February 8, 2010 by idelette
Friends,
I’d love to invite you into the story of a 16-year-old girl who is creating a life for herself beyond the shadow of Vancouver’s notorious serial killer. This 16-year-old’s mother was murdered by the pig farmer and she’s putting together the pieces of her life, finding her own voice and her own place on this earth.
Two trusted friends are bringing this 16-year-old to Vancouver next weekend, so she can participate in the annual Women’s Memorial March through the streets of the Downtown Eastside. She will have an opportunity to walk where her mother walked, meet her mother’s friends, walk in solidarity with so many who loved her mother and honor the missing and murdered women.
Please give: We need your help bring this girl to Vancouver.
“We all think it will be vital for her sense of story and where she fits in the world,” says Michelle Miller, executive director of REED (Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity).
It really is a great opportunity to form a circle of support around this young girl and show her that people–even strangers–love and care for her.
I am asking 20 friends to each give $20 towards this cause. We still need $400 more to pay for this young woman’s travel expenses from Toronto to Vancouver. Granted, it would probably be easier to ask for larger donations, but I like the idea of showing that a circle of people want to gather around her. Your prompt response is so appreciated. Twenty friends. That’s all it will take.
A Circle of Twenty
Please donate $20 to bring this young woman to Vancouver:
You can do so via:
1. the chipin page
2. cash or check (Please make checks payable to the “Salsbury Community Society” to receive a tax receipt from REED.)
Then, please write your name in the comments ( or in the facebook comment section). That way we can track the 20 givers together and I will write the names in a card to give to her. I believe it will be so honoring to her to see 20 names of people she doesn’t even know, but who want to come alongside her.
Thank you for contributing!
Photo Credit: Stephen Eastop
Posted in Dignity of Women, Fundraising, Giving, Violence Against Women, globalgirl | 3 Comments »
January 21, 2010 by idelette
Just discovered a really cool global prayer tool called PrayerPlanet.org Loved this little bit of inspiration:
“When asked how he prayed, a Southern rural minister replied: ‘I reads myself full; I think myself clear; I prays myself hot; I let myself cool.’” Via: PrayerPlanet.org
Posted in Prayer | Tagged global prayer, inspiration, Prayer, prayer planet, wisdom | Leave a Comment »
January 16, 2010 by idelette
Greg Mortenson, while speaking to a crowd in South Surrey this afternoon, said many many things worth repeating. For right now, I will share with you these words that locked into my consciousness as he spoke them:
“Today we are trying to solve poverty.
To do so, we have to touch poverty,
we have to smell poverty,
we have to taste poverty,
we have to be with poverty.
We cannot resolve poverty from a thinktank in Washington, DC.”
Posted in Activism, Christian Life, Christianity, Equality, Justice | 1 Comment »
January 14, 2010 by idelette
Now the world is our body
not made up of one country
but of many
some parts wrestle:
big fists
bulging arms swinging
in a war
to
conquer
one more piece
of itself
others sway:
dancing hips
singing lips
Life in the blood
Heart Mother
teaches her children,
remember:
those parts of the world
that seem to be weaker
are
indispensable.
Fist,
open and extend
strength to the frail.
Foot,
move to respond
stand with the hurting.
Arm, stretch out
your muscled strength
to
give.
Photo credit: José A. Warletta
Posted in Global Life, Justice, Poetry | Tagged global responsibility, haiti, heart, hurting, many countries, many parts, one body, Poetry, world | Leave a Comment »
January 11, 2010 by idelette
Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
Some facts about Human Trafficking or modern-day slavery:
27 million people are enslaved on the earth today.
80 percent are women.
50 percent are children.
What is Human Trafficking?
According to the United Nations, human trafficking is the illegal movement of people, within national or across international borders for the purposes of exploitation in the form of commercial sex, domestic service or manual labour.
Human trafficking is an illegal industry that generates between US$7-32 billion annually. It is now the second largest criminal industry.
Taking Action
Here are some great websites and organizations who are bringing justice and freedom to slaves, locally and around the world:
Local (Vancouver, BC)
Resist Exploitation, Embrace Dignity (REED)
Global:
Polaris Project
International Justice Mission
Stop the Traffik
Not for Sale
Salvation Army
Want to know what one city has done to stand against the wave of young girls lured from their local shopping malls into a life of slavery and repeated rape? Check this out: Streetlight Phoenix
Check out these books:
The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade by Victor Malarek
Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade–and How We Can Fight It by David Batstone
Slave Hunter by Aaron Cohen
Want more? This looks like a pretty substantial list entitled Trafficking Thesis List by Amazon reader Christopher Allen Jansen. Some really interesting resources.
This is by no means complete, so let me know if you have some other resources you think should be added to the list.
Photo credit: Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department
Posted in Dignity of Women, Equality, Global Life, Human Trafficking, Justice, Violence Against Women, globalgirl | Tagged christian, global sex trade, human slavery, Human Trafficking, ideas, information, Justice, resources, sex trafficking, trafficking awareness, what can I do?, what is human trafficking | Leave a Comment »
January 5, 2010 by idelette
Sometimes I Do
By Rumi
In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that light becomes this art.
From:
A Year With Rumi
Posted in Soul Journey | Tagged beauty, inspiration, love, Poetry, Rumi, Sometimes I Do | Leave a Comment »
January 3, 2010 by idelette
(my ancestors are)
Those who invented neither gunpowder nor compass
those who tamed neither steam nor electricity
those who explored neither sea nor sky
but those who know the humblest corners of the country of suffering
those whose only journeys were uprootings
those who went to sleep on their knees
…
My negritude is neither a tower nor a cathedral;
It plunges into the red flesh of the earth
–Aime Cesaire, Return to my Native Land
Source: ‘n Ander Tongval by Antjie Krog (Available in English as A Change of Tongue)
Posted in Global Life, Soul Journey, globalgirl | Tagged Africa, Poetry, African, ancestors, black pride | Leave a Comment »
January 1, 2010 by idelette
Love
our today world
girls beautiful
new
into God.
Eve restored.
Idelette’s note: Made a short poem out of the top ten words I’d used in my twitter/facebook status updates in 2009. Then added the eleventh.
Posted in Gathering Eve, Global Life, Poetry, Soul Journey, globalgirl | Tagged Poetry | Leave a Comment »
December 31, 2009 by idelette
“Life has its ups and downs. It can be both brutal and beautiful. You can hole yourself away to avoid life’s pain, but then the beauty seldom finds its way in. It’s only when you attempt to go where you cannot go, or do what you cannot do that you can achieve what you are truly capable of doing. Sure, you might tumble. You might fall. So what? Take a chance. Go way out on the limb. Dare to try–even if it’s a just a shot in the dark.”–Label of Shot in the Dark, product of New South Wales, Australia
Seemed to work well with my words for the year: Why not.
Posted in Life Purpose, Soul Journey | Tagged inspiration, new year's resolutions, shot in the dark, wine, wisdom | Leave a Comment »
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Friends,
