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Network News

1. Katherine, Solen and Raphael go to the UN

Katherine Carré, Solen Gratiet and Raphael Bate (SD France and SDIA/WSA UN representatives) attended a meeting of the UN meeting in Geneva. Here is an excerpt from Solen's report:

IF NOT US, THEN WHO? IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN?

Between the 10th and 14th of March, Raphael and I attended our first session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, thanks to funding from Susila Dharma International. We attended for one week of the seventh session, which lasted much longer.

Before the event, I was afraid it would be little more than a talking shop — and to some extent it was, as despite all the discussions and resolutions made, torture, genocide, rape, forced marriages, disappearances, and many other violations of people's basic rights will continue all over the world; however, the importance of this event should not be underestimated.

First, the UN Human Rights Council has enormous symbolic value, representing a mobilisation of energy for change for the better in many domains. This in itself can give hope to the many people around the world battling to improve human rights. Secondly, it gives these same people a forum in which to voice their concerns and make their voices heard by those with power. Thirdly, concrete positive results can and do come about because of the Human Rights Council, both in terms of changes in policy by individual governments and in terms of awareness-raising about particular issues, which can then lead to individual behavioural change or the aforementioned policy changes. It is an invaluable tool of peer pressure, where the behaviour of any and every nation is scrutinised and debated.

Read Solen's report (in French or English) and Raphael's (in English)

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2. Erica and Puppets Visit Mostar

In February Puppeteers Without Borders founder Erica Sapir was invited to participate in a Conference in Bosnia on Object, Mask, Puppet - Powerful Means Of Theatrical Expression. Erica writes:

On the second day of the conference I had a three hour workshop on using puppetry in education, with special emphasis on Non Violent Communication.   I started with a short "enactment" of the story of Cain and Abel with walking puppets. The killing of Abel was particularly gruesome, as Cain crushed him completely and threw him to the crowd!

After the killing, I explained what moved Cain to his violence: his need to be loved and appreciated, a basic need of all human being, and how with some empathy he could have been able to express his anger at being neglected, without resorting to murder. I spoke about the importance of acknowledging our basic needs — what are those basic needs? Then I asked the audience to think of some conflict they face in their life or work, and to think of what needs are involved in those conflicts.

Read Erica's full report here

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3. Global Mercury Project combats mercury poisoning in Borneo

Mercury released into the air and water from processing gold in Kalimantan is poisoning the environment, turning hundreds of thousands of acres into lifeless deserts, and causing brain and nerve damage to local inhabitants and foreign workers. The Global Mercury Project works to institute safer technology for extracting gold and to educate workers about the hazards of unsafe practices.

The new website covers in detail the account of the UNIDO (Industry and Development Organization) endorsed Global Mercury Project. Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta (YTS), a non-profit organization and associate member of SDIA, was responsible for implementing the Indonesian part of the programme.

See: http://www.borneomercury.com/

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4. Volunteering for Susila Dharma

Hesther Bate writes:

On Saturday, March 1st, a small meeting to explore volunteering within Susila Dharma projects was held at Loudwater Farm (UK) hosted by Susila Dharma (Britain). Within Subud most of us have experienced 'volunteering' in one way or another, in our local groups or community. Others take bigger steps of volunteering to work in the developing, or Majority world (which lives on $1 a day).

The UN Volunteer Services Overseas and an increasing number of private organisations assist individuals to use their skills and labour within a constantly needy market. With professionals like these, why should we in Subud be concerned about recruiting and supporting volunteers to SD projects?

Read the volunteer recommendation report here

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5. El Refugio enters Partnership with local Youth Center

The Colombian project Fundacion El Refugio (the Refuge) has for years been operating a programme for at-risk youth in Bogota, Colombia. Virginia Thomas visited the project last year and writes: "This project tries to reach a very vulnerable population of out-of-school youth who are at risk of becoming involved in gang violence, drug use, or the drug trade, and who have no prospects for skills training or job readiness."

The project leader, Nury Bonilla, has been drawing in such youth and training them in the art of silversmithing to give them a sense of belonging, mutual support, and a cooperative structure in which they can eventually generate an income. Last year El Refugio's work with former child soldiers was accepted by the International Office of Migration, and now they have formed a new partnership with CACMA, a youth centre, that will be providing a home for her project. El Refugio still needs to come up with the resources to run the silversmithing programme.

For more information about El Refugio, see 2007 Colombia Report:

El Refugio funding proposal

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6. Congratulation Yenge Clinic!

Last year SDIA coordinated support for the purchase of two clinic buildings in DR Congo that are owned by SD DR Congo and leased to two clinics — Yenge and Nandora Vunguata. Many thanks to SD Norway and the Blond Trust who funded these purchases. We are happy to receive the first pictures showing the services offered by the Yenge Clinic in the new building. Congratulations to Zola Ferdinand and his team for the maternal health services they provide to women and children in Kinshasa — and congratulations to the Mama with her twins!

You can see more photos on our website.

And find more details about their work in the Annual Report below.

