The latest issue of the Peace Messengers´ Newsletter can be downloaded here. Enjoy reading!

The new 'Asian Voices' is out! There is news from projects in Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Nepal, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, India and Korea. Enjoy reading!

The Annual Report 2009 of Service Civil International can now be downloaded from the News & Publications section of this website, or by clicking here.

The 4^th issue of GaiaZine is out now. Gaia is an informal working group in SCI that deals with sustainable development and climate change. In this summer edition og GaiaZine you can read about: 

Earth Day in Hungary 

 Placement Officer Training 

Suslik phenomenon 

Business vs environmental justice in Kosovo 

BioDiv Watch – news related to the International Year of Biodiversity 

 The Story of Bottled Water, Transforming Cultures and Climate Change Summit in Bolivia

We wish you all a very sustainable SCI summer season!

This summer SCI branches in the world organize thousands of international voluntary projects to help and support local communities all over the world. Thousands of people will dedicate their time and efforts to participate in these projects within an international volunteer team and have a very enriching and rewarding learning experience. Volunteering with SCI during the summer months is a way to explore the world with a purpose. It is an opportunity to give something back to local communities, to have something concrete to do, somewhere to go, and somewhere to stay. International voluntary projects are organized in many countries and there are many different activities to choose from, like: organizing activities for children; renovating historical sites; help organizing an arts-festival; run activities for refugees…and many more. But please note that places are limited and quickly running out!

You can find all the information on the new search engine of Service Civil International, where you can also register for free and get in touch with the SCI branch in your country. The highly customizable search engine will help you in finding the best project for you according to your interests.

SCI has organized international voluntary projects for 90 years and these have proven to be the most direct and complete way to learn about international volunteerism, do concrete acts in society, and most of all to how and what an individual can do in order to promote the change we want in the world.

Good news from the SCI International Secretariat. The European Commission granted the application for the SCI 90 years anniversary campaign. This means that there is (additional) funding at the SCI International level for various elements of the campaign. The grant will cover the video-production of the No More War Campaign, as well as part of the design and print costs of the Piere Ceresole Exhibition-posters. This makes it possible for several branches to host the exhibition. As was announced in the May issue of the SCI e-zine, the Pierre Ceresole Exhibition will be officially inaugurated in La Chaux-des-Fonds on the  the 25th of September 2010 with a special ceremony. The exhibition will be open to public until January 15th. In Spring 2011 the exhibition shall be shown in Lausanne. For those who won’t be able to visit the exhibition: a special brochure about the exhibition and the origins of SCI will be developed by the International Archives.

On the 22^nd of October the annual fundraising event of SD WORX - a Belgian Human Resources firm whose head office is based in Antwerp - will take place. Responsible for the organisation of this event is the company’s employee committee which is also responsible for selecting a different charity every year. For 2010 the committee selected SCI!

 Chess champion

This means that on October 22^nd the firm is organising a chess event in its head office located at Brouwersvliet, Antwerp. One of the employees is a champion chess player and he will play against various others. Employees from SD WORX but also people from outside the company can place bets and that is how funds are raised. To increase the funds, the IS will be present at the event itself with food and drinks to sell to the employees and use the opportunity to promote our international voluntary projects. SD WORX was able to raise between 1.000,- and 10.000,- euros in former years with their chess fundraising event.

North-South support

SCI will use the money raised through this event mainly for the support of North-South activities/ exchanges, for example travel costs for South participants to seminars or other events, projects or trainings in the South, and other North-South activities that are in need of financial support.

Ceresole/ SCI 90 years Exhibition

Because this year is SCI’s 90th anniversary, the IS will bring the Pierre Ceresole Exhibition to SD WORX where it will be open to all on the 22^nd of October. The No More War-campaign video will also be shown there! Everyone is more then welcome to visit! Exact time and place will be announced in the e-zine, on the website and Facebook.

Want to help or join?

If you want to help out preparing the event or during the event itself, then please send an email to programmes@sciint.org or call the IS at + 32 3 2265727.  And of course information on how to make your bets will be provided as soon as possible. Hope to see you all in Antwerp on October 22^nd!

This year’s No More War initiative was initiated by SCI Austria, SCI Italy and SCI Germany. It is steadily progressing and now about to enter a new stage: during the summer months international ‘No more war’ voluntary projects will take place all over Europe, North-America and Asia. Preparations of these projects have started!

Coordinators Training in Germany

Most coordinators of these projects (coming from 12 different countries) met each other last month at an exciting event that took place in Germany. At this event the main reasons for wars and structural violence nowadays were discussed, SCI’s 90 year history was researched, ideas were exchanged for the study parts of the international voluntary projects and besides all this, the participants learned about some innovative methods of peace education and public actions in order to increase their quality and impact. The production of a video with the aim to highlight and disseminate the results of the No More War action was also prepared. SCI Austria and PVN Albania even produced a Peace Education Toolkit that can be used in any international voluntary project.

