It is miraculous to me that tomorrow two delegations of young peacemakers will leave their homes in North America and Israel to head to the Siberian mountains to learn about global cooperation, cultural exchange and sustainability with 130 teens from all over Russia. Earth Children 2007 commences next week, but these intrepid travelers must first get to Moscow, then Novosibirsk and then to the Altai mountains. It will be a life changing transition in more ways than one.

Three months ago, there were three busy women sitting around a cell phone talking with another woman in Novosibirsk trying to determine how to pull together the first international delegation of young people to attend a Russian camp on creativity and global sustainability. We had no money, no idea of where the delegates would come from or how we would pull it off if we found the delegates in time to meet strict passport and invitation policies.

It never ceases to amaze me what delightful results occur when a project is infused with equal parts of urgency, vision, scrappiness and love.

You can learn more about it at http://www.altaimir.org/2007youthfestival.htm. If you are inclined to support the work, you can use PayPal to donate online. We could use the help.

When the kids return from Altai, I will ask them to write their experiences down and I'll compile them here on The Giving Ring blog for you all to enjoy. Just another small step toward a peaceful future.

Namaste,
Susan

I'm appealing to the world of Zaadzsters to support with love, air miles and/or donation a series of international peace activities happening in Siberia this summer, but specifically an international peace camp for teens. Altai Mir University, a nonprofit that has formed to assist the indigenous people of the Altai mountains to preserve their land, their culture and to share their ideas for global sustainability and health, is helping to make it happen: http://www.altaimir.org/2007youthfestival.htm. If you know of any teens aged 13 - 18 who would like to experience this life-changing event, feel free to send them the link. It includes a registration page and contact information. Or, you can reply to me here and I'll pass your information along. The May deadline for getting teens confirmed is quickly upon us, so please act now. 

Namaste, dear ones.
Susan

My Mom, Mary Kay, passed away two years ago, but every time I hear this song since her death, especially a cover sung by Eva Cassidy, it's like she is standing right behind me, urging me forward, quieting my fears and emboldening me. I never even liked this tune, it's maudlin and cheesy. But something about it helps me connect with Mary Kay and to those qualities of hers that I most admired, none of which were maudlin or cheesy. Okay, some of her quirks were maudlin, like reading the obituaries every single morning, but that is neither here nor there.

If you have been to my web site, www.thegivingring.com, you may have read that the entire impetus for my global philanthropy was the example of service set by my parents, but especially, my Mom. She was never into organized service, like the Junior League or even her church, but I learned that you care for those around you to the best of your ability. This extended beyond family to neighbors, to our friends, to people she barely knew.

I remember this one bizarre moment when an obviously imbalanced woman drifted into our house after having wandered away from the psych ward of the neighborhood hospital. When this volatile situation arose, there was Mary Kay with her kids in front of the television. What I remember most clearly, through the fog of time and sugar, was my Mother's voice, her gentleness, the absolute calm that she created for this lost person and for her entirely freaked out children. We all just sat there sucking on popcicles until my Mom located the authorities and some police officers came to take our visitor back to safety. After the fact, Mary Kay let off some steam, smoked a pack of cigarettes and joked about it all, but what I took away from that moment was her deep empathy for this confused, frightened and lonely woman.

My hunch is that I'm wafting in and out of these memories because it is so close to Mother's Day, the one day in the year when Mary Kay would be guaranteed a rest. After she died, I learned that the origins of America's Mother's Day had nothing to do with flowers and fluffy cards, though she loved those and so do I. It was a peace movement following the Civil War, where women united in solidarity to protect their children from the ravages of war and to resolve conflict through cooperation and compassion. That is the same urgency that spurs me on to build The Giving Ring into a global safety net for women and children. The rings are ordered and will arrive from Nepal a couple of weeks after Mother's Day. With Mary Kay's loving spirit pushing this... and me... along, I wouldn't be surprised if they showed up sooner.

Namaste.

The lessons I am learning through The Giving Ring (TGR) are sometimes about business, sometimes about activism and sometimes about trusting the universe, but today I learned alot about me.

TGR is being crafted in Nepal by fair-trade jewelers who work with Denise Attwood of Ganesh Himal Trading Company. We've been awaiting a shipment of rings that were supposed to arrive the first week of March, but were delayed because of a transportation strike. This is not a big deal I thought, especially because the Newari family who is making the rings stepped in to help me in January when I was stuck in an inventory quaqmire. I am so grateful that my dream of having the rings made in Nepal is coming true and that the money from manufacturing TGR supports people living under very difficult conditions.

In typical American fashion, I begin the next round of emails and phone calls to complete the order and get the rings to Seattle. Through it all, I am thinking of my business plan, my zealous desire to make change in the world, the orders I have that are awaiting fulfillment, the timing of this batch of rings to match my first national advertising in "What is Enlightenment?" magazine in June... the task list of worries whirls around my brain like a cranial hulahoop.

