Amnesty International has released this great video The Price of Silence in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Columnist Marcia G. Yerman wrote a great piece on the implications of the appointment of the President-Elect Barack Obama and the need to reaffirm the tenets of this historic declaration, so click here to read more!
Hi Everyone!
Every December 31st, I have coordinated a dinner for our chronically ill neighbors who live in a permanent resident that serves as their home. This home is run by the friars of St. Francis For the Poor. This year, while I am away in Asia, both Lauren and Sunitha on my staff have offered to oversee the delivery of food to 80 residents of St. Francis Friends of the Poor and we would like to invite you to be involved too if you have the time.
We are looking for volunteers! Therefore, please let us know if you would also like to volunteer or if you have any friends who could volunteer as well by emailing us at lauren@iamapeacekeeper.com. Mostly, you will help Lauren and Sunitha to buy 80 ice cream sandwiches at 4:00 pm on New Years Eve and meet the KFC delivery guy at our building (50 Lexington Avenue) at 4:50 pm so that we can deliver the food by 5:00 pm next door. Then you can go around saying hello to these lovely people and shake the hands of the folks that aren’t shy. We usually stay and visit for about one hour at the most as their dinner is served and they start eating.
If you can’t make it and want to make a donation, please write a check to St. Francis Friends of the Poor and mail it to my attention as follows: Jody R. Weiss c/o St Francis Friends of the Poor 50 Lexington Avenue 22H New York, NY 10010. Any excess funds that are raised above the cost of the KFC Dinner will be given to St Francis as a donation for their general use fund. And a letter that you can give to the IRS for a tax deductible donation on your gift will be sent to you in the first few weeks of January.
I want to thank you all for your support or any ideas of folks who might want to help out on New Years Eve. It really is a touching way to end/start the year!
May the Holidays bring you deep love and continued abundance!
Your friend in peace always,
Jody
Hiya PeaceKeepers,
‘Tis the season for sweaters and mittens, puppies and kittens. (Did you guys read about the boy who was saved by the warmth of two puppies? Crazy!). With less-than-functional radiators, I’ve been getting creative to find new was to stay warm. Boyfriends are an excellent replacement for radiators, however it is unwise to refer to them as such–”It’s objectifying”…psh! My roommate’s Cairn Terrier is quite warm, however her flatulence issues are hardly heartwarming. More layers (think A Christmas Story) equals more laundry, but cocooning myself has proven to be the most economical at this point. But having a roof over my head is more than a lot of people can say, especially in New York City (35,000 homeless men and women stay in NYC shelters). Embody the Giving Spirt by donating warm clothing to organizations like One Warm Coat. One Warm Coat is pretty simple, it organizes donation drives and then distributes warm clothing to those in need free of charge. Organize a drive in your area!
Peace,
Alice
All of us here at PeaceKeeper want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!
Have you ever wondered where your money goes when you purchase your Eco-Sensual Lip Balm or purple Grateful nail polish? Well PeaceKeeper and Freedom From Hunger are proud to present Ghana’s very own HealthKeepers!
Freedom From Hunger is an international NGO that works designs programs to address the needs of individual countries to combat poverty. Typical of Western Africa, Ghana is known for its lack of infrastructure, high poverty rates as well as widespread transmission of preventable diseases. HealthKeepers is a program designed to empower female entrepreneurs and provide rural areas with life-saving products and health information. The HealthKeeper program works with microfinancing, but with an important twist. Freedom From Hunger makes Health baskets with important hygiene products, malaria nets, insect repellent, and trains “HealthKeepers” so they can educate their customers.
I’ll be posting their stories for you throughout the next few months.
Peace,
Alice
Does anyone else remember the Recycle song from Rocco’s Modern Life?
Tomorrow, November 15th is AMERICA RECYCLES DAY. Here are a couple programs that help make a difference for our environment.
For all you runners out there, Nike is willing to take all of your smelly, muddy and worn out sneakers (even if they aren’t Nike) off your hands… or your feet, rather. NIKE GRIND is dedicated to collecting as many sneakers as possible to recycle and turn into playing surfaces for communities. Your old kicks could be used to make a basketball court, refurbish an outdoor track… there are tons of options. Click here for drop-off location information!
Remember last week’s post on cell phones and coltan? Recycling your old cell phone can drastically reduce the need for new material by almost 80,000 tons, according to Nokia. With over 5,000 recycle locations around the world, recycling your cell phone can help the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo by decreasing the incentive for groups to exploit coltan to meet the large demands of the technology industry.
The National Recycling Coalition has a list of events sorted by state, find out what’s happening near you!
Peace,
Alice
Being thankful isn’t only for Thanksgiving. It’s important to give thanks to the men and women who have served for our country in the name of Peace on Veteran’s Day. From World War I to the men and women currently stationed in foreign lands, we are all indebted for their service.
