Nigeria - Resource Sharing Network

Greetings . . .Sure, you are doing greatly out there, with your Mentee. We wish youthe very best in your endeavours.Recently Tosin was conferred with an award and she would like todedicate it to you all - Our Young Professionals and Mentors for yourconcerted efforts in making the Youths Mentoring Youths a success.Known to a few members, Tosin has been a Mentee and recipient of theWomen Mentoring Women programme in Nigeria - a programme organised byIdeaBuilders in partnership with Vital Voices.
Check here:http://vitalvoices.org/desktopdefault.aspx?page_id=995
Recently, at the climax of the 6 months mentoring exercise she wasconferred with an award as the Best Mentee of the Year/ Pioneer Menteeof the WMW Partnership Programme 2009.Really, the award wouldn't have been possible without the concertedefforts of everyone on our list serve (Yes, YOU!), her Mentor/Adviser-Dr. Titi Akinlade of ExxonMobil . Also, Not in a jiffy would she forget her experience andshow appreciation to the Executive Director of Africa Leadership ForumALF: Mr. Aderinwale Ayodele (MFR). Thank you so much sir. It was worthit passing through the democratic leadership training a few weeksbefore the commencement of the Women Mentoring exercise.Find attached for photographs or visit www.unesco.8m.com/anu.wmvWe wish you all more strength, good health and greatness in life.Thank you for helping us pass on the baton of excellence to the nextgeneration of Achievers.Wishing you all a fulfilling Month of July!!!Best RegardsResource Sharing Team.

Any lady interested in caring and sharing please visit our journal "Pour Les Femmes"

Click the link and have a look........ a wonderful group of dedicated women caring and sharing.

A Ray of Hope celebrates International Peace day

Dear All,
On behalf of A Ray of Hope could I invite you to watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XtFSoke-1o

In our small way it is a celebration of International Peace Day on Monday, 21st September, 2009.
Associated with the video, which shows children from our projects and World Heritage Sites are three competitions. Just enter a peace greeting of any description into the comments box and your country of residence. That will be sufficient effort for two competitions and the third, slightly more challenging you can read about both in the video and attached information. Through this video, we will have a coming together and would therefore implore you to inform your friends whether it is FaceBook/YouTube/Messenger whatever. For those unable to load onto YouTube please email your greeting to me and it will be entered for you.
Thank you and best wishes
Don

Germany - from Helga

For A Ray of Hope" to many in the world!
May you always have an abundance of Peace, Love, Joy and Health!
On this joyous day you are cordially invited to a special journey to some of the most famous castles in Germany, known throughout the world and all built by Ludwig II (1845 1886) using his personal fortune, he was King of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his mysterious death. He is also referred to as the Swan King or the Fairytale King. His legacy is intertwined with the history of art and architecture, and he was a devoted patron of the composer Richard Wagner. Now, the horse carriage is waiting for you, take a seat, lean comfortably back and enjoy :)
The first part of the journey will take you to the Neuschwanstein castle, also known as the Cinderella castle. In 1869, King Ludwig II oversaw the laying of the cornerstone for Neuschwanstein castle on a breathtaking mountaintop site overlooking his childhood home, the castle his father had built at Hohenschwangau and the lake Alpsee. The walls of Neuschwanstein are decorated with frescoes depicting scenes from many of Wagner's operas, to whom the King dedicated the castle. The pictures also deal with love and guilt, repentance and salvation. A further motive of the interiors is the swan. The swan was the heraldic animal of the Counts of Schwangau, whose successor the king considered himself to be. It is also the Christian symbol of the "purity" for which Ludwig strived. Neuschwanstein illustrates the ideals and longings of Ludwig II more vividly than any of his other buildings.
The castle was not designed for royal representation, but as a place of retreat. Here King Ludwig II escaped into a dream world - the poetic world of the Middle Ages. Even though Neuschwanstein is an unfinished castle, only 40 % of the rooms are finished, its breathtakingly beauty attracts a vast number of visitors (1.3 million) every year.It is supposed to be the most photographed building in the world. Actually, the famous Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland was modeled after this. Leaving the idyllic setting of Neuschwanstein castle the tour will take you further on to the Chiemsee, which is a freshwater lake scenically perched at the foot of the eastern Bavarian Alps, surrounded only by small resort towns. It was perhaps this sense of minor seclusion that inspired King Ludwig II to acquire the Herreninsel as the location for his Royal Palace of Herrenchiemsee. Modelled on Versailles, this palace was built as a "Temple of Fame" for King Louis XIV of France, whom the Bavarian monarch fervently admired. The actual building of this "Bavarian Versailles" was begun in 1878.
When the King died, only the sections along the main axis with their famous fountains and waterworks of the large garden resembling that of Versailles had been completed.The highlights of the large state rooms are the State Bedroom and the fabulous Great Hall of Mirrors with a length of 98 meters and lined with about fifty massive candelabras along each wall. The King's own rooms were in the intimate Small Apartment, designed in the French rococo style.
After a last view into the Great Hall of Mirrors, a short view into the nature and with a new piece of music, the journey will come, while passing the Moorish Kiosk, to its final destination Linderhof Palace one of the most beautiful attractions in Bavaria. It is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II and the only one of which he lived to see completion. When Ludwig II became King in 1864 he inherited the so called Königshäuschen from his father and from 1869 on he started enlarging the old building. In 1874 he decided to tear down the Königshäuschen and rebuild it on the location in the park where we still can find it today. Although Linderhof is much smaller than Versailles, it is evident that the palace of the French Sun-King Louis XIV was its inspiration. The symbol of the sun can be found everywhere in the decoration of the rooms.
The Bedchamber and the Hall of Mirrors are truly impressive with all the artwork. With a little Highlight the tour will end at the Venus Grotto which is located at the park of Linderhof Palace. The building is wholly artificial and was built for the King as an illustration of the First Act of Wagner's "Tannhäuser". Ludwig liked to be rowed over the lake in his golden swan-boat but at the same time he wanted his own blue grotto of Capri.Thank you for sharing this journey!

