Maria (Kouremenou) Khoury is the author of Orthodox Christian children's books including Christina Goes to the Holy Land which walks 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. On Dec 31, 2009 she was included on the top 4 Human Rights Champions list by DC Human Rights Examiner including the Ecumenical Patriarch and Hilary Clinton.

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 former Mayor of Taybeh, 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 has been a volunteer at St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Taybeh, Palestine, (www.saintgeorgetaybeh.org) fundraising for a housing project (24 houses built) helping 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 served on the Advisory Council of World Vision Jerusalem and the Taybeh Education Fund which she founded as an endowment helping students with university tuition locally and support for elementary students also; She was a speaker at the International Bishops' Conference at Bethlehem University (Jan 2004) and over 140 churches throughout the United States including key note 2008 Orthodox Institute. Maria Khoury organized eight successful village festivals, the Taybeh Oktoberfest initiated in 2005 boosting the local economy during 50% unemployment reflecting non-violent action and peaceful resistance developed into the most popular festival in Palestine celebrating cultural heritage.

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. The new family projects include the Taybeh Winery (2013) and Taybeh Golden Hotel welcoming pilgrims to overnight in Taybeh, the heart of Palestine.

The "Christina Book Series," 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)

Meet the Evangelists (2009)

Christina’s Counting Book (2013)

Description of Holy Land Presentation:

Maria Khoury uses her personal life experience living in the West Bank, the Palestinian Occupied Territories to bring greater awareness how conditions are on the ground for Christians in specific and Palestinians in general who suffer day to day under Israeli military occupation trying to do simple things like going to work, school, etc. She speaks from the perspective of being a woman, mother, an Orthodox Christian and community activist. A sample of her opinions can been viewed on one of the interviews on the multimedia page

www.saintgeorgetaybeh.org

to read more about Taybeh view http://www.stgeorgegoc.org/docs/missions/taybeh/

If your organization provides a computer with power point program, an LCD projector, a screen and a person to run the equipment, the audience can view the CD with photos of Taybeh (15 minutes length), the Christian village in Palestine. Presentations can last from 20 minutes to one hour depending on the need of the audience. (e.g., in church, after service, conference, special gathering, etc)

Possible titles to fit different audience but usually the same content:

Love Thy Neighbor: Reflections from the Holy Land
Walking the Worthy Walk: Witness for Christ
Life on the Other Side of the Wall
Christian Presence in the Holy Land
Palestinian Christian Community Under Occupation