Ideas for the future

Ideas for the future include an evaluation and networking seminar in Albania (“Can pacifists build peace?”), a bigger involvement of the already established Peace Messenger network, as well as a “Peace Minibus” touring Europe in 2011.  Acknowledging the significance of our initiative, the Council of Europe has recently decided to award SCI a sizeable grant to continue this year’s pilot action into 2011.

No More War Blog

Also interesting is the No More Blog (www.no-more-war.net), which has been set up by the anti-war team. Any branch or partner organisation wishing to get involved, or provide new ideas for future no more war actions, is very welcome to contact any member of the Anti-War team!

65 years after the end of the Second World War

Two SCI youth exchanges funded by Youth for Europe were set up to commemorate 65 years of the end of the Second World War this Summer: From 7^th – 20^th July 30 volunteers from Serbia, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine and Germany will gather in the European Cultural Capital Essen to discuss topics like: Do we have the same culture of remembrance? What are the lessons learned of the war? How to fight racism, intolerance and anti-Semitism in Europe today? The participants will also have the chance to get acquainted with Essen and its links to the war, e.g. the Krupp family dynasty.

One month later, from 5^th – 20^th August, 25 young people from Russia, Austria, Ukraine, Germany and Hungary will meet in the village of Konstantinovka, Eastern Ukraine, to research the personal stories and diaries of victims of the war, e.g. those who survived Nazi concentration camps or those who were deported to Siberia. The main aim is to preserve their memory and stories of their personal fates as a warning for future generations that such things should never be allowed to happen again. One survivor from Konstaninovka has recently published her diary, which you can read more of at http://www.secretholocaustdiaries.com/

'Peace is something that we should all actively experience: now!', said Ester Rodriguez, who was attending the conflict course organized by Service Civil International - Catalonia during the last week of April.

A Belgian human resources company selected SCI as beneficiary for its annual fundraising event. The event will take place on October 22nd in Antwerp. The committee of employees raise funds by organizing a chess championship where employees can bet money on the chess players. Volunteers and staff from the IS will be selling food & drinks and provide information about SCI to the company's employees. Because 2010 is the year of 'SCI 90 years' anniversary the IS will use this opportunity to host  the Pierre Ceresole Exhibition and show the No More War video during the event. It will be open to everyone and everyone can place bets. In former years the company raised between 1000 and 10.000 euros this way. More news will follow soon...

The date for the SCI 90 years exhibition about Pierre Ceresole and the beginning of SCI is known! The exhibition shall be inaugurated on the 25th of September 2010 in La Chaux-de-Fonds with a special ceremony. The exhibition will be open to public until January 15th. In Spring 2011 the exhibition shall be shown in Lausanne.

The exhibition will also ‘travel’ to other European countries, such as France (Verdun), Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Italy and Spain where it will be shown together with national elements. At all the exhibition sites the videoproduction of the No More War campaign will also be shown. This video will provide people with a view on modern international voluntary projects for Peace and Intercultural Understanding.   

IVP Australia would like to invite you to the Asian Pacific Peace Education Seminar (APPES), which will take place in Katoomba (close to Sydney) Australia, from 13-17^th of July 2010.

The seminar will be an excellent opportunity for activists to meet, train and learn more about peace-education. Topics as non-violent action, intercultural dialogue and peace-building are part of the program.

Participation fee is 40AUD$ a day, and you are expected to join the seminar for the whole duration. There is no strict deadline for applying, but we will ask you to apply ASAP, especially in the case you need a visa for Australia.

Pleasse note that there is a special short term volunteer project and a photo exhibition associated with this seminar. More details are on the IVP website www.ivp.org.au.

Contact IVP for the application form: admin@ivp.org.au

The demolition orders that were issued by the Israeli Civil Administration against nine structures on the land of the Nassar family in West Bank have been frozen for sixty days. This is great news and a victory for the Tent of Nations and for peace and justice!

Below is a message from Daoud Nassar, owner of the ‘Tent of Nations’ :

Dear Friends of Tent of Nations all over the world,

Our Lawyer appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to stop the demolishing of our renovations which is planned to take place this coming Sunday or Monday. I believe, because of all the pressure and the reactions from all of you through writing letters to your governments and to the Israeli officers, the Supreme Court of Israel granted an injunction to stop the military from taking any demolishing actions until the Supreme Court takes a decision. The military authority was given 60 days time to send their objection to the Supreme Court. This means that we will have to go for a trial in the Supreme Court.

We, and with all your prayers and support and with the help of your advocacy letters, managed to freeze the demolishing orders and to bring this case to the Supreme Court. It is a victory for justice even if it is a small one for now but it is a victory.

I want to thank you for all your prayers, for the many E-mails we received from you and for the solidarity visits. I will keep you updated about the development of this case in front of the Supreme Court.

Our efforts together made a difference.

Thank you for your friendship.

