All Blog Posts Tagged 'newsletter' (18)

Dear Friend,

You are invited to attend and to support PeaceWorks' upcoming Annual Dinner at the United Presbyterian Church in Plainfield, New Jersey on Saturday, April 14. We'll come together for a celebration of hope and solidarity, enjoying good food and gathering inspiration from our community of sharing and action. I hope you can come.

We are delighted to honor two people who have worked with us for many years; one in support of our aid shipments to the people of…

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Dear Friend,



Phew! Or should I say, brrr! But wait a minute; perhaps I should get out my shorts given the weather forecast. Crazy.

If you were hit by the recent storm in the Northeast, I hope you managed OK without power and that you did not suffer any harm from falling trees. Perhaps such storms make us realize how vulnerable we all can be to severe weather just as our friends in Nicaragua and throughout the developing world are. (Of course, for those living on…

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Dear Friend,

Two weeks of presentations, conversations, program planning, and enduring New Jersey traffic with Judith and Jacqueline, our two friends from Inhijambia, drove home a central principle of Inhijambiaís work with the street children of Nicaragua, as well as a central premise woven through the work of all of our partner organizations — breaking painful and destructive cycles so that new patterns of hope and fulfillment can emerge.

Inhijambia breaks the cycle of…

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Dear Friend,

Perhaps this year it's just too much of a leap.

It always feels like we take on more than we can chew. It's the nature of the beast. The needs we witness in Nicaragua are too great, the results of our work carried out through our Nicaraguan partners are too real, the people with whom we work are too inspirational for us not to take our annual leaps of faith.

The leaps of faith are embodied in our aid collections, our financial pledges of support to our…

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Dear Friend,

"One must not love oneself so much, as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us . . ."

 - Oscar Romero

Archbishop Romero must have been whispering in the ears of hundreds of thousands of people in the past month - in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and now Libya where people still come out to protest in Tripoli despite…

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Dear Friend,

"seek out the love in you and find the joy

that comes to those who care . . ."

The lyrics of Nicaraguan musician Salvador Cardenal Barquero* (of Duo Guardabarranco) captures the essence of PeaceWorks' mission and our annual January journeys to Nicaragua.

Since my first visit to Nicaragua since 1988, I have helped introduce over sixteen delegations to this land of beauty and sadness, inspiration and shattered dreams,…

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Dear Friend,

Radical generosity. The phrase leaped at me during Caroline Dean's sermon. Caroline, an associate pastor of adult and youth education at Christ Church in Summit, New Jersey (www.christchurchsummit.org) took part in our January, 2010 delegation to Nicaragua. Miguel Marín, the President of FEDICAMP — our partner that promotes reforestation and community organic…

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Dear Friend,

It's been a busy few months. We sent off our 58th cargo container shipment to Nicaragua on a bright, sunny October 2 — the enclosed report tells the inspiring story of yet another leap of faith. We fed and informed many at our October 30 Annual Dinner, as well as honoring people who have made special contributions to PeaceWorks over the years — if you could not come, you missed some tasty ayote con miel that I cooked for the first time.

And we have been…

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Sometimes it's best to let others do the talking, or writing, as the case may be. Here's an update from Mirna Sanchez, the director of Inhijambia, our Nicaraguan partner organization working with Nicaraguaís street children.

At Inhijambia we continue to help our young people improve their lives. We're proud to report that we've been intensifying our family interventions. Once a month…

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Dear Friend,

I can be superstitious. I avoid certain numbers and prefer others (I ain't telling which!). I don't walk under ladders - well, perhaps that's just common sense. And I always knock on wood when I say something good is happening or will soon, just so I don't jinx the optimism - my head gets a bit sore in doing so. I am also superstitious about confessing my other superstitions.…

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Dear Friend,

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for people of sharing and action, promoting understanding, justice, and peace to come together to strengthen our bounds of friendship and community, and to celebrate our work and vision.

We hold these truths to be renewingly self-evident, that we seek to promote human rights; that we work…

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Dear Friend,

I recently had the good fortune to take part in a cleansing fast suggested by my older daughter Robin. Not that I was very overweight, although I still had the post-Nicaragua-delegation-bulge to deal with. But I was feeling a bit sluggish and tired — still worn out from the May 9 aid shipment, perhaps.

So for eleven days I ate simple grains like quinoa and lots of steamed kale, carrots,…

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Dear Friend,



A Leap of Faith. In an age of over-hyped slogans (we've been "making a difference" and saying so since the 1980's — now, google "making a difference" and you will get 59,800,000 results, no kidding) our leap of faith truly captures the spirit and essence of our humanitarian aid shipments to Nicaragua.



We actually do take a leap of faith,… Continue

Dear Friend,

"Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism.

Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty." Oscar Romero

Peace and duty - words you don't often see…

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Dear Friend,



You would think going to Nicaragua would be old hat for one who has visited Nicaragua annually since 1988, introducing over fifteen delegations to this land of beauty and sadness, inspiration and shattered dreams, deep potential and wasted opportunity, a land of smiling children on every street and smoking volcanoes on each horizon.

But no, each time I return I'm like an excited little kid, especially since I get to ride…

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Dear Friend,



The enclosed piece from the Nicaragua Network's News Service informs us that about 2 million Nicaraguans are now working outside their nation of birth, far from their close-nit communities and families in search of work to help their families. That's almost a third of the nation's population! That would be like 100 million U.S. citizens… Continue

Dear Friend,



I usually find my inspiration as to how to start these letters while digging in my garden - there's something about the smell of rotting compost that brings out the best in me. But I've been too busy and too tired of late to do much work in the garden in the last few days.



So I'll have to let the following outline of events and resources serve as inspiration enough, as examples of how hard we work to fulfill our mission of human dignity, of how much effective… Continue

"We at Inhijambia are still doing work we can be proud of: turning outcasts into productive citizens; transforming pain, misery, and violence into love, optimism, and responsible behavior. . . . We are quick to admit that this is incredibly hard work, physically and emotionally draining. It demands all our patience, energy, imagination, and more. We live with constant sadness.

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