All my life, I have been told I am lucky. Lucky to live in the USA, lucky to have the guarantee of food, safety, support, freedom, and love. I pitied people who suffered; I felt bad for them. I signed up for the Youth Justice Summit because this thought suddenly sickened me. Pity does not make life easier, and it won’t help someone get food on the table. But what if I had the courage to go out into the world and try to help? I had just finished my sophomore year of high school, and I didn’t really know what to do next. I was sick of the bubble I lived in, and I wanted to do something.

Soon enough I was on a plane, oblivious to what my next week would hold. I could never have prepared myself for the emotional experiences I would face in Boston nor the bonds of friendship I would make there. Being with other people who wanted to change things gave me courage I could have never found on my own.

Throughout the week, we learned about social injustice and how to combat it in our lives. Before I knew it, it was our last night and I had a choice to make. I had gained insight, credibility, understanding, love, friendship, and a changed view on the world.

Now, what should I do with all of this? I could go home, back to Virginia, and forget it all. Forget the pain I saw, forget the hunger, forget the sadness, forget the injustice — but that would mean I would also forget the love I saw, forget the beauty, forget the dreamers, forget my friends, and forget who I had become.

There is pain in our world, but there is possibility within it. I spent one week in Boston at the UU College of Social Justice, but it gave me insight for a lifetime.

Learn about the 2013 Youth Justice Trainings.

UUSC is all geared up to host a dedicated group of UU College of Social Justice Haiti program alumni in Washington, D.C., for an upcoming lobby day! April 6–8 is going to be an exciting three days full of training, conversation, and legislative advocacy.

As UUSC’s associate for grassroots mobilization, I’m thrilled to report that 25 service-learning trip alumni and community members from nine states and the District of Columbia will be convening on Capitol Hill to speak up for a just recovery in Haiti. They will team up with two representatives from the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP): Mulaire Michel, an agronomist, and Philefrant St. Nare, a leader of popular education.

Plus they’ll be joined by UUSC Haiti Program Manager Wendy Flick, who will have just returned from MPP’s 40th anniversary celebration; Evan Seitz, UUCSJ’s senior associate for service-learning programs; and Shelley Moskowitz, UUSC’s manager of public policy and mobilization. And I’ll be there, too!

Together, we will advocate on behalf of the men, women, and children who are slowly rebuilding their lives after the most devastating natural disaster in Haitian history. We will urge our policy makers to be accountable and transparent about the progress that is or is not being made in the reconstruction process.

The goals for the weekend include the following:

• Share firsthand experience of Haiti with our legislators
• Support the Assessing Progress in Haiti Act, which asks for accountability and transparency about how relief funding is being spent in Haiti
• Highlight the eco-village as a new model for recovery that empowers the people of Haiti
• Ensure the inclusion of Haitian civil society in the recovery efforts as well as special protections for vulnerable populations
• Keep the recovery in Haiti on the radar of our policy makers

The alumni’s experience, dedication, and commitment are valuable resources. They have witnessed the resilience and innovation of the Haiti people firsthand and have been part of creating a sustainable recovery by working on the ground to build the first eco-village with MPP. And they will be translating that experience into further effective action as we meet with members of Congress.

Stay tuned for an update and more on how you too can help spread this message!

A few days into my week at UUCSJ’s National Youth Justice Summit (NYJS), we were all gathered for a leadership training session that, to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t completely excited about. We had all spent the last few days in intense workshops and stimulating meditations — generally, activities that I felt passionate about. I didn’t think something called leadership training would bring out any of my passions for social justice.

I was wrong. In fact, this was probably one of the most exciting parts of the week for me, because suddenly everything turned real. By the time we’d finished with the leadership workshop, I had this amazing rush as I realized that I was gearing up to go home and take with me tools, support, and confidence to start my own social justice undertaking. We practiced networking skills and setting goals, and we started to think about what kinds of things we were all going to focus on when we got home.

The hopes and dreams I have for my social justice work are widely spread over many issues that are all close to my heart, and at times, though exciting, these hopes and dreams can be overwhelming and seem even unreasonable. Because of NYJS, I was able to hone in on a couple of issues that I care deeply about and focus on making real change. I remember sitting on a hill at Boston Common in the sun, starting to think about the prospect of doing something real for my community. If the idea of taking on a project scared me, I would think back to the multitudes of support that I received from my peers at NYJS as well as our amazing advisors and presenters during the week.

As of now, I’m starting to put together my project. I am creating a young girls’ empowerment group at an elementary school in my neighborhood. The group will meet regularly for the rest of the 2013 school year and focus on media literacy, women’s history, and feminism. I am still in planning stages, but I already have support from parents, and a good number of kids have started to sign up. I sought out a local organization that I wanted to be involved in my project, and now I have more support than ever. Without all the knowledge I gained during NYJS, along with the teeming encouragement from everyone there, I probably wouldn’t have the motivation to take on anything. My week in Boston was totally life changing. If you have the opportunity to go to one of the 2013 programs, I highly recommend it!