Blessings and Salaam,
Daoud

Tent of  Nations is an important organisation in Palestine, that SCI is cooperating with. It is owned by the Nasser family, one of the last Christian Palestinian families living and working in the fertile hill country south of Bethlehem. The Nassar family has repeatedly proven its ownership of the land, which it has owned since at least 1924. The family is dedicated to sustainable farming and aims to educate the Palestinian population how to look after their land in an environmentally friendly way. Aside from regular farming activities, the land is used to facilitate encounters between people of different nations and build bridges of understanding under the name "Tent of Nations".

Having work camps starting soon, VCV-SCI Serbia has worked on a way to offer volunteers a budget sleepover in Novi Sad in order to spend some additional time in our city, meet some of us and enjoy Novi Sad. A hostel, just across our office in the middle of the city centre was kind enough to cooperate with us and offer us a great deal! Therefore we invite all SCI volunteers and activist to visit Novi Sad and stay for a discounted price - 8 euros for individuals and 7 euros for groups of 5 and more. The hostel is just across the street from our office, so don't worry for the morning coffee - you'll have it at our place!

If any one decides to visit us and use the opportunity - let us know and we will reserve you a place :) This is the hostel:

http://www.hostelnovisad.com/

Saturday, May 8^th, SCI Hungary and other organisations joined to celebrate International Fair Trade Day. The Fair Trade Foundation is a non-profit organisation that promotes sustainable development and justice by transforming trading structures and practices in favour of the poor and disadvantaged. Their main goal is to support producers, workers and communities in developing countries and establish a more just world economy. On International Fair Trade Day our aim was awareness-raising among citizens, in order to get more people to buy Fair Trade products, which are usually more expensive then regular products you find in supermarkets. The event took place in Deak Tér's park right next to Godor and it started at 14:00 and lasted until 20:00 p.m.

by Rita, Leonardo intern of Útilapu (SCI Hungary)

SCI Malaysia (Penang) had another activity at the Saint Nicholas home on the 17^th of April 2010. The half day activity was about carrying out some domestic work at the school's deposit room as requested by the school. Even though it was a last minute request by the school, and it was at the eve of our annual family day, SCI Penang managed to gather around 25 members to help the school to clear their deposit room, place a few hundred of rice bags in it and do  all the necessary work to maintain the deposit in good conditions. This was another successful event by SCI Penang: many members were gathered within one day to carry out the job & the school was very happy & grateful for the job that was well done.

SCI Italy

The European civil society has been recently marked by double-sided phenomena. On the one side increasing discriminating policies against immigrants at state level, aimed at increasing control of migration flows and state borders, and on the other side the worrying growth of racism and xenophobia at grassroots level in many European countries.

New challenges

In this context for SCI Italy it seemed essential that an international organization like SCI, which has been committed for 90 years to promote meetings among cultures and people, responds to this scenario and adapts its tools to the changed situation and the new challenges.

Combating racism

Short-term volunteer projects are examples of strong citizens' participation and they aim at activating people from the grassroots in order to work for a fair and sustainable society where equal rights are guaranteed to everybody. Therefore we thought that these projects could be inserted into the framework of activities that focus on combating racism, and facilitate opportunities to get closer to immigrants’ awareness regarding this issue.

Yourope for Rights

The project “Yourope for Rights” which is co-financed by the Europe for Citizens programme of the European Commission is supposed to work in this direction. The planned projects are composed of having direct contact with refugees living in different areas of the country and to promote antiracism, as well as human and civil rights for immigrants.

Asylum seekers and refugees

Activities will have a strong awareness-raising component and include the sharing of refugees’ human interest stories, workshops and public conferences. The subject of asylum seekers and refugees will be a central theme, because it has been and still is a very sensitive subject in the whole Mediterranean region.

Recommendations to European Commission

During all the events, a questionnaire will be handed over to participants, in order to collect their opinion about asylum rights and refugees. The opinions will be used to formulate recommendations to the European Commission about the issue.

When and where?

The events will be organized around the 20th of June, International day of refugees, in order to mark this celebration with a concrete volunteers' activation that is typical of International Civil Service and of our short-term volunteer projects. The projects will be organised in four Italian cities: Rome, Turin, Milan and Bari. Together with the Italian projects, there will also be a project in Slovenia within the same framework. Volunteers who want to join will get 20% of travel costs reimbursed, if they come from a EU-member state. Don't miss this opportunity to be involved in a remarkable experience!

SCI Kuala Lumpur & Penang had a joint workcamp meeting at Taman Harapan, Temerloh on the 1st and 2nd May 2010. It took the Penang team an eight hours long ride to get there.  The SCI team has been going to this venue every month of May for the past 7 years, to do voluntary & community services. This year the volunteers painted the bus stop outside which is used by the Trainees of a shelter for visually impaired people. Besides using it to wait for the buses they also use it as a place to sell their Farm Products. The group also spent some time to interact - eat, chat, play games - with the 30 Visually Impaired Trainees at the shelter. It were two exciting and memorable days: for SCI but especially for the Visually Impaired Trainees there.

