El Funoun Scotland presented on February 26th 2011 a very successful Palestinian
cultural evening as part of the pre-event Edinburgh Middle East Festival of
Spirituality. The five participants in this event: Pat Smith, Anita Shanley, Davie
Gordon, Nada Shawa and Philip Chetwynd presented poems, stories and photos
which enlightened the audience of life in 19th C and early 20th Palestine.

Pat introduced the show and read poems of Mahmood Darwish and other
Palestinian poets. Anita told the story of the Arafat family (mercantile merchants)
in Nablus and surrounds; Gordon told the story of the Damiani family in Jaffa
and related their tribulations as they were forced to leave property and home to
flee to Beirut for their safety (taken from Robert Fisk's 'Pity the Nation'. Nada
drew a picture for us of her & her family's life in Gaza and subsequently in Scotland.
Phillip's presentation of pictures to liven and augment the narratives contributed to
a very informative and interesting evening.

The evening proved to be a wonderful cultural evening with everybody enjoyed
Palestinian music and food. Special thanks go to Che for their delicious falafel, to
Myles for his superb hummos and Kathleen for her donation of baklawa.

Thanks also go to Kathleen Gibb and Runa Mckay for their hard work on preparing
and serving refreshments and to Gordon Davie for his help in putting up the exhibit
of Windows and Doors of Jerusalem donated by Moira Brown.

No evening is complete without the beautiful embroidery of the Hadeel stall, administered
by the most efficient and elegantly dressed in an outstandingly embroidered jacket
Margaret Mungavin.