Rita Elmounayer; A Rare Gem In The Middle East

I met Rita at the 2015 Forvandling (Transformation) women conference in Copenhagen two weekends ago with a theme title; Imperfectly Perfect. It was an amazing conference with great speakers Like Jen DeWeerdt, Merete Tangstad, Mildred Osias, Karin Kuhl, Abs Niblock, Marianne Riis and Jørn Hyldgaard. And a special guest who entertained us with some music; Martin Smith. It was the best conference I have ever attended...,all because it was about us "women".., it was about embracing our imperfections to be perfect. It was about women who are perfect in their imperfections.

We had different sessions that were taking part at the same time in different rooms, and I decided to attend the one Rita Elmounayer was going to be holding. I followed her simply because she was described in the brochure as, " an inspirational and strong woman who works with Christian television in the Middle East". That alone, caught my eyes and I got interested in what this woman was going to talk about..,I mean, we are all aware with what has been going on in the Middle East for many years. Being born and later grow up in this part of the world cant be easy, I can only imagine how hard it is facing the unknown of tomorrow. But there is HOPE.

Lets meet Rita Elmounayer, a woman who was born in this part of the world.., She was born in Lebanon and she lived through the violence of the Lebanese Civil war. As a young girl, with her sister, she found refuge in television cartoons, she hoped one day to get involved in media to bring joy to children just as cartoons had done for her..,while broadcasting hope in Christ. She grew up with a fear for tomorrow..,wondering whether her dad would come back home after seeing him off to war. I would only imagine how terrifying it must have been for her, but God had a plan for her. From a young age, she decided that she wanted to give hope to the children and the people in the Middle East through media. In 1992, She began her media career as a radio host and producer with Eastern Broadcasting Associates and later joined SAT-7 in 1995.

SAT-7 is a Christian satellite television network broadcasting in Arabic, Persian and Turkish across 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, along with about 50 countries in Europe. SAT-7 was founded in 1995 as a non-profit organisation with support from a majority of Middle Eastern Churches.

Rita Elmounayer joined SAT-7 in the very year they started, it had a single program at a time. When the channel was launched, Rita hosted and produced its first program, Ears Of Wheat, this program ran for 12 years and became one of the channel's most successful programs. In 2004, she became the programming director for all children's programs on SAT-7 and she also became the programming director for all Arabic programs. In 2007, Rita's dream of launching the first independent, Arabic Christian channel for children became a reality. And in 2008, Rita Elmounayer was named the executive director for SAT-7 Arabic and SAT-7 Kids, followed by SAT-7 Plus in 2010.

At the conference, she showed us the following video that has gone viral on the Internet and made most of us tear up at the conference. Indeed, there is HOPE in the Middle East. It all starts with one person, one dream and hope.. And leave the rest to God. Lets continue praying for peace in the Middle East and continue praying for women like Rita. We need more women like her to step up and let God use them as the vessel to bring peace and love in our world. YES! There is still HOPE!

 CONTINUE WITH THE GOOD WORK RITA. MAY GOD ALWAYS BE WITH YOU. 

Below is a picture of me and Rita Elmounayer at the 2015 Forvandling "Transformation" women conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. I must admit, its not the best picture of me., but Rita looked stunning!

With Rita Elmounayer at the past "Transformation" women Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Have You Ever Seen A 63 Years Old Woman Look This Fabulous? Be Inspired

Wendy Ida

What do you do when your whole world crumbles down on you? What do you do when all hope is gone and there seems likes a million mountains in front of you...and you just cant seem to find your way out? Other People just give up and commit the most unthinkable action as a way out.."SUICIDE". But there are people who refuse to give up, people who speak to those mountains in front of them and command them to move! These are the people who inspire and who have changed the way we look at things, they inspire us, we get encouraged and indeed they give us hope. People like Wendy Ida, a 63 years old woman who refused to bow down to the mountains of her life that she was facing and commanded them to move..and make way for her.

About a week ago, I watched "Girl Talk", the one for T.D Jakes ministry, presented by Sarah Jakes and her mother. It was a very inspiring topic they had with  some very notable guest like Meagan M. Good, Nicole A. Parker to mention but a few. It was a general discussion forum about women, their independence, relationships etc but what really got me was seeing a 63 years woman who looks 35! You would have never guessed her age. She was there to encourage women on how they can move on despite of whatever might be dragging them down. Here is Wendy Ida's story...

Wendy Ida grew up in poverty and she almost lost her life in domestic violence. Wendy, like most women today suffered domestic violence for 13 years before she found herself. It took her a while to actually gather her guts and put her foot down....and say, "Enough is Enough". Listen to her in her own words.......

"I suffered physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse fro 13 years before I found the courage to run across the country with my two babies and only the clothes on our backs. My babies were a huge motivator in taking the risk to take the last ditch effort to escape, because I saw that their lives were vastly being affected. Before my escape, I didn't quite frankly think I was going to past the age of 43.., and I came close to that many times and I am confident that if I had stayed where I was that my saga wouldn't have ended. Once I got safe and settled, I wanted to feel better, because for 13 years, I was constantly tired and my self-esteem suffered; I needed answers and I needed help, and that was the beginning of my motivation towards the healthier side of life. It took a while because I was a fast food junkie but I was tired of being sick and tired". Wendy Ida via Black Fitness Today.

Wendy Ida; BEFORE and AFTER.

Wendy started eating healthy and excising at the age of 43 and she was about 80 pounds (about 36 kg) overweight at that time. There was no turning back for her

Wendy Ida is now the best-selling author, speaker, life reinvention strategist, fitness expert and TV host. She has written a book called "Take Back Your Life, my no nonsense approach to health, fitness and Looking Good Naked". Wendy Ida is what I would call a multi-achiever without limits. She is an 8 time award winning National Champion of top trophy awards in the NPC Body Building and Figure Championships as well as a Strive to Thrive Fitness Expert touring with Actor Boris Kodjoe and his gorgeous actress wife Nicole Ari Parker.

I guess what they say is true, "AGE IS NOTHING BUT A NUMBER". I know they say; "Black Never Cracks", but this is too good to believe. But again, I guess, you can achieve and be anything if you just make up your mind and do it.....Thumbs up to you Wendy and we hope to see many women stepping out and changing their lives too.

Watch Wendy do some real moves in this video. And yes........at 63!!