Youths Mentoring Youths Nigeria

Olowoyeye Tosin sent a message to the members of Youths Mentoring Youths.

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Subject: Youths Mentoring Forum, Our Appreciation
Good Day,
Our sincere appreciation goes to everyone who contributed to the success of our Mentees Meet Mentors' Forum which came up on the Friday, 29th of May, 2009. Indeed, it was a remarkable day as young Mentees were opportuned to hear from seasoned speakers and leaders. What a grandsome way to celebrate our "Democracy"!

To our Guest Speakers: Lucy Kanu -IdeaBuilders; Aunty Shade -Vital Voices; Mr. Femi from Arik Airline; Mr. Tunde - Oceanic Bank ; Dr. (Mrs) Titi -ExxonMobil; Mr. Idowu Omisore -Author of a Youth Book etc we are not ungrateful for your time shared with us. We appreciate you immensely. To Mr. Tosin Adegoke, thank you so much for the donation ! We hope to get those books by next week and send them to all our Mentees. Once again, thank you so much.

To our Mentors at home and in the disapora, we thank you for your committments also, and we do hope that the remaining few months (3months) we've got for the mentoring exercise shall be a fruitful and rewarding one.

Lastly, to our Partner and Friend, Don -A Ray of Hope, UNESCO Youth Ambassador for a Culture of Peace. Thank you for your support donations and interest. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Photographs of the event can be viewed on the group homepage. Moreeso, here:

http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vErlVXoI-K8&feature=channel_page

Thank You All.

Uganda Seguya and Project Hope Uganda decide on new logo.

Philippines Update

Dear Melanie
Sorry for taking so long to answer your e-mail even to Sis. Thelma. We experiencing Heavy rain here in the Philippines, Many family in water people goes to the church to evacuate, aside from that our computer is already broken sorry for everything, sometimes the computer shop here THE INTERNET CONNECTION are not available We already finish the school supplies and tuition fees giving for the back to school program this June 02, 2009 (this is for 1st Semester only of the school year 2009-2010. We have a problem for catmon church because the contract for the place in catmon church will expire this coming October 2009. Anyway I already receive the 500 pounds (not exactly because there is a charge for sending it as you said) Last Friday we go to St. Lukes Hospital together with Leonora ( we fetch Leonora in Sta. Maria Bulacan Because she lives with her daugther there, she don't to stay in Navotas for the house of her relatives are small and aside on that is the smell is not too good for her situation in this time we request Leonora to stay in the church whle we're doing the examination) and we already schedule the General Examination and check up for her, the Attending Doctors will tell how much is the Total cost Including her medicine and also the operation after the result of her examination. we send you all the specific breakdown or liquidation of all expenses. The schedule for her examination will be on the third week of this month About the rice business I stop for a while because of it's heavy rain it is hard to import and buy rice for the price is so much high because of continues heavy rain, aside from the poor people can't afford to buy some of them request me to owe the rice for they don't have food to eat, Jon and Thess

