For the 91st thru 93rd consecutive weeks, the Center for Peace & Conflict Studies has compiled a list of acts of kindness and peace. The initiative began as a response to COVID-19 and the racism pandemic but has broadened to include any act of compassion or service to others. Please share these stories. If you have stories of positive acts people/organizations are taking and you would like to share them, please email them to Brandon Miller at peacecenter@bsu.edu. All the stories starting from week 1 are available online. Additionally, you can follow the Peace Center on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) at bsu4peace.
Week 91
Volunteers Collect Sewing Machines to Provide Afghan Refugees a Sense of Normalcy
Being displaced from where one has always called home and forced to resettle as a refugee in a foreign land can be daunting. Being unable to participate in everyday activities that one had grown accustomed to and the culture shock that most immigrants experience the first time away from home increase the longing for home. People miss the surroundings and activities that they had associated themselves with such as landscapes, staple foods and even the noise in busy market places.
After the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, more than 76000 Afghans settled in the US. Many of these were women. For various reasons including cultural norms and identity to economic necessity, many Afghan women prefer to make their own clothes. It is upon this premise that a group of volunteers in Hartford, CT began to collect donated sewing machines, fabric and other tailoring tools to donate to these women to give them a sense of home. This is a simple way to get them engaged and to reconnect with activities that they would have spent time doing back home. In a few weeks, the volunteers had collected 25 machines. The opportunity to sew gave many of these women a return to something familiar. Adrian Brown, one of the founders of this initiative, said “It seems like there’s a therapeutic piece to it too. I think it’s comforting for them to be able to take charge of something when they have so little control over anything.”
Source: Good Good Good - For Some Afghan Refugees, Sewing Machines Provide Needed Sense of Normalcy (goodgoodgood.co)
Renowned Physician, Global Health Advocate, and Social Justice Champion Paul Farmer Dies at Age 62
Dr. Paul Farmer, physician and human rights activist, died in late February after a career of advocating for equity in healthcare. He spent much of his life expanding access to high quality healthcare in poor areas of the world and pushing wealthier nations to share their resources with others. Among his many accomplishments was turning a one-room clinic in Haiti into a fully-fledged hospital and nursing school serving a community of over 150,000. The world-renowned infectious diseases expert co-founded a health and social justice organization, Partners in Health. His organization now works in 12 countries, some among the poorest countries in the world.
Source: Good Good Good - https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/celebrating-paul-farmer
All hands on deck!!!
Librarians have become the new frontline workers in the fight against COVID 19. This happened when public libraries all over the country began handing out COVID -19 testing kits and N95 masks to the public. This is on top of the already important role that librarians and libraries play in our lives. “Libraries are one of the most-trusted entities and organizations in communities since we’re accessible, friendly, welcoming, and all the things you would want people to be during this crisis” – so said Melanie Huggins, president of the Public Library Association. Despite the added workload for librarians, Huggins said libraries are important partners in combatting the covid crises across the country. “I know it can be tiresome and certainly be fatiguing, but we know that we have trust and relationships with our communities that really help and test distribution,” Huggins said.”
Source: Good Good Good - https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/librarians-frontline-workers-covid
Week 92
Bike Kitchens Throughout the World Help Establish a Biking Culture and Expand Access to the Environmentally Friendly Form of Transportation
Cycling as a means of transport has been popular since bicycles were invented in the 1800’s. Apart from the numerous health benefits, cycling offers a wide range of sporting and entertainment options. Cycling is also an environmentally friendly activity that substantially reduces greenhouse emissions. However, establishing a biking culture has proven to be challenge to urban planners and policymakers alike, and infrastructure in many cities remains unaccommodating for the activity. That continued barrier has inspired the genesis of bike kitchens throughout the US, Australia, NZ, the UK, France, Germany and elsewhere.
First established in 2014, bike kitchens offers tools, used bikes and parts, and guides that teach the bike repair process. Initiated and run by activists, workshops at the kitchens teach the necessary repair skills and, in the process, hand out free bikes to those who need them. Recipients include people from marginalized populations and refugees. Since inception, the workshops have increased and spread across the world, with the largest concentration being in France which coordinates over 250 workshops assisting well over 110000 people each year.
Source: Good Good Good - Bike Kitchens: Community-run Repair Workshops Are Building the Culture of Cycling (goodgoodgood.co)
A Florida Hospital Officially Has a Dog On Staff To Help Sniff Out COVID-19.
Animals are wonderful and amazing creatures. While it is our duty to help protect them, there are high profile examples of animals helping humans – either through training or so-seeming miracles. Dogs, also known as ‘man’s best friends’ have been known to perform heroic acts that have saved human lives countless times. Aside from the usual deterrence of intruders, Dogs have pulled out people from house fires, car accidents and even sought help on behalf of people undergoing a crisis of sorts. Now, at the Doctors Hospital of Sarasota in Florida, Buffy, a yellow Labrador, has been trained to sniff out Covid 19 amongst visitors at the hospital.
