Newsletter: April 2010

The April newsletter is dedicated to Eva Perkins, a founding member of the Teach Peace Foundation who passed away on April 4, 2010.

Eva was a fantastic help to our organization and she is greatly missed. A few months ago she and her husband Bob were selected to be our 2010 Peace Force award winners which will be presented in Sacramento on September 21, 2010. In addition, our team in Liberia is dedicating a new livestock village in her name as our way of saying thank you for her amazing support.

Click here for her obituary.

Mother's Day Cards

Last year our Mother's Day for Peace program was a big success. We are continuing our service to send cards for you to your mother.

Our efficient Mother's Day card service saves you from going to the store to buy a card and at the same time is a great way to remind everyone that Mother's Day was started as a day to teach peace. You have the option of instructing us to send a card via US mail or for us to send a card via email.

To make a $25 donation and have us send a card with a message you can personalize, click here or on the picture on the left.

For more information on the history of Mother's Day, click here.

To view the email message and the card, click here.

High School Student Presentations

A focus of our work is to inspire high school students to participate in acts of kindness. Dave Dionisi presented a series of classes on April 15 and 16 ranging from economic justice to concrete solutions for peace and security. To hear his presentation titled "Be the change you wish to see in the world" to approximately 1,500 students at Mercer Island High School in Washington, click here.

Please note there is about one minute of beautiful African music sung by the Mercer Island High School choir before Dave's presentation.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The story of the failed coup in Venezuela is fascinating. We recommend watching this documentary which shows how a plan to undermine Venezuela's democracy almost succeeded.

Two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace on April 11, 2002, when Hugo Chavez was removed from office. You may recall that on November 26, 2007 the Venezuelan government published a classified document from the US embassy revealing CIA operations to overthrow Chavez's democratically elected government. This documentary is a "sit on the edge of your seat" real-world rollercoaster ride. Outside the US, this failed coup d'état is widely known which this fact alone should prompt many questions such as why did John Kerry not mention this fiasco during his debates with George W. Bush which could have reasonably enabled him to win the election? Why is Obama also silent? We highly recommend this documentary recording what may be history's shortest-lived coup d'état.

Click here to watch the documentary.

Survival Guide for Outsiders

In a democracy the citizens form the ultimate check in a delicate system of checks and balances. 

In our home or at our job we usually know the essential facts: there we are insiders. But in respect to most domestic and foreign events we are outsiders.  In those cases the insiders can easily manipulate our perception of reality. The recently published book, "Survival Guide for Outsiders: How to protect yourself from politicians, experts, and other insiders," describes why we are vulnerable and how we can defend ourselves. Click here to access the full book review plus the high school lesson plan to promote critical thinking.

Including many examples from history and current events, it shows how we can protect ourselves from those who wish to manipulate our view of the world.  This new book, available at Amazon.com, is written by Teach Peace member Sherman Stein.

A Guaranteed Smile

Click here to see the video clip of an orangutan and a dog who become friends.

Peace Trip

We are delivering acts of kindness in Liberia and Ethiopia. Our team consists of 16 people for the Liberia portion and 12 people who will also visit Ethiopia. This is an exciting program we offer and we are especially excited to see the livestock project started by high school student Renee Chiang (click here for more information or to learn how to donate animals to help parents struggling to feed their children). Other projects include:

1. Clean water projects

2. Medical clinic

3. Delivering animals to villages

4. Food aid for the disabled

5. Special Ambassadors support

6. Scholarship program

Each of the above projects is funded by our members when they donate to support one of our acts of kindness. For example, in 2009 we delivered goats and chickens to 19 villages in Liberia. To see where the funding comes for the above projects, click here.

For more information about our peace trips, click here.

Articles

Everyday we search for important developments to help you understand a range of peace and justice issues. In this effort we put the spotlight on important articles that are often bypassed by the corporate media. To access over 1,000 articles, click here.

Special Ambassadors Acts of Kindness

“Is this what you people really do?”  It was a simple enough question coming from John Lackay, our newest Liberian consultant as he interviewed for work on our Special Ambassadors team. People are often amazed about our services for disabled children in Africa because these children are generally left to suffer without assistance.

Teach Peace's Dolley Gurley had called us when she had gone with John to visit Uriah, one of our newest disabled youngsters. When they arrived, they did not find him. All they found was a charred mud hut where Uriah had lived with his grandmother and parents.

Neighbors told them that the hut had burned down in the night and Uriah and his mother had been slightly burned but his grandmother, who had been his primary caretaker, had died in the fire. Uriah and his parents had been taken in by neighbors and were down the road in another hut with ten adults and many children.  Teach Peace's Kevin Rockensies was greatly disturbed by the news and began working to help Dolley obtain a list of necessities he knew Uriah would need immediately - food, three new sets of clothes, a small mattress, sheets, towels, wash cloths, soap, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste and a basin.  Kevin also asked Dolley to tell Uriah that by July he will have a special new wheelchair, courtesy of Teach Peace because earlier this month 25 wheelchairs were purchased to be sent to Liberia (see the below right picture of the wheelchair boxes that will be shipped in a container made possible by another non-profit called Mission Honduras International).

So, as John Lackay’s voice cracked as he asked his question, “Is this what you people really do?” Kevin Rockensies answered, “Yes, if we are able.” John ended the conversation by saying Uriah, who lost his home in the fire, would have everything by morning.  Regarding the mattress, John said, “Do you know this boy has been on the ground the entire fifteen years of his life?” Kevin and Dolley smiled because Uriah's story captures exactly what the Special Ambassadors program is all about.

With the help of Teach Peace and donors, this will be the first time in his life that he will be able to experience life from a literally new point of view.

Special Ambassadors is by definition an act of kindness and this is what Teach Peace is all about - Love, Dignity, Respect and Acts of Kindness.

Click here to sponsor a disabled child at $1 a day.

Thank you for your support that enables us to help people here at home and across the globe.

Peace be with you, The Teach Peace Foundation Team