Newsletter: June/July 2010

Welcome!

Our volunteer team is about to begin our "acts of kindness" projects in Liberia and Ethiopia. Thank you for your support enabling our work to help students develop their leadership skills while assisting those in great need.

Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Update

On May 31st humanitarian aid workers were murdered by the Israeli military. Our prayers go to all the people suffering including the Israeli soldiers who killed the aid workers. To learn more about the specifics of this tragedy, click here.

We understand the tensions involved in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. In July 2009, four Teach Peace volunteers delivered medicine to help people there. As a peace organization we condemn all violence because the that good violence appears to do is temporary and the evil inflicted is permanent. All Teach Peace programs are 100% nonviolent. Our position is that regardless of politics children should never be made to go hungry or be sick.

The Israeli government will no doubt declare there is no Gaza humanitarian crisis and the soldiers acted in self defense. Common sense informs even the casual observer that the Gaza invasion created a humanitarian crisis. The International Committee of the Red Cross reports about 70 percent of the Gaza population suffers from food insecurity. The Israeli military claim of self defense in the May 31st murders is twisting the truth. The soldiers illegally boarded the six aid ships in international waters. Ships in international waters are legally entitled to use non-lethal force to protect themselves from being overtaken. For this reason to claim the Israeli commandos assault is self defense is like a house robber claiming he murdered the occupants in self defense. This is a key reason peacemakers within Israel are declaring Israel has lost a second Gaza war at sea.

The time has come for President Obama to earn his Nobel Laureate. Please call upon President Obama to demand Israel immediately end the Gaza siege and stop the US funding of these crimes by terminating military aid to Israel. To take action, click here.

When you support Teach Peace you are supporting our love for Israelis, Palestinians and people everywhere.

Planning to Change the World

Our vision is to be one of the top ten providers of student peacemaking solutions to the greatest threats facing humanity. One step in this journey is to become a resource for teachers across the country. Pinsuda Sriontisuk recently wrote to us to inform us that we are included in the 2010-2011 edition of Planning to Change the World. The book helps teachers translate their vision of education into concrete classroom activities. To learn more about this unique social justice resource for teachers K through 12 see www.justiceplanbook.com.

Helping Children

We have a goal of delivering 50 scholarships so that children who would otherwise not be able to attend school can go to school. We need funding for 44 of the 50 scholarships. Please consider donating $100 to help a child in Liberia, Africa. If you participate in this program you will receive a picture and the name of the child that you helped.  We give the $100 directly to the school so that everything including the school uniform is paid for a full year. Click here for more information and to help.

Africa Peacemaker Update

This is the final invitation for the summer trip. All Teach Peace members are welcome. Summer leadership development projects include:

1. Clean water

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 our acts of kindness.

To help us deliver an act of kindness and to see where the funding comes for the above projects, click here.

Articles

Every day 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 find out if you have missed important news, click here.

Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas

Almerindo Ojeda, the Director of the Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, has notified us that a video recording and transcript of the first public discussion of a former Guantánamo prisoner (Omar Deghayes) and a former Guantánamo guard (Terry Holdbrooks) are now online. Click here to access this information.

This April 30, 2010 event educated the public that torture at Guantánamo is still occurring. The conversation was facilitated by award-winning journalist and Democracy Now producer Amy Goodman.

Would you like a personal update on our progress?

Teach Peace is a transparent organization. We do nothing in secret. Everyone is welcome to call in for meetings including board meetings and read meeting notes, which are online.

Peace be with you, The Teach Peace Foundation team