by Fatijah Clark
The opening of the new Washington DC Center coincided with a gathering of Subud East Coast members in October. The Washington, D.C. group worked night and day to get the facility ready. The temporary occupancy certificate was issued just the afternoon before th
e gathering! Although work still needs to be done, the building is
surprisingly complete. At night, with the lights on, it really shines, quite a beacon.
If we had any expectations, the East Coast gathering exceeded them. Over 100 people came (someone said it was the largest East Coast gathering they remembered). There were latihans, testing sessions and time to connect. At times, it felt as though the whole building was filled with latihan.
The official opening occurred on a Saturday evening. Elias Dummit, WSA Chair from Brazil, presided over the official ribbon cutting ceremony and declared the hall open. Barbara Thomas, chair of the Washington DC Group, thanked the Subud groups and members from around the world (from as far away as Australia, Equador, France and England) who had contributed to the project.
The chairs around the latihan hall as well as tables and chairs in the social room were contributed by Subud groups or members from California: Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Berkeley, Monterey and San Francisco, as well as from Portland, Oregon. The members of the new center were full of thanks to all who donated so generously their support