Peace Dialogue Event: Gaza, the Movie

A Peace Dialogue Event

Please Join Us for

The

Documentary Movie

Gaza

Followed by Discussion

led by

Elaine Strite, John Viste and Rick Scott

Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 6 pm

First United Methodist Church

903 Third Street

Wausau, WI

This unforgettable documentary film, Gaza, by Andrew McConnell and

Gary Keanu, takes us to a unique place beyond the reach of television

news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters,

offering us a cinematic and enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead

meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict. Throughout its

entire history, the Gaza Strip has been witness to conflict and upheaval and

has served as a pawn whose fate has rested in the hands of other powerful

nations. Please join us for an exceptional opportunity to view the film and

hear from experts who have lived and worked in the Palestinian and Israeli

region.

Our Hosts for the Evening

Elaine Strite spent nearly three decades in the Middle East, 15 in Egypt,

ten in the occupied Palestinian territory, and two in Lebanon. She taught

English as a second language, set up income-generating projects in the

Sinai, worked as a free-lance journalist, and managed US Government

funded education and scholarship project in West Bank and Gaza. In

Lebanon she worked as an independent consultant surveying international

development efforts and conditions in Lebanese schools. She also worked

in Washington, DC, on a faculty development program for Palestinian

universities and in Wausau as a business reporter for the Wausau Daily

Herald. She has a Master’s Degree in Near Eastern Studies from the

University of Michigan. She enjoys sharing Middle Eastern culture with the

local Wisconsin community.

John Viste spent his career working in education, economic development,

and humanitarian assistance, ten years in Washington DC, twenty-two

years in the Middle East (occupied Palestinian territory, Egypt, and

Lebanon), and one year in Eastern Europe (based in Hungary). He has also

worked for the Center for Cooperatives at UW/Madison and the Wisconsin

Institute for Public Policy and Service in Wausau.

He is actively involved in community service locally and at the state level.

He has a BA from George Washington University in International Relations

and an EdM from Harvard School of Education.

Rick Scott is a retired USAID Senior Foreign Service Officer who worked

in Morocco, Russia, West Bank/Gaza (Tel Aviv), Ethiopia, Liberia, Timor

Leste. Before joining USAID, he worked for UNICEF, CARE, and other

international organizations around the world. A graduate of Wausau East

High School, he holds a BA from Ripon College and two Master’s Degrees,

one from the University of Wisconsin in Forestry and one from the School

for International Training in Vermont in International Management.

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