Camping with Chris…and 150 other people

  By Commentary

I first met Chris when I was volunteering at a refugee center. He talked about being frustrated with the lack of post resettlement services provided or in this case, not provided. There was something very special about this young man who was probably under 25 and was teaching ESL. When I met him instead of exercising interests like most of the young people I knew his age, he was mentally working on a vision for the… Continue reading

David Mura on Relevance — Japanese Internment — WWII

  By Asia, Commentary

Recently, the internment of Japanese Americans was cited as setting a precedent for a Muslim registry.*  Of course we cannot let this happen; of course we must protect our Muslim, Arab and Indian American brothers and sisters. We must make sure that what happened to my parents and grandparents and the Japanese American community never happens again. But what does a proposed Muslim registry say about our country? What does it say about our supposed… Continue reading

Nowhere To Go and Nothing We Can Do

  By Middle East

We were looking from the balcony on the 15th floor at the Mediterranean spreading its waves on the wounded shore. Smiles coming at us through the windows from the high rise buildings near by. Children finally escaping their homes were checking to see if their neighbors are still alive… screaming in joy. Flocks of pigeons were flying across the sky wiping away the smoke and clearing the intense noise of the earlier bombing. Ceasefire was… Continue reading

The Holocaust Remembers Me

  By Uncategorized

By Rabbi Ora Nitkan-Kaner     When I say I’m a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, this is what I imagine you hear: “I am claiming an important piece of Jewish history as my own.” “My grandparents experienced horrific pain and trauma, but they survived.” “I stand by the clarion call of ‘Never Again.’” When I say I’m a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, this is how it feels: I startle and jump at loud noises that… Continue reading

Women March in Nairobi

  By Africa, Peace Building

Our partner, Grace Ngotho in Nairobi, Kenya recorded her participation in the Women’s March. Their path took the women through the area reforested by Kenyan professor Wangari Maathi, Ph.D. a Nobel Prize winning woman environmental activist. Grace supported mothers marching with small children and tells us these marches are so important because women in Kenya hold less value than donkeys. Grace is an activist who has been working for years with women both in and… Continue reading

It’s Never Over– three generations out

  By Commentary

By poet novelist and professor, David Mura. “We raised you to be individuals first and Americans second.  We didn’t really think about being Japanese.” I think my mother was telling her conscious truth, but I think the whole truth was more complicated.  If you are arrested and imprisoned in an internment camp (WWII) for your race & ethnicity, then after you’re released how do you show you’ve reformed?  The implicit answer is to lose or… Continue reading

Syrians arrival in Greece

  By Middle East

by associate Annie Marsa The radio crackled loudly in the room, jarring us from our sleep. It was not yet 6 am. I sat up in my sleeping bag, trying to discern something intelligible from the static. It was my third day volunteering on the Greek island of Lesvos. One of my roommates translated the cackling for me. “They’ve seen a boat filled with about 70 people crossing from Turkey, but haven’t said where they… Continue reading

A Camp in Ukraine

  By Ukraine

Interview by Ukrainian Olya Zhugan: I’m looking at the woman, standing in front of me. Her name is the same as mine, Olia, and sharing this makes me feel closer to her. She is probably just a bit younger than I am, in her early thirties but she definitely looks more exhausted, sad or is it frightened. I can’t quite describe what it is I see in her eyes. She is not wearing any make-up,… Continue reading

A Small Tree In Gaza

  By Holidays, Middle East

In Gaza, in my catholic school, the little warmth I had on those cold mornings came only from the powerful loving words of An Arabic Christmas Song, a prayer for peace and normal lives. We used to sing at school during Christmas season. The nuns, always fascinating to me, handed out the song lyrics. This was such an exciting moment, the most favorite of all – receiving the  lyrics and then that magic moment when… Continue reading