Peace,
Alice
I’m sure anyone in the sciences would find flaw in such a statement, but I have recently found myself in a rather interesting sociological situation. For those of you who don’t know, I have been a proud member of the women’s rugby team for my entire collegiate career. While rugby is a rather dangerous sport given the amount of contact, I’ve been extremely lucky to remain uninjured during these four years—at least until last week. With minutes left in the first half, a teammate and I collided while trying to take down one of the larger members of the other team. Her chin went straight into my left eye, leaving me with quite a remarkable black eye.
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| From black eye |
I decided to give my professors a heads up as to what happened via email the night before my Monday classes. As my history professor pulled me aside at the end of class to express his concern, it was clear to me that he hadn’t checked his email. At first I was peeved. I disliked being singled out in front of my peers and having to explain my situation a second time. But the more I thought about it, I realized how important his reaction was. What if I had been victimized? His concern illustrated his willingness to get involved and help.
Most of my friends found my situation comical, and among people who knew how it happened, it was. But I soon found how incredibly uncomfortable it made me as well as other people when assumptions were made by strangers. The blatant staring in a crowded elevator, the sideways comments made by people on the bus, the eyes of pity from the woman behind the counter of the bodega near my apartment… they all made me feel like I was weak and unable to stand up for myself. I couldn’t believe how many dirty looks were directed at my boyfriend when we walked together holding hands, as well as the many concerned expressions from those who believed I was staying in an abusive relationship. When shopping with my mother, a retail-worker told me that shopping was a great way to boost self-esteem when one is going through a rough time. When I told her that my injury was from rugby rather than abuse, she seemed simultaneously surprised that someone of my size played rugby and relieved that her assumptions were incorrect. In her defense, the first reaction is pretty typical; a lot of people don’t know how popular rugby is with women in college.
A few passer-bys offered some relief. I got some makeup tips from a woman on a subway. One man asked me how my opponent faired in comparison to me; another asked how anyone could beat on such a pretty face. Men at a bar on the Lower East Side constantly came up to me throughout the night to tell me how sexy I was, which I found surprising given that most of them didn’t ask how I got such a shiner. Quite possibly my favorite comment was made while I was walking down 5th Avenue on the phone with my boyfriend happily planning our rendezvous when a man commented to his friend not-so-subtly: “That’s the happiest battered woman I’ve ever seen!”
It’s been over a week now. My face has gone through the entire color spectrum, what was once a mélange of dark reds and blues has now transitioned to more pleasant yellows and greens. This experience really opened my eyes (such a terrible pun, please forgive me) to the stigma society places on victims of domestic violence. From my experiences, I feel like many are hesitant to ask questions and get involved in someone’s “personal matters” and subsequently try to ignore the issue. I’ve thanked every single person that has asked what happened because it shows me that they care enough to risk the possibility of hearing a not-so-pleasant answer. The prevalence of violence against women around the world is unacceptable. While each nation has to address the issue on the domestic level, it is incredibly important for the international community to address violence against women. There are thirty days left to sign UNIFEM’s Say NO! to Violence Against Women petition and I implore you to put your name to this cause. Offer a helping hand to women in need by declaring that violence against women is never justifiable.
Peace,
Alice
The World Bank estimates that more than 2.5 billion people live on $2 a day or less. In India, 80 percent of the population lives below this line; the total is 72 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa. PeaceKeeper has been very involved with the fight against inequality. Our Eternal Equity lip gloss donates one dollar from every unit sold to women and girls who live on a dollar a day or less. While the U.S. economy has affected millions of Americans, we can’t lose sight of those for whom poverty is an accepted reality.
Peace,
Alice
Howdy PeaceKeepers!
Wyclef Jean has written a follow up on Anderson Cooper’s 360 blog on his trip to Haiti with fellow celeb Matt Damon after the island nation had been devastated by four hurricanes in two weeks; “Imagine Katrina’s impact on New Orleans and multiply it by 1000.” His diary of his time spent in Haiti in mid September is merely a glimpse into the lives of humanitarian actors who are sent to help during natural disasters. His realization “it then hit me that these people have been in this water for days with nothing on and no food. There is no clinic or hospital to care for them. It had been washed away too. We need to act now I kept saying to myself, but how can I get people outside of Haiti, with no attachment to Haiti to care? How do I get them to pay attention to the forgotten?” represents the dilemma of humanitarian action—how do you make people listen? His organization, YELE HAITI objective “is to restore pride and a reason to hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and strength that is part of our heritage.” Yele Haiti has organized projects that range from school building and food distribution to creating after-school sports programs for Haitian children. Click here to find out how you can help Wycleff and Yele Haiti.
Peace,
Alice