On the day of 30th of May 2019, we gathered together with our dear fellows and families to celebrate a fasting night and remember the values of a holy month called Ramadan that is very important in Islam faith.
The organization took place at Royal Palace Banquet Hall and the guests started to take their seats from 7:30 pm. The program then started at 8:00 pm with Halim Yildirim’s introduction of special guests and the program. Celal Unver, the President of Intercultural Dialogue Institute Center, made a speech on the main pillars of the Hizmet movement and the significance of such gatherings. After Unver’s speech, our keynote speaker Doug Longstaffe, Adjunct Professor at Vancouver School of Theology, made his keynote speech about “Family of Families: Sharing the House of Vancouver”. In his speech he concentrated on exploring conscious and unconscious drivers of interpersonal family behavior in the public, as well as how a better understanding of family systems can empower us for greater cooperation and success.
After the gentlemen, our long time member Meral Er got the stage and talked about the deep meanings of fasting from health, spiritual, and historical perspectives. The program goes on with a short “Ney” show and then the time already came for people to break their fasting. We could feel and see from our guests that they enjoyed the variety and taste of special Turkish food presented to them.
With this opportunity, as Vancouver Hizmet community, we would like to thank all our guests especially Doug for his commitment to interfaith dialogue, as well as Sobhana Jaya-Madhavan from Simon Fraser University for her presence as our special guest.