Some lovely stories and links this month – thank you! This is the section of the newsletter that gets the greatest response, so please keep those stories coming in!

TunaHAKI

Photo courtesy D. Mason Bendewald

"We're building our pilot program in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania - it's an arts-based orphanage with vocational training and income-generating programs, and we are building a new green, environmentally-friendly Centre, which we hope to replicate throughout Tanzania, Africa, and the developing world. We're forming partnerships with various organizations who support our efforts to build upon this amazing program which places the the self-respect and dignity of the child above all else. Our partners and supporters include Cirque du Soleil, Architecture for Humanity, Direct Change, and the UK charity One 4 Kids. It's a completely volunteer operation, and all our money goes to the programs in Africa."

TunaHAKI is a Swahili word meaning 'We have the right'. It is a name chosen by the children themselves when they first came together in 1998 – the first of hundreds of AIDS orphans and vulnerable street children to have been rescued by the TunaHAKI Centre for Child Development.
Scott Fifer
www.tunahaki.org

Kiva.org

Kiva.org: so good we're writing about it twice! Here's a chance to see what happened when Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times visited a business in Afghanistan that he had supported with a loan.
Watch the video

One Compassionate Act

Kevin Reid emailed to tell us about "WE ARE ONE – a World Anthem" which he has just released, along with a website. "The amazing journey to produce this song began back in October 2004 and evolved to include over 200 people from scores of nations," he wrote. "I'm very excited to now be able to share it with you and the world."
www.aworldanthem.org

Bispo relaxes on the deck of his house

"I built my entire house using what others threw out with the garbage: iron bars, window frames, wood, cement discarded from construction sites. Even the main door came from the garbage. The only things I had to buy were the nails, the whitewash and the roofing," says Luiz Fernando Barreto de Queiroz Bispo.

The plus-carbon side of Abu Dhabi

This five billion US dollar plan, which might do credit to a sci-fi film set, is envisaged for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). When complete, in 2009, it will be the nearest thing yet to a zero-carbon, zero-waste city. Using the traditional planning principles of a walled city, together with existing technologies to achieve sustainable development, this six sq km expanse will house an energy, science and technology community.

KOTHMALE (IPS) - In this tea-growing hill country, about 150 km from Colombo, a state-run community radio station is creating harmony among the country's Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim ethnic groups by broadcasting from the villages and opening up the airwaves to people's participation.

"People all over Sri Lanka are talking about peace, but this community radio has been doing it from the beginning," P. Pavitheran, an announcer at the Kothmale Community Radio (KCR) told IPS. "We don't have any community divisions here," added the Tamil broadcaster who also speaks fluent Sinhalese and switches smoothly between the two languages on air. "All my (assisting) staff are Sinhalese, but we're all working together as a team."

Painting courtesy of Sohan Qadri

In Chopra’s view, God is a field of consciousness that pervades the universe. He argues that the triumph of materialism in explaining the formation of life is grossly flawed.

"To claim that the swirling, chaotic quantum soup that erupted from the Big Bang evolved into human life by random chance is only believable because science has no urgent need to find a credible alternative."

Going slow can be more fun!

"We need to learn to move away from our culture of immediate gratification and choose trips where we can value the journey as much as the destination."

Bob Randall

"The key to aboriginal wisdom is family. Treat every being as you would your mother, your sister, your father, your brother. All creatures – humans and other than humans – are family."