The 22nd of April was ‘International Earth Day’ and SCI Hungary decided to celebrate this important event by organizing and ECO-picnic on Deak Square with the members of SCI Hungary, volunteers and friends. Everyone brought home made food and drinks with the aim of demonstrating how to take care of the planet’s resources and think twice before consuming products. No plastics or cans were used because the aim was to be as sustainable as possible. The picnic was an informal and relaxed way to catch people’s attention regarding International Earth Day while enjoying a nice afternoon together. It is becoming more and more important to think about how we can preserve our planet. Several disasters tell us that we need to think urgently about practical solutions that can be implemented by all of us in our daily lives. For SCI Hungary it was an important event that made us realize that many people still love and respect the planet.

2010 is the third year in a row that SCI KL, Malaysia celebrated the International Earth Day at the Zoo. In recognition that this is the ‘Year of the Tiger’ the focus was on the Tigers' area... giving it a facelift by painting 100 meter of Tiger Stripes, planting 100 additional Peace Lilies, having two sponsors donating two benches for people to rest on while watching the tigers, and selling plants as part of a small fund-raising activity as well as to promote love for plants and greenery. Thirty members and friends plus twenty-five Rover Scouts participated in our one-day event with four specific goals: to do the concrete work as mentioned above; to make new friends; to know & appreciate International Earth Day; and to have a good time!

It was a great success!

2010 is the third year for VSI to come back to Mosney Asylum Accommodation Centre, to facilitate an activity camp for children of many different nationalities awaiting refugee status. Since 2008, VSI has run six weeks of summer camps with the dedicated support of international and Irish volunteers. The Mosney summer camps have proven to be a great success with the children, the management in Mosney and the volunteers.  The children are now eagerly awaiting the summer camp 2010.      

From the 6^th to the 9^th of April 2010, volunteers from five different countries provided some fun and entertainment to over 50 children from over ten different countries.  This is the first time the children resident in Mosney have had organised activities for the Easter holidays.  From soccer matches, rounders, basketball and a treasure hunt to a visit to Millmount museum in Drogheda, a visit from a legendary Irish story-teller and a trip to Ardgillan Castle in Balbriggan: the children and volunteers all had a lot of fun!   

The challenges we face in this increasingly complex and culturally diverse society mean that cultural understandings about society and values we all share are changing.  This inevitably brings about conflict, racism and tragedy as we have seen with the recent racist attack in Dublin.  One of the key points of learning for the volunteers that come to Mosney is to develop an understanding of the asylum seeking process in Ireland and share information on the asylum seeking process in their own country.  The project worker based in Mosney who works for Spirasi (an NGO that supports and advocates for asylum seekers and refugees) facilitated a discussion during the Easter Project on asylum seeker issues and how the asylum seeking process in Ireland has impacted on the mental health of the residents in Mosney.  

The experience these volunteers have had living and working in Mosney - which is a culturally diverse community with over 50 nationalities living together - was of an extremely welcoming, supportive environment.  After a challenging but fun-packed day with the children the volunteers had dinner with the residents in the on site restaurant and were generously invited for supper by some of the residents.  This open, inclusive and supportive environment is a shining example of the benefits and rewards of celebrating cultural diversity and shows us that SCI’s vision of a peaceful, multi-cultural world is not only possible but in some places it is a reality. 

Emmet Griffin

VSI activist and Peace Messenger

Have you ever awakened to the sound of fifty wolves, all howling in unison? I hadn’t, either, until I stayed overnight at Mission: Wolf, one of SCI-IVS  oldest volunteer projects.

Building and wolf enclosure at Mission: Wolf

Among other things, I learned that wolves howl at the moment that the sun disappears from sight at dusk and at the moment it appears at dawn. It is almost as if they are sun-worshippers. I learned a lot of other things about wolves there, as well. In general, they have gotten very bad press over the centuries, from Little Red-Riding Hood to the Three Little Pigs.  Most of it is greatly undeserved.

Adventurous trip into the mountains

In 2002, Marc Seahmer, Charlie Cambridge and I decided to visit Mission: Wolf from Boulder, Colorado. We drove down Interstate 25 to Walsenburg, then west to the little village of Gardner, Colorado (pop. about 100). From there we drove along a very rough yet slippery dirt forest road for about 20 miles, going higher and higher into pine trees and mountain meadows. Finally we came to a nondescript branch in the road, marked only by an old cattle trough. Off to the North, clinging to the side of the hill, we saw a few small buildings and a tepee or two.

Favorite camp for animal lovers

This was Mission: Wolf Sanctuary, an institution in Southern Colorado, started by a visionary named Kent Weber as a place for wolves and humans to meet. For ten years, SCI-IVS has been holding summer volunteer projects here, helping to construct buildings and wolf enclosures. For all of those years, this has been one of our best-attended camps, drawing animal-lovers from all over the world. It always gets rave evaluations, even though the work is hard. On weekends, the volunteers are rewarded for their hard work, as Kent is a generous sponsor, who takes them on trips around Colorado and to regional celebrations during their time off.

Famous ‘Hollywood’ wolves

What is Mission: Wolf? As explained by Kent, it is a refuge and sanctuary for wolves which for some reason are not able to live in the wild. Maybe they were injured and rescued by some wild-life agency, or they were adopted as a cub by some family who thought they would make a nice pet but found out differently. Some wolves there were acquired by Hollywood to be used in the film Dancing with Wolves but no plans were made for their welfare after the movie. Kent has many entertaining stories about the making of that movie.

Dare-devil chipmunks

To the visitor, it is a fascinating place, populated by the fifty or so wolves, each of which has a distinct personality, to the many dare-devil chipmunks that streak though the wolf compounds, risking death from snapping jaws at any moment.

Living in tepees

The center is run by a group of volunteer workers, some of whom are SCI LTVs. During the summer, when the sanctuary has lots of visitors, there may be as many as a dozen staff volunteers, in addition to the short term volunteers. Since the sanctuary only has three permanent buildings - a visitor center and two staff cabins - some of the Summer staff live in several tepees on the grounds. Some lucky staff members also get to go on tours of the USA, as the sanctuary runs its Wolf Bus to different parts of the country each Summer, educating the public about the reality of wolves.

Kissed-by-Wolf

During the winter, the staff is reduced to only a few hardy (and compatible) souls, as the center may be snowed in for weeks at a time. The fifty wolves at Mission: Wolf live in large, fenced compounds in the forest, with two to five wolves to a compound. They are well fed on meat from dead cows and horses contributed by local farms in the area, supplemented by unlucky chipmunks. The wolves are not tame, but exhibit different levels of toleration of surrounding humans. As Marc, a Comanche Indian, learned, some of them will even give you a big wolf-kiss. The SCI volunteers immediately renamed him Kissed-by-Wolf to celebrate the occasion.

Only for tough ones

The volunteers have come from many countries over the years and have built at least one of the buildings and several of the wolf compounds. This year, they were working on a new kitchen annex for volunteer groups. The volunteers who come here have to be a hardy group, as there are few of the comforts of civilization. No TV, no Coca-Cola (the fridge is too small), no showers, no washers for clothes, and only an outhouse (which sometimes becomes very ripe) in place of a bathroom. As housing is scarce, the campers have to live in tents. Alcohol and drugs are not allowed, and smokers do not do well because of the altitude (9,500 ft.). Loud music is not allowed as it bothers the wolves, so little is left to do except to read, converse and appreciate nature.

The big bad pig

If you are ever in southern Colorado, you too can visit Mission: Wolf, and learn the truth about wolves. For curiosity or detailed travel instructions, log on to <www.missionwolf.org>. While there, pick up a copy of The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig for your children, the answer to wolf detractors everywhere.

To whom it may concern,

with great concern did Service Civil International (SCI) hear about the demolition orders issued by the Israeli Civil Administration for nine structures on the land owned by the Nassar family near Nahalin (West Bank) on May 27th, 2010.

The Nassar family has repeatedly proven its ownership of the land, which it has owned since at least 1924. The family is dedicated to sustainable farming and aims to educate the Palestinian population how to look after their land in an environmentally friendly way. Aside from regular farming activities, the land is used to facilitate encounters between people of different nations and build bridges of understanding under the name "Tent of Nations".

SCI, an international organization seeking to establish intercultural understanding through international exchange projects, has cooperated with the family in several of such projects and considers them a valuable partner organization. The destruction of said structures would be a great blow to their work, which has always been committed to non-violence and reconciliation despite ongoing harassment.

These demolition orders have been preceded by similar orders, as well as by intimidation and destruction of property by settlers and the Israeli military. We fear the demolition orders are part of a larger ongoing campaign to drive the family from the land, which would then become available for settlement activities. This is in violation of international law as stated in the Fourth Convention of Geneva.

We therefore strongly urge the Israeli Civil Administration and the Israel Defense Forces to immediately cancel the demolition orders and cease all activities that impede the continuation of normal life and work on the land in question.

We understand the Nassar family is not the only family in the occupied Palestinian territories suffering from such campaigns and we urge the Israeli authorities to immediately and unconditionally end all such activities directed at Palestinian families, including home demolition, land confiscation and restriction of freedom of movement.

We also call on all representatives of governments, including the European Commission, to raise this issue in meetings with Israeli representatives and to voice their concern.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter.

Best regards,

The SCI International Executive Committee

Service Civil International

International Secretariat - Antwerpen

St-Jacobsmarkt 82

B-2000 Antwerpen

Belgium

Thirty years of voluntary service with SCI. The book is now on-line. Find out more in the SCI 90 years section.