Portugal - Paula Cunha

It is very humbling to welcome yet another caring and talented person into A Ray of Hope. Paula lives in Portugal and has a particular forte for the design and production of videos. Some of her many videos can be seen on A Ray of Hope's web at http://www.unesco.8m.com/Paula/index.htm

Our numbers expand daily, as do the specialists willing to give of their knowledge, skills and experience. Paula, I am convinced will be a wonderful asset to the whole. Not only will she develop A Ray of hope's video library but will encourage and support others. Paula like the many incredible people associated with our projects believes whole heartedly that cultural diversity is enrichment. A Ray of Hope is greater than the sum of its parts. Thank you Paula.

Global Support Offered

“Hi everyone. I’m Debbie Hepplewhite - a teacher, teacher-trainer, phonics programme writer and advisor for teaching reading and spelling in the English language. I’ve been providing free online advice about reading instruction for people from a wide range of settings for many years. Having now discovered A Ray of Hope and been touched by its international and caring ethos (which I share), I hope that I can be of further service internationally through A Ray of Hope’s links and projects. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you think I may be able to help you via this blog or via don@unesco.co.uk Debbie

Nepal - "our daughters"

There are some things that bring us all pleasure and then other happenings that are beyond words. To learn that our daughters from Metta Centre in Nepal decided to do a little caring and sharing themselves would be one of those events. Recently the girls and their director Piya, went into their community to distribute items of need to those less well of than themselves. You are a lesson to us all and we thank you for it. Don (The photograph shows some of the worthy recipients.)

Visitors to this Journal

It is so pleasing to know that the last 500 visitors to the journal came from across the globe 38 countries on 5 continents. Thank you to all who support the ethos of A Ray of Hope i.e. that Cultural Diversity in enrichment.

United Kingdom Portugal United States Romania
South Africa Germany France Nigeria India
Guatemala Korea, Republic Of Netherlands Italy
Australia Bulgaria Venezuela Nepal Uganda
Philippines Swaziland Egypt Indonesia
Malaysia Kenya Ukraine Canada Ireland
Russian Federation Finland Mauritius Colombia
Iran, Islamic Republic Of Poland United Arab Emirates Brazil
Japan Uruguay

Greetings to A Ray of Hope

Adekunle Owolabi proffers the best wishes of Miss World and Miss Spain to the global network of A Ray of Hope.

Just a decoration !!!

Sequya and team - Project Hope Uganda

Project Hope Uganda, is now fully registered and comprising a team of caring individuals with enormous potential. View the 4 logos being considered. We wish them well on their decision and their initatives.

Lough Neagh Partnership Northern Ireland

Congratulations to all involved with Lough Neagh Partnerships initiative to protect and promote the culture and heritage of the area. The scheme was launched today in the delightful setting of the Discovery Centre at Oxford Island.

General A Ray of Hope

Could I recommend to all who read A Ray of Hope's journal to also please spend a little time on our Women's Journal" "Pour Les Femmes". It has become a vibrant and quite exciting arena for women across the globe to care and share aspects of their lives, their countries and their cultures. http://pourfemmes.blogspot.com/
Daily, the journal receives wonderful videos and most interesting photographs and text.
It is also pleasing to add that hopefully we soon will have a resident specialist on the teaching of English and reading. This may be not just on line advice but packages of structured lesson plans, software and related material. More will be published on this when known. It has been proposed that possibly a school or prison in out network might like the opportunity of taking part in trials of the lesson material which will be amended to be appropriate to the students involved.
Best wishes to one all.
Don

Belarus : Agreement regarding Children's Programmes

Re: Belarus Children’s Programmes

Some of you may be aware by now of good news in respect of the new agreement that has been reached between the Belarusian and United Kingdom governments on the conditions for the continuation of organised visits to the UK for children affected by the Chernobyl contamination. I hope this will now enable your Summer visits to go ahead.

