Prejudice is Learned- The Death of Fafour in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children's television program was beaten to death in the show's final episode Friday.

In the final skit, "Farfour" was killed by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy Farfour's land. At one point, the mouse called the Israeli a "terrorist."

"Farfour was martyred while defending his land," said Sara, the teen presenter. He was killed "by the killers of children," she added.

The weekly show, featuring a giant black-and-white rodent with a high-pitched voice, had attracted worldwide attention because the character urged Palestinian children to fight Israel. It was broadcast on Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV.

Station officials said Friday that Farfour was taken off the air to make room for new programs. Station manager Mohammed Bilal said he did not know what would be shown instead.

Israeli officials have denounced the program, "Tomorrow's Pioneers," as incendiary and outrageous. The program was also opposed by the state-run Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., which is controlled by Fatah, Hamas' rival.

.... A Giant Step Back for Children... The Role of Race in the Educational Setting

“It is not often in the law that so few have so quickly changed so much.”
– Supreme Ct. Justice Stephen Breyer opposing the Court’s 5-4 ruling that schools cannot use racial quotas to maintain an integrated student population.

In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court today ruled against Seattle and Kentucky school-choice programs that considered race in the assignment of children to public schools. Associate Professor Mica Pollock, whose research — including the award-winning book Colormute: Race Talk Dilemmas in an American School — focuses on the role of race in educational settings, discusses the decision.

Q. How will the Supreme Court ruling affect schools that want to maintain racial diversity?
A. As Justice Stevens suggested, districts are now going to be waiting in fear to be sued for even voluntary attempts to create or maintain racial diversity in school enrollment. It’s a sad day in America when people fear they will be sued for attempts to create diverse and equitable schools. This ruling could prompt more complex efforts at diversifying school populations. The danger is that districts will hear this ruling as a mandate to mute any analysis or discussion of race when planning student enrollment or school programs. But districts don’t have to be colormute – they don’t have to stop their conversations about race and opportunity, and about student body diversity. I hope districts refuse colormuteness, and keep talking about how to attract diverse populations to their schools and educational programs. School-level educators also need to keep talking about racially equal opportunity inside their schools and classrooms. No one in the field of education should take this opinion as a mandate to stop talking about race and opportunity, or the need for diversity. We can’t afford that as a nation.

For continuation of the interview

PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS v. SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 ET AL.

an awesome day with an awesome man

UNESCO: World Heritage List ... A Gift to Our Children

The World Heritage List includes 830 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. These include 644 cultural, 162 natural and 24 mixed properties in 184 States Parties.

The Intercative Map

World Heritage in Danger
The List of World Heritage in Danger is designed to inform the international community of conditions which threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to encourage corrective action.

Success Stories

National Aboriginal Day

National Aboriginal Day

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.
Chief Seattle

In cooperation with national Aboriginal organizations, the Government of Canada designated June 21 National Aboriginal Day. This date was chosen because it corresponds to the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and because for generations, many Aboriginal groups have celebrated their culture and heritage at this time of year. National Aboriginal Day is a wonderful opportunity to become better acquainted with the cultural diversity of Inuit, Métis and First Nations peoples, discover the unique accomplishments of Aboriginal peoples in fields as varied as agriculture, the environment and the arts, and celebrate their significant contribution to Canadian society.
The Inuit
The Metis
The First Nations ----Abenaki | Acolapissa | Algonkin | Bayougoula | Beothuk | Catawba | Cherokee | Chickasaw | Chitimacha | Comanche | Delaware | Erie | Houma | Huron | Illinois | Iroquois | Kickapoo | Mahican | Mascouten | Massachusett | Mattabesic | Menominee | Metoac | Miami | Micmac | Mohegan | Montagnais | Narragansett | Nauset] Neutrals | Niantic] Nipissing | Nipmuc | Ojibwe | Ottawa | Pennacook | Pequot | Pocumtuc | Potawatomi | Sauk and Fox | Shawnee | Susquehannock | Tionontati | Tsalagi | Wampanoag | Wappinger | Wenro | Winnebago |

First Nations' Contributions

FAQs!!!!!

World Refugee Day

Nine million faces.
Nine million names.
Nine million stories.

Nine million children are refugees right now.

Ninemillion.org is a UN Refugee Agency led campaign to raise awareness and funds for education and sport programs for refugee youth, many of whom are forced to spend years of their young lives away from home with little hope of returning. What happens to them now, during their years as refugees, is up to all of us.

