Key Points
- Eliane Bevridge and Ahmed Younes met while both were travelling overseas.
- Married in 2022, Eliane is observing Ramadan fasting for the second time.
- While it is sometimes difficult, she says she enjoys the spiritual aspects of the holy month.
Newcastle's Eliane Beveridge, who is fasting during her second Ramadan, says that at first, she was thirsty and developed headaches.
"When it's hot, it's hard," she says.
"I suffer a little, especially from not drinking water."
The media consultant says: "In the first year, I found it very difficult and it was something different from anything I'd done before.
"But now I'm more used to it. We have a better routine. We eat a good Suhoor (pre-dawn meal) and drink plenty of water, so we'll be ready for the next day.
"I love cooking, so I try to mix traditional Egyptian recipes with Australian recipes.
"For Suhoor, I make oatmeal cookies that look a lot like Australian Anzac biscuits."
'Our story could be a movie screenplay'
In 2019, while visiting Spain, Eliane met her Egyptian husband, Ahmed Younes.
"Our story could be a screenplay for a movie," Ahmed laughs.
Ahmed, who works as a pharmacist, says: "We met at a student hostel and felt that we enjoyed each other's company, so we spent the rest of the trip together."
Eliane says, "It wasn't planned. We started out as friends and travelled together."
But the next few years turned the duo into more than just friends.
Eliane describes how friendship evolved into love and a desire to share a life: "Once we got to know each other more and understood each other, we realised that even though we were from different places, we had a lot of common values, principles and similar things that we want to achieve for our future."
Eliane and Ahmed met at a youth hostel in Spain while they were both travelling overseas. Credit: Eliane Beveridge
Eliane describes her decision as a "combination" of Ahmed's influence and a personal desire fuelled by research, reading and visiting a mosque.
"Ahmad supported me, encouraged and helped me," she says.
"But it's also a decision I made myself after reading and learning about the beautiful aspects of faith."
After the pandemic, the couple travelled to each other's countries and met with their families.
They were married in Newcastle in 2022.
Ramadan is different in Australia
Ahmed says that celebrating the month of fasting in Australia is different from Egypt.
"For us, Ramadan here is mainly about fasting and prayer," Ahmed explains.
"We go to bed early and get up early. In Egypt, people stay up late at night during Ramadan, something we can't do here because of work.
"We also don't watch Ramadan (soap opera) series like I used to do in Egypt with my family."
Eliane makes a variation of Anzac biscuits for Iftar snacks. Credit: Eliane Beveridge
"The best thing about Ramadan is to strengthen my relationship to feel closer to Allah and understand Islam more," she says.
"We've also done some community activities. We attended a group breakfast and it was great to listen to the speakers, learn more about Ramadan and share the celebration with the community here in Newcastle."
I also remind myself that although I sometimes find fasting difficult, there are people in the world who face more difficult conditions. Ramadan reminds me of that.Eliane Beveridge
Ahmed and Eliane say they enjoy attending Ramadan community events in Newcastle. Credit: Eliane Beveridge
