“There’s nothing more radical than listening.”
~~ Gloria Steinem
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/11/30/one-liner-wednesday-words-to-live-by/
Tag: hope
Haiti project
In these divisive days around the US elections, I have been clinging to any positive news of people reaching out and offering love, hope, and acceptance. I want to share this story from this past Sunday at my church.
There is a parishioner who co-teaches a service learning course at the local community college. Part of this course is a service trip to Haiti, to a village in the northern section of the island. The church has raised funds and donated materials for the projects on a regular basis over the last several years, so she gives us periodic updates.
The group went to Haiti in October. Because of flooding and hurricane Matthew, the village had endured damage to many of the mudbrick and straw buildings, but other repairs had already been made. The water system that protects the people from water-borne diseases was back in service. The two-classroom school that was part of the earlier iterations of the project had re-opened. Two more classrooms will be added soon. They and the adjoining church, which also serves as a community gathering place, are powered by solar panels and there is enough energy storage to allow the children to do homework at the school after dark, using LED lights. Computers that were donated are part of the school curriculum. There is also a newly-opened sewing school with donated machines that is helping local people learn a useful trade.
Last year, land was cleared for a community garden which grows food for the schoolchildren’s lunch. They had been growing staples like corn and beans which can be dried for later use, as there is no refrigeration available. The community had decided to grow rice as well, which wound up being a fortuitous decision; when the floods came, the rice crop continued to grow nicely and they just had their first rice harvest, with many bags of rice in storage for future school lunches.
The school lunch program is especially important as many of the children will eat their only meal of the day at school.
School costs the equivalent of $25 a year, but that sum is too much for some of the families, so there is a new scholarship fund in place to help more children attend school. There is also a plan to add a kitchen with solar ovens to the school, so that the cooks who make the school lunch can also bake breads and pies for sale to benefit the lunch program.
The people in the village are filled with hope, as they work steadily toward making their lives safer and more comfortable with the help of their friends and partners from our area.
We all need hope. We all need to reach out to each other, to help each other, to recognize that every person has inherent dignity.
Thank you to the villagers in Haiti for reminding me of the power of hope.
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One-Liner Wednesday: three little words
Love trumps hate.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/11/16/one-liner-wednesday-words-and-grace/.
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SoCS: hope
I tell people that, as much as I would like it to be, hope is not one of my better virtues.
Anyone who has any exposure to the loooooooong campaign season in the US knows that hope has been in short supply among the vitriol. I have been finding hope where I can, though, in the glimmer of the few positive ads and in some of the progressive positions of candidates. As a former Sanders support, I appreciate how many of the issues I care most about made it into the Democratic platform.
Hope is easier to maintain with personal issues. As some of you know, my mom, known here as Nana, recently returned home from NYC where she had an aortic valve replacement that wound up necessitating a bonus pacemaker. Recovery will be slower than we had hoped, but there is still hope there, as she is improving every day and able to be up and about in their apartment.
Next step, walking down to the Village Center for dinner! We aren’t sure what day that will happen, but soon, we hope.
Hmmm…Maybe I am better at hope than I thought.
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week is “ho”. Join us! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/10/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-oct-2216/
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SoCS: what I long for
Things I long for – or long for more abundantly:
peace
sleep
more hours to write
more hours when my brain is operating clearly enough to write
love
good health for my family, friends, and everyone else, too
co-operation for the common good
caring about important things
for public sanity and good will in the face of so many challenges
unity
an end to hunger, oppression, and deprivation
*****
This short and impossible list is brought to be Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt is “long.” Come join us! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/07/01/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-july-216/
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Christmas
Sending out Christmas blessings to all who celebrate and hopes for peace, love, and joy to all!
~ Joanne
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Re-gaining my bearings
When I last posted, I was feeling overwhelmed by – well – everything.
I’ve been working on finding some hope amid the chaos, with help from many people and their words.
My friend and spiritual companion Yvonne sent words of wisdom from Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Pat, another spiritual sister, posted a prayer from Julia Seymour. Sister Simone Campbell and NETWORK continue their call for peace and care for all people, especially those on the margins or at risk from violence and deprivation. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Professor Robert Reich continued their progressive statements that “promote the general welfare” as the U.S. Constitution states. I started reading Franciscan Richard Rohr’s Immortal Diamond.
Improvement in family situations has helped, too. My parents have made progress in their continuing recovery from health challenges. Our younger daughter completed orientation for grad school with classes beginning on Monday. Our son-in-law completed his PhD comprehensive exams, despite a computer dying at the worst possible time.
This morning, we sang Benedictine Delores Dufner’s “Sing a New Church” which begins as a call for Christian unity but expands to envision peace and justice among nations and all peoples. It reminded me that, while many of my values come to me through the Catholic Christian tradition, at their core, they parallel those of all people of good will, whether or not they follow a spiritual practice.
The common thread is to concentrate on and uphold goodness, peace, love, and justice. These are much more common, much more the norm than their opposites. The violent, the intolerant, the exploitative are loud and try to control the conversation and other people, but we must not mistake that they are few in number. Obviously, it is not easy for those of good will around the world to subdue those bent on destruction and abuse of power, but we can and must prevail, each doing our part, however small, in our own lives.
Joanne Corey 