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Not easy to read or think about but if kindness and compassion are not part of the food we eat, what will that, what does that do to us?

Hummus For Thought

The following post is an eye-witness account of the horrors happening inside the Karantina Slaughterhouse. I have visited the slaughterhouse last Monday the 2nd of July with my Environmental and Public Health Class of the American University of Beirut. This post is accompanied with graphic images and a video which are placed at the bottom end for those who feel like they cannot handle it. This is only an eye-witness report. The data presented below come from either personal observations or from the authorities that were present at the time. The class and myself are preparing a report that will be presented to several ministries and newspapers accompanied with a petition that will be available for everyone to sign. I hope, we hope, that after finding out what exactly is going on in the Karantina Slaughterhouse, you would be motivated to sign the petition and spread the word. The report…

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Hoop House Training Garden

Hoop House Training Garden.

Overview of Outdoor Idea

We want to build a hoop house (green house) to support community gardening for children and adults in Hamilton, Ohio. Neighborhood people will help build and learn how to build their own and how to garden for good health, nutrition, and bringing the community together.

The Specifics: What will the $5,000 fund?

The $5,000 will pay for materials to build a 40×80 foot hoop house, provide materials to build raised garden boxes inside it, organic planting materials, seeds, a water system, and will pay for water for at least first planting season. Reasonable ($20.00) season fees for using garden boxes and sales of surplus crops will pay for ongoing up keep.

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | My Soul Is Alive

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | My Soul Is AliveEditor’s note:  This poem was written for the Afghan woman who was accused of adultery and executed before a cheering crowd of men in Parwan province north of Kabul lasst Saturday (July 7, 2012). A video showed some 150 men perched on a hill praising the attackers as the woman was shot nine times.

Five devils in the clothes of humans
Devil’s followers
Wild, wild, wild
Push me to go, I don’t know where

Covered with the gray burqa
I wonder why I said no to them
Why I thought myself powerful
I wish I hadn’t defended my rights

But they are pushing me
I am praying
God!
God!

But it is as if God is hiding, too
The five men tell me to stop
I sit in the soil
People gather to watch

And something breaks into my heart
Fire, fire, fire!
There is a pool of blood around me

Because I am a woman

Because I didn’t have a gun
I am dead
But my soul is alive
I rest in Paradise

My soul asks my killers
Do you know a woman?
Do you understand the kindness of a mother?
The love of a wife? Have you had a sister’s support?

I think ignorance took everything from you
You killed me, but remember
You cannot hide the Sun with two fingers
There is a generation behind me

That will exact revenge—not with ignorant guns
But with knowledge

The women who know my story
Will wash ignorance from your souls

By Norwan

Tutu: The best gift to Mandela is to follow his lead – Mail & Guardian Online

Tutu: The best gift to Mandela is to follow his lead – Mail & Guardian Online“The greatest gift our nation could possibly give uTata Nelson Mandela for his 94th birthday this week would be to emulate his magnanimity and grace,” Tutu said on Monday.

“Mr Mandela taught us to love ourselves, to love one another and to love our country. He laid the table so that all South Africans could eat; we must ensure all members of the family are invited.”

Tutu said citizens should spend a few quiet moments on Wednesday thinking about Mandela’s gift to the nation.

His gift had been to place reconciliation and national unity at the top of the agenda.

Tutu said the revered leader had also been willing to listen to others, to solicit and acknowledge all points of view, to set an example of forgiveness and tolerance, and to inspire hope and pride in others.

On Wednesday, also known as Mandela Day, many people intended dedicating 67 minutes to a worthy cause, in honour of Mandela fighting for social justice for 67 years. – Sapa

Circling the Lion’s Den: Women heroes of Afghanistan and Pakistan

Lot of coverage yesterday for the shocking killing of Hanifa Safi in Laghman. Safi, a tireless campaigner for women’s rights, was killed by a magnetic bomb attached to her car which blew up in Laghman, to the north-east of Kabul, also injuring her husband and daughter. She was the provincial head of the Afghan ministry of women’s affairs.

The killing of another prominent woman activist, in neighbouring Pakistan, received much less coverage. Farida Afridi was killed a week ago, shot dead in cold blood as she drove from her home in Hyatabad, Peshawar to Jamrud in Khyber Agency, early in the morning.

