A Christmas to remember

The 24th of December was to be our Christmas celebration this year.

We started our celebration on the 23rd of December by making Christmas candies with our friends and their children. It was fun and it set many things into motion.

First of all a Greenlandic journalist came to visit and asked us: "Can a Baha´'í family celebrate Christmas?"
We answered by telling him that this year we would celebrate Christmas with a Turkish Muslim family and our foster daughter who is Christian. We cannot celebrate Christmas as christians do, since we are not christians, but we can celebrate the spirit of Christmas, with giftgiving, with showing our friends and families love and respect and last but not least, we can show our respects to our cultural/ religious heritage.

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with a halal butchered turkey and lots of danish goodies and a beautiful story called the "Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstone. We sang and we laughed, it was great fun. We sang the hymn "Dejlig er jorden" which is Steen's grandparents favourite hymn, which is sung at all of our family gatherings. All in all, it was a spiritual, cultural and wonderful evening for all of us!

I hope that all of my family had just as wonderful evening as we had in Nuuk!

Dance project in Greenland

In October we produced a dance project called "The Husband's daughter and the Wife´s daughter". It was a great sucess! The children loved it and the grown-ups loved it.

It was also a wonderful experience to work with such talented people as Anna Maria Häkkinen and Kouame Sereba. Check out NAPA's homepage and see pictures. www.napa.gl

National Rural Health Conference in Alaska

I was in Alaska for a week during May. I did a poster presentation on pregnancy and women in Greenland. It was well received and I am planning on going to the next conference in Arizona in 2008.

Commission on the Status of Women NY 2007

Background

From the 23^rd of February until the 9^th of March, the United Nations was host for The Working Group on Women and the CSW. This is a permanent commission under the UN, which purpose is to look at the status of women as it develops, for better and for worse!

Bahá’í International Community in New York, has status as a Permanent NGO and is represented at the UN. In connection with this year’s CSW, the National Assemblies of the Bahá’ís throughout the world were asked to send a representative to the 51^st Session of the Commission on the Status on Women.

After it was decided that I should represent Greenland at the CSW, Steen and I decided that it would be the perfect excuse to visit with my family at the same time.

Copenhagen

I spent two days in Copenhagen before leaving for the U.S. I spent the time at Jørn and Sif’s home and enjoyed two wonderful days with them. I also met my Turkish friend’s family in Rødøvre. Aykut and Pinar’s family welcomed me into their homes and I found space in my heart for a new family!

Austin

Grace and Mark were so kind as to let me stay at their home in Austin. I cannot describe how wonderful it was to see Mama, Grace, Mark, Amanda, Curtis and Natascha together in Austin. The weather was perfect and the company wonderful. Grace had off one of the days and Mama, Grace and I had a wonderful time together. Mark, Mama and I had an afternoon together also in the city. That was fun too.

On Ash Wednesday we went to Mass together and that was very wonderful, since I haven’t been to Ash Wednesday Mass for many years. It was beautiful and the sermon was wonderful.

The 5 days in Austin passed quickly and it was a little sad to have to say goodbye to all of them on Friday the 23^rd of February 2007.

New York

My arrival in New York was wonderful with fresh cold air and sunshine. The CSW conference was a fantastic experience and the people that I meet were unbelievable. I truly enjoyed talking to the women from all over the world.

I also enjoyed the luxury of talking to my Tio Lester almost every day. I talked to Tia Ana once and to her answering machine several times.

The last five days, I spent in the fantastic company of my Cousins Marvin and Lisa (Marvin’s wonderful wife) We had a great time together and I felt like it was only yesterday we had been together last time, but in fact, it had been over 20 years ago.

We were out eating at different restaurants, we went out and heard Jazz and generally had a good time. Marvin and I took the time to catch up on family and friends. What a treat! Time flew and before I knew it, the three weeks were gone and I was on my way back to Greenland.

Thank you

It was wonderful to have time to see all of my family. I would like to thank you all for you love, your support, and your hospitality. It was wonderful to be with you and to feel welcome.

Love to all of you

Ruthi