Maria Khoury, a Palestinian Christian from the village of Taybeh in the West Bank, spoke to a group of 35 parishioners at All Saints By-the-Sea Episcopal Church on Thursday. Khoury’s visit to Montecito was part of All Saints’ annual Lenten Speaker Series.
Khoury shared her experience as a children’s book author and the challenges of being an Orthodox Christian in Palestine. A volunteer at St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Taybeh, she has worked tirelessly on behalf of education issues in Palestine. Among her accomplishments, she has helped train teachers, was the principal at Friends Boys School of Ramallah, was a consultant for the World Council of Churches and led the project to establish the International Academy of Art-Palestine.
She also serves on the Advisory Council of World Vision Jerusalem and the Taybeh Education Fund, which she founded as an endowment to help students with university tuition.
Born in Greece and raised in Denver, Khoury graduated from Hellenic College in Brookline, Mass., Harvard University and completed her doctorate in education at Boston University. She and her husband, Taybeh Mayor David Canaan Khoury, have three children.
— Noozhawk contributor Karen Telleen-Lawton writes a regular column on sustainability issues and is the author of Canyon Voices: The Nature of Rattlesnake Canyon at www.CanyonVoices.com.