The Peace Messengers network is inviting you to an Online training! During 5 weeks the training will discuss the meaning of peace and the role of a Peace Messenger. In the true spirit of non-formal education, participants will actively contribute to the course with their ideas and opinions, but facilitators will be there to help them build their knowledge and provide them with information. We will work in the framework of a virtual classroom. 

If you want to know more about peace and Peace Messengers, if you have one or two hours to spare every week, access to Internet connection and Skype, and if you have already taken part to a workcamp, then come on and join us !

Please send us the following information by email:

-       Name :

-       Age :

-       Country:

-        Your involvement in SCI (if any)?

-       What is peace for you?

-        e-mail address:

-        Skype ID:

-       General availability for skype meeting

Please send you answers to these questions to peacemessengers@gmail.com before the 24^th  of May. There is only a limited number of places, so register quickly!

In the last issue, Johan gave us a symbolic hug before leaving and went over last years’ activities organized/achievements made by the IS. As many new challenges lie ahead, I would like to start by saying a little bit more about myself. 

As the new International Coordinator of SCI, I am excited to start this new chapter of my professional and personal life with you. The career path I chose years ago has taken me to America, Africa and Asia, so working and living in Europe now is something completely new to me, apart from my volunteer experience with Amnesty International in Italy prior to moving to the US in mid-90s. 

My academic background is on conflict-related issues in connection with development, namely human security and human development. Professionally speaking, I have worked both at headquarters level and in the field with international organizations. What was most meaningful to me was being in the field, since I was posted in conflict-affected countries, where peace-related issues were at the core of my work. There, I experienced the commitment of national and international colleagues, as well that of local people, to making a difference and promoting the values of peace and reconciliation. I was particularly touched by the tangible kindness and hopefulness I felt when meeting with those affected by war, or the consequences of, despite the hardships they had been experiencing.

It is with this hopefulness that I decided to move to Europe to keep on working on peace issues in a different capacity. SCI does very important work nationally and internationally on the promotion of peace values through volunteerism, which I deeply believe in as a vehicle for social change, and I am very happy to be a part of it.

As the first step towards best serving the movement, the IS is undertaking internal restructuring and welcoming new changes, such as support to working groups as requested at the last ICM. More information on this will follow soon.

For this reason, I look forward to working with all of you wherever you are in the world.

Margherita Serafini, International Coordinator SCI

Travelling workcamps have a long tradition in SCI Germany. They are an opportunity for volunteers from all over Europe to enjoy an intensive “crash course” for becoming Peace Messengers. The volunteers learn the theory and immediately put it into practice by visiting international workcamps and running unique, individually-prepared one-day peace education workshops for other international volunteers.

Logistics...

It might sound simple, but in practice it is not. The participants have to join one international workcamp; work one day with  the team of volunteers at the camp; run a workshop the next day; and travel to the next camp where everything is repeated. The problem is that different projects run at different times; project sponsors have time restrictions; and we need to to take care of the distances that the teams must cover as well as the limit to to their travel costs. Last year it took one person two months of negotiations before the routes could be finalised!

Trainers...

Another important issue that needs to be solved is that of trainers. It is very important to find experienced trainers with understanding of SCI, voluntary work, intercultural learning processes and with the ability to empower volunteers by using rewarding and innovative methods of peace education.

Innovative peace workshops

The real challenge, however, starts when the Peace Messengers arrive at the training in Berlin. First they need to identify, discuss and define the “peace message” they wish to put across during their workshops. Then they have to agree on the composition of the teams, and last but not least they need to design a workshop using different and innovative methods that will capture the interest of even the least interested and motivated volunteer in the workcamps.

 Unforeseen situations

The Peace Messengers also need to be able to improvise, as in the case of the first team that missed the train from Berlin to their first workcamp.  It can also happen that the project sponsor decides that it does not want to receive the group after all. Finally, after having travelled several hundred kilometres, making friends with hundreds of volunteers, and having run their workshops, the Peace Messengers still need to have some remaining energy in order to evaluate, share their experiences and make recommendations for improvements at a follow-up meeting back in Berlin.

Results!

So is all the effort, money and trouble worth it? Sometimes we do wonder, because not all workshops meet with the enthusiastic response that the Peace Messengers hope and wish for. At the same time though, we feel that we achieve some important results that justify the large investments made:

1. 20 young people are trained as Peace Messengers. They will use their knowledge and skills for the rest of their lives, within their family, school, university, workplace or elsewhere.

2. More than 200 international volunteers are - sometimes for the first time – encouraged to think about existing causes of war, violence, social injustice & discrimination and are forced to confront and question their own prejudices and stereotypes about others.

3. SCI’s image as an organisation that is “working for peace” is reinforced and made evident to large numbers of young people as well as to project sponsors

Interested?

This year’s Travelling Work Camp Germany will take place from 8 – 29th August and is included in the workcamp search engine (OPS). If Germany is not appealing (enough) to you, then you can also join a second, similar Travelling Work Camp that will take place in the Balkans? We can certainly promise a tiring, but enormously enriching, exciting and rewarding experience for those who have the right motivation!

