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Maria (Kouremenou) Khoury is the author of Orthodox
Christian children's books including Christina Goes
to the Holy Land walking the footsteps of Christ. She
is a graduate of Hellenic College (1982), Harvard University
(1985) and Boston University (1992) with a doctor of
education degree. Born in Tripoli, Greece, she was raised
in Denver, Colorado.
Maria is the author of Witness in the Holy Land (distributed
by www.HolyCrossBookstore.com),
a publication reflecting personal experiences living
under military occupation with her husband the honorable
Mayor David Canaan Khoury and three children Elena,
Canaan, and Constantine. Her articles have been published
world-wide in numerous newspapers and magazines and
have been translated to various languages bringing awareness
of the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
Dr. Khoury is a volunteer at St. George Greek Orthodox
Church of Taybeh, Palestine, (www.saintgeorgetaybeh.org)
fundraising for a housing project to help sustain the
small Christian community. She has also spent three
years training teachers in new classroom strategies
in the Latin Patriarchate Schools throughout Palestine.
She served as the only female principal at the Friends
Boys School of Ramallah (1996) and worked closely with
church leaders in Jerusalem as a consultant for the
World Council of Churches (2004) and also headed the
project to establish the International Academy of Art-Palestine
(2007). She serves on the Advisory Council of World
Vision Jerusalem and the Taybeh Education Fund which
she founded as an endowment helping students with university
tuition; She was a speaker at the International Bishops'
Conference at Bethlehem University (Jan 2004) and over
seventy churches throughout the United States including
key note 2008 Orthodox Institute. Maria Khoury has organized
four successful village festivals in Palestine, Taybeh
Oktoberfest 2005/06/07/08 boosting the local economy
during 50% unemployment.
The Khourys returned to the Holy Land (1995) following
the Oslo Peace Agreement boosting the economy with an
investment in a microbrewery producing the one and only
Palestinian beer, "Taybeh Beer" (www.taybehbeer.com)
and diversified (2001) to help farmers in fair trade
bottling Taybeh Olive Oil (www.taybeholiveoil.com).
The "Christina Books," published in Jerusalem
promote ancient Christian values, centuries-old traditions
and spiritual growth:
Christina Goes to Church (1992)
You Are Special: An Alphabet Book for Children
(1993)
My Orthodox Counting Book (1999)
Christina Learns the Sacraments
(2001)
Christina's Favorite Saints
(2002)
Christina Goes to the Holy Land
(2003)
Christina's True Heroes (2005)
Coloring with Christina (2007)
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