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Issues: 2003
#53
JUST
DEEDS: Heart & innovation in the real world
Overviews
Living Words -
John Hanagan
"We live in one world," said Joseph Campbell, "and babble about another."
As a longtime professor of philosophy, I find this observation particularly
unsettling. ...Why are words so often empty? And how is it that some
people, in ways great and small, manage the heroic feat of living their
beliefs?
Living
Deeds - Ken Rodgers
Since commencing its initial program in India in 1982, Ashoka has elected
over 1,200 Fellows, actively promoting new ideas in health, education,
civic participation, environment and economic development in 43 different
countries, including six in Asia (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal,
Pakistan, and Thailand).
Living
Wisdom - Robert Brady
If you want a wall that is a stone poem in stone syntax, you have to
learn the bit-by-bit stones teach until at last you have a stone wall,
not a book wall, not a you wall. The finest mortar for a stone wall,
therefore, is patience in the builder, blended with integrity. No integrity
in the builder, no integrity in the wall.
This
Can't Last Forever - Daniel Rothenberg
The voices of older, educated Burmese reveal the uncertainty of past
predictions, the severe impact of decades of poor governance and the
essential sadness of facing a nation's unrealized dreams. For the generation
who came to political maturity with the country's independence, Burma’s
current crisis is the result of having missed one opportunity after
another.
Living
Future: What the World Wants - Medard Gabel
Given the broad spectrum of people involved in creating this global
preferred state, it can be argued that the results give a good indication
of where the entire world, given the "vote," would agree to move towards.
More importantly, and very disturbingly, the global preferred state
cannot be dismissed as fantasy for another good reason: it is quite
achievable, and achievable with present day technology and resources.
Going one step further: it is not only achievable - it is affordable.
Individuals
Norbert Vollertsen's Personal Campaign - Don Kirk
Vollertsen will feel he has accomplished his mission when the people
of North Korea are safe, healthy and so prosperous and secure that they
will no longer feel the impulse to flee their country.
Tibet's
Children - Sienna Craig
Dr Harris' philosophy is that most of what is needed to address the
health crisis already exists within Tibet - in traditional Tibetan medicine
and the wealth of medicinal plants found across the Tibetan plateau.
"
Lakei
eh Metat: "Man Who Has Disappeared" - Keith Harmon Snow
Bruno Manser was an adventurer, a poet, an ethnographer, a nomad, an
artist, a lover of life, a speaker of truth to power. He was celebrated
with films and awards. To his detractors - anxious to shoot the messenger
who thrust the Penan story onto the world stage - Bruno was a "white
Tarzan," a "hitch-hiker hero," a "medical school drop-out."
Goenka-ji:
Peace Through Inner Wisdom - Chris Summerville
Asked in a recent interview, "What is the relevance to world peace of
a meditation technique, which seems like a very personal thing?" S.N.
Goenka replied, "Unless there is peace in the mind of the individual,
how can there be peace in the society?"
Healing
a Divided Land - Beth Hillman interviews Ke Chung Kim
This pristine ribbon of land, 2.5 miles wide, which spans a river delta
and grasslands in the west and rugged mountains in the east, is the
unforeseen legacy of a brutal civil war that ended with a truce in 1953.
And if scientist Ke Chung Kim's vision can be realized, the DMZ may
yet help bring about lasting peace, reunification, and the revivification
of Korea's degraded ecosystem.
Mihariban's
Matsuura Yoneko - Eric Johnston
Since 1990, Mihariban has been putting heat on city, prefectural, and
police authorities to provide open and transparent accounting records.
Matsuura, born and raised in south Osaka, is the kind, gregarious little
old lady who has taken on city hall and won some very important battles
not only for Osaka, but also for the idea of local democracy in Japan.
The
Abandoned Jewels of Cambodia - Kimberlye Kowalczyk
In 1991 Arn Chorn Pond returned to Cambodia to found Cambodian Volunteers
for Community Development, a youth community service group with 60,000
members that aims to improve the quality of life for destitute Cambodians.
He is also working on his more recently founded Cambodia Master Performers
Program, which provides opportunities for the few surviving old master
artists of traditional Khmer arts and music to pass on to youth their
vital cultural legacy.
Sculpting
in Time - Philip J. Cunningham
Nestled in the heart of Beijing's university district, it's no surprise
that many of "Sculpting's" customers are students, writers and artists.
"I think it's important for people to have a place to write, a place
to read, a place to chat and make friends."
Prison
Matriarch - Rita Dixit-Kubiak
I told them I was not merely a correctional officer, but saw myself
as a mother concerned about each of them, about their progress, protection
and welfare. My intuition proved absolutely right. It transformed my
workplace. I had leaped from an apparent dead end to a space of creative
possibility, and I was determined to take everyone with me.
Wells
to Hell - Douglas Bullis
Millions of years ago, in certain strata of the Bangladeshi soil, a
combination of subsurface faults and ground water flow had concentrated
naturally-occurring arsenic — a trace component in many forms of rock
— into poisonous bands twenty to eighty meters (60 to 240 feet) down.