On July 11, partway into last year’s youth justice program, our group packed up our sunscreen and water bottles from our home base in Boston’s historic Beacon Hill neighborhood and boarded a bus for Roxbury.

We had spent days packed full of rich experience: interactive, intensive learning; evening worships that found us building altars in our common space, walking silently through the city, and singing by the Charles River; moments of laughter playing games on the Boston Common and having an impromptu dance party; sharing our life stories through drawing; and immersing ourselves in questions of economic justice, learning from partners at UUSC and from young people at the Roxbury Youth Program. Now we were headed to meet with our partners at Haley House.

We’d learned about the housing discrimination that formed the foundations for the housing segregation we live today. We’d learned about the restaurant industry and the labor movement and organizations like the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United that are working to bring the two together. We’d learned a lot about why economic inequity exists and how it’s intertwined with race, gender, and sexual orientation.

Now we were off to encounter the economic inequality that is the reality in our world. We spent that sunny July day scraping paint in preparation for a new coat at the Haley House’s South End community kitchen followed by justice walking tour of Boston. The participants were delving into issues of gentrification, urban violence, and institutional racism. And they could see it — in the dwindling number of trash cans as we walked from the South End of Boston into the historically African American Roxbury neighborhood, in the increasing number of pawn shops and empty storefronts.

And then we felt it in our hearts as we encountered the beginnings of a vigil held for teen Lance Hartgrove, who had been killed in a stabbing the day before. As a ministerial student and a staff member at the summit, I’d led the group in conversation after hearing about Lance’s death. I wanted them to know the depth of tragedy, the loss that is real, that doesn’t happen out there in some anonymous city, but happens right here — in our cities. And also didn’t want our group of UUs, most with much economic and race privilege, to see Roxbury just as violence or grief. I didn’t want to perpetuate the media’s sensationalism, didn’t want to be any more complicit in a world that “others” crime and sees it as brown and black and young and male and gangs and robberies — not as white and white collar and rich and banks and lobbyists, the military-industrial complex, drones, and the murder that is the death penalty.

This is our world: broken, bleeding. And our religion as Unitarian Universalists calls us, not to turn away from the suffering, not to drive through Roxbury on our way to yet another suburb — but to love.

And I don’t mean easy love — smiling on the street, being kind to a neighbor. I mean the love that says both I won’t turn away from suffering and also I will know that it’s not enough to love without skill and action. Love calls me to get ready. To get trained. To learn about systems of class, race, gender, and heterosexism. Love asks me that I figure out what it means to receive the unearned privilege of these systems and what it means to be oppressed by these systems. Love asks me to learn the skills for making justice: facilitation, relationship building, teaching, listening, and writing. And it asks me to practice them. To practice them and to use them. And to do it out of love, as if our world depends on it. Because, yes, it does.

If you are a high school youth, you are already creating the world. You may be throwing your heart and hands against it and bending the arc of it ever more toward justice. You may be staring down at your hands, at your community, brokenhearted by the injustices. You may be watching on, feeling helpless to change anything. You may be torn, trying to give time toward causes that matter to you and also wanting to pursue the things that nurture your spirit: sports and friends, college and family.

Wherever you are in your journey as a teen, the Boston Youth Justice Training — learning, spirituality, community, and action — will get you ready. Join us!

Apply Here!

To mark the occasion, MPP is convening a congress of 1,000 member delegates from all over Haiti. The gathering’s theme, MPP: 40 Years Later — A Sovereign MPP within a Sovereign Haiti, highlights a goal they are continually striving for: sovereignty. The week will include a thorough review and update of organizational priorities, strategic planning for the next five years, and a march for national sovereignty on March 22. They expect at least 20,000 people to participate in the march.

The foundation of MPP’s work is a model of popular education, adapted from the work of Paulo Freire, that fosters individual and collective empowerment through community dialogue. MPP creates intentional collective working groups called gwoupman, comprised of approximately 15 members each, to take on projects such as sustainable cultivation of a piece of land, production of solar panels, or the raising of livestock. Over the years, MPP has trained over 1,000 community organizers (they call them “animators”) to work with the various groups throughout Haiti.

Jean-Baptiste reports that a new organizational priority likely to emerge from the discussions held during the congress will be adult literacy. MPP members are saying that illiteracy is a major factor that keeps them, especially the women and girls among them, on the margins of Haitian society. As in many countries in the Global South, illiteracy tends to be linked with gender and the right to water — girls are often denied education because their days are spent carrying water for their families. MPP has an ongoing water program to address access to clean water by constructing wells and cisterns that gather roof runoff.

