The American Women’s Club of Cyprus

A Brief History

In the 1960s the wife of the Ambassador of the Embassy of the United States of America organized a monthly coffee morning for the embassy wives to help each other feel more at home in a foreign land. On the third Thursdays of the month the ladies would meet at their respective homes for a visit. Things continued quietly until 1974. AWC activity was then suspended, after the island had been invaded. Life, as everyone had known it, had been disrupted.

Eventually, the wife of Ambassador Ewing wanted to renew and restore friendly relationships within the local community. She restarted the monthly coffee mornings, expanding it by inviting guests and guest speakers. The wives of the foreign correspondents from the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) were invited to join. As the group expanded, the meetings moved from private homes to the elegant Hilton Cyprus Hotel. Expanding gradually, the AWC became multi-national as non-American's were invited to join as associate members. The doors opened more widely when associate membership status was dropped in favour of full membership. Members brought in local friends and welcomed newcomers to the island and to the club. Over the years, attending some of the coffee mornings, were the wife of the President of Cyprus, many Cypriot ladies, wives of numerous Ambassadors and other dignitaries from many cultures, countries and faiths.

The ladies began to raise money to donate to local Cypriot charities. Generous donations have been made over the years to help people with special needs, the ill, elderly, children, women, and even abandoned animals.

The AWC began as a means of helping ex-patriated ladies meet and greet each other, socialize, have fun, and support each other. Then it became an organization of reconnecting people who had been completely disrupted by war. From there it evolved into an organization attracting the wives of the diplomatic elite. It has matured over five decades into a beautiful blended sisterhood of ladies of many faiths, countries and cultures.

We have grown from fun raising, to include fund raising, to consciousness raising, to becoming aware of our role in promoting and participating in creating global harmony. In Cyprus there is an expression roughly translated to mean that the man may be in the roll of leadership, but it is the wife who points the way. At the club we endeavour to point the way to peace through friendship, acceptance, and embracing our different ways as enriching to us all.

NATIONALITIES

The name, “The American Women's Club of Cyprus”, is an accurate name for the club, as it was founded for and named by the women from the Embassy of the United States of American in the 1060s. The name, however, has now become slightly misleading, because our membership is not comprised primarily of Americans. Our membership is multi-national, multi-cultural, widely diverse and wonderfully mixed. Countries currently represented by our membership include the following:

CYPRUS
EGYPT
ENGLAND
FRANCE
GERMANY
GREECE
IRAN
IRELAND
NETHERLANDS
PERU
SCOTLAND
SOUTH AFRICA
SWITZERLAND
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Special Interest Groups

Bridge: Our players meet weekly at each other's homes for bridge, coffee, cakes and chat.
Golf: Our golfers play at the course on the UN grounds in Nicosia.

Tennis: Our tennis players play at various courts around Nicosia.

Philosophical discussions: We meet at a members home once or twice a month to discuss relevant issues of our era: philosophical; spiritual; environmental; etc.

Quilting: Our ladies meet weekly to chat and quilt. Their exhibition is beautiful.

Reading: Our ladies meet monthly to discuss books of their choice.

Sewing: Our ladies have lots of opportunity to sit in sewing circles to do their own sewing or to make costumes for local theatre companies.