The agreement will be published in Parliament following the recess and you might like to take some time to read it and to ensure that you are acting consistently with it as you continue to carry out your valuable work in the future. We envisage that the main obligations on you, for example to pay the travel expenses, provide insurance and to carry out appropriate checks on the host families will be things that you already do.

In addition to the agreement, the duties on United Kingdom charities carrying out this work, as set out again in recent correspondence you have received from the British Embassy in Minsk continue to apply so that, for example: the requirements of Para 46A of the Immigration Rules requiring suitable arrangements for the children’s care and reception in the United Kingdom must be met; biometrics must be provided in respect of children over the age of 5; visa application forms must be completed in full including contact details of hosts and parents or guardians (with up to date CRB checks in respect of the former and an additional letter of consent to be provided from the latter) and information on a child’s schooling must be given, including a letter from the school in respect of any term time travel.

You will also need to continue to tell us whether this is a first or subsequent visit and given the terms of last October’s Presidential decree, we will be needing to monitor the number of organised visits that any given child participates in, as the Belarusian government will henceforth be limiting the number of visits to three per receiving state. As you may remember however, Belarusian Embassy representatives informed you recently at your Solihull conference that they believed this to mean no more than three visits from the time the agreement comes into force.

The suspension of visits on organised travel groups for those children in the 14 and over age group will continue for now but we will continue to engage with the Belarusians on this issue in the future.

At the same time, I would also like to remind you all of your ongoing obligations to ensure that you continue to act in accordance with the various United Kingdom laws that impact on your work including those relating to health and safety, discrimination and the safeguarding of vulnerable persons.

If you have any queries about the agreement or your legal obligations please contact:

Andrew Davis
International Policy Directorate
UK Border Agency

Belarus - agreement between UK and Belarus regarding " children's recuperation visits"

The Agreement about recuperation of Belarusian children in the U.K. has been concluded by the exchange of diplomatic Notes between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom. Thus there aren’t any obstacles in the way of full scale cooperation in this very important, especially for Belarusian children, sphere.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you all, as well as to all MPs representing your constituencies, for rendering considerable assistance in facilitating the process, for your patience and persistence. My special thanks are for the British Ambassador in Minsk Mr Nigel Gould-Davies, whom we have been in contact with nearly every day, trying to come to the conclusion, solving all the disputable issues and looking for compromise. The final stage in the process of preparation of the Agreement clearly proved that concerted effort is absolutely indispensable and crucial in cooperation between our two countries and our peoples.

Good luck and all the best in your respectful humanitarian activities.

Best regards,
Aleksandr Mikhnevich
Ambassador of Belarus in London

Nigeria : Child First Conference: Preventing Abuse of the Nigerian Child Today organised by Stepping Stones Nigeria

Child First Conference Communiqué

The following communiqué is the output of the Child First Conference: Preventing Abuse of the Nigerian Child Today organised by Stepping Stones Nigeria in partnership with Mboho Akwa Ibom Association (UK & Ireland) on Saturday 30th May 2009 at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

The Nigerian High Commissioner, His Excellency Dr Dalhatu Sarki Tafida in his keynote speech applauded the initiatives of all stakeholders in staging the conference and noted various measures adopted by the Federal government since the introduction of the Children’s Welfare Rights in 2005

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, represented by Honorable Nsikan Udofia, outlined the positive steps that the government had taken since the screening of the Channel 4 documentary, Saving Africa’s Witch Children.

Key Recommendations

Ø Nigerian Federal Government should ensure all remaining states domesticate the Child Rights Act

Ø Individual State Governments should work with all stakeholders and commit sufficient resources to ensure that the Child Rights Act is fully implemented

Ø Widespread public enlightenment campaigns should be initiated by State Governments in Nigeria in order to prevent further child rights violations taking place due to the belief in child witchcraft.

Ø Child rights education should be integrated into the school curriculum

Ø Nollywood should pursue addressing the issues observed at the conference by promoting ‘counter-culture’ films and videos that promote the rights of children and deride violation and abuse of child rights

Conclusion

Finding lasting solutions to the violations of Nigerian children’s rights that take place in Nigeria and the UK is not going to be an easy task. However, the conference highlighted how a small group of committed individuals could succeed in gaining international attention to child rights violations and successfully pressure governments to enact legislation to protect and promote the rights of the child. The challenge now will be for all stakeholders to work together in order to ensure that government agencies in Nigeria and the UK fully implement policies and prevent further cases of child abuse such as Victoria Climbié and the so-called child ‘witches’ of Nigeria from arising in the future.

