As we sit down to eat, we ask H to tell us about her new job. She has been job hunting for about a year I think, and so it is a strange thing - she got used to not working, which gave her more time to concentrate on other parts of her life, and this new job will take up a lot of her time. So she is excited and anxious all at once. She will have a regular meeting at the time that we usually meet, but we cannot imagine meeting without her, so we agree to change the day of the month that we get together. J tells us news of Ibtisam. She will be coming to Seattle, after the event with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in San Francisco, arriving on Tuesday 27th April, and leaving on Saturday 1st May, so there could be a public fund-raising event on Thursday or Friday night. We need to find a good translator to help. H has connections with Seattle University, and there is a Jewish/Muslim group there who might be interested in helping, and there are rooms there which we might be able to book. She agrees to research this. T suggests some other possibilities, eg Steve Sher on NPR. J is going to make an information sheet, which can be handed out at events and also used for potential sponsors of an event. J wants to arrange a dinner in someone's home for Ibtisam, an evening where interested friends could meet her (and her husband--through a translator since he doesn't speak English) and talk with her in a more informal way. She is a lot of fun, and she will very much enjoy meeting our friends. We do a "go around the table and see how everyone is", and there is worry for all of us about the economy, job losses, global warming and how the new President is doing. More than one of us really feels that something big is changing. F is upset - a friend just got laid off after working in the same hospital for 22 years, and doing a great job. The bad stuff is getting more personal. M is so busy he is trying to not think about it, but his company has become owned by the employees, and there is a big learning curve going on. Their business has not slowed, which is a good thing. U has a short video for us to watch. It is about the women of Darfur, and the terrible things that have been happening there. Darfur is an area of Sudan, and the Sudanese government has a campaign to destroy rebel groups in that region. They created a militia for this purpose, which has wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies, stolen livestock and systematically murdered, tortured and raped women and children. In particular, rape is used as a weapon because by raping a woman in front of her male relatives, it is like the raping the entire tribe - it ensures the destruction of that family. It is considered in the traditional sense to be the deepest affront. The women have been specifically targeted by the Sudanese government, and it is happening even in the camps. U explains to us about the Save Darfur Coalition, and how they are having a global event to involve people from all over the world. She tells us there is a live panel discussion the following night, and also how else we may be involved and what we can do to help raise awareness of what is going on. www.savedarfur.org/women Everyone is visibly moved and saddened by what we have seen. We say the Peace prayer together, and hold each other's hands, before we leave to go to our warm safe homes. |