I Hope They Won’t Kill Me I Hope Nobody’s Following Me I Hope I Don’t step On A Landmine I Hope I Find Some Water Soon I Hope I Don’t Die Out Here I Hope Some One Will Find Me I Hope The UnitedNations Can Help Me I Hope They’ve Got Food And Shelter I Hope They Can Help Me Find My Family I Hope we’ll Be Able To Go Back One Day. I Hope We Never, Ever, Have To Flee Again!

A World of Difference- Video

For years, many countries and regions have been holding their own Refugee Days and even Weeks. One of the most widespread is Africa Refugee Day, which is celebrated on 20 June in several countries. As an expression of solidarity with Africa, which hosts the most refugees, and which traditionally has shown them great generosity, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 55/76 on 4 December 2000. In this resolution, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, and that the Organization of African Unity (OAU) had agreed to have International Refugee Day coincide with Africa Refugee Day on 20 June. The Assembly therefore decided that, from 2001, 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day.

The refugee challenge in the 21st century is changing rapidly. People are forced to flee their homes for increasingly complicated and interlinked reasons. Some 40 million people worldwide are already uprooted by violence and persecution, and it is likely that the future will see more people on the run as a growing number of push factors compound one another to create conditions for further forced displacement.
Today people do not just flee persecution and war but also injustice, exclusion, environmental pressures, competition for scarce resources and all the miserable human consequences of dysfunctional states.

The task facing the international community in this new environment is to find ways to unlock the potential of refugees who have so much to offer if they are given the opportunity to regain control over their lives.

There are three ways we at the UN Refugee Agency are making this goal a reality: we protect, we build and we advocate. First, we protect refugee rights to safety, shelter and health, focusing special attention on the most vulnerable people, particularly women and girls.

Second, we work with our partners to build the capacity of refugees to fend for themselves once they are able to do so. And we work hard to find solutions so that refugees become self-sufficient as soon as possible.

Third, we advocate to draw attention to the plight of refugees and to raise the money necessary to get the job done. Our goal is to persuade people that it is our common responsibility to make a difference for those forced to pick-up and go through no fault of their own. Results on the ground show we are making progress. Last year, we helped hundreds of thousands of people return home. In Africa, bright spots include stepped-up repatriation to South Sudan and winding up of UNHCR's operations in Liberia and Angola. In April, we held a major conference in Geneva and mobilized international support for the millions fleeing conflict in Iraq. We cannot do this alone. But with your support UNHCR can begin to turn the tide, giving refugees hope for the future and new opportunities for their families and their communities.

50 Years On: What Future for Refugee Protection?
Child Labor Common among the Displaced and Stateless
Iraq: The World's Fastest Growing Refugee Crisis
Iraq's Exodus of Pain
Burma...
The Camps: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
Darfuri Refugee Camps
Azerbaijan: Sports brightens an otherwise stark life
Big Business Helps Refugees

..........Life Can Be So Beautiful....

Dusty- Vancouver- June 2007

The Answer to Another Divine Conversation

Standing on the corner of Broadway and Oak, in the heat of the afternoon sun, I was truck by a curious revelation.
My reality was not in Albania, educating, building, shaking and moving.
My reality was the pink bubblegum stuck to the bottom of my shoe, the cigarette butts strewn in the streets.
My reality is the absolute hypocrisy of my life.
The noble yet condescending words, uttered. It is so easy to mount the snow-white high horse, and to pretend to have the answers, to don on the saviour complex when in reality we really are too helpless to save ourselves from ourselves. How can we talk about alleviating pain and suffering of improving the lots of others, when we live in our ivory towers and are too afraid to soil our hands much less mingle with the less fortunate. We play judge and jury; we pass judgements on the unfortunates, the downtrodden, with the smug satisfaction that comes from being the good Samaritan. It is so ironic this life… it is so cruel, for here we are drowning in the materialistic dream, being suffocated by our own ignorance and greed, Who are we to say “ Let me help”. We are the denizens of a godless society. We are the ships eternally lost at sea, doomed to a lifetime of ignorance. We travel to far off places, in order to ameliorate the condition of others, to give them a piece of the “American dream”- the white picket fence around the house of John and Jane with their 2.8 children and their dog named Spot. Only John is an alcoholic who abuses Jane, who has an eating disorder because she has to look good in the designer labels- who are so wrapped up in their own world that the kids go neglected, finding comfort and security in gangs, drugs, and love through sex with anyone and anything. Who will come and save this “noble” continent? Who will come to teach us about love, life, respect, value systems, interconnectedness and social responsibility. There must be hope, some glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. We are the godless society screaming into the oblivion of history.