The congress will also highlight the eco-village project, a joint venture of MPP and UUSC that has created a model of sustainable living for people displaced in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake. UUSC has been heavily involved with this project from the start, funding two of six villages and, through the UU College of Social Justice, sending ten groups of service-learning volunteers to help construct the villages. Ten families moved into the first completed village in December 2011. After the completion of the sixth village in 2014, the cluster of villages will make up a community large enough to have a school and clinic. The model includes alternative technologies such as solar well pumps for potable water and irrigation, alternative charcoal created from agricultural waste products, and innovative agricultural techniques that are ripe for replication throughout the country.

Following the congress, representatives from MPP will travel to Washington, D.C., to join with several alumni of service-learning trips to educate members of the U.S. Congress about the realities on the ground in Haiti. They will share their experiences and knowledge about successful models of recovery such as the eco-village while emphasizing the importance of including the voices of Haitian civil society in the conversation about Haitian reconstruction.

Today is day three of our delegation. Our group hails from as close as Phoenix, Ariz., and as far as Massachusetts. In some sense it feels like the trip is going so quickly, and in other ways it feels like we have been together for a long time. It is a paradoxical journey, one that brings us into deeper connection with one another and with our own spiritual path at the same time that it shines a bright and unforgiving light on the harsh realities of life in the borderlands.

We began our journey in Nogales, Mexico, where we spent the night at Hogar de Esperanza y Paz (Home of Hope and Peace, or HEPAC), a community center that provides education and support to children and adults living in Nogales. The philosophy at HEPAC is that there is no time to wait for the government to change the laws — the people must create their own hope and justice here and now in Mexico, to make life better for the people today. We also visited Grupos Beta, a government-run agency that assists migrants who have recently been sent back from the United States. The people we met there were profoundly inspiring as they shared their stories. Though they had been through unimaginable difficulty and had been separated from their families, they remained hopeful and determined to make a better life for themselves and their families one way or another.

In addition, we have walked one of the migrants’ paths in the desert with a humanitarian aid volunteer and heard a presentation from Mike Wilson, who is a member of the Tohono O’odnam nation and leaves water in the desert on tribal lands, defying the orders of the tribal council. Tomorrow we will visit Immigration and Customs Enforcement and meet with a public defender.

Our experiences so far have been at turns heartbreaking and shocking, inspiring and hopeful. We have seen the ways that U.S. policies and the militarization of the border create a humanitarian crisis beyond what I could have imagined. There are “death maps,” which show red dots where human remains have been found, and there are places where there are so many dots on top of one another that you can’t see where one ends and the others begin. We have seen some of the things that have been left behind in the desert — prize possessions dropped in a moment of desperation, photos of dog bites and feet blistered beyond recognition. And we have heard stories of the triumph of kindness and compassion, even in the midst of these tragedies.

I find myself intentionally sitting in midst of this complicated reality, letting the complexity simmer. The borderlands have been at a crisis point for a number of years, and the situation is not improving. The political landscape is bleak. And yet, the people I have met over the past few days give me hope for the future. My faith calls me to give voice to the voiceless, and this trip is giving me concrete tools, poignant stories, and real lived experiences that will help me to do so.

I have long believed that the greatest gift that Unitarian Universalism has to offer the world is an ability to inhabit the place of paradox. At our best, we understand that, in the words of Francis David, “We need not think alike to love alike,” and that life is full of paradox. We live our lives together in a complicated web of opinions and beliefs, and we do not expect that we will all agree. And in the midst of that, we figure out a way to live together in peace and harmony. Immigration policy and the reality of life at the border are complicated issues with multiple stakeholders and no easy solutions. We have an opportunity to share our unique perspective and continue to organize and advocate for change.

First, remember that program fees cover on-the-ground costs, including lodging, meals, program transportation, required educational materials, and the services of program leaders before, during, and after the trip. Participants are responsible for covering the cost of their own airfare, transportation to program site, and health insurance.

Once your parent(s)/guardian(s) have filled out your application and you’ve been accepted, it’ll be time to start raising money. Keep in mind the following pointers:

• Talk honestly with your family about how much of the program fee they can pay for and how much you’ll need to fundraise.
• Ask for donations — from your congregation, individuals in it, important adults in your life, community organizations like Kiwanis and Rotary Club, local businesses, government offices, and nonprofits. Whether you use an online fundraising platform (like IndieGoGo or Kickstarter) or host an old-fashioned spaghetti dinner at your congregation, your community can’t support you as a justice leader unless you ask.
• Connect your fundraising to your faith — when you’re asking for donations from UU people or organizations, reference UU principles. Make the connection between your beliefs and why you want to attend a UUCSJ youth program.

