MRC celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps with the Heart of Texas Returned Peace Corps Volunteers on March 5th with a day of service at the MRC Community Center. We look forward to sharing pictures and a recap of that day very soon but wanted to share a very special poem written in honor of this day by Keshav Ghimery, from Bhutan.
Volunteer Service For Better Community
Personal, society and for the country well being, cultivate the habit of social work, my friend .
Spread the relation of brotherhood throughout the world, my friend.
Everybody survives for one-self, culminate the habit to sustain to others .
Social welfare work is not new, quicken to serve for society, my friends.
Idea, wisdom, techniques if shared, can prosper further .
Life is a challenge, so let us do something and move ahead, my friends.
We don’t have anything to aspect from society, let us give something from our side.
Pack bags of Prosperous, happy and enlighten wisdom, my friends.
The rosy and rainy bygone days give support to forget the present sad and happy days.
A chance comes for one in life, try culminate to be social volunteer, my friends.
Poem by Keshav Ghimirey- Bhutanese refugee settled to Austin
January 4, 2011
Bear-footed, hungry stomach, with no national identity, we are refugee
Hunted by both the Government and the God, we are refugee//
Deserting lovely house without being noticing dusk, dawn or starless night,
vacating our dwelling place with bear foot and without a grain of rice in stomach, we are refugee//
Roofing under the deep blue skies and bared earth as loving bed,
Young, old, adult , maiden and all we are refugee//
Hopes, aspiration entangled till we are alive and difficult to forget awesome panic,
Deserting homeland enridden upon relatives corpse without being mercy, we are refugee//
No signals of Human Rights, no place to report our claim,
Survival, we beg for Human Right, we are refugee//
No regret of bygone days, shattered with tears and blood,
We opt for freedom now, we are refugee//
MRC Refugee Soccer Program Fall Season Summary
December 2, 2010
Our MRC Refugee Mens Soccer Team wrapped up our fall season this past month. Below is a program report by MRC Soccer Manager- Casey Kasper with photos from Chris Carson (www.chriscarson.com). Enjoy!
The Multicultural Refugee Coalition made its grand debut in the Austin Men’s Soccer League on September 12th, 2010. The team that started out as a dream in April, materialized into the very first practice on May 19thand built up slowly with lots of hard work and late practices, was finally getting the chance for league play. There was a light shower early that morning, and now the sun was beating down mercilessly. You could cut the humidity and the tension with a knife. For about half the team, this was the first time playing soccer after a long hiatus due to Ramadan. Being a brand new team, we ended up losing the first game. Inside though, I was smiling for two reasons. First, it was a good showing against a group that would end up being the number one team. Second, the team reminded me of all the great soccer movies where outstanding but unfocused talent comes together. The first game is a little rough, and then there is that moment that transcends all language and cultural barriers.
Our first season can be divided into two parts: the first three games and the last six. For the first three goals, it was a learning curve with everyone getting used to playing with each other. We lost two of the three games. We had thirteen goals scored against us while scoring eight ourselves. However, after the third game, that is when the magical moment happens. Everyone becomes more comfortable communicating with each other and working together. For the next six games, we had one goal scored against us. Yes, that’s right, only one! In these six games, we scored twenty nine goals. Our defense became an iron wall, and our strikers were on target. In our soccer movie, this is where the upbeat montage plays and everything clicks. It is great to see the cooperation between the seven different countries playing on our team. In this game of soccer, it doesn’t matter if you’re Iraqi, Afghani, Congolese, Eritrean, Columbian, Palestinian or Liberian. For those ninety minutes, you’re brothers working together for the same goal.
There have been many challenges in getting this team set up. There has been a lot of hard work both on the players’ side and behind the scenes. Coach Hassan has worked diligently to build this great team and handle any of the problems that inevitably arise between different groups. Alex and Meg have worked very hard to get the team in the Austin Men’s Soccer League and to bring players and water to the games. Another big challenge has been the changing roster. There are only a few faces that are still around from the picture of the very first practice. Many people have grueling late night jobs to juggle also. However, they’re still at the field ready to play at 8:00 on Sunday.
Right now, our team is running on all cylinders. It is a beautiful thing to see these guys work so cohesively. There have been some setbacks along the way, but we’re learning. It has been a great honor for me to help out as the team manager and watch this group mature as a team. As for our soccer movie, the premiere was a great success. Thank you for your help- for now we can have a chance to build on these successes and make the sequel even better!