Sunday August 28, 1994

Children Learn What They Live

Children Learn What They Live

By Dorothy Law Nolte

If children live with criticism,
They learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility,
They learn to fight.
If children live with ridicule,
They learn to be shy.
If children live with shame,
They learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement,
They learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance,
They learn to be patient.
If children live with praise,
They learn to appreciate.
If children live with acceptance,
They learn to love.
If children live with approval,
They learn to like themselves.
If children live with honesty,
They learn truthfulness.
If children live with security,
They learn to have faith in themselves and others.
If children live with friendliness,
They learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Inpirational Person of the Week:Four-year-old Su-Sze raises $8,800 for children in Malaysia

Four-year-old Kam Su-Sze from Malaysia has done her parents and her country proud by raising more than 33,000 Malaysian ringgits (about $8,800) for UNICEF, through the sale of postcards showcasing her art.


With the help of her mother Kim Tho, Su-Sze transformed ten of her own drawings and stories into 3,000 sets of postcard packs in two designs. Each pack contained five postcards which were sold at various retail outlets and special events in her country.

Su-Sze’s postcards were a commercial success, and the big-hearted young girl and her parents donated every bit of the profits to UNICEF.

Su-Sze showed her talent and determination at an early age. She started reading by the time she was 2 years and 3 months old, and was an independent reader by 3 years old. She also picked up an interest in drawing.

The young girl’s desire to help children less fortunate than herself was born following her family’s escape from the tsunami when they were holidaying in Phuket, Thailand last December.

“Su-Sze is truly an amazing and gifted child who puts others before her,” said UNICEF Representative in Malaysia Gaye Phillips during the recent cheque presentation ceremony. “It does not matter how small you are – you can make a big difference.”

Su-Sze’s contribution will help UNICEF in its programmes for children in Malaysia, working in partnership with the Government and other local and international organizations.

...helping each other, not destroying each other...

It is our earth,
not yours
or mine
or his.
We are meant to live on it,
helping each other,
not
destroying each other.

In Pictures: Photos by the Abandoned of Nepal

No Opinions

"Girls in Nepal are not encouraged to have opinions or develop their individuality, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds are at the bottom of the heap," says Sue Carpenter, organiser of a photography exhibition in the country to help such girls find their voice.

The exhibition features the work of 22 participants, aged six to 17-years-old, who live in the care of Save our Sisters Bahini, an organisation in the town of Pokhara that accommodates girls who have been abused or neglected.

Support Children in Nepal

Fast Facts ABout Children In South East Asia

Happy Father's Day

Dad and Ata... Age 6... Kashan , Iran 1935

A little boy by the name of Jackson today told me that he "had lost the will to live" as he lined up for the end of the day. I looked at him and he reiterated it. I told him he just couldn’t say something like that and then walk out of the class that we would need to talk about it some more. He looked at me not understanding what it was in what he had said that I had failed to grasp.
“I am dead serious!” he exclaimed.
I explained to him that it was precisely because of what he had said that we would need to talk more.
And before I knew it tears started streaming down his chubby mischievous face.
It would seem that his father, a very successful businessman would not be here in Vancouver for Father's Day. He would be away until July in Tibet, perhaps even longer. He started to sob how much he was going to miss his father, how much he really needed his father. I started to make suggestions about scanning and email the card he had just finished making for his dad to him. But the father did not have access to the Internet. What about photocopying and faxing the card to him? That also did not work as neither Jackson nor his mother had the father’s phone number in Tibet. I promised him that his father would phone… after all it was going to be Father’s Day. But the boy could not be consoled. We hugged for a while as he cried with me assuring him that it was good to cry and that he needed to cry and talk it out.
“Jackson, can I tell you a secret? I am very sad this Father’s Day. You see my dad is very sick, he has cancer. And we are afraid that this will be the last Father’s Day we will be able to celebrate together. And it made me so sad that I cried all of last weekend. But, and I know this is a difficult one to see when you are missing your dad so much, that this will be the only Father’s Day that your dad will not be with you. You will have him with you next year… and you will talk to him this year… I promise you he will phone.”
We spoke a bit longer as we hugged each other. He sniffled and buried his head into my chest and whispered “Thank you” and with that he went away.

This is dedicated to all of you who cannot be with your fathers…

Happy Father’s Day, Dads…
w h e r e v e r you are.

06/15/07 Update: Went to check in on Jackson today... Happy to report a humongous smile on his radiant face... His dad called from Tibet last night... He owes me $10!

A Beautiful Mirage

Two years ago, after Gleneagles, we were all excited by the following headline:

The World Bank is preparing to cancel billions of dollars of debt owed to it by many of the world's poorest nations.

