On Tuesday evening 8 March a special evening instead of our usual lunch: a Middle East dinner at 1001 Nights Restaurant in Solana. Many thanks to Rtn Eli for organizing this nice dinner.
We had two speakers!
The Ambassador of Cyprus gave us an introduction of Cyprus
Mr. Agis Loizou is currently the Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to the People’s Republic of China, with parallel accreditations to Japan, Republic of Korea, DPRK, Mongolia, Laos and Cambodia.
Cyprus is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, and a member state of the European Union. An island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, it is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt and east of Greece. Being at the crossroads of civilizations, Cyprus was over the centuries exposed to many foreign influences which have shaped its rich and unique culture. Ambassador Loizou explained Cyprus’s history, religion, wine and cuisine.
Here is a selection of pictures (Gilbert & Celine)
The second speaker was Ms. Lucia Helms, introducing “Chunmiao Little Flower”.
See: Chunmiao Little Flower
Ms. Lucia Helms is a volunteer at Chunmiao Little Flower, a non-profit organization registered in both US and China that seeks to save abandoned children with complex medical needs. Through skilled, intensive nursing care, education, and family-oriented foster care, Little Flower seeks to improve the livelihood of children of all ages with a wide range of health challenges – from cleft lip & palate to heart defects. Administrative overheads are covered by specific donations, 100% of all other donations go directly toward the costs for childcare.
An auction of six bottles of liquor donated by Ambassador Loizou and 1001 Nights, a donation by 1001 Nights and the Happy Money raised over RMB 6000 which was handed over to Chunmiao Little Flower.
As for the belly dancing we were looking for, something went wrong and the lady skipped us.