Farida Afridi was executive director of the human rights organisation Sawera, which was working in FATA to improve the position of women in the region. This is a dangerous area in which to advocate human rights. Last year Zarteef Khan Afridi, who worked for the Pakistan Human Rights Commission was also shot dead by militants in Jamrud.

via Circling the Lion’s Den: Women heroes of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Trade policies behind farmer suicides: Survey – The Times of India

PUNE: Irrational trade policies and shrinking farm holdings are among the reasons that lead farmers to commit suicide in Maharashtra.

Sangeeta Shroff, an associate professor with the Agro Economic Research centre at the city-based Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, said the Union government’s policies from 1997 to 2003 discouraged cotton export and promoted import.

As a result, farmers incurred losses, leading to frustration and suicides. She pointed out a recent National Sample Survey in which many farmers said they do not want to continue farming, but had no alternate available.

via Trade policies behind farmer suicides: Survey – The Times of India.

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Beggar of Education

Afghan Women’s Writing Project | Beggar of Education.

I am beggar of education.
My hands strain to reach a book and pen.
My eyes look for peace,
My feet wait for a way to school.

I don’t want money or a comfortable life
I don’t want to give up, don’t want
to cry from disappointment and sorrow.
I am beggar of education. Help me.

I will fight against poverty and illiteracy
My gun will be a pen and book
Stop telling me, “No.”
Stop ignoring me, saying I can’t do it.

With an education I could build my identity in this society.
Don’t tell me to turn back now.
I am halfway to my goal. Don’t make it pointless.
With an education I could be more.

Don’t hate me, don’t beat me
Teach me a new word, teach me another way.
Education is my one treasure,
my only power. Don’t take it from me.
With an education, I can have my life.
Help me.

By Shogofa

Saudis to Send 2 Women to London Games – NYTimes.com

Saudis to Send 2 Women to London Games – NYTimes.com. Better than none but hope for more flexibility in future…

“A big inspiration for participating in the Olympic Games is being one of the first women for Saudi Arabia to be going,” the 17-year-old Attar said in an IOC statement from her U.S. training base in San Diego. “It’s such a huge honor and I hope that it can really make some big strides for women over there to get more involved in sport.”

Young Ticos take a ride on the Bibliobús / Arts & Leisure / Weekend / Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico Times

Young Ticos take a ride on the Bibliobús / Arts & Leisure / Weekend / Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico TimesIn 2011, the bibliobús visited 14,000 children. Rodríguez said favorite stories include “Mommy, Tell Me a Story” and “Animals of the Farm.” “Today we read to them, tomorrow they read to themselves and soon they will be reading to others,” Rodríguez said.

Sofia Mora, 11, said her favorite story is “Romeo and Juliet.” She read it last time the bus visited, this time she couldn’t find it. She said the story of the “Three Little Pigs” was OK, but “it’s for little kids.” All age groups using the bus get the same story. Mora hopes that on the next visit from the bibliobús, there will be a copy of “Romeo and Juliet” waiting for her.

THE DAILY STAR :: News :: Middle East :: Palestinian women battle to break into business

THE DAILY STAR :: News :: Middle East :: Palestinian women battle to break into business.

Huda al-Jack, owner and managing partner of the West Bank’s first coffee chain, Zman cafe, blames a culture where men do deals with each other in a social context that tends to exclude women.

“It was difficult for me to integrate,” said al-Jack, who is of Sudanese-Palestinian descent and who moved to Ramallah from California in 2003.

“I had to really prove myself. I started out making 30 percent of what I was making in the States.” Only after working her way up the ladder, and helping launch a company in Dubai, did al-Jack get taken seriously, she said.

“Sometimes I feel like we’re going backwards,” she said, adding that society’s refusal to address sexual harassment in the workplace continues to limit women.

Al-Jack hopes to develop a gender-blind business community and is currently planning another establishment where a Palestinian woman will serve customers.

Emerging female business leaders are following in the wake of al-Jack’s success. Ziadeh, her dance studio only recently opened, sees the role of businesswomen as essential if a future, independent Palestinian state is to be a success.

“People will accept that women can handle it, that women are changing,” she said. “I want the world to know that we Palestinians can do it. We can grow.”

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Jul-11/180217-palestinian-women-battle-to-break-into-business.ashx#ixzz20LENFeOZ
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb