We come together in our own time zones at 1:11 pm on January 11th, 2017 to collectively intention ‘Children across the planet in love, care and respect.” Unifying our hearts and minds in love, peace, and compassion for all. And igniting these intentions. Do yoga, meditate, dance ,sing, however you are uniquely called to contribute, host a meditation flashmob, gather at a favorite body of water. We come together for the children.
An Evening with Patch Adams, M.D., world-renowned through the film starring Robin Williams, “Patch”, is known for breaking with convention and bringing love, play, humor and clowning into hospitals and patient’s lives, re-awakening the child in us all and engaging healing, joy & well-being in life.
Patch will give a talk about his work, followed by a Panel to ask questions and discuss possibilities.
Patch is a social activist as well and constructing a free, holistic hospital & eco-village in West Virginia.
Share your smiles, compliments, time, talents, money, and energy with those around you. We must truly be the change that we want to see. And we can do it. We are doing it. Believe that the future is full of mindfulness where hearts mean more than our accounts.
The Love Initiative.
Notes From the Road – Bright Lights Blog
http://troubadourofpeace.blogspot.com/
Book a house concert or music for a yoga class today!!
TOUR DATES
Date | Time | Venue | Location | Cost |
---|---|---|---|---|
3/22/18 | 3:00 PM | Choices | Akron, OH | |
3/22/18 | 6:00 PM | Tea Time for Peace | Kent, OH | |
3/23/18 | 5:00 PM | Friends of the Metro Parks Benefit w/ the Bright Lights | Akron, OH | |
3/27/18 | 7:00 PM | Brother’s Lounge | Cleveland, OH | |
3/30/18 | 6:30 PM | 330 Day @ Akron Civic Theatre | Akron, OH | |
3/31/18 | 10:30 AM | Celebration of Life for Marilyn Stroud | Cuyahoga Falls, OH | |
4/3/18 | 6:30 PM | MLK Kirtan | Akron, OH | Donations |
4/4/18 | 6:30 PM | Nonviolent Communication Circle | Akron, OH | Donations |
4/6/18 | 7:00 PM | Big Love Night @ Live Music Now w/ Rhodes St Rude Boys | Akron, OH | $5-10 |
4/7/18 | 8:30 PM | Mustard Seed Highland Square w/ Bright Lights! | Akron, OH | |
4/10/18 | 7:00 PM | Brother Lounge | Cleveland, OH | |
4/16/18 | 7:00 PM | Wolf Creek Winery | Norton, OH | |
4/21/18 | 6:30 PM | Bright Lights @ the Rialto | Akron, OH | $5 |
4/22/18 | 4:00 PM | Yoga Central | Canton, OH | |
4/28/18 | 7:00 PM | Wine Mill | Peninsula, OH | |
5/2/18 | 6:30 PM | Nonviolent Communication Series | Akron, OH | Donations |
5/4/18 | 7:00 PM | Big Love Night @ Live Music Now w/ Gretchen Pleuss | Akron, OH | $5-10 |
5/5/18 | 12:00 PM | Cleveland VegFest | Cleveland, OH | |
5/5/18 | 6:00 PM | Bent Ladder winery | Doylestown , OH | |
5/8/18 | 7:00 PM | Brother’s Lounge | Cleveland, OH |
In celebration of the International Youth Day, the President of International Federation for Peace & Sustainable Development, Mrs. Sally Kader requests the pleasure of your company at our side event panel discussion on creating safe spaces for youth empowerment on August 13th, 2018 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, NY.
Topic: S.P.A.C.E for Youth: Safe Place to Actively Collaborate and Engage for Youth
Date: August 13th, 2018
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Conference Room 8, United Nations Headquarters, NY 10017
Young people constitute the majority for the world’s population today. In 2015, a global figure of 1.2 billion aged 15-24 accounted for one in every six people worldwide. However, nearly 535 million of children are living in harsh conditions, lacking access to decent health, education and protection services. Discrimination based on religion, race, disability, age and gender, high unemployment rates and lack of opportunities are also some of the adversities that the youth need to overcome. In face of such hardship, what is much needed for youth to become activists who can change the world into a place free of hunger, inequality and violence is a safe space where their voices are heard.
Our event will feature a prominent panel of speakers including youth leaders, ambassadors, ministers and other experts in the field of youth and social development speaking from their expertise and personal experience. The speakers will shed light on effective methods to create safe spaces for youth for their empowerment through government policies.
At IFPSD, we are deeply committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which necessitates the empowerment and inclusion of youth in the development plan, and we hold events to celebrate the International Youth Day annually. The panel discussion aims to take a step forward towards the realization of sustainable peace, stability, human rights and effective governance, with the collective voice of youth better heard. Please join us at our event on August 13th at the United Nations.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Attendance is open to all delegates, diplomats, government officials and civil society representatives including students with a valid UN Pass. Feel free to forward to interested colleagues. For Non-UN Ground Pass Holders, you must RSVP and bring your valid government ID when you pick up your UN pass. Once you RSVP we will send you further instructions via email regarding where you can pick up your UN Grounds Pass.
‘GRANDMOTHERS ON THE MOVE’ Podcast Episodes
Click HERE!
NO START TIME and NO END TIME – LISTEN to past and current podcasts!
Grandmothers To Grandmothers Campaign
The Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign exists to support the indomitable African grandmothers who are caring for the millions of children who have been orphaned by AIDS. Members of the Grandmothers Campaign share three goals. They work to:
- Raise funds to meet the needs of African grandmothers and the children in their care;
- Listen to African grandmothers, respect their expertise and amplify their voices, in order to promote authentic and substantive responses to the epidemic in Africa;
- Build solidarity among African and Canadian grandmothers in order to motivate and sustain the vital work of turning the tide of AIDS in Africa.
Canadian grandmothers groups are tremendously active in their communities. They put on concerts, organize card tournaments, and sell jewellery. They visit countless schools and community organizations. They bake, cook, sew, knit, paint, write, organize cycle tours, walks, and even ride motorcycles – all to raise funds and awareness for grandmothers in sub-Saharan Africa through the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
To learn more about how you can get involved in the Campaign, write to Ilana here.
Articles About The Campaign
What started as a conversation around a kitchen table has grown to become a movement to empower women, especially grandmothers, in Africa.
The Grandmothers Campaign, an initiative of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, is known as Grandmothers 4 Grandmothers in Regina, which was among the very first places in Canada where women took on projects to support families in Africa.
‘We know the power of women’s organizing in Canada and older women have an extraordinary amount of vigour and energy.’– Ilana Landsberg-Lewis
As Ilana Landsberg-Lewis explains, the movement arose in response to the human crisis, observed by her father Stephen Lewis during his time as a special envoy for the United Nations, afflicting the African continent during the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
Millions of children were orphaned by the deaths of their parents. Their grandmothers were left to raise them, with little or no support.
“Grandmothers were just in an agony of loss,” Landsberg-Lewis said. “Death was everywhere. They were left with no income and often isolated by the terrible stigma surrounding HIV-AIDS.”
Landsberg-Lewis recalled how requests seeking aid referred to the grandmothers as “caregivers” and when she asked why, she learned there was a strong bias in play.
“Nobody wants to fund them because they’re older women and nobody sees them as a meaningful investment,” she learned.
“We decided if Canadian grandmothers knew what was happening on the [African] continent then it would surely resonate with them and boy did it ever,” Landsberg-Lewis said.
“I wish I could say that I was prescient but it would be overstating it,” she said, talking about how the success of the organization, which quickly grew from a handful of activists brain-storming at a kitchen table (her own) to over 250 chapters across the country.
Since 2006 they have raised about $25 million.
“It was really extraordinary but I can’t say that I’m surprised,” she said. “Older women in our communities, we know the power of women organizing in Canada and older women have an extraordinary amount of vigour and energy.”
******************************************************************************
The Campaign currently boasts more than 240 grandmothers groups across the country. Many of the groups have organized into regional and national networks in order to support each other’s efforts in solidarity with African grandmothers and the children in their care.
Resources from the Grandmothers Campaign go to grassroots organizations that support African grandmothers with food, health care, school fees and school uniforms for their grandchildren, income-generating programmes, counselling, social support, essential shelter, and other necessities. Throughout Africa, grassroots organizations run by and for grandmothers are sharing insights, deepening their expertise, collaborating with other local organizations, and building their capacity to turn the tide of AIDS at community level.
Join us for a monthly celebration of the ancient, mystical tradition of mantra music. Elevate your spirit and cultivate community through the joyous, sacred sound of kirtan at the all-inclusive United Palace of Spiritual Arts.
Chant UP with Gaura Vani is a monthly world-music experience of kirtan. It is true spiritual artistry – it’s about connecting to the sacred – whatever that means for you – through participatory performance art and the ancient practice of communal singing. Kirtan is a musical form of storytelling, shared recitation and call-and-response that opens the heart and allows a glimpse of the beauty that lies in our human and spiritual connections.
Come experience a celebration of music, spirit and community led by Gaura Vani. Raise your voice and vibration!
Join us for a monthly celebration of the ancient, mystical tradition of mantra music. Elevate your spirit and cultivate community through the joyous, sacred sound of kirtan at the all-inclusive United Palace of Spiritual Arts.
Chant UP with Gaura Vani is a monthly world-music experience of kirtan. It is true spiritual artistry – it’s about connecting to the sacred – whatever that means for you – through participatory performance art and the ancient practice of communal singing. Kirtan is a musical form of storytelling, shared recitation and call-and-response that opens the heart and allows a glimpse of the beauty that lies in our human and spiritual connections.
Come experience a celebration of music, spirit and community led by Gaura Vani. Raise your voice and vibration!
In cooperation with the WE-Energime-Global Cooperation Turtle Island International Civil Society Organization and in support of peaceful interfaith dialogue, especially in light of Laudato Si, the recent message from Pope Francis on “Care for Mother Earth”, Drawdown Markham will be assisting Global Cooperation Day (GCD, New Zealand) to Celebrate the 800 year Anniversary (in 2019) of the meeting between Saint Francis of Assisi and Sultan Al Kamil in the year 1219 by planting a *Commemorative Tree of Peace* on a property in the East end of Markham (Locust Hill) on Sunday, September 15th.
This event is being done in support of the DD Markham CCAH Collaborative Exchange Project (CEP) and the “Spark for Humanity” project by We Are Mother Earth! (WAME) and GTI Enterprises (cooperative corporation), and for the eventual establishment of our “Go Local” Campaign for community resilience and adaptation, supported by our local Drawdown Markham Interfaith Neighborhood and Business Collaborative (which is part of the EncounterCanada collaborative, which is intended “to localize the Sustainable Development Goals to build ‘Climate Smart’ safe and sustainable communities and cities, pursuant to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction”).