Resources to support your fundraising:

• Young Adult Service Trip Fundraising Manual, from the UUA Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries — full of good ideas for teens
• “Fundraising Ideas for Congregations,” from the UUA — aimed at raising money for General Assembly delegates but most would work well for UUCSJ youth programs
• “5 Fundraising Ideas for Youth Groups,” from the UUA Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries
• “The Exploration Alternative Fundraising Guide,” from Explo, a summer program for teens
• “Popular Youth Fundraising Ideas,” from the United Way

Watch “Life in the Haiti Eco-village: UUSC and MPP” on YouTube

Our delegation just traveled to India’s western state of Gujarat, where we spent the day on Friday with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a UU Holdeen India Program partner.

Though we had read about SEWA’s work empowering some of India’s most impoverished women, nothing could have prepared us for the morning we spent with the rag pickers. We met with these workers in the place they labor each day: the municipal garbage dump of Ahmedabad, where they pick through fresh mounds of trash to glean the scraps of plastic, paper, and cloth that can still be sold for recycling. Standing high atop the literal mountains of garbage that stretched out on every side, we listened to the women talk about their lives and the difference it has made to have a union that helps them fight for their rights.

We heard Jasiben describe the ways she and her coworkers had been preyed upon by people who buy their gleanings — and how that changed when SEWA opened a competing scrap-buying stall that caters only to women. This stall actually paid market rates for their collections and forced others to raise their prices as well. We learned of SEWA’s tireless efforts to press the government to provide an education to the children of the rag pickers so that the next generation can find alternative employment and an easier life. Epitomizing the end of this particular cycle of poverty, Jasiben’s face shone with pride as she told us that her own daughter has just entered her first year of university.

From the municipal dump, we went to a bustling SEWA production complex where women who work as rag pickers were busy learning a variety of paper-production skills — a way to exit their dangerous trade. The union has won a number of bulk contracts, such as production of file folders for the office supply giant Staples; we watched as the women hand-printed a silk-screened stamp bearing both the Staples and SEWA logos. Though such work might seem tedious, to these women it comes as a lifeline that allows them to leave the work of rag picking behind them forever.

For more than 30 years, SEWA’s primary work has been in helping the most impoverished women in India band together and fight for dignity; recognition; and the basic rights of health care, supplementary food for their families, and an education for their children. Women who roll cigarettes for sale on the street, sew piece-work clothing in their homes, or make the ubiquitous thin pancakes known here as papadam have found the strength of a union through SEWA.

In a nation in which women of any class are routinely silenced and abused, it was remarkable to listen to the voices of some of the most marginalized as they stood together and told their stories with an unmistakable air of inner power and self-assurance. We were so proud to learn that SEWA was the first partner of the UU Holdeen India Program, which has supported these women since 1984. We eagerly look forward to the next UUCSJ journey to India in November 2013, when we’ll bring another group to meet these women, document their stories, and be inspired by the depth of their courage.

Of all the things I’d imagined would seem welcoming about my return trip to India, the smell of the Mumbai airport had not been one of them.  As soon I stepped out of the plane, though, there it was: a thick bank of turmeric and musk and damp. I felt a mix of recognition and surprise, of the familiar and the foreign, that would follow me through my time here.

Four years ago I came to India on a similar quest from my home congregation, Unity Church, to volunteer for two months as an English teacher in the school run by Vidhayak Sansad (VS), a Holdeen partner in rural India. This trip was a return to the familiar VS campus with a service-learning group of 10 Unitarian Universalists, all connected through the UU College of Social Justice. I had initially agreed to the trip — a gift from my minister, who realized at the last moment that she would be unable to go — with no hesitation. As the departure date ticked closer, though, I grew more and more uncomfortable.

I’d returned from my initial time in Usgaon overflowing with admiration for the work of our Holdeen partner, ready to offer, as Dag Hammarskjöld says, “the chalice of [my] being to receive, to carry, and to give back.” Four years had passed since that trip, however, and in the interim I felt that my chalice had slowly emptied. The realities of my life had seemed much more pressing and had demanded so much of my attention. I’d lost pieces of that passion in the struggle to find a job, find a new job, find another job, balance three jobs, finish my bachelor’s degree, move to a new city. I worried that the girl who had gone to Usgaon years ago had become a stranger to me, and that my life would seem completely foreign to her.

But when we made it to the Usgaon campus, I found that my face ached from smiling after an hour. I saw my former students and hundreds of repetitions of hokey pokey and “thank you, madam” and shared lunches and breakfasts and dinners came flooding back. I sat with my trip mates in meetings with activists from the Shramajeevi Sanghatana union and felt again the powerful force of their convictions and the clarity they brought to their struggle for justice in their block, district, city, and state. By the end of the trip I felt truly full of purpose again, renewed by the energy of the place, with every intention of keeping the part of myself that holds those memories close. I hope that she is never a stranger to me again.

