[MR] Middle Eastern Madrasa

[Rachel/Rozsa]

ltr for merry rose(Forwarded for Baroness Kisaiya) 

Greetings to the populace of Atlantia from Baroness Kisaiya Zingara! 
        It is my pleasure to inform you of the creation of a whole new type of Guild that has formed in these lands.  I am sure that many of you have noticed the recent influx of Middle Eastern personas in our fair Kingdom. As with everything in the SCA, these personas are only hindered by each individual's resources, creativity and research. Unfortunately, it is often the case that the Middle East and its historical details are difficult to research and the sources are hard to get access to. Quite often, people find themselves having to "reinvent the wheel" many times over with respect to their personas. With that in mind, a group of people interested in this topic have banded together to form the Middle Eastern Madrasa, or school. It is our hope that we can educate those interested in the Middle East, share our resources and in our own way make an impact in encouraging more period personas and more detailed research. We have used the Academie D'Espee as our inspiration and attempted to create an educational group, as opposed to the typical guilds in period.  For the purposes of clarity, we have defined the Middle Easter to certain geographical areas, using their modern countries of SW Asia and NE Africa lying West of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It therefore includes Cyprus; the Asian part of Turkey; Syria; Lebanon; Israel; the West Bank and Gaza; Jordan; Iraq; Iran, the Countries of the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait); Egypt , Andalusia, and Libya.  Our mission statement is "to encourage the study and the appreciation of Middle Eastern Culture and arts through teaching, research and performance; to become a resource for students of Middle Eastern culture; and to improve communication within the SCA community in reference to Middle Eastern Topics. 

        If you or anyone you know are interested in joining the Madrasa please look us up on the web at: www.angelfire.com/nc3/ssmideastguild/index.html or you may contact me off the list. It is our hope to help make the Middle Eastern community a more vital, accurate and pleasant part of Atlantia. 

In Service to the Dream, 
Kisaiya Zingara 

kisaiya at hotmail.com