Mums make history – March 2014
March 2014March 21st is Mother’s Day in Egypt. It’s a big day everywhere in Egypt, marked by fun family gatherings at mum or grandma’s house, gifts, flowers, and songs celebrating mothers on national television. But what is Mother’s Day really all about? Curious about March 21st and where it originated, I dug a little into the history of Mother’s Day in […]
Miracles and Faith on the Bombed Streets of Baghdad
February 2014A SAT-7 crew filming on the streets of Baghdad heard startling testimonies from people living with the constant threat of terror attacks – and discovered that SAT-7 has a major presence in many people’s lives. A small filming crew from SAT-7 Egypt went to great personal risk when they stepped off the plane in Baghdad a few months ago. Public […]
Too great expectations – February 2014
February 2014Hello and greetings from Cairo, Egypt! Well, a lot has been going on in Egypt in the past three years. After 30 years of political stability, suddenly two major revolutions occurred ousting two presidents, and resulting in much political and social turmoil. I’d like to reflect on one of the major current happenings in Egypt, the upcoming presidential elections. But […]
New SAT-7 iPhone and Android Apps Allow Middle Eastern Viewers to Watch on the Move
January 2014More Middle Eastern viewers than ever before can now watch SAT-7’s Christian television channels on the go thanks to new iOS apps released in January for Apple iPhones. The new apps come fast on the heels of similar ones launched in August 2013 for Android phones. SAT-7’s four main channels – SAT-7 ARABIC, KIDS, PARS (for Farsi speakers) and TÜRK […]
Hopes and dreams – January 2014
January 2014It was the penultimate day before Near Years’ Eve and people had already started posting their greetings and comments on Facebook: “Happy new year!” “A few hours till 2014” and “What a terrible year this has been!” someone moaned. Others were posting advertisements encouraging people to listen to a radio programme hosting an astrologer. Presumably he would try to answer […]
Relating to the persecuted Church
Article 1 in a new series: The Ethics of Global Engagement A Middle East contributor highlights some of the issues we need to be mindful of as we engage with the church in the Middle East and North Africa. The Body of Christ is not simply a local church that meets on Sundays, but a global body of all those […]
Three years after the Arab Spring
2011 began with high expectations for new freedoms and prosperity across much of the Arab World. Three years on there is a palpable sense of disappointment and frustration. SAT-7 CEO, Dr Terence Ascott, offers a country-by-country overview of what has happened since and untangles a confusing picture. Beginning in January 2011, a wave of uprisings swept away dictators in Tunisia, […]
SAT-7 to Broadcast United States From Damascus on Christmas Day
December 2013A united Christian service of prayer in Damascus will be broadcast on satellite television across the Middle East on Christmas Day, 25th December. Christian broadcaster SAT-7 will transmit the two-hour programme from the event at 9pm Damascus time on the SAT-7 ARABIC channel (on Nilesat/AB7 at 7 degrees West, Txp 8, 11,353 GHz, Vertical and online in the UK at http://www.sat7.org/tv2/TV2_arabic.html) […]