United Kingdom "Roma a Culture to Learn about"

Melanie visits the schools to increase awareness of the loves and life, culture and heritage of the Romany peoples. These photos were taken last week in a School in the UK.
I present the children with new words, by story telling, song, and dance, and flower making. It really goes down a treat, and the children are all very happy when they ve made a beautiful flower out of toilet paper, ha ha ha...Im so happy too

UK - "Melanie does Romany"

Hi Don
This is Romany World History Month. I'm in the Schools, doing workshops on Romany dance, Music, and History and Language. Tomorrow I have 7 classes, the next day 8 classes in Chester. I haven't seen any awareness of this on your site, so I need to show you some things. I sought out these people, and sung, and danced and ate with them. I introduced them to their fellow kindred from UK. they thought they were the only Roma in Europe, but when I told them that there are a lot of Roamny people all over the World, they were elatedly happy. Educating people about their roots, is important, so they may clearly understand there heritage, and their identity.
Ill send you more of the latest, up to date ones, that I did last week. I'm booked up to my eyes with Schools wanting me to teach the Teachers, as well as the pupils.
Melanie

Anne - Classics UK and France

Dear Don and Helen,
I thought you would like to know that Judy and I decided at the last minute to go to the CICERO prizegiving in Paris on Friday! We went by Eurostar and it was a wonderful couple of days. Patrick was delighted to see us and I presented Helen's painting to the Headmaster of the Lycée Henri IV, a beautiful school which used to be an Abbey, next to the Panthéon. This was the school where the ceremony took place. Patrick gave a very nice introduction about 'A Ray of Hope' and the painting and the Headmaster was delighted. I have never spoken French before (except with the family of my Czech friends in Prague) so I really enjoyed making a short speech in French - a good way of starting, I think!
I haven't seen any decent photos yet but I took some video. I won't show anybody the section of my speech, but I hope to be able to take some stills from it even though people walked in front of the camcorder at crucial times.
Thank you again for all your support,
from Anne
x

Romania/Hungary Mel and Team visit their Friends

The team was made up of Willie and Betty Service, along with Michael Carling, from Northern Ireland. Betty and Melanie Price went together on this trip.
What fun we had, along with the Irish jokes from Michael, that kept us laughing all week, we just enjoyed one anothers company. Dani and Kati in Nyirbeltek were so happy for us to take them shopping to the supermarket in the nearest town of Nyirbator. We filled 3 shopping trolleys full of food. Our trips are all about bringing happiness and joy, and hope. Music plays a big part in joining in with the locals. We may not know the language, but we can hum along and dance.
Christian, was one of our first young men to start to play the keyboard. Hes been in the home for 15 years. Now he is married with 3 little children. He has no job, and no ways at present of getting any money to provide, but still he sings, and plays, what joy.
I love children,and I found this little boy crying. He was so forlorn, I just picked him up and cuddled him, giving love is very important, teaching people how to receive love, is a different matter. Betty Price loves giving out gigts to the children. Loofeys, or balloons as we call them, go down a treat. Bettys little bag, never ran out of gifts, it just kept giving, and giving and giving. Teaching the children to receive, is not hard to do.
In Dunavarsarvan, Rosza, whose a poor widow, teaches Betty and Melanie how to weave. She weaves rugs, out of old rags, and this raises enough money to buy a little food.
What can we do in a week, Well, we made many people happy, learnt a lot of new skills, gave away a lot of money, and gifts. Danced and sung, and united nations.
Ireland, England, and Hungary, and Romania.
Very Satisfied.......its done...till the next time........

Melanie

"Achievement"

Achievement is not a gift bestowed on us by the fairy godmother. It is the eventual, partial reaping of what you have painstakingly sowed and nurtured. It requires hard work, patience, endurance, the ability to fail and keep on going.

Resource Sharing Network Lagos Nigeria

Well done Anu and all involved. You are a credit to yourselves and your country.

Nigeria - Anu purchases equipment etc for various organisations.