Pope Benedict XVI insisted on the need to combat… “trafficking in human beings, especially women, that flourishes where opportunities to improve their standard of living or even to survive are limited.” (USCCB)

More information and resources:

https://yanktonbenedictines.org/peace-justice-education/

https://humantraffickinghotline.org/state/south-dakota.

Pope Francis has stated: “Human trafficking is an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ.” There are an estimated 40.3 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, including the United States (USCCB). This includes victims found throughout South Dakota.

More information and resources:

https://yanktonbenedictines.org/peace-justice-education/

https://humantraffickinghotline.org/state/south-dakota.

World Mental Health Day

Today is world mental health day

This years focus is Suicide prevention.

For years I suffered with my mental health. I’ve lost people to suicide and I’ve attempted it myself. It’s scary saying that but it’s the truth.

I want to focus on the good that I have in my life at the moment as I’ve spent years only seeing the negative.

* I’ve had interviews for a new job (got the one job, waiting to hear on the other).

* I’m learning to drive, finally

* My flat feels like home, after redecorating extensively

* I’ve been in a relationship for nearly 4 years

* I’ve been discharged from the mental health team for over 2 months

* I’m on a good antidepressant

* I’m back playing sport

* I’m planning my future

* I’m loving volunteering

* I have amazing friends and family

What I’m saying is that I hit rock bottom, I saw no way out, I tried to end it all, I hated my life, I hated myself. BUT I’m here right now telling you I never thought I would be so happy. I love who I am right now, I’m a kind, caring, determined, feisty, passionate person who still suffers with depression some days but I wake up and fight, I work hard to make every day great.

Suicide is a real issue in our society, we need to be open about it. We need to be able to talk openly. I spent years hiding my illnesses but it did me no good.

I am not ashamed to say I attempted Suicide, I was not selfish, I was not inconsiderate… I was sick!

If you are in a dark place right now, please seek help. Find a good friend, ring a support line, see your GP, message me, knock on my door, find something to hold onto.

If you’re low, that’s okay, we are all struggling with something. But don’t feel low alone!

You mean something to someone. You will be missed

KEEP TALKING

KEEP OPENING UP

#SunnahSmiles is a campaign promoting our General Children’s Fund. In simple terms, this is a pot where donations are combined and distributed to wherever the need is most acute. This might cover the cost of an urgent operation for a sick child, fund specialised tutoring for children with disabilities, or help to procure wheelchairs and other equipment for children in need. It is a way to support children and ensure that the generosity of our donors goes directly to those most in need of aid, rather than being funnelled into the latest popular cause.

               Interpal’s General Children’s Fund is a way of giving that protects the validity and legitimacy of donor aid. Palestinian refugee children have been born into this life and have no way of escaping it on their own. By giving, you help us to provide emergency relief and help those who do not have the power to help themselves.

Why support us?                                          

International aid is often viewed as a somewhat problematic concept. Some argue that it prevents countries from developing or that it prolongs conflict. And indeed it is true that in situations where a careful strategy is lacking, or where proper research into a country’s needs has not been done, the resulting aid packages can produce counterproductive results. The fostering of a culture of dependence, as opposed to the sustainable foundation for positive change which most NGOs aim to build, is a shortfall that the sector has tried to address.

Interpal was founded by Palestinians in 1994 following the Oslo Accords, giving us a high level of experience and insight that is reflected in our work across the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in the refugee camps of Lebanon and Jordan.

There are currently an estimated 5,149,742 Palestinian refugees in the Near East region, with nearly 500,000 in Lebanon, a figure that represents around 10% of the population there. The numbers for Gaza are even more shocking with the total population at two million, and refugees making up 44% of this total.

When we break these figures down even further, a bleak picture begins to emerge:

70% of Gaza’s children are refugees.

80% of the refugee population in the West Bank live under the poverty line.[1]

On top of this, UNWRA does not have the capacity to provide the care these children need, with estimates showing that around 100,000 children, that’s 20% of the children in UNRWA’s schools, have special needs yet do not receive the necessary help. These are the new generation of Palestinians, yet still know nothing beyond life in desperate conditions.

Palestinian refugees are not protected by the 1951 Refugee Convention and therefore are not guaranteed the fundamental freedoms granted to many refugees, such as the right to education, the right to settlement and repatriation, the right to free access to courts. Because of this, Palestinian refugee children and adults cannot live without international aid: they just do not have the means. Whether this be the authority to change their situation in the long term or tangible resources to make life bearable in the short term, these are things which only become accessible with your help.

               There are countless projects in motion in the refugee camps across the region, many of which are funded or implemented by Interpal. We are an NGO with a strict humanitarian focus, who give aid to both PalestinianandSyrian refugees who need our help.

What kind of projects do we support?

               A project we have funded for the past few years is the ‘The Friends of Lazarus’ home for homeless girls in the Bethany area of the West Bank. This is an orphanage with the space and resources to focus on health care and education to support the health and well-being of the girls as they grow. They aim to work with the local social services in a way that will strengthen the whole community, addressing the root cause of the problem they exist to help in a sustainable way.

               The projects we fund and those we run are implemented by our field offices, by locals who are often refugees themselves. This affords our work in the community a level of respect from our beneficiaries, who feel that they can trust those who can communicate in an honest and open way, stemming from their own experience and understanding of displacement.

               As winter looms, Palestinian refugee camps face environmental catastrophe, meagre nutrition and a lack of adequate shelter to see them through. Our urgent Winter Aid Appeal strives to protect those in need from the harshness of the elements by providing emergency relief in case of catastrophe and preparing families for the months ahead. By supporting the General Children’s Fund, your generosity can help to bring desperate children out of the cold this winter.

Let’s come together #ForPalestineand follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by bringing smiles to the children of Palestine.

[1]https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/docs/palestinian-refugee-children-fact-sheet_june08_1.pdf

Please submit photos, videos, illustrations, visual posts that show your real life, every day experience of the world as a disabled person. Whatever that may be! It can be anything from mundane every day things, your fashion, your selfies, your food habits, the things you enjoy doing, to the adventures you go on, basically anything anyone would ever share about themselves. It doesn’t have to be a 100% positive experience, though, as that is not real life. Any emotion, any experience. I’m interested in presenting what it is like for disabled people to live their lives.

Photos, videos etc. should probably include you, a part of you, or your actual Point of View to be a true depiction of you and your experience. They should also be clear, the subject matter should be recognizable, and relatively interesting to look at (if not downright hilarious commentary on the mundaneness of living life as a human being). If we want this project to make a difference it should be something that all kinds of people want to look at.Let’s burst out of our echo-chamber and refuse to be ignored!

Whatever else, you should be presenting yourself and your experience how YOU want to be presented. This is about both education and empowerment. I’m not here to dictate how you depict your life and what “Disability Is Normal” means for you.

No photos or videos of disabled people that are not you, please, unless it is a group shot that includes you and you are also disabled.

If you know a disabled person who wants their experience to be shared as part of this project please have them submit. If they are not physically able to submit, then please message me with a copy of their explicit consent - this would be either in physical signed form (a photo of a signed note), a video of them consenting, or a voice recording. A simple YES answer to a ‘do you want this to be shared on Disability is Normal’ - a physical nod, or thumbs up etc. is good enough for me if the person is non-verbal.

I want to try and be inclusive as is absolutely possible, but this is a place for us to be represented exactly how we want to be. These are our voices!

This is a project for all disabilities, all genders, all ethnicities, all skills, all lifestyles, all perspectives, all social classes and all disabled experiences. We are numerous, we are everywhere and we WILL be acknowledged <3

Close your eyes, take a deep breath and trust your intuition.

Are you more focused on self-improvement, or conscious awakening?

With self-improvement, you are working on the physical level of beingness. With awakening, you are transcending the physical.

With self-improvement, you need to work at it. With awakening, you need to relax into it.

With self-improvement, there’s always something more to fix—and someone else with the answer. With awakening, you can find complete perfection at any time—and all the answers are within you.

It’s not that one of these is better than the other—positive self-improvement can help increase one’s level of consciousness in a gradual way that may be easier for some people to handle—but it does help to remember that if it can be improved, it’s not really you, and you don’t need to identify with it.

You are not your belief system, your body, or even your mind. When it feels fun or necessary, work on them the way you might work on your house, but know that the real you is the still observing consciousness behind this avatar and this operating system. And this perfect consciousness cannot be changed—only chosen. Only remembered.

Full Moon Series: Cloudy Night, Purple Stars, Navy Halo, Teal Sunset- Alaina Ferguson

See What You See- Jason Limon

Metamorphosis- Juliana Lachance; 2021