Transition Activities

The Book of Hopes and Dreams, edited by Dee Rimbaud, is a charity anthology which features work from some of the top poets writing today. It is hoped the book will raise funds for the Glasgow-based charity, Spirit Aid which is dedicated to the Children of our World whose lives have been devastated by war; genocide; poverty; abuse or lack of opportunity at home and abroad.Spirit Aid, founded in 2001 by actor and director David Hayman, is a volunteer organisation set up to support children and young people whose lives have been devastated by war; genocide; poverty; abuse; or lack of opportunity. Humanitarian projects are run in Kosovo, Guinea Bissau, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, South Africa and Scotland. Spirit Aid is one of the few charities active in Afghanistan and in The Book of Hopes and Dreams, David Hayman writes about one of his trips to Afghanistan, bringing home, with poignant clarity, the suffering experienced by its people. In order to help the plight of the people of Afghanistan, Dee Rimbaud decided to put together a poetry anthology. The result was overwhelming, with over 2000 submissions, including writers of international standing such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Margaret Atwood, Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage, and many others. It is hoped that The Book of Hopes and Dreams will capture the public imagination and raise funds for Spirit Aid. For more information about the book, see: http://www.rimbaud.org.uk/bookofhope.html For more information on
Spirit Aid, contact: Spirit Aid, 133-135 Stockwell Street, Glasgow, G1 4LR, UK; Email: [email protected]; Web: www.spiritaid.org.uk

PeaceJam is an international education program built around leading Nobel Peace Laureates who work with young people to pass on the spirit, skills, and wisdom they embody. The goal of PeaceJam is to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform their local communities, themselves, and the world. The participating Laureates, who have differing spiritual and political views, are directly involved in developing the PeaceJam curriculum and the program itself, and serve as members of the PeaceJam. They all, however, agree that it is necessary to teach peace, conflict resolution, and tolerance, to youth around the world. The Laureates, who serve as Members of PeaceJam Foundation, include the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, President Oscar Arias, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Máiread Corrigan Maguire, Betty Williams, Prime Minister José Ramos Horta, Aung San Suu Kyi, Sir Joseph Rotblat (Emeritus), Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi. From Kindergarten through college, young people can participate in PeaceJam. Since 1996, almost 500,000 young people have experienced the PeaceJam curriculum and have in turn completed over 300,000 community-service projects to transform their local schools, neighborhoods, and communities. There is an on-going leadership training program for teens; young people begin the school year by studying the PeaceJam curriculum, which focuses on the Life of a Nobel Peace Laureate, their words, their work, and also on issues facing young people today (such as violence and intolerance). The curriculum is taught by trained community leaders, teachers, and mentors through high schools and community based organizations. The average group of 12 students who make up each PeaceJam Club spend 36 hours each participating in the curriculum. The Clubs then develop and implement a community service/action project for their respective communities. Four elected representatives then attend the two-day PeaceJam Conference, where they attend workshops and present their on-going community service/action projects to the visiting Nobel Peace Laureate and the community at large. Four months later, the representatives attend a PeaceJamSlam, a one-day conference. During the conference, they report on the progress of their community service/action projects, and receive more in-depth leadership training. Contact: PeaceJam Foundation Headquarters,
5605 Yukon St. Arvada, CO 80002, USA; Tel: +1-(303)-455-2099; Fax: +1-(303)-455-3921; Email: [email protected]; Web: http://www.peacejam.org/index.htm