Queen Victoria Women's Centre and City of Melbourne invite you to the Reach Out, Don't Retreat Women's Lunch - promoting peace and understanding between Melbourne women.

The Reach Out, Don't Retreat Women's Lunch is a very special opportunity for Muslim and Non-Muslim women to meet each other and share stories of our families, our hopes and fears, and our experiences of living as Australian women. So join us as we share a meal and a conversation, woman-to-woman.

Event Details

Manar Chelebi and Sonya Davies invite you to join them for the Reach Out, Don't Retreat Women's Lunch at Melbourne Town Hall. Photo: Lauren Falconer, Falconer Photography.

Date: Sunday, 27 May 2007

Time: 1.00pm to 5.00pm

Location: Melbourne Town Hall, Supper Room, corner Swanston & Collins Sts

Cost: $20 (concession prices available)

RSVP: (03) 8668 8100 or office@qvwc.org.au

Don't miss out on this event! Reserve your place today.

Prayer space provided. Melbourne Town Hall is an accessible venue.

What Participants at the 2006 Reach Out, Don't Retreat Lunch Said

'Reach Out, Don’t Retreat confirmed a gut feeling that we are all the same deep down’.

‘It was great to share about different cultures. We need to support our sisters in the community’.

The Story Behind the 'Reach Out, Don't Retreat' Women's Lunch

Sonya Davies has run her own consulting firm since 1989. She has a great belief in the power of women to effect change.

After hearing a radio report saying that all 9-year-olds thought that Muslims were terrorists, she asked her own 9-year-old what she thought of Muslims. The reply stunned her: “ We have to be careful, they want to bomb us”.

If this was happening in her family, at her dinner table, a family she thought was tolerant and understood difference in religion and race, then what was happening in the rest of Australia and how must it be for Muslim families?

...So, she met Manar.
Manar Chelebi is a devout Muslim who works tirelessly in the community and also runs her own consultancy, Diversity Connect. Manar and Sonya met and organised a “Girls' Lunch” for 300 Muslim and Non-Muslim women in July 2006. This lunch helped change the attitudes and open the minds of many women who participated.

Sonya and Manar will share their inspirational story of friendship and community in a relaxed, interactive setting. Come along and participate in their discussion about getting Australians back to reaching out to each other, no matter their race or religion, and not retreating.