Friends United Meeting will be represented by Ramallah Friends School Head Rania Maayeh and Global Ministries Coordinator Karla Jay at the sixty-fifth annual convention of the American Federation of Ramallah Palestine, from July 11–13, in Jacksonville, Florida.
The AFRP was created in 1952 by a few recent immigrants from Ramallah, Palestine. Their vision was to unite the greater Ramallah community throughout the U.S. and preserve their rich Palestinian cultural heritage. Today, the AFRP represents more than 50,000 people living in the United States—recent immigrants as well as first-, second- and third-generation descendants of Ramallah. Many are concentrated in major cities such as San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego and Los Angeles, California; Jacksonville and West Palm Beach, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Houston, Texas; Detroit (and various suburbs), Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Washington, D.C.; Knoxville, Tennessee; Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky; Greensboro, North Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; Cleveland, Ohio; Little Rock, Arkansas; Buffalo and Hempstead/Long Island, New York; and South Plainfield, New Jersey.
The first convention, or family reunion—the signature event of the AFRP—was held in 1959 in Detroit, Michigan. Since then, the annual event is held in a different host city each year, with the city of Ramallah, Palestine, hosting the convention in 2014 and 2018. The four-day event is a Palestinian immersion filled with social and cultural events. Families from across the country connect at the convention, and newer generations meet and make family connections, as well. Rania and Karla will have the opportunity to remind descendants of Ramallah of the significant role that Ramallah Friends School has played and continues to play in educating Palestinians for leadership within their nation, at home and abroad.
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