On my way home, though, I feel I’m faced with a larger problem of recognition and connection. It’s easy to be resolute when everything around you seems so clear. When the distractions of your daily life are 15 hours away. When you’re surrounded by people who share your values and amplify them. What is difficult is to force yourself to be changed while everything around you remains as it has been. When I get back to the United States, all my jobs are waiting, as are my friends, my family, my car, my computer, my iPod, my gym membership, my favorite bar. How can I hold on to this feeling in the midst of all that familiar?

Clearly I don’t have the answer to this — if you do, please leave it for me in the comments! — but I did find one thing.  As I was writing this post, I searched for the Hammarskjöld quote I mentioned earlier. I know the first piece by heart because I often use it in our membership classes at First Unitarian Society. What I didn’t know was that there is a second stanza to the poem. After urging us to hold out the chalice of our being each day, Hammarskjöld reminds us that each day it must be held out empty. I’ll leave you with his words:

Each day the first day: each day a life.
Each morning we must hold out the chalice of our being
to receive, to carry, and give back.

It must be held out empty —
for the past must only be reflected
in its polish, its shape, its capacity.

Since disembarking from our plane in the Mumbai airport last Saturday evening, it feels as if I have been trying to drink from the proverbial fire hose of experience. The flow of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, and thoughts is at a rate that is completely impossible to imagine, must less take in.

From the seaside of one of the world’s immense cities, we came here, to the modest, bustling campus of Vidhayek Sansad, the center of such astounding activity in this area of such astounding need and opportunity. We were greeted at the gates by a procession of over 200 tribal schoolgirls clad in navy blue and white, and they enthusiastically paraded us in a pulsing procession to this remarkable place.

We’ve been learning from local tribal activists — union leaders — who have unpacked accounts of their decades of work. The depth of their clarity, conviction, and commitment easily transcends the barrier of language, which often requires translation from Marati, the state language, into Hindi, the national tongue, before making its way into English. Their accounts are of creative, powerful, often clever, and always strategic efforts to lift themselves and their people out of a complex web of oppression and exploitation.

Yesterday included a visit to a nearby small village where a centuries-old Hindu temple rises like a fortress above the swarm of the street. We were there not just to see that spectacle but to hear from other union activists about their work in organizing the temple staff to demand fair wages. Their actions included a hunger strike staged on the steep steps leading up to the temple. They also chose not to discard (as was their responsibility) the mounds of marigolds offered in homage to the deity but to fill the offices of the trust officials who employed them with the wilting blooms until the trustees agreed to negotiate.

The needs of the so-called adavasi — the “first people,” whose legal rights to these lands have been so abused — are as foreign as so much we’re encountering and as familiar as all struggles for justice and equity in which the members of our delegation are engaged. Our learning — and my learning — is taking place at the intersection of this way of strategizing for change and our individual and congregational efforts to work with immigrants, the economically deprived, the homeless, the incarcerated, and all those deprived of full equality and adequate opportunity.

Our learning continues, today with more activists, tomorrow in excursions into outlying villages to observe and document what we experience and understand about the work of these courageous agents of creative change. I’m profoundly grateful to be having this experience and look forward to unpacking it and exploring aspects of it with my congregation in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.

On Tuesday we traveled from Mumbai to Usgaon, the village where partner organization Vidhayak Sansad is based and where it has organized a school for 254 tribal girls from 5 to 18 years old. We received an unforgettable welcome from the children, who had gathered at the gates to meet us. They offered each of us a traditional blessing, anointing our brows with yellow and red powder and greeting us with the words that mean, “I greet the light of the god within you.” Accompanied by drums, the girls then danced up the pathway and led us to the main center, where we learned about the power of collective action in rural India.

Vidhayak Sansad is a key partner of the UU Holdeen India program. We were privileged to meet throughout the afternoon with nearly a dozen women and men who are major leaders of the union associated with Vidhayak Sansad. Nearly all of them are adivasi, or tribal people, who still have to struggle and often risk grave violence in order to secure their most basic rights. Some of the leaders we met were among those who had been bonded laborers before the birth of the union in 1983.

Though it seems unthinkable in this modern era, the entrenched systems of power and privilege in rural India have made it frighteningly easy for the equivalent of slavery to persist.  In so many areas, the laws that were meant to protect the adivasi people and their rights to land and water have been ignored; more powerful farmers from higher castes simply took the land and began planting it, hiring back the former owners for well below minimum wages.

The adivasis have undertaken recent efforts to recover land and water that has been stolen from them and, in some cases, to insist on minimum wage. Women play a key role in these struggles, and gender equality is one of the union’s principles.

