirZeit itself.

I was saying to myself why we don't do something like this. It is very simple, all we need is to have a committee responsible for planning such an event.

I don't want to make this look simple, but it is really simple, think of it as just another wedding but the invitation is extended to all Hanayna all over the world.

Trust me on this, it is really simple if we really love our town. I know that this might be too late for this year, but look, I know that many many Hanayna are visiting beit hanina this year.

Anyway, lets open this for brain storming here.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Samia Taher Farraj on May 25, 2009 at 8:23am: That's a wonderful idea, Mahdi!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Naseer Abboushi on May 25, 2009 at 10:47am: Mahdi,

We used to do this. I remember my Dad going to Detroit in the late 80s and my uncle was one of the leaders in 1991. This was called Jamiat Beit Haniana. I beleive that this group long with other Jamiat (other towns) formed the Palestinian American Congress. Their annual conference was in Chicago last a few days ago.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mahdi A. Sbeih on May 26, 2009 at 5:28am: Naseer,

You are saying that we used to do this, but we want to start doing this again. Here is what I am thinking about for the first conference:

- first conference should be in Beit Hanina at summer time.
- It just like a big haneene wedding, but it will have activities such as dabka, wearing traditional dresses.
- we will have some kind of story telling segments. For example older people will tell stories for kids about our history.
- dinner night where we bring traditional food.
- kids program.

I am sure this can be successful, all what it needs is planning.

Salam
Mahdi; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by nada sbeih on May 26, 2009 at 6:13am: Hi Mahdi, i totally agree with you. It would be nice to bring back the good old times, but the question is, where would this be held at? you need a plan for all this, without a plan it's never gonna get done. Especially that we have very few hanayna that live here..

Mahdi A. Sbeih said:
Naseer,

You are saying that we used to do this, but we want to start doing this again. Here is what I am thinking about for the first conference:

- first conference should be in Beit Hanina at summer time.
- It just like a big haneene wedding, but it will have activities such as dabka, wearing traditional dresses.
- we will have some kind of story telling segments. For example older people will tell stories for kids about our history.
- dinner night where we bring traditional food.
- kids program.

I am sure this can be successful, all what it needs is planning.

Salam
Mahdi; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mahdi A. Sbeih on May 26, 2009 at 6:21am: Nada,

Lets first create the momentum here and see how all Hanayna react to the idea. And yes, we need a plan. I see Hanayna on this site who are very active and am sure some are willing to lead such a project.

Salam; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Samia Taher Farraj on May 26, 2009 at 11:49am: Inshallah, I am planning to go next year to the blad with my kids. It would have to be between late May and early August. I will attend the conference!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by steve aziz on May 29, 2009 at 3:25pm: I think the first Annual Beit Hanina Conference Should be held in beit Hanina it self, Since Many Hanini People have not been there in a While...... I say Do it, It would be fun to see every hanini from all over the world to be in beit hanina at the same time.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by shaker mohammad seifden abdallah on July 18, 2009 at 8:42am: If its in beit hanina then count me in; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mahdi A. Sbeih on July 19, 2009 at 12:19am: The first one - i think - must be in Beit Hanina. The purpose of this discussion to create awareness about this idea so at some point later this year, we will have to start planning.

I don't want to make it look simple, but it should be that hard, it is like preparing for a wedding.

Shaker, of course you MUST be in ;-); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mousa M. Shouman on July 29, 2009 at 3:01pm: Salam to all,

Recommend to have the 1st convention in Beit Hanina (BH),

It needs good planning,

Recommend year 2010 for this, and request to formulate a committee basically in BH, and request one nominee from each large gathering, eg. one member from Clevlad, one from NY...ETC.

Thanks; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nazem Abdelfattah on August 6, 2009 at 10:47am: Hi Mahdi, this is Nazem Abdelfattah. I think an annual Beit Hanina conference is a great idea. If you are going to do the first one in Beit Hanina itself it should be in the summer since that is when most hanayna travel to Palestine. After that having it in different American cities would be nice too but that would require a lot of planning and work and notificationof all hanayna especially the ones in Cleveland, Detroit, New York and California. Sound like FUN.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mahdi A. Sbeih on August 6, 2009 at 11:56am: Hi Nazem,

I don't want to make it sound simple, but it is just like planning for a wedding. I agree with you that first one should be in Beit Hanina and next one maybe it should be in Cleveland.

Many towns are doing this for many many years, so this should encourage us to do the same. Towns that I know of are Bir Zeit and Deer Debwaan and many others.

We need to establish trust and relationship between all Hanayna and I think this web site is the first step. This web site will be the main communication channel for the annual conference.

Cheers.
Mahdi; ▶ Reply to This