Synopsis
The fifth chapter, "our mum's way of serving others", focuses on the most practical aspects of why Bathqyomo was so helpful. In this chapter one can find clues and life lessons through which this extraordinary woman of extraordinary faith continues today helping others: to be assertive and positive, to manage their emotions effectively, to care for others and be forgiving, to feel unique and safe, etc.
Throughout the book, her children make continuous references to the Bathqyomo´s smile, so special was that they dedicate the sixth chapter to "Our mum's miraculous way of facing life with a smile". Of course the smile is one of the most effective mechanisms that humans have to communicate with others, a smile communicates empathy and can even appease moods and establish closeness. It was Bathqyomo's most powerful weapon, her light, and she was able to smile constantly because she was certain of God´s love so much that she used to say to herself and to others "Do not worry. God is always on time - TRUST HIM".
"Historical backround of mesopotamian food" is the seventh chapter, which begins the most culinary part of the book. The way in which Bathqyomo served others through food has a historical evolution that appears in the book. It is thorough a descriptive study of the characteristics of Mesopotamia, its people and its diet what reflects the educated and scientific background of the Issa family. This is the most descriptive and less personal or spiritual chapter of all previous ones. It remains though a necessary part of the book if one wants to fully understand the family history and roots and how these became tools which Bathqyomo mastered to served others.
Once the characteristics of Mesopotamia's food have already been described, the eighth chapter called: "Preserving from the garden - an art mastered by our Mum" brings our attention to other set of Bathqyomo´s skills. In a world in which the sustainable development goals are so important. Bathqyomo was a pioneer woman by remaining faithful and maintaining traditions alive which gave value to the work of human hands and the gifts that nature offered making good use of well-preserved and selected fruits and produce from the garden. We are what we eat and if we take care of what we are, we take care of what we eat. The value given to nature and the food we received from it are clearly shown in this chapter. Personally, all the advice related to the use of plants such as oregano, Rosemary, bay leaves and mint are very close to me but at the same time worthy of a botanic treaty.
The ninth and tenth chapter: "Meals for diverse occasions by our mum" and "Traditional and contemporary sweets by our mum" offer an infinite number of traditional recipes ideal for different occasions, a way to involve friends and family
members in our kitchen. Bathqyomo can no longer cook for us, but through this book, the Issa family allows many of us to experience the delight of their cuisine (we personally want to share that I very much enjoyed their "Apple and spinach with orange salad").
Finally, I would like to thank each of the members of the Issa family, but especially Theodora and Thomayess, because if they had not asked me for this review, I would not have read this wonderful book. Without their beautiful request, I would have certainly missed significant life lessons, the example of their mother's life, her love for her children, her delicious recipes but most of all, I would have missed the opportunity to share with the Issa siblings and my own brother a learning experience for life and the kitchen.
Laura Alonso, Professor. Ph.D.
University of Extremadura, Department of Education.
Teacher Training College
Cáceres, Spain
Eduardo Alonso, Civil Engineer
Texas, USA.
Review
Prof. Ph.D. hab. Ewa Ogrodzka-MazurUniversity of Silesia in KatowiceInstitute of EducationFaculty of Ethnology and Educational SciencePolande-mail: eom1@wp.plE d i t o r i a l r e v i e w o fTheodora Issa, Touma B. Issa, Tomayess Issa, Tamara Issa, Theodore Issa:What Mum Taught Us.Valuable Lessons and Outstanding Hospitality,Including Precious Mesopotamian RecipesFIRST PARTNo man is an islandJohn DonneA human being is a creature who needs another person. From their earliest years, peoplelearn collaboration with others and the life in community. Every person is born and developsin a family - an institution present in all epochs and cultures, a basic social unit consisting ofa group of people interrelated by the bonds of marriage and kinship.A family, its inner structure, all its functions, relationships, daily meetings, as well as itshistory, culture and tradition constitute the family home. Among many functions which thefamily has always had to fulfil, there is the building of the family home in both the spiritual(non-material) and material dimension. This means the place which brings together theemotionally closest people, creates favourable conditions for the life and development of afamily community, for education of the young generation and cross-generation transmission,which enables fulfilling the basic (physiological, safety) and higher level needs (love,belonging, recognition, self-actualization). The need of home is felt with particular intensity.Everyone wants to have a home - a safe and peaceful place, a kind of sanctuary. A homeconsists of a family, its members, relations between them, daily routine, common aspirations, the arrangement of interpersonal relations, the specific climate of family home - every home separately.The family home has some specific qualities, such as: closeness, intimacy, feeling ofsafety, the experiencing of home, hierarchical structure, openness, a place of meeting anddialogue, privacy, well-organized space, a set of meaningful objects, traditions, transmissionof culture, emotional bonds which integrate family members. For all of them, home is a place of co-existence, mutual contacts, work, leisure and celebration. The ties between familymembers are shaped in everyday being together in various situations. Home is a space of thechild's life and development, collecting the first experiences, acquiring the knowledge of theworld, social and moral norms, the system of values, interpersonal communication and co-experience.With no doubt, The Issa Family has been and surely will be an example of such a familycommunity. Meeting them in 2014 was a real pleasure and the enormous impression theymade on me has not left me till now. Being invited to prepare a review of the book What Mum Taught Us. Valuable Lessons and Outstanding Hospitality, Including Precious Mesopotamian Recipes, authored by the Issa siblings, is a great honour and distinction for me.Ewa
