HBSCA officials meet with City of Houston officials
On Thursday, January 28, HBSCA President Irada Akhoundova and Executive Director Maud Bech attended an arts reception honoring Mayor Annise D. Parker, Controller Ronald C. Green and 2010 City Council Members at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. After the speeches, the HBSCA representatives had an opportunity to meet with the new Mayor to present her with an official letter from the Azerbaijan Minister of Diaspora congratulating her on her recent election. The event was hosted by the Houston Arts Alliance and was well attended by more than 200 guests, mostly from the Houston arts community and city management.
HBSCA commemorates Black January 1990
In partnership with AAC and AACA, HBSCA organized an event dedicated to Black January events of 1990. The event was held at the Turkish Cultural center on January 17 at 2 pm.
On January 19-20, 1990 Soviet federal tanks rolled into Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, to crush democratic inspirations of Azerbaijani people, killing hundreds of civilians overnight. This brutal massacre was one of important milestones in Azerbaijani national struggle for independence.
Happy Holidays!
HBSCA is wishing you and your loved ones all the best for the World Azerbaijanis Solidarity Day and the New Year! Thank you for your involvement - 2009 has been quite a year, full of fun and various programs promoting Baku and Azerbaijan to the Houston community and it is with your participation that we were able to make it happen!
Enjoy recalling a few moments of 2009 in this show!
Each fall, the Houston International Protocol office and the Visitors Center work together with the Consular Corps of Houston and multicultural organizations such as Sister Cities of Houston to present Holidays Around the World, as a display of miniature trees honoring various international holiday traditions. The trees exhibit the culture unique to a particular country or region through ornaments, national symbols and colors.
This year, the tree for Houston-Baku Sister City Association is decorated with colorful, handmade paper ornaments illustrating the geometric and organic symbols typically found on the Zili carpets from Baku as designed by HBSCA Vice-President and multimedia artist Saida Fagala.
The trees will be on display at the Visitor's Center of the Houston City Hall until mid-December after which they will be sold to the public in a silent auction and the benefits raised will go to the Child Advocates Program, a local, non-profit organization providing advocacy for Harris County children currently in protective custody due to abuse or neglect.
HBSCA celebrates Thanksgiving with a potluck
On Saturday, November 21, members of the HBSCA community got together for the annual Thanksgiving Potluck party at the Windsor Park Lakes Club House in West Houston.
The guests were treated with a variety of delicious home made mostly Azeri dishes, including colorful salads, dolma, pilaf, turkey and lamb followed by bakhlava and other sweets. The traditional Azerbaijani music performance delivered by Seva Gustin (piano), Nargiz Jeffus (piano) and Mirgalam Miriyev (voice) was received with a lot of cheers and got people in the spirit to Azeri style dance the evening away.
Special thanks go to Zara Aliyeva for hosting the event, to Nargiz Jeffus, Aida Aliyeva-Villegas and Kama Hamzayeva for organizing, to all the volunteers for cooking, baking and sharing with everyone and of course to our heroes of the HBSCA soccer team. A video clip of the event can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiH-_V95YE0.
This year the HBSCA team again participated in the Sister Cities of Houston Soccer Tournament on the weekend of November 14-15, 2009 at Cullen Park, 1800 Barker Cypress Rd. Our guys lost two games, to Guayaquil, Ecuador and Tampico, Mexico and won Abu Dhabi, UAE. Regardless of their performance, they enjoyed support by dozens of their truthful fans!
HBSCA members took part in WorldQuest 2009 organized by World Affairs Council of Houston. A trivia competition consisted of four rounds of 15 questions on current and general international politics and geography questions. Although our team Homo Sovieticus finished the third in two rounds, it was not able to take any of the prizes in final. The team members were dressed in red and were wearing Soviet times paraphernalia.
Art show of HBSCA Board member Saida Fagala-Haqverdiyeva
Gallery 3 members are presenting their small dimension works during November and December at Winter Street Gallery, 2101 Winter Street. Gallery 3 is open Friday - Sunday, 1 - 5 p.m., tel.: 713-501-0008.
On Thursday, January 28, HBSCA President Irada Akhoundova and Executive Director Maud Bech attended an arts reception honoring Mayor Annise D. Parker, Controller Ronald C. Green and 2010 City Council Members at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. After the speeches, the HBSCA representatives had an opportunity to meet with the new Mayor to present her with an official letter from the Azerbaijan Minister of Diaspora congratulating her on her recent election. The event was hosted by the Houston Arts Alliance and was well attended by more than 200 guests, mostly from the Houston arts community and city management. 
In partnership with AAC and AACA, HBSCA organized an event dedicated to Black January events of 1990. The event was held at the Turkish Cultural center on January 17 at 2 pm.
HBSCA is wishing you and your loved ones all the best for the World Azerbaijanis Solidarity Day and the New Year! Thank you for your involvement - 2009 has been quite a year, full of fun and various programs promoting Baku and Azerbaijan to the Houston community and it is with your participation that we were able to make it happen!
Each fall, the Houston International Protocol office and the Visitors Center work together with the Consular Corps of Houston and multicultural organizations such as Sister Cities of Houston to present Holidays Around the World, as a display of miniature trees honoring various international holiday traditions. The trees exhibit the culture unique to a particular country or region through ornaments, national symbols and colors. 
This year the HBSCA team again participated in the Sister Cities of Houston Soccer Tournament on the weekend of November 14-15, 2009 at Cullen Park, 1800 Barker Cypress Rd. Our guys lost two games, to Guayaquil, Ecuador and Tampico, Mexico and won Abu Dhabi, UAE. Regardless of their performance, they enjoyed support by dozens of their truthful fans!
HBSCA members took part in WorldQuest 2009 organized by World Affairs Council of Houston. A trivia competition consisted of four rounds of 15 questions on current and general international politics and geography questions. Although our team Homo Sovieticus finished the third in two rounds, it was not able to take any of the prizes in final. The team members were dressed in red and were wearing Soviet times paraphernalia.
