You asked for it...

Hello young adult friends. Welcome to the December edition of You asked for it ., the monthly New Community Project email to folks like you. Hope your fall has gone well and you're looking forward to a good holiday season. Great seeing some of you at our November Retreat out in Virginia! Looking forward to seeing a couple more of you on our January Sudan trip (still seats available-see below).

Christmas gifts that warm the heart, help our neighbors and are easy on the wallet: http://www.newcommunityproject.org/alternative_gifts.shtml

Included in this special Human Rights Day edition of You asked for it .

• Groups at risk of rights violations
• Avenues for your response
• Last Words
• New dates for May Ecuador Learning Tour (a little later)
• Opportunity to help start preschool in Sudan
• Quote from 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Yunus (Grameen Bank)

Take care. Keep the faith. Keep in touch.

David

Human Rights Day

December 10-today!-is the day set aside by the United Nations as Human Rights Day. Unfortunately, there still needs to be a global focus on human rights-from the Roma (gypsies) to women to child workers to the poor to those denied a secure life by war-there are millions of people all around the world without access to their God-given rights to food, shelter, safety, dignity.

For my money, here are some of the most vulnerable groups:

Children The world has 250 million child workers. Not after-school jobs, but slaving in fields and mines and brothels and on battlefields. Millions more are malnourished and disrespected by their societies. Restore their rights by: better jobs for their parents, encouraging respect for children in societies that don't give this respect, education for all. At left: children from Las Mercedes, Honduras.

Indigenous Millions of the world's native peoples live at the margins of areas they once ruled. Their ecosystems are under threat from mining, logging, oil drilling; their knowledge of the land is being lost; their cultures and languages are slipping away. Restore their rights by: protecting their land (including not consuming things that destroy it); respecting their knowledge. At left: Delio, the Siona shaman who guides our Amazon trip.

Victims of war 90 percent of the casualties and all the refugees in conflicts today are women and children and other civilians; 300,000 children are in the world's armies and militias. And those whom war doesn't injure or send fleeing are traumatized and impoverished-there are twice as many malnourished children in Iraq today as pre-2003. Restore victims' rights by: reminding our world that war is not the answer, ending poverty (a key cause of conflict), empowering the United Nations. At left, children from Mosul , Iraq.

Women " To be born a daughter is a lost life "- Nepali proverb. Hard time for girls and women in this world. Last in line for school and nutrition, first in line for abuse and commercialization, not in line for respect in many societies. One number: 1 of 25 of the world's women who should be alive, aren't-simply because they were conceived a female (gender-based abortion, infanticide, neglect. Restore their rights by: empowering them, assuring education, enshrining respect in law. At left: Zeinab and Jokomine, Blessed Bakhita School, Sudan.

So you wanna get involved? Here you go:

Human Rights organizations:

• United Nations http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2006/
• Amnesty International www.amnesty.org
• Human Rights Watch www.hrw.org

Children

• UNICEF http://www.unicef.org (features State of the World's Children-great resource!)
• Matthew 19:13-15 Jesus welcoming the children-still a revolutionary act in many societies

Indigenous

• NCP Learning Tours will meet up with indigenous communities in Sudan (January), Guatemala (March), Honduras (July), Alaska (August), Nepal (January '08) - Let's go! http://www.newcommunityproject.org/learningtours.shtml

Victims of War

• Institute for Policy Studies http://www.ips-dc.org/ Alternatives to war and globalization-gone-wrong from a progressive organization
• Women for Women International www.womenforwomen.org This group connects women up with women who have been impacted by war
• Genocide in Darfur
• background http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/Sudan/index.html
• action options http://www.ourpledge.org/

Women

• Want to help girls get an education and notch your teacher/sister/brother/aunt/grandpa off the Christmas gift list? http://www.newcommunityproject.org/alternative_gifts.shtml

Last Words

• We've shifted our May Ecuador Learning Tour a little later to better fit college schedules. Now going May 18-29.
• There's an opportunity in Sudan to help start a preschool in the community of Maridi. Long term or short term assignment. Check it out (second item on page): http://www.newcommunityproject.org/solidaritysudan.shtml
• Excerpt from Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech given today in Stockholm by Grameen Bank founder Mohammed Yunus (Grameen pioneered the micro-credit concept-small loans to poor women):

Poverty is Denial of All Human Rights. Peace should be understood in a human way 3/4 in a broad social, political and economic way. Peace is threatened by unjust economic, social and political order, absence of democracy, environmental degradation and absence of human rights. Poverty is the absence of all human rights. The frustrations, hostility and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society. For building stable peace we must find ways to provide opportunities for people to live decent lives. The creation of opportunities for the majority of people - the poor - is at the heart of the work that we have dedicated ourselves to during the past 30 years."