THE SECOND PART OF EWA'S REVIEW In my review, the following will be consecutively assessed:- the structure of the work and its content;- the choice and use of sources and the formal aspect of the book.1. The multigenerational family community of the Issas, composed of the parents -Bathqyomo Marine Khoury-Issa and her husband V. Rev. Fr. Boutros Touma Issa, theirchildren and grandchildren, is situated in a particular time and space, which are notuniversal and abstract in social experience but given with the "humanistic coefficient".Referring to the currently developing direction in family studies called humanisticgeography enables not only the analysis and description of the location of cultural artefactsin space (through its mapping) but also - and first of all - the specification of the ways inwhich the family experiences and provides value to a particular space, which in this waygets symbolic meaning. A family home becomes such a space - both individual andcommon for parents and their children. Through the experienced and accepted valuesimplemented in this home, all of them shape their identity here and enter relationships withother members.Referring to their individual family experiences, the authors - the Issa siblings - outline in11 chapters the most valuable "lessons" in their lives, given to them by their Mother -a significant Person and the most important Teacher, who passed away on the 2nd March2016. The memories dedicated to Her and the character of the publication are mostcompletely reflected in the words from the Introduction (p. 6):This is a story about a Wonderful Mother.This is a story about a mother who has the biggest heart in all the world.A mother who loves without condition and never gives up hope.A mother who offers all she can give and expects nothing in returnThis is a story about a mother who works so hard and did so much.The next chapters introduce the Reader into the family history, viewed from theperspective of adult children, who have been well-educated and are currently outstandingacademic teachers working for Western Australian universities Curtin and Murdoch inPerth, as well as committed activists of the Syriac Orthodox Church. The youngest Authorand the youngest son in the family, Theodore, is currently the President of The WesternAustralia Council of Churches.In a reflective and literary manner, the Authors open for us "the door" to their familyhome, in which quite palpably, we can experience its unique hospitality, openness tothemselves and to Others, their sincerity in daily relations and their deep religiousness.This atmosphere has been always created by the whole Family, yet - it was mostly theMother who integrated the family life and gave it a unique character. It was expressed inlove and care for the nearest, daily work at home or in the garden, and in the efforts infavour of them. I was privileged to experience such moments in The Issa Family, whichreceived us, scientists from Poland, as their closest members. They devoted their precioustime to us, took us round their unique home, and treated us with delicious traditionaldishes. In this intimately personal way, all chapters of the book are constructed - startingfrom the history of the Family, its culturally diverse national and religious roots, throughvaluable, wise lessons of life given to her children by Bathqyomo Marine Khoury-Issa, Herhospitality, cheerfulness, to the family rituals associated with contemporary cuisine andgarden care.Ewa
THIRD PART BY EWA Careful Readers, going in-depth into consecutive pages ofthis comprehensive book, obtain
much more than a chronicle of the history of one family'slife. They get a timeless
testimony, a volume on the history of humanity, which onceagain confirms the sense of
and need for family life - the life that entwines bothbeautiful and difficult moments, the
necessity to change the place of living and the daily toilconcerning the functioning and
sometimes survival of the family, supported by faith andprayer.
Therefore, let us not forget - referring to the words ofSeneca, an ancient philosopher and
sage, who wrote them almost two hundred years ago - that"everything has its own time: it
is born, it grows, it dies. The celestial bodies whose turnsyou can follow in the sky, as well
as this earth, with which we were united and where we wereplaced as something the most
lasting, will be destroyed and gone. Everything has its oldage: by uneven paths of time the
nature sends into the same place. Whatever exists, it willnot exist, but it will not perish but
will be divided into particles".
2. What deserves emphasis while assessing the formal side ofthe book is that collecting the
information and materials on The Issa Family required a lotof time and patience to
search for various types of documents, photographs, spokenaccounts, but on the other
hand - this turned out to be a fascinating occupation forall the siblings, without whose
effort the book would not get its shape and nature. As areviewer, I highly appreciate the
care of Authors for a thoughtful book structure, forproviding it with an extensive annex,
the translations of Bible verses into Syriac/Aramaic - theoriginal language of
Mesopotamia, a bibliography and an index.
The book is read with enormous interest, its content valueis enriched with coloured
photographs of the whole Family, its particular members, thefamily house and garden.
What also seems cognitively precious are all the recipes fordishes and cakes of the
traditional and contemporary Mesopotamian cuisine. Thedetailed recipes and
instructions, as well as the attached photographs, encourageto make the dishes.
To sum up the above outlined comments, I would like toexpress my opinion that the
book What Mum Taught Us. Valuable Lessons and OutstandingHospitality, Including
Precious Mesopotamian Recipes, authored by Theodora Issa,Touma B. Issa, Tomayess Issa,
Tamara Issa and Theodore Issa, is a cognitively interestingstudy dedicated to the life story of Bathqyomo Marine Khoury-Issa and HerFamily. It was presented against the background of social, cultural andreligious conditions. Due to the discussed subject matter and its topicalityfor the development of the theory and practice of family pedagogy and intercultural
education, the publishing of the book is fully desired andjustified.
Ewa
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