Israa Alhelli was chosen by the embassy as one of five potential leaders in her country, Iraq.  In July of 2014, she participated in a 5-week program through the Dialog Institute housed at Temple and funded by the State Department.  The program promotes inter-faith dialog.  When it was time for her to go home, she could not go due to death threats toward both her and her family if she returned because of her openness to other religions.  She has applied for asylum in the US and lives with a family in Swarthmore while awaiting the outcome.  This could take a year or more.  Israa aspires to be an architect as she wants to be a part of re-building her city of Baghdad.  Recently, she participated in a spring gathering of FCNL.  In this Worship and Ministry forum, she will tell us more of her compelling story as well as her dreams, a bit of her experience with the Dialog Institute, and a bit of her weekend in Washington.  She has been attending Swarthmore Meeting and is a gift to all of us. All in the community are invited to attend.