Please consider supporting our team through the Global Giving campaign going on now until December 22nd at http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/refugee-soccer-community-program/.
Please Support the MRC Soccer Team through Global Giving
December 1, 2010
We have a Global Giving campaign going on right now to raise money for our soccer team for 2011. We need to raise $4000 from 50 individual donors by the end of December in order to have a permanent spot on Global Giving’s site. Can you please help us spread the word and consider making a donation at any amount towards our refugee soccer program? That would be much appreciated! Here is the information:
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/refugee-soccer-community-program/
|
MRC Soccer Schedule
September 18, 2010
Come on out and support our MRC Refugee Men’s Soccer Team this fall. Here is the game schedule. Most games are played at Onion Creek Soccer Complex off of William Canon but a few are played at Northeast Metropolitan Park in Pflugerville. We have some great players and our coach was a star player for the Iraq National Team. Always a great time– hope to see you out there!
Team/Group Result Opponent Venue
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Multicultural Refugee Coalition 9:55 AM Torchys En Fuego OCSC 4
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Multicultural Refugee Coalition 9:55 AM Galaxia S.C. OCSC 7
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Multicultural Refugee Coalition 8:00 AM WTF United OCSC 10
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Multicultural Refugee Coalition 3:40 PM Shooting Blanks NEMP 15
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Multicultural Refugee Coalition 1:45 PM The Most Interesting Team In The World OCSC 3
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Multicultural Refugee Coalition 8:00 AM Three Legged Sloth OCSC 6
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Multicultural Refugee Coalition 8:00 AM Jogo Feio FC OCSC 10
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Multicultural Refugee Coalition 3:40 PM Austin Athletic Club Yellow NEMP 13
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Multicultural Refugee Coalition 11:50 AM Champion Jaguars (Toyota) OCSC 3
Peace is…
September 17, 2010
I always have two calendars on my desk, one from Colombia and the other one from the U.S. Every year my parents bring me one because it has all the Colombian holidays and other important dates. I’ve been living here for almost 7 years, but always half of my mind and heart is in my country; the other half looks at the U.S calendar while I’m at work.
Just a while ago I was looking at the U.S calendar planning my schedule for next week and I realized September 21st is next week, the day the United Nations declared as “World Peace Day”. I looked at my other calendar and that day was not marked as a special date. Neither one of my calendars has World Peace Day, isn’t this day an important date for all of us?
Then…I asked- What defines peace and why should World Peace Day be so important?
Peace for me is safety. My country has been living in civil war for more than 50 years, 5 decades and a lot of generations not knowing what peace is; violence victims growing up without their families because either they have been murdered or kidnapped. Colombia has 3.3 million Internal Displaced Persons-IDP (one of the highest ones with Afghanistan); most of them are farmers who have left their homes behind because the guerrilla has threatened them and to live in the countryside is not secure anymore.
Peace for one of our participants from Congo (DRC) could be silence. They are not surrounded by the sound of bullets anymore, the yelling of the militia groups taking away the women from their husbands, or kids crying because her mother or sisters have been raped and left behind. Sexual violence in Congo is one of the biggest weapons rebel groups use to terrorize the population. Fifteen years of Civil War and over 1 million of refugees.
Peace for a refugee from Burma could be freedom of speech. Last year I watched “Burma VJ” a documentary about how the military regime has forbidden the Burmese to pronounce against the military junta. A group of people decided to take action and begin to film how government officials will immediately break out any attempt of meeting or protest rally. The Buddhist monks decided to be part of the demonstrations and a group of them were massacred, others left the country and now are on exile. Twenty-Eight years not allowing the Burmese to express themselves, 400,000 refugees in 2009.
We live in peace here, but for me and other refugees there’s no peace of mind because we are always thinking about what is happening in our countries. We spend our days reading the news and finding out what the government, NGO’s, and the United Nations are doing to make this possible. There is always hope and there is a special day where we can raise our voices together and claim for safety, silence, and freedom.
You won’t see September 21st marked in your calendar either, but make that a special day with a minute of silence, a prayer, a donation or whatever peace means for you. All the persons who are suffering and are victims of violence will appreciate you have not forgotten this day.
Join http://www.peaceoneday.org/en/welcome on September 21st and become part of the celebration
From war to peace
September 11, 2010
Looking for a new book to read I came across “The Heart of Understanding” written by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and long-term exile. Reading through the lines I found a quote about reconciliation, he says “The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.”
Back in the Spring Paul (one of MRC’s co-founders and Board Member) and Meg met Jeremy Solomons a consultant who offered to facilitate Dialog Group sessions at MRC. It has been Paul’s vision since he founded MRC to have a place where participants from different backgrounds, cultures and religions will talk about their life experiences and like Hanh mentioned practice a reconciliation process with themselves and others.
Civil wars, religious beliefs, political statements, racial and ethnic discrimination have made some of our participants to be target of groups or people that do not want them in their own country. They are persecuted and the only alternative is to leave and look for a safe place for themselves and their families. Most of the times the journey is a difficult one, they have to cross borders and find where and when they can be placed in a refugee camp . If they cannot be relocated in a refugee camp their options are: go back where they came from or cross another border and find out if the government of another country will allow them to stay there.
All these experiences mark their voyage to America, and after months or years of travel and wait finally they find a place they can call Home. But life is always unexpected and just around the corner they can come across someone who was the “enemy” back in their country and it is here where the reconciliation process starts.
Paul and Johnson (also one of MRC’s co-founders and Board Member) have a unique story of reconciliation. Back in their country (Liberia) they were not “allowed” to be friends; when they met 6 years ago in Austin they were not afraid of each other, Paul and Johnson decided to take the first step and overlooked the differences and decided to move forward and become friends. From war to peace, from enemies to brothers.
The reconciliation process takes time and thanks to Jeremy, Paul and Meg, MRC has been able to develop Dialog Group Sessions where participants can sit next to each other and talk about their experiences and help others move forward. It is difficult for them speak about what has happened to them, but when decide to open their hearts and souls and share with others their journeys, is when some of them realize they have experienced similar situations. Fear and persecution are the first words we hear when the session starts, but at the end of it, strength and survival are the common terms.
Tomorrow afternoon MRC’s participants will become artists of the reconciliation process seated next to each other talking about how they can become part of it, where they do not look for the differences they find what make us equal and one.
*If you want to know more about our programs and how to support Multicultural Refugee Coalition, please visit our website www.mrcaustin.org/donate.html. MRC is also participating in Macy’s Shop for a Cause on October 16, please consider buying a $5 coupon to support us.
Chain of dreams
August 28, 2010
Yubelly Perez, MRC Board Member
I remember when I was a child one of my aunts used to crochet all the time. She was a housewife and was looking forward to learning something new and possibly in the future have an income for herself. My aunt in a short time learned how to make scarves, dresses and other crafts. Every time that I was at her house I was looking at her and how she was handling the wool and the hook; and not like other children that are afraid to go to the doctor and see a needle, my biggest fear was my aunt’s crochet “needle”, for me it was a little monster that I could not manage, I tried several times to start a project and by the end of the day I was frustrated until one day I gave up.
One Thursday night while I was at MRC, Meg told me that one of the Iraqi refugees has offered to teach crochet to our participants. Suddenly all my childhood crochet memories came back and I told her I could never learn how to crochet, but at the same time I was telling myself maybe this was a second chance life was giving me to see that I could do it. That same day Meg went with Raheeq to purchase wool and other crochet materials, they came back with a bag full of beautiful colors and those “monster needles”.
The next Thursday Raheeq was teaching one of the participants from Congo how to crochet, I went downstairs and I saw how both of them were using the “crochet language”, Christine only speaks Swahili and French, Raheeq Arabic and English, but both of them were communicating in a way you will only understand when you sit with them and watch how Christine was crocheting and learning the basic crochet stitches. Christine was with her 5 children and one of her daughters was hypnotized looking how her mother was using the hook to make crochet chains. Encouraged by seeing them I sat next to Raheeq and I told her about my experience and like all mothers and aunts she said to me “Do not give up and watch and learn”. Patiently she taught me how to hook the wool and make chains, my challenge: to craft a 10 stitch chain. While I was attempting create the chain, I looked at Christina’s daughter and she was also trying to make her first chains, we practiced until our chain stitches were smooth and even.
I went home and I was feeling different, I was thinking about this new experience at MRC and how Christine was excited about the crochet program. The follow Thursday I saw how she was already attempting making a dishcloth and learning new stitches. Week by week more women were attending the class and other children were looking how their mothers were sitting next to each other speaking the crochet language.
At MRC we are always looking for new opportunities for our participants, and thanks to Raheeq we have a program where refugee women can learn a new skill. Women and girls represent on average 49% of persons of concern to UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and at MRC we recognize the necessity of have a place where they can feel safe and empowered. Christine is making crochet crafts to decorate her house, her daughter is already following small patterns and I am still attempting my third set of chains. Like Thomas Alva Edison said “I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward”.