John Myers – SCI Germany

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Since the beginning of 2010 the International Secretariat has effectively set up a cooperation with Key Travel. This travel agency will provide the IS and all SCI branches, activists and work camp volunteers with their travel services. Both Key Travel and SCI are benefitting from this. SCI gets 2 to 3 euros on every flight that is booked by SCI people, using the following link: http://keytravel.com/SCI_BE/

Travel Fund?

Besides Key Travel gathers all the free Air Miles of all the volunteers and makes them avalaible to SCI International through a corporate Air Miles Account. Branches and working groups will be able to benefit from this, because the idea is to use all donations and Air Miles for the creation of a new SCI Travel Fund to be used for meetings, seminars, trainings and so on. Therefore it is important that whenever you need to travel, either by plane, train or otherwise: you contact Key Travel through the Quote Request Form. This does not oblige you to book with them. You can still try to find better or cheaper options elsewhere.

Planting Trees in Flanders

It is important to realize that the IS did not just randomly select a travel agency to cooperate with. Key Travel was chosen because of the sustainable and ethical way they work. For example, Key Travel donates one tree for every flight that is booked with them. This tree is planted in Flanders, Belgium by a Flemmish association called ‘De Bosgroep vzw’ that aims at sustainable forest management. ‘De Bosgroep’ guarantees Key Travel that the trees planted are local species; there is diversity of species; the trees that are chosen do not harm the existing  flora & fauna; all legal requirements are met. Key Travel is however aware that one tree per flight is not enough. But it is based on an average to compensate CO2 emisisons. Of course it always possible to donate another tree yourself.

Office ethics

Furthermore, Key Travel personnel uses only Fair Trade products in the office; has a very strict recycling policy; supports charity with their ‘Charity of the Year’ project; encourages the people in the team to travel by train within Europe.

Free Risk Management Tool for Branches

For branches who are interested, Key Travel can also provide us with a Risk Management Tool. This is an interesting tool - especially for branches sending volunteers to remote area or conflict areas - that helps us to inform our volunteers that are on exchanges abroad, about possible dangers. There is the possibilty to provide volunteers with up-dated infosheets upon their departure, up to SMS-updates while being on a workcamp. Anyone who is interested can contact Ingrid at the International Secretariat, programmes@sciint.org. The same person can be contacted for other questions regarding Key Travel/ SCI as well.

SCI Germany will be organizing a project in September with the title “Are we ready for Peace?”. It is a follow-up to the “Cooperation, not confrontation!” study visit to Russia that took place last April. SCI Germany is grateful to the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe for their financial support for both projects.

What is 'working for peace'?

The idea to organise this project arose in the aftermath of the Georgian conflict. The second study aims at achieving a better knowledge and understanding of “working for peace”  and how it is put into practice by SCI and its Russian partners, both in the daily activities as well as in the internal organisation cultures. For example, last year many SCI participants noticed that in Russia it is normal for the army to be involved in “patriotic education” of young people, even in the context of some international workcamps. Our Russian partners, on the other side, noticed that within SCI there are still great misunderstandings and even stereotypes about what is happening nowadays in Russia.

Intensive travelling, meeting and training

The project is rather ambitious. There are several meetings foreseen in Germany and Russia and various visits to SCI branches and volunteer projects in countries like Belgium and France as well as visits to the Russian partner organizations in Moscow, Perm and Ulan Ude, amongst others. A training on peace education and an evaluation meeting are also foreseen.

Mutual understanding and cooperation

SCI Germany hopes that the study-project will lead to a better mutual understanding of the meaning of “Peace work & Peace education” for both SCI and the Russian partners. Secondly, SCI Germany hopes that by sharing knowledge and experiences we will be stimulated to intensify cooperation in this field and apply new and innovative methods in the area of peace education that will benefit our future volunteers. Last but not least, mutual and intercultural understanding and personal friendships between the SCI activists and the Russian volunteers is also an important aim.

Interested?

The project will take place during 3 weeks in September. The call for participants will be launched after the international prepteam meeting in May. The prepteam itself is composed of representatives from Russia, Germany, Poland and one other country that still needs to be determined.  SCI Germany encourages all SCI branches that are based within Council of Europe member states, to send representatives to the project.

 John Myers – SCI Germany

Kosovo – a small country in the middle of the Balkans. A decade ago a horrible conflict -  a culmination of political terror, media brainwashing, implants of fears and systematical separation and hate among people belonging to different national or ethnic groups - took place here. Nowadays, it is clear who belongs to which group and fear of getting to know the other side is unbelievably present and lucidus.