Vidyulata Pandit, who founded the union with her husband, Vivek, and a group of former bonded laborers, lifted up a vivid example for us of the way women’s empowerment is linked to the entire struggle for justice. A meeting had been called to convince the workers that they had the right under the law to stand up and demand the landlord pay them the minimum wage (at the time the men were being paid 4 rupees a day and women just 3, but they were all legally entitled to 7). Both women and men attended the meeting but, as has been traditional, the women kept silent and only the men spoke. The men were unwilling to act, saying that nothing really could be done.

The meeting ran late into the night with no progress made, and then just as it was breaking up one woman finally stood and found her voice. Turning to the men of the village, she said, “You’re always saying that the men are the brave ones that have to go out there in the world and the women must keep silent and stay home. We have just heard of the way to find our freedom. If you men are afraid to do it, then take these bangles from my wrists, wear them yourselves, and go home!” Other women then stood with her, and the women walked out of the meeting and led a march — joined finally by the men — around the landlord’s home demanding fair pay. The next day a spontaneous strike began. The landlord buckled after two weeks and agreed to pay all farm workers the minimum wage.

This is just one of the dozen moving stories we have heard from people whose lives have been so changed by the power of collective action. We are deeply inspired by what we’ve heard and are so privileged to be among them.

The first of our UUCSJ journeys to India is now under way! Eleven of us, from all over the United States, are gathered in Mumbai for a day of orientation to this region of India and to our partner organizations here. We’ll spend five days in Maharashtra, where the union Vidhayak Sansad is centered, and learn about their work over the past 30 years empowering tribal peoples to reclaim land that has been taken from them. We’ll also travel to Ahmedabad to meet with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a union that has organized and empowered women who do piece work at home and work as street vendors. Both organizations are longtime partners of the UU Holdeen India Program.

There are several reasons for our pilgrimage to India. First, to learn from our Indian partner organizations about their important work empowering some of the most impoverished people in India to stand up for their rights to land and education. Second, to explore solidarity through this work, not only for the short duration of this journey but after our return to the United States, via work in our own regions and congregations. Third, as UUCSJ’s pilot delegation, we’re here to learn how a continuing program of exchange can mutually benefit our partners here and UUCSJ participants in pilgrimage, in the hope that we’ll send two delegations each year going forward. And fourth, we will further develop opportunities for long-term volunteers — especially young adults — who UUCSJ will help place with Vidhayak Sansad, SEWA, and other Holdeen partners for periods of 4–12 weeks.

It is a complicated political moment in India’s history. The country has been heavily impacted by the downturn in the global economy, and the stress of a slowing economy has brought issues of economic justice as well as political corruption to the forefront. We are immensely privileged to be guests here of the courageous people working for justice in India through Vidhayak Sansad and SEWA, and we’re looking forward to our time in this ancient, lovely, and complicated land.

To be alerted when our next trip with the UU Holdeen India Program is announced, please sign up to receive UUCSJ e-mail.

Service-learning trips through the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice (UUCSJ) are a terrific way for UUs to get to know the social justice strategies and methods of partners around the world. Many of the partners that UUCSJ interacts with through these trips are secular in their approach, but some of them are faith-based — and even Unitarian/Universalist. In those cases, the experience for trip participants offers a unique opportunity to connect spiritual practice and faith with outreach ministries. Introducing the team of UUCSJ service-learning participants in East Africa to the leaders and members of the Unitarian Church of Burundi was a great example of that connection. Together we explored the ways that Unitarianism is pursuing social justice work in Burundi.

The Unitarian Church in Burundi was established by Rev. Fulgence Ndagijimana in 2002 as a liberal religious alternative to the dominant Roman Catholic presence in Burundi. Rev. Fulgence is, in fact, a former Dominican novitiate who discovered Unitarianism while studying in seminary. After leaving seminary and pursuing a correspondence with a Unitarian minister in the United Kingdom, he was inspired to start the church in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura.

Since then, the congregation has grown in strength, numbers, and outreach ministries. In 2011 the congregation dedicated the first Unitarian church building constructed in an African country in decades. And it serves as a home for their church services, as well as a meeting place for activists.

The outreach work of the church has taken many forms, including the following:

• Capacity building and advocacy work with Burundi’s Batwa community
• Domestic violence prevention through workshops and other intervention
• Supporting microfinance initiatives
• Partnering with a local school
• Establishing scholarship programs for university students
• Leading a coalition of Unitarian churches in development in Francophone African countries

All of the congregation’s work is done in the context of the slow recovery — and the struggle for truth and reconciliation — taking place in Burundi following its civil war. Burundi needs liberal religious leaders, and the Unitarian Church in Bujumbura is serving that role.

During the visit we were inspired by meetings with a former combatant who now operates a small restaurant and a team of women who are operating a vegetable stall at the women’s market in the city — all beneficiaries of the church’s microfinance initiative.