*If you want to know more about our crochet program and how to support Multicultural Refugee Coalition, please visit our website www.mrcaustin.org/donate.html. MRC is also participating in Macy’s Shop for a Cause on October 16, please consider buying a $5 coupon to support us.
Wish List
August 21, 2010
Yubelly Perez, MRC Board Member
Last night I was talking with one of the volunteers and he asked me how long I’ve been volunteering at MRC… I started to think and at that moment I realized it has been over a year!
I remember we used to host our MRC programs on Thursday night at the YMCA on North Lamar. We had a small room where we used to have sewing, computer and job skills classes at the same time. Week by week the space was becoming smaller and crowed, each Thursday night we had more and more participants waiting to use the sewing machine or one of the 5 computers available for us.
We realized it was time to look for a bigger place and move on. Thanks to Foundation Communities we found out we could use the community center at Trails at Vintage Creek twice a week to host our programs. It was a big change for us–to move to a center and have an additional day to help the participants. Our concern at that moment was losing some of them, because they would have to take two bus routes instead of one or they couldn’t walk from their homes to the center.
We were anxious about what will happen next. It was a slow transition for them and for us; we were in need of more volunteers, sewing machines, and other supplies. We started to advertise more of our programs and each Thursday and Saturday we had new people coming over to sign up for one of the classes. Unfortunately some of the participants that live in the North Lamar area couldn’t make it over to the new place, but at the same time we started to see people that could not be reached before.
Almost one year after, MRC’s programs have grown. A formal computer class is being taught every Saturday thanks to a City of Austin grant awarded to MRC; more sewing machines have been donated to us and the room downstairs hosts the Sewing class on Saturday; the children’s program helps the refugee kids with their homework and the volunteers take care of them while their parents apply for jobs or are in one of the classes; Thursday night one of the Iraqi refugees teaches other refugees to crochet, and we have been able to host workshops and dialog group sessions every month.
What is next in our wish list? To have a place we can call home and host our programs every day. To have employment specialists dedicated to helping our participants look for a job, a tailor shop where the participants can create and design. To have a place to host workshops and informative sessions for refugees who are looking for a new career and to have the doors always open for the participants who are still struggling and need and advice or someone who can listen to them.
I’ve been only with MRC a year and I’ve seen so many changes, imagine what Paul and Johnson have seen since the moment they decided to found MRC when they were thinking of having a place for reconciliation and congregation for refugees from all over the world.
You can help us make our wish list come true, visit our website www.mrcaustin.org and see how can you donate or become a volunteer, maybe in one year you will be the one writing what has happen in the next 12 months.
Two New Classes at MRC
August 15, 2010
Today was a great day for MRC as we started 2 new classes. One was our gardening class through the Sustainable Food Center/Citizen Gardner Program. Along with 20 other students from the Austin community, around 10 refugees from MRC participated in the class to learn how to build a square foot garden. Pictured below are Johnson from Liberia and Amine from Eritrea as they help the instructor build the garden plot.
Johnson and Amine help construct the garden plot.
The class was very hands-on and encouraged class participation. Everyone really enjoyed getting to be a part of it and learned a lot.
Johnson demonstrating on how to care for the soil
The class really enjoyed learning from the refugees on their gardening experience. Johnson was an agricultural extension agent in Ivory Coast, working to ensure proper food production and distribution to the refugee camps so he had a lot of knowledge to share.
Chuda Moni watering the garden
Chuda Moni from Bhutan is seen above watering our new garden plot. The Sustainable Food Center has reserved 4 garden plots at the newly developing Festival Beach Community Gardens for refugees through MRC. We will receive orientation on how to participate in the community garden later this week and should be on our way to producing food through the community garden program for which we are very grateful!! We are also grateful to Dick Pierce of the Citizen Garden program who arranged for MRC to participate in this class and for the wonderful teachers and community members who were all so welcoming and inclusive.
Today was also the first day of our computer literacy class at the MRC Community Center. We received a technology grant from the City of Austin to support this program and we had a great turn out for our first day. Students pictured below are from Eritrea, Bhutan and Congo.
MRC Computer Class Day 1
We are grateful for our wonderful teacher James Easterling who is patient and supportive as he introduces computer technology to many for the very first time. Here is James pictured below introducing computer hardware on Day 1 of the computer class.
MRC Computer Teacher James Easterling on Day 1
We look forward to sharing with you more updates on these very exciting classes and ways to get involved as they develop.