A post conflict region

People in Kosovo are warm, friendly, open, but careful. Life in Kosovo is like no where else in the region. Going to Plemetina, a village 13 km far from the capital of Kosovo, Prishtina, yo will find all kinds of problems: air pollution because of coal power plants; ethnic descrimination; lack of mobility, water and electricty; soil contamination because of waste disposals in the ground; strong traditions; rubbish lying all over the place; institutions of two countries existing next to each other, both claiming integrity and souvereinity of the land and history  while  forgetting about the people, and so on...

Building a peaceful future

The real story, or better the say, the one story that we believe in, is that all people are capable of living together in mutual respect. That is why a group of activists from VCV (Serbian branch of SCI), Balkan Sunflowers (partner of SCI) and some other great people started an SCI group in Kosovo.  The group is made up of people with different nationalities and cultural backgrounds, but they all share the same values and belief in a common peaceful future for the region.

'We are like trees, we must create new leaves, in new directions, in order to grow'

In the begining of April a small activity was organised, similar to a workcamp. It took place in Plemetina and gathered eight volunteers from Serbia and Kosovo who worked with Roma children and youth. They ran environmental workshops, decorated the Balkan Sunflower house and garden with spirals and prepared beautiful puppets while teaching the children about nature and waste management.

Youth center

As always with SCI-activities that take place in Kosovo, many new ideas have been developed and in the coming months the SCI group Kosovo plans to organize volunteer actions to clean up Plemetina;  educate youth in environmenal issues; and start with the development of a youth center. And this only marks the beginning of breaking down the invisible walls that exist between us.

The training course “Voluntary approach towards a culture of Peace” has been granted by the Youth in Action Program from the European Commission and will be organized in the beautiful Hungarian capital from 16^th to 22^th May 2010.  

SCI Sri Lanka organized its first training program for year 2010 on project management. The program was held on 10^th and 11^th of February 2010 in SCI Sri Lanka secretariat at Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Here is a brief update of SCI - SL's work around the country.

SCI exists 90 years. Therefore here an article coming from our Australian branch where Giovanna Gagliardo looks back to 1920 when Pierre Ceresole organised the first workcamp, the one that represents the seed that led to the birth of the international organisation we are part of.

In this article Rita Sofea, who participated in two of the Vanautu workcamps, and Hedy McManus, who volunteerd in 2009, discuss the contributions that workcamp leaders, host organisations and volunteers can make to workcamp succes.

A little more then a year ago, precisely January – February 2009, an historic event was flagged off in Africa.  The Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS) threw the whole of Africa and its sub-regions into strategic position for forum discussion on the global events tagged Culture Meets Concepts – an Euro-African Project in the Millennium.

Balkan Sunflowers Kosova (BSFK) is looking forward to another exciting Summer Program in its Learning Centers Network.  Building upon successes from the past two years, this year’s Summer Program is shaping up to be the best one yet. 

The next SCI North South Platform Meeting will take place from 6 - 10 October 2010, hosted by KVT Finland. We are looking for prep team members to organize this event! Interested?

We are looking for team members interested in preparing, organizing and following up the Exchange Evaluation Meeting in 2010! Interested?

In April 2010 Service Civil International (SCI) will organise a training focused on intercultural learning. The seminar is funded by the European Youth Foundation.

Recently the IS was contacted by Logan, a student from United States who is working on his Master Thesis at the University of Houston.  Logan used to be a volunteer himself and is interested in 'Knowing what makes people participate in volunteer programs. He believes this will help local communities and organizations to develop more effective volunteer programs that benefit both the volunteers and the local people'. He is looking for volunteers that can spend 10-15 minutes on filling out an on-line survey.

At both international and branch levels SCI preparatory activities to celebrate, commemorate and reflect on ninety years of volunteering for peace, intercultural understanding, mutual respect and tolerance have started.

The SCI Mediterranean Working Group (SCI-Midi) sees it as its responsibility to ensure a responsible and smooth exchange of volunteers between the Mediterranean region and the rest of the SCI movement, in an effort to posit a just peace as an alternative to violence and oppression.

Would SCI branches and groups be interested in making a SCI Workcamp in the next World Social Forum, in January 2011, in Dakar, Senegal?

SCI Italy is promoting since last year projects and workcamps related to the remembrance of Nazi-fascist persecution against Roma, Sinti and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans) people.

SAVA working group continues with its project ‘Live together’ that started in 2009 as an initiative of PVN Albania, VCV Serbia and SCI Switzerland. Last year the ‘Live together’ workcamp took place in Serbia in Temerin, a multi-ethnic town.

In the frame of its ‘incoming program’ SCI Belgium is hosting volunteers from the South every year, for a one month program of discovery and intercultural exchanges. This year, four female volunteers joined the program. They were coming from Nigeria, Malaysia, Palestine and Ecuador. One of their guides was ‘Dimas’: our long term volunteer from Indonesia.

IVS-GB (Brittish branch of SCI) has started a newsletter called ‘Reconnections’. It aims to reconnect twentieth century volunteers (from the 50s, 60s 70s and 80s) with others who were volunteering at the same time or in the same place.