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May 20, 2010, 1:50 PM

Good News! 12 new CCs join the URI community

It is with great joy that I share with you that during the CC approval meeting yesterday twelve new groups were accepted as URI Cooperation Circles!

It is remarkable that this shows growth in six of our eight regions. Four of the new CCs belong to a country in Africa, Somalia, where URI doesn’t have other CCs. Four are concentrated on women’s rights and empowerment for peace--three in the Middle East and North Africa Region. Four are focused on youth and education (Africa, Multi, Middle East and Latin America Regions). A CC in Somalia is formed by journalists calling for the protection of the Earth. The CC in the North America Region works in Canada, a country with little URI development, and is formed by religious leaders of 9 different religions. Three of the new CCs clearly manifest their willingness to collaborate in development and awareness of human rights. And all of them find their work aligned with URI's Purpose, creating cultures of peace, justice and healing.

AFRICA REGION: SOMALIA

 - National Association of Somali Science and Environmental Journalists

 - Gender Education Empowerment and Leadership Organization (GEELO)

 - Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre

 - Coqwo: Coalition of Grassroot Women Organization

ASIA REGION: INDIA, NORTH ZONE

 - Pashchim Vihar Cc

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN REGION: ARGENTINA

 - Comunidad Cósmica

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION: ISRAEL

 - Women Reborn

 - MADA (Horizon)

 - Salaam Shalom Educational Foundation

 - PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY Palestinian Women for Peace Society

MULTI-REGION

 - URI Circle for Peace and Nonviolence Education

NORTH AMERICA REGION: CANADA

 - Global Clergy Association Vancouver, BC

Let us welcome and pray for them: May the members of these Cooperation Circles fulfill their aspirations and live in Peace! May Peace prevail on Earth!

Posted By:

Maria Eugenia Crespo de Mafia

Maria Eugenia Crespo de Mafia

Comments:

Here is an excerpt from a book that describes the role of women in Somalia - it gives context to the 4 new CCs led primarily by women that have been birthed there. Excerpt is from, Paradise Beneath Her Feet by Isobel Coleman. "It was the summer of 1991, and Somalia was embroiled in a full-blown civil war, a war that tragically continues today… Somali women…, rose to the challenge. Loane, a soft-spoken Irishman, smiles remembering how the women of Mogadishu came to him with a plan to get food to the starving people. "They proposed a solution, a practical solution totally in keeping with their local culture. Rather than transporting big shipments of food to large feeding centers, which only encouraged the looting, the women suggested we help them set up communal kitchens in neighborhoods across the city. The Red Cross would supply them with firewood and water, and run a constant stream of small loads of food to them via donkeys. They would immediately cook the food and serve it to the hungry, averting starvation and eliminating the food's cash value. We thought it was worth a try. Before we knew it, the women had totally taken charge. They set up more than three hundred of these communal kitchens, run by kitchen committees comprised of twenty to thirty women. Each of these kitchens was dishing out between one and two thousand meals, twice a day. They became the lifeline of Mogadishu." Let’s hear about the courage and the resourcefulness of humanity which far outweighs the noisy trouble makers. URI elicits human creativity, courage and stamina in the face of problems. Bravo to CCs - each day, bravo!! May you receive the power and the grace and the courage to follow your initiatives and work in pursuit of the URI purpose. May we, all working together, become a lifeline to the next generations and our dear planet.

Arrow

sallymahe - May 24, 2010 1:18 PM

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