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7. Social Enterprise Support from Nobel Prize winner!

Illène Pevec's social enterprise proposal for the project she started in Brazil — A Child's Garden of Peace — was one of 12 that have been short-listed to participate in a Conference with Muhammad Yunus recently. The 3-day conference with 600 participants focused on encouraging creative economic solutions in developing countries. From Illène:

The meeting on micro-credit with Muhammad Yunus was an utterly fabulous experience. I am so inspired by the many project leaders and young people I met who are doing effective work in eradicating poverty through micro-credit and social business…The mothers, sisters, aunts and grandmothers of the children engaged in a Child's Garden of Peace have begun a cooperative to make purses from reused aluminium pull tabs from soda pop and beer cans. The women call their cooperative "Realizing Dreams." To order a stunning one-of-a-kind purse contact Illène Pevec, purseproject@gmail.com

To see flyer on the enterprise, click here

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8. YUM Opens Office in Central Kalimantan

Many visitors to Central Kalimantan attended last Month's official opening of the new YUM office. Hannah Baerveldt writes:

On March 17 the wife of the Governor of Central Kalimantan officially opened the offices of Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM), located just 300 meters from the gates of Rungan Sari, a residential and commercial complex on the outskirts of Palangkaraya. Over dinner with Olvia Reksodipoetro, YUM chairwoman, Mrs. Teras Narang suggested that YUM work closely with the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) to carry out social work, specifically to improve literacy for children.

The new YUM Village office site offers an excellent point of interaction between the residents of Rungan Sari and the local community. Tthis milestone for YUM will help the staff coordinate the projects they are developing in the region.

Read full report here

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9. Annual Reports for 2007 on the Web

Many reports from the members of SDIA are coming into the office summarizing activities in 2007. You can read them on the SDIA website at the links below

Projects Click Here

Asia:

• Anisha Foundation (India)
• YUM Children's Village (Indonesia)

Africa - DR Congo:

• Yenge Clinic
• Albadi School
• Nandora Vunguta Clinic

Latin America:

• Fundación Amanecer (Colombia)
• Colegio Amanecer (Colombia)
• Fundacion Despertar (Argentina)

SD Nationals (Click here)

• SD Argentina
• SD France
• SD Ireland
• SD New Zealand
• SD Spain

Zone 3 Susila Dharma Report (Click here)

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Upcoming Events / Opportunities

Pan American Conference Susila Dharma Highlights!

Come to Amanecer, Colombia July 23-August 5 and you can participate in the following Susila Dharma program which is part of a bigger Subud program:

• 3 day project management training including Logical Framework, Budgeting, Financial Reporting and Preparing for an Audit, Project Networking, Communication and Promotion.
• Governance and Development Workshop
• Innovations in Education by Subud Educators
• Country presentations with a focus on Latin America
• Interactive workshops such as: dealing with chronic illness, small ways to make a global difference, addressing problems of violence in the home, successful micro-credit projects, volunteering, conflict resolution and more…
• Orientation and Networking for SD.

If you plan to come and want to attend, or have additional program ideas or wish to contribute your expertise to make this program a success, contact Virginia at info@susiladharma.org

Microcredit Summit in Bali

Olvia from YUM in Indonesia writes:

Many thanks for the link to the Microcredit Summit website, through that link I also found information on MicroBusiness for Health - something we are interested with since we have both health and microcredit projects in Kalimantan.

Interestingly, the next Microcredit Summit will be in Bali in July 2008. Though we are a very small player in that field at the moment, our hope is that we can grow substantially in the years to come and I am quite tempted to attend that summit.

For more information about the Microcredit Summit in Indonesia, check here http://www.microcreditsummit.org/

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From the Office

SDIA Launches the
Enterprise Sponsorship Program!

SDIA is please to announce the start of a new partnership between businesses and Susila Dharma International called The Enterprise Sponsorship Program. We have been workshopping this idea to recognize and connect with socially responsible Subud and non-Subud enterprises for support of our SD network for many months. We want to thank to the entrepreneurs Andrew Holloway, Michael Alexander, Isaac Goff, Muchtar Nankival, Haris Wolfgang, and others who have assisted us develop the concept.

Congratulations to Marcus Bolt (UK) who designed the winning logo that enterprises will use in their promotion and websites in exchange for a pre-determined commitment to support Susila Dharma.

If you are an entrepreneur and wish to join in, contact info@susiladharma.org for more information on the program.

Travels

Laura Lesley will attend the Zone 3 meeting in Pisa in April

Sharifin Gardiner and Paloma de la Viña attended the recent meetings in Kalimantan You can see some photos from the Kalimantan Visioning Meeting at

http://public.fotki.com/yts/ (Password: pky)

Thanks to Stewart Brown of Kalimantan for sending us this link.

Virginia Thomas will be travelling to Nigeria for 10 days in April on a professional contract for ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Secretariat.

Cassidy Sterling is travelling up to Montreal for a working visit with Virginia Thomas and Elizabeth Gujdan who is designing the SDIA website.

 

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