We also visited the local school that the church is partnering with. There, nearly 2,000 primary school students have found a secure place to begin their educational journeys. Through assistance from its partners, the Unitarian Church has helped the school bring electricity to its classrooms — and will now attempt to set up a water system for the school.

Participants in the university scholarship program also met with us. They explained how nearly all of them were the first people in their family to attend University, and that completing a degree is the fastest way to escape poverty in Burundi. We were inspired by the path they have chosen.

And, on Sunday, we gathered for church with 60–70 Burundian Unitarians. The singing was fantastic, the prayers centered on social justice, and the sermon by Rev. Fulgence was prophetic. He took a text from Jeremiah that advised those surrounded by devastation to build up their cities and display signs of hope. The members of the Unitarian church clearly appreciated and embrace his message. We visiting friends are challenged to do the same as we return to our homes.

The Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP) is hosting a UUSC-UUA delegation of supporters in Dar es Salaam this week. Participants will join TGNP in their work on the constitutional process in the country. Tanzania’s political parties passed a very controversial law in 2012 that sounded the starting bell for the country to adopt a new constitution by the end of 2014. You may think three years is enough time. TGNP and civil society do not.

Yesterday we met with the founding members of TGNP and learned about their groundbreaking programs to raise awareness, mobilize grassroots constituents to demand their rights, and change law and policy to make the rights of women and men more real. The current constitution was adopted in 1977 and amended during the years since, but it contradicts itself, especially concerning the equality of men and women. In Tanzania, women may not inherit property, and marriage age for girls is 14 and for boys is 18 — but the constitution provides that all Tanzanian children have the right to education to the fullest of their potential. These “gaps,” as the Tanzanians call them, are just some of the issues TGNP is working to change. They want to see the human rights of the people — including the right to water, to health, and to education — more clearly expressed.

But they first had to reform the law that guides the process. In Tanzania, the constitution, all the laws, and the court decisions are in English. English is taught in secondary school, so Tanzanians who complete primary school only (to age 14) do not learn English. TGNP and their coalition partners at the Civil Society Constitutional Forum (CSCF) worked to require that the constitutional process be conducted in Swahili, the language the vast majority of Tanzanians use in daily life.

TGNP and CSCF are conducting civic education on the constitutional process. However, that is another “gap,” as they point out. The law passed by both ruling and opposition parties limits and regulates civic education. TGNP and CSCF must apply to conduct civic education on the constitution, disclose their funding for the program, and have the content authorized by the Constitutional Review Commission. If they violate this process, they could be fined 5 million Tanzanian shillings or be jailed for 3 years. This while the political parties are openly passing out talking points during the “open forums,” the first step in the constitutional process.

During our delegation visit, we saw boxes of the current constitution in Swahili at the  CSCF offices we visited. They had printed them and are now distributing them. TGNP and CSCF want the time table changed; they want to slow the process down so people can learn about their constitution and what is at stake, and then be able to form their own opinions. The parties want to have the constitution wrapped before the 2015 elections.

Who knows what other surprises are waiting in the wings. Possibly land reform that would give away large parts of Tanzania to major foreign farming firms? That would privatize water rights? Diana, the director of CSCF, assured us they will include the human right to water. She had been without water in her home for the past week.

The delegation was inspired by the dedication, insightful analysis, persistence, and what cofounding member Subari termed the “love” that they express through their work. I agree, Subari, it is one of the highest expressions of love to dedicate your time and heart to changing the highest law of the land, the constitution.

In New Orleans, Unitarian Universalism has offered core leadership in linking spirituality to social justice as well as discovering the synergy, renewal, and sustenance that arises when faith is in dialogue with the needs of the world. Experience this vital work for yourself in upcoming service-learning trips with the UU College of Social Justice (UUCSJ).

In a few days, the three UU congregations in New Orleans will go even further together on their faithful journey toward justice. On Monday, November 12, 2012, Community Church UU, First UU New Orleans, and North Shore UU together will ordain Deanna Vandiver into the Unitarian Universalist ministry and celebrate her new community ministry as CELSJR’s executive director. “It is extraordinary to be welcomed to serve as a minister in the place I love best — New Orleans!” said Vandiver. “My ministerial formation has been clearly shaped by this place, as well as by the love and support of Unitarian Universalists around the globe. It is an honor and a blessing to answer my call to ministry right here in New Orleans.”

Rev. Kathleen McTigue, UUCSJ director, said of this event, “At its heart, ordination is the commitment of the community and the ordained minister to continue the work of our faith in the world. Deanna’s work through the center provides a strong foundation upon which to build this commitment.” UUCSJ has partnered with CELSJR this year to offer three opportunities for service-learning trips to UUs from around the country.

CELSJR’s mission is to be a catalyst in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast region for nurturing a sustainable, equitable, and inclusive community by promoting social, racial and economic justice. With community relationships that are deep and wide, an anti-oppressive analysis, and the blessing and support of the founding UU congregations of the Greater New Orleans area, it is clear that CELSJR can offer a practicum of faith as unique as the city it calls home.

As a new day dawns on UU faith in the Greater New Orleans area, UUCSJ and CELSJR invite you to come be a part of the transformation.

Written by CELSJR Executive Director Deanna Vandiver.

I am not graceful when preparing for trips. I fret about everything from which type of trail mix to bring to whether our hosts will meet me at the airport. However, for the upcoming UUA-UUSC supporter journey to Tanzania and Burundi my usual pre-trip jitters have been largely replaced by eager anticipation. I have never been to Africa, and I can’t wait to visit two great partners: the Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP), based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the Assembly of Christian Unitarians of Burundi (ACUB) based in Bujumbura, Burundi.

Tanzania is currently rewriting its constitution and our partner TGNP is working on including language on the human right to water in that new constitution. Our delegation will be meeting with TGNP leaders to hear firsthand their stories on this process. We will also be visiting community partners of TGNP that have struggled to access safe, sufficient, affordable water for daily human consumption. At the end of our visit with TGNP, we will be visiting a representative of the Tanzanian Water Ministry to express our hope for a successful inclusion of the right to water in the new constitution.

In Burundi, we will be meeting Rev. Ndagijimana Fulgence, the minister of the newest Unitarian Church on the African continent. ACUB has an active social outreach ministry, and we will be meeting with community members who have benefited from this service. There will also be plenty of time to meet with members of the congregation. I am personally most excited about attending the service on Sunday; it will be only my second Unitarian service outside of the United States.

I am also looking forward to spending eight days with a stellar group of supporters and social justice activists. The seven delegation members come from all regions of the United States and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience. Joining me as trip leaders are my colleague Eric Cherry, director of the UUA’s International Office, and Patricia Jones, manager of UUSC’s Environmental Justice Program. Return for more updates from me and other delegation members as this exciting journey unfolds.

The UU College of Social Justice (UUCSJ) has partnered with Borderlinks, an international leader in hands-on education that raises awareness and action around immigration on the U.S.-Mexico border, to offer short programs that delve into these issues.

It has been a powerful experience for those who have already taken part. As one participant said, “BorderLinks provided us with an incredible opportunity to examine the complexities of the border through the lenses of justice and faith. Engaging in hands-on projects with fellow UUs was transformational.”

UUCSJ is working with BorderLinks to bring groups of UUs and other advocates for immigration justice into the border areas of the United States and Mexico. Those who have joined us have been inspired by the courage they encountered and empowered by all that they learned. Another participant shared the following:

“Stories like those I had formerly only read were told to me over shared meals. We were welcomed into the homes and hearts of those whose lives have been impacted by U.S. immigration policy — people who have been deported, those trying to cross the border, courageous souls who go into the desert to help those in need, students fighting for an education. . . . These experiences will stay with me as I continue to reflect on and wrestle with this very complex issue.”

UUCSJ currently offers two upcoming BorderLinks journeys: February 1–4 and May 24–27, 2013. These explorations are grounded in spiritual reflection and our Unitarian Universalist commitment to the long work of justice.

Join us on a BorderLinks journey. Inspire yourself for the vitally important work of immigration justice.

With every encounter, discernment emerges.”

—Brian Swimme

Joy and grief are intimately bound together for those who live on the margins. The people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast know quite a bit about sorrow and celebration. You are invited here to nurture your spirit while you help heal the world. Come experience a practicum of faith through the UU College of Social Justice’s service-learning program New Orleans Community Building: Turning the Tides with the Center for Ethical Living and Social Justice Renewal (CELSJR), a UUCSJ partner organization.   

CELSJR is a catalyst in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast region for nurturing a sustainable, equitable, and inclusive community by promoting social, racial, and economic justice. We are also big fans of good food, good music, and good stories!

New Orleans celebrates four seasons: holiday, Carnival, festival, and hurricane. Okay, we don’t really celebrate hurricane season anymore — but we deeply, truly, fully celebrate the other three! Join us for VooDoo Fest, Carnival (the season that culminates in Mardi Gras), Jazz Fest, and more! Come engage in the deep work of justice, embedded within a community of hope. There is so much to learn and so much to share. Come with your love, your fears, your questions, your hopes, your skills, and your tears. Come — as the ocean welcomes the river, we welcome you here.

Join us for one of the following service-learning trips to New Orleans:

• February 7–16, 2013 ($950 per person. Register by December 2, 2012.)
• April 27–May 5, 2013 ($950 per person. Register by February 24, 2013.)
• July 20–27, 2013 ($725 per person. Register by May 19, 2013.)

Questions? Contact us about this and more service-learning opportunities.