It is two years later and we are all still waiting!
The battle cry was :

Make Poverty History

The July 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles delivered promises on debt, aid, trade, security and climate change.

G8 nations agreed to:

• Wipe the debts of 18 African countries
• Announced $50bn boost to aid for Africa
• Pledged universal access to HIV drugs in Africa by 2010
• Committed to training 20,000 peacekeepers for Africa
• Vowed to work towards a new trade deal

Debt cancellation has resulted in extra spending on health and education in poor countries, but is not reaching enough of the world's poor. Aid figures show huge increases but include large debt write-offs for Iraq and Nigeria. The growth in aid in key G8 nations is not enough to meet the promises made at Gleneagles. G8 nations have so far failed to overcome trade deadlocks that would allow poor nations to benefit from a globalised economy. The pace of climate change talks has increased, but not the action. And one year on there is still no international agreement on standards for arms transfers.

Excerpts from the summary of agreements published by Germany on behalf of G8 leaders after their summit in Heiligendamm.

G8 leaders meeting in Germany have vowed to deliver on pledges to Africa, and agreed a $60bn (£30bn) package for fighting Aids, malaria and TB.

Let deeds, not words, be your adorning....

We Are Flowers of One Garden

Me and My "Son"....Fresh off of Suspension

“You have to have a talk with your son!” the third grade teacher begged me today. “My son” is Marc, my former homicidal student, as opposed to Kyle, my suicidal student, from last year. Marc is my love, and I cannot imagine one day loving my own child half as much as I love this little boy. Marc came with me and sat with me for a heart to heart talk as I furiously filled out the remaining 4 report cards. He spoke to me for a few minutes about his teacher and about the things she had done. I distractedly looked up and said’ “Okay, so I have heard about all the stuff that she has done but I have yet to hear a word about what you did to have all these terrible things happen to you.” He thought for a few moments and said “Well I did punch my textbook and kick the table.” “But Marc, I thought we worked out how to handle your anger last year.” “Yeah but this is different. My teacher thinks I am like Kyle. You remember Kyle right? She thinks I do this because I want attention. But that is not it at all” “How is it different, tell me.” I said as I tried to recall whether Takkiyha has trouble with beginning or the end of the words. “I am very sad.” “What do you mean?” I asked as I looked up to see tears start to pool in his eyes. “I… I…feel an emptiness inside.” “What do you mean?” “I feel very alone. Sometimes I don’t feel like I have any friends or that any one understands me. I feel an emptiness inside.” “But Marc, you have Luc-Albert who adores you, he’s your best friend.” He just shrugged his shoulders and gave me the saddest smile and then put his head back on the desk. He tried to explain the emptiness, the void that he feels. “Marc, let me tell you something. You are an artist, a gifted writer. People with talent, who are artistic, are sometimes more sensitive than others, they feel things more deeply. That is what makes their art so unique. I know you feel that no one understands you, but let me tell you something. You need friends who understand this very special part of you. Like Sergneno. He is sensitive; he is a writer like you. Maybe the emptiness that you feel is because you aren’t writing.” “No, Ms. Bahrami. I write a lot. I am getting really good at sentences.” “No, honey, I mean your poetry… you need to write your poetry” “But I have nothing to say now… I just feel an emptiness.” We spoke a few more minutes and then there was a brief pause. I looked at Marc and asked, “Marc, this has nothing to do with a problem with a girl does it?” “No!” came the indignant reply. He shook his head and said something unfair that his teacher had done that day. Then mid-sentence he sheepishly puts his head to one side and looks at me. “Ms. Bahrami, it actually does have something to do with a girl.” “Who, Marc? Some one in your class?” My motherly instincts kicking in. He looked down and said nothing. “You know you don’t have to tell me her name, but if you want to talk about it I am here to listen.” “Well, it is just that I don’t know if she likes me too.” “Well, have you talked to her about it?” “Well, actually no. But I have asked some one to ask her for me. Well actually a few people.” “Well, you know I have always found in these cases that being honest and talking to the person themselves works best. It is such a nice thing to find out some one cares about you.” “Well actually I have a few people who are taking care of it for me. Hey, Ms. Bahrami, is the movie on now?” The principal had decided to play A CHARLIE BROWN VALENTINE for the children as a treat last thing on Friday afternoon. I turned it on, as Chuck was agonizing over how to handle the situation with the little redheaded girl. Perhaps Chuck could help Marc out of his dilemma much better than his well-meaning ex-teacher ever could. But when you think about it, how sad it is that our society has placed such demands on such young children that a 9 year old boy would feel such sadness and emptiness on a day dedicated to a physician who lost his life because of his faith and his commitment to help his fellow men.