Ramadan Iftar Dinner

Time is running out quickly, only about two and a half weeks left until we start our journey home.  Things have been great here!  We avoid the thought that we will be leaving soon. We really do not want to leave our new family and friends that we have been blessed with.

One of the highlights of my week was attending a Ramadan Iftar dinner.  Ramadan is a month of fasting for the Muslims.  They abstain from food, drink, and sexual relations from dawn until sunset in order to maintain spiritual discipline and self control. Once the sun goes down, they break the fast. Eating a date, I learned, is the traditional way to break the fast.

It was wonderful, I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to go.  The Turkish Cultural Center of Pittsburgh has had this tradition for about five years.  

It was a community event and everyone was invited, not just the Muslims.  This was my first time while we were here that I interacted with Muslims, and I decided that I love talking to them and getting to know them...why did I wait so long to figure this out?! They are so kind and welcoming! They have feelings and they want to be talked to just like everyone else does.  I think my problem was that it is really intimidating to me to see the women wearing the headdresses, I felt like they wouldn't want to hear what I had to say.  I don't really know my logic, but whatever it was, it was really dumb and inaccurate.  All the women we talked to were extremely sweet and we had good conversations with them.

We didn't approach anybody, everyone we talked to approached us.  We ended up sitting by a Turkish couple and their child.  They were so awesome and helpful, they were excited to explain cultural things to the confused American girls.  They were really open to all of our questions and glad that we wanted to learn about them.

Shortly after arriving, I realized that I forgot my camera.  I turned to Alisha and she said that her phone just died.  The Turkish couple we sat with took pictures of us on their smart phone and said they would email them to us, hopefully I'll get them sometime so I can share those.

I think that through going to this dinner, God helped give me compassion and a love for the Muslim people, especially the women.  He is expanding my cultural knowledge and awareness.  He is breaking my heart for the lost.

~Jenni