After a couple of weeks of trading calls with Ganesh Himal, Denise and I finally connect today and much to my dismay, she clarifies for me why the shipment remains in Nepal. The strike, which escalated throughout Kathmandu yesterday, is in solidarity with a hotel owner who refused to submit to Maoists' extortion demands and was severely beaten and tortured. All business is halted in the hopes that the former rebel forces will be held accountable as the country moves toward an interim government and elections in June.You can read about it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6468289.stm.

There's no way around this unpleasant self-revelation: I just failed Change Agent 101 at the School for Fledgling Humanitarians. Why didn't I investigate what the strike was about three weeks ago, or even earlier in this developing project? Why did I only focus on the happy ending and not the fragile steps others would have to take for me on this journey?

Lessons for Susan:
1. Even though I have good intentions and a business plan, I can easily forget where I am going and what I am doing.
2. A loathing for American media is not an excuse for remaining ignorant of the day-to-day plight of others I am trying to support.
3. Despite a compassionate heart, I have an engrained Ugly American Tendency (UAT) to assume that everyone has safety because I have safety.
4. I am assured that I have other UATs who will rear their bloaty heads throughout this process of building TGR. It is my job to eradicate them.
5. The long and winding road to Enlightenment has many kind travelers and helpful guideposts to lead me through my self-absorption.
5. Relfect, forgive myself, remember the lessons.

Namaste,
Susan

Okay, I'm exhausted, but wanted to write about something cool that happened with The Giving Ring this week.

On Thursday, March 8th, International Women's Day, I sent out an email to friends and family asking them to spread the news of my efforts to help women and children around the world. Two people bought rings, one of whom is the owner of ArtXchange, www.artxchange.org, in Seattle, this groovy art gallery that supports artists throughout Asia, and uses the space for exhibits that shine the light on issues or plights around the world. Recently Cora brought in an exhibit by Legacies of War, a traveling art/history exhibit of the US invasion of Laos and the ongoing losses incurred by unexploded ordnances that have been left behind.  So, Cora bought a Giving Ring and wants the profits of her ring to support Legacies of War. A lovely circle.

The other ring was purchased by Annie, one of two women who operate a nonprofit in Seattle called The Tibetan Nun Project, www.tpn.org, which supports Tibetan nuns who are living in exile in India and Nepal. I had no idea of their work, nor they of mine, and now we're meeting to see how we can help each other's cause. Annie's Giving Ring beneficiary is the Himalayan Children's Fund, so you can see that we have alot of good work to do ahead in Nepal.

My sister Midge also said she will buy a ring, and I don't know which organziation she will choose, but I can say that it meant so much to me to have her symbolic support of this work. If you ever read this Midge, I love you.

There are so many ways for people to get connected to good stuff, to meaningful exchange, to compassionate action, the fact that folks are drawn to The Giving Ring fills me with a tremendous sense of awe and humility. I am so lucky to be able to do this work. And on that joyful note, I'm heading to bed to recharge the old body.

Namaste.

Welcome to The Giving Ring blog at zaadz. This is the place where I invite people to share the amazing work they are doing to build partnership and fellowship all over this wonderful world.

I'll start by tooting the horn of a few friends of mine from Seattle. These women have families and many commitments, some of them are sick or have battled grave illness, some of them are caring for aging parents. I call them Women Who Kick Ass, and in spite of all of the above, they do the following:

Jen sneaks into war-torn countries, films documentaries, writes books, articles and plays in an effort to raise awareness of refugees' rights and the horror of genocide. Oh, and in her spare time with her own money she puts Palestinian refugees through college.

Carol sold all of her possessions and began a one-woman campaign for world peace through the preservation and protection of the indigenous people of the Altai mountains in Siberia. She learned Russian, organized and helped to pull off an international peace summit in Altai last summer. She's just beginning an amazing journey.

Kelly is stewarding the earth through her work to preserve wild and wet lands throughout the Northwest and the US. On the side, she's dreaming up a nonprofit that builds playgrounds and gardens in areas where there has been natural or manmade disaster.

Jackie is a midwife and a gifted healer who helps chronically sick people gain balance and health after western medicine has chewed them up, spit them out and left them for dead. Her style is unassuming and graceful, which makes her a tremendous teacher and leader. She organizes a worldwide network of meditators for peace.

Lisa raised her kids while working in sales, but decided to raise a second family by adopting two boys from India. Her blended family is an inspiration and she works to change the lives of children stuck in poverty in India by holding fundraisers with her adult daughter.

This is just the tip of the activism iceberg by people who are not on the celebrity list or have Microsoft millions. What are you and your friends doing "over the fence post" to shift that sense of helplessness that made the first half of this decade so dangerous and disconcerting? Let's start a dialogue about positive action.

Peace,
Susan