Originally trained as a sniffer, Buffy underwent a three-month crash course specific to Covid. Upon completion, Buffy was 95% accurate in detecting virus samples. The success of early studies in Europe to train dogs on detection of Covid 19 was still inconclusive but Buffy’s success shows a clear promise on the progress.
Source: Good Good Good - https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/happy-dog-news-stories
Sidney Poitier Shattered Barriers and Fought for Social Justice During his Distinguished Film Career
Bahamian-American actor Sidney Poitier died on January 7 2022 aged 94. Remembered as a trendsetter, his work spanning decades helped reshape the perceptions regarding Black people and enabled other Black actors make their mark in the film and entertainment industry. Hailed by the Prime Minister of Bahamas for his achievements and well-loved by fellow entertainers, Mr. Poitier is respected for his strength of character and his important role as a human and civil rights activist.
Poitier grew up in the Bahamas and served in the US Army during WW2. He launched his career at the Harlem Based American Negro Theater. The role of film in activism and creating awareness for civil rights and movements cannot be downplayed and Sidney used the platforms available effectively in efforts to support change.
Poitier’s positive activism and acting prowess did not go unnoticed. ‘The Defiant Ones’ in 1958 earned both Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis and Oscar. For Poitier this was a first one for a Black male actor. He was conferred the Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth in 1974 and in 2009, presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom under President Obama’s administration.
Sidney Poitier will always be remembered not only as a brilliant actor, but as an activist and a man of great moral fortitude.
Source: Good Good Good - Celebrating the Life of Actor Sidney Poitier, Whose Representation of Black People In Film Helped Change Racist Perceptions (goodgoodgood.co)
Week 93
Three Afghan women launched a school for 200 refugee children at the Fort McCoy army base in Wisconsin
Fort McCoy base in Wisconsin has been the temporary home of hundreds of Afghani children who were among 53000 Afghans who fled their country after the fall of the regime to the Taliban. The influx of refugees put a strain on available resources and the sight of young camp residents missing out on schooling and classes spurred three women refuges into action. They set up a makeshift school for the children at the base, aptly naming it “Rise Again”.
On the very first day over 130 enrolled in the classes according to one of the founders Nilab Ibrahimy. The curriculum includes Math, English and social studies. The initiative is a noble project and points towards a dedicated effort by a community to thrive despite the odds that are stacked against them.
Source: Good Good Good - Best Refugee & Immigration Good News Stories from 2021 (goodgoodgood.co)
Sisters and Members of Feminist Band “ElBouma” Tackle Taboo Subjects in Their Music
In some communities throughout the world, women and girls have had their voices stifled and their rights and dignity trampled upon as part of a cultural norm. Adding their ‘voice’ to advance womens rights, an Egyptian feminist band, ElBouma, sings on subjects that address women’s and children’s issues in Egypt. Topics such as child marriages (“Oh bride, oh bride. They put you in a wedding dress, and stuffed it [to make it fit]”) and female genital mutation FGM are some of the issues that they sing to sensitize the public about and to discourage the practice. Their songs are inspired by stories that women affected by such practices have endured. Marina, one of sisters that comprises the band, said of their music: “We believe that the voices of women in the south need to be heard, especially in a very centralized society country that marginalizes all those who live on the peripheries.” Mariam, her sister and the other singer in the band, said “We hope to hear and express those faintest voices. We want to be able to see even in dark times and to prey on an established patriarchy far greater than we are.”
Source: Good Good Good - Turning Trauma Into a Tune: An Egyptian Band Is Helping Women Tackle Taboos (goodgoodgood.co)
Former UK Royal Marine Drives a Minibus Loaded with Supplies to Ukrainian Refugees
After seeing pictures of “families broken and separated by the conflict” in Ukraine, Tom Littledyke, a former UK Royal Marine, was inspired to help bring some relief to those suffering. It took him just twelve hours after setting up an online fundraiser to fill a minibus with $5300 of supplies including sleeping bags, pillows, and toys. “Too often do we think that we have to do something grand and if it can’t be grand what’s the point,” Littledyke said. “It doesn’t matter what we do as long as it’s something in the right direction.” And with that can-do attitude (the very attitude we hope to inspire with this series), he set off on a 1000 mile journey through England, France, German, and Poland before arriving at the Ukrainian border where he plans to unload his supplies. Once he has delivered the payload, he hopes to provide transportation to refugees who need a safe place to stay.
Source: Good News Network - https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/marine-drives-100-miles-with-pillows-and-sleeping-bags-for-ukrainian-refugees/