Social Justice Project:
Solar Cookers for Rwanda
At the Board Meeting on July 21, those present agreed to invite You to participate in a simple and powerful social justice project. Paij Wadley Bailey, a member of a local organization called VARAT (Vermont Anti- Racism Action Team), will be making a trip to Rwanda at the end of August and bringing Solar Cookers. Paij is a resident of Montpelier, attends the Barre Universalist Church at times, and is an old friend of M’ellen’s.
Dear Friends.
I need help acquiring SOLAR COOKERS that I will take to Rwanda at the end of August. They cost $80 each. The SOLAR COOKERS assist villages in using the power of the sun to cook food and pasteurize water for the benefit of the people and the environment. These Solar Cookers transform lives of thousands of poor people who urgently need them. Without the Solar Cooker, women -- before they can cook anything -- need to walk for many miles and gather at least twenty pounds of firewood and then walk back home to build the fire for the next three family meals. Finding wood and water often takes more than half the day.
You see, wood is very scarce in Rwanda. There are no longer great forests from which to gather the wood, and there are many women -- and girls -- faced with the same backbreaking task every day. Firewood or coal can be bought from a merchant, but it would take money that is needed to buy food for the family. The water that is gathered for the family is usually a murky brown.
Solar Cookers save many lives by providing safe drinking water. A Solar Cooker captures and focuses the sunlight onto a black pot and converts light energy to heat energy. The "Cookit" with shiny reflectors traps and holds the heat -- heat used for cooking or to purify water. The Solar Cooker is placed in an outdoor spot that is sunny and protected from strong wind and where food will be safe. Over the course of a few hours the food is cooked.
Rwanda/WILPF (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom) has completed 80% of the process to become an NGO, which will enable them to write grants for ecology projects and other things needed to further work on their other five issues (poverty, health/prevention, peace & justice, gender relations and education). Meanwhile, I am asking friends, relatives, fellow activists, fellow professionals -- people -- to please contribute a little money for Solar Cookers which we will distribute in Rwanda at the end of this coming August. I do have a DVD on the Solar Cooker and will be glad to show it and talk further with you.
In anticipation and appreciation,
Paij Wadley-Bailey,M.Ed, MA/Social Ecology
Liason: Rwanda/WILP-Group
We will take a second collection at Church on August 21 for this project specifically.
If You have any questions feel free to contact Paij, M’ellen, or Dick Josler, president of the Strafford Board.
Social Justice Project:
Donations to Spiritual Wellness Library
for the Vermont State Hospital
“Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance
of generations and nations.”
— Henry David Thoreau
The Vermont State Psychiatric Hospital is located in Waterbury Vermont and accommodates about 55 patients, some of whom are the most severe psychiatric patients in the state. For the past two years, I’ve been volunteering there as an interfaith chaplain offering a Spiritual Wellness Group. There is no chaplain on staff, so the spiritual care of these dear folks needs attention.
I also started a Spiritual Wellness Library. Both the library and the class have been well received and are popular among both staff and patients. The library is located in the Treatment Mall. I’d like to expand the library to offer books on the three Units where the patients actually live. Some of the patients are not well enough or choose not to go to the Treatment Mall and thus don’t have access to the Library. The Board of our church has approved this as project for members of the congregation to participate in if You choose.
Here’s what I’m asking. Please donate books and magazines for the three new Spiritual Wellness Libraries on the Units in the Vermont State Hospital. This could include books and magazines on a wide range of topics including:
- world religions, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Native American, Islam, Taoism, Sikhism, Goddess Religions, Paganism, etc…
- sacred texts such as the Bhagavad- Gita, the Qur’an, The Toa De Ching, The Dhammapada, etc.
- Bibles only if they are unusual such as large print, French, Spanish, etc. We have enough Bibles in general as they are available for free form the Vermont Ecumenical Society
- devotional books for short daily readings (such as Daily Bread) are very good because some of the patients have a difficult time concentrating, so short readings are appealing for those folks.
- prayer books of all kinds.
- collections of interfaith materials and inspirational poetry.
- anything on yoga, meditation, chanting, drumming, etc..
- Buddhist materials seem to fly off the shelves especially things like Tricycle and Shambhala Sun.
- biographies of spiritual leaders and saints.
- coping with crisis, healing and finding hope.
If You’re in doubt about whether something is appropriate, feel free to speak with me or contact me.. There will be a box at the back of the church where You can leave your donations. And if You’d really like to help, please send your prayers for healing for the patients and for strength for the staff. Gandhi says, “Prayer, rather than being an old woman’s idle amusement, when properly understood and applied, is the most potent form of action.” I think he’s right. If You feel so inclined, please send your prayers – not of worry or sadness -- but of hope and healing for these dear people.
Thanks in advance for your support of this project which is serving some of the most marginalized folks in our state.
In gratitude,
Rev. M’ellen Kennedy
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