The village tube wells had drilled straight into them. In those areas,
the people were poisoning themselves with every drop they drank. By
2000 a staggering 39 million people were drinking water that had a high
probability of giving them arsenicosis.
Working
for Change in Mongolia - Paul D. Scott
Oyun, who acknowledges among her influences the Dalai Lama, fights for
the ideals of her murdered brother. The principal mission of the Zorig
Foundation, founded shortly after his death, is to advance the formation
of a democratic society and support political reforms in Mongolia.
Champions
from the Street - Vong Sokheng
Thirty-four years after she began teaching gymnastics, Krethsasna is
still struggling against the odds to produce champions to represent
Cambodia. Krethsasna started training hopefuls in 1965. The worst times,
for her and the rest of her country, came ten years later when the Khmer
Rouge took Phnom Penh.
Filming
the Forgotten - Tim Hornyak
Like many foreign journalists and aid workers, Shinomiya felt compelled
to visit Afghanistan to see for himself the aftermath of the fall of
the Taliban regime under U.S.-led bombing and Northern Alliance ground
offensives. But as in his other films, he was repeatedly drawn to the
plight of its youth, over one million of whom are orphans in a country
of 26 million people.
A
Small Restaurant on the Edge of Life - as told by David Greer
In May, 1945, the only pilots who came to Chiran were volunteers for
the Special Attack Corps, boys who rammed their fighters into the American
ships off Okinawa. ... Lieutenant Mitsuyama stood inside the restaurant,
his figure dark against the glare from the glass doors. "I won't be
here long this time, Obachan," he said.
Recreating
Memory - the testimony of Hiroshima survivor Yamaoka Michiko
"I looked around me and gasped. The scenes before me were not of this
Earth. They could only be called a living hell. Shattered heads. A dazed
mother covered with blood, clutching her dead baby. A child with skin
peeling from his entire body, shrieking from inside a collapsed building.
Internal organs spilling out of bodies. Lines of completely naked people...
Images of inconceivable carnage burned themselves into my mind."
Reflections
on Hiroshima - Bjorn Axelsson, Sonja Krause Burkins, Jessica Rasplica
Rodd, Jeremy N. Majors
"The Atomic Bomb Dome, within the museum, is covered with letters protesting
nuclear testing. The sight of so many letters written by the mayors
of Hiroshima, throughout the years, and all of their effort to raise
awareness and stop nuclear testing is just amazing. The last letter
posted on the wall was one addressed to President George Bush, Jr. which
implored him to stop and think about the events in Hiroshima before
entering into war with Iraq. stop and think how easily an event like
that could be repeated if we enter into war now."
Tackling
the Traffic - Amanda Suutari
"I was always hungry. I had money to buy more food, but if I wanted
to understand them, I had to put myself in their shoes. I still felt
guilty, because I knew I would be leaving, and returning to this comfortable
life here, but they were stuck there."
Hands
in the Soil - Amanda Suutari
Natural farming stresses humility regarding our profound ignorance of
the complex, interconnected web of life. Taking organic farming one
radical step further, it rejects tilling, which Kawaguchi says cuts
the inseparable cycle of life and death.
Groups
Peace Boat - Ken Rodgers
"Peace Boat works to promote peace, human rights, equal and sustainable
development and respect for the environment. Our philosophy is based
on the idea that all these aspects are inter-related, and that any problem
faced by any community is a global challenge, which must be tackled
through co-operation between peoples, organizations and governments
of the world."
Calm
Voices of Hope in Bangladesh - Paul D. Scott
Sawar Bari and his dedicated team help train villagers to deal more
effectively with the political process. Training involves such skills
as how to place issues on a political agenda as well as how to run for
elected office.
Democratizing
the News Democratizes Nepal - Stewart Wachs
The wall newspapers, now found in hundreds of Nepal's villages and rural
towns, cover locally-relevant issues such as children's rights and topics
ranging from water pumps to the vaccination of cattle. Literate villagers,
standing before the huge newspapers, read them aloud for groups of those
who cannot, and even for some who can.
Social
Marketing - Ken Rodgers
DKT declares that "deep and debilitating poverty in any part of the
world impedes all human development," and quotes UNICEF as follows:
"Family planning …could bring more benefits to more people at less cost
than any other single technology now available to the human race."
Artists
Without Borders - Amanda Suutari
" After being trapped in conflict… [and] seeing how tragic it is, I
came back to Japan and… started to look for an organization that would
accept my project to bring some aid to kids through art - connect them
with children in Japan, bring them some souvenirs, toys, and school
supplies, because I supposed they were only getting tents and food and
water… it sounded so crazy, but I was probably so moved by Kosovo that
people just started helping."
We
Do It Ourselves - Najima Pover
Nijera Kori is one of the few organisations in Bangladesh that aims
at mobilising the rural poor to fight for their rights on the issues
that most concern them. Thus "we do it ourselves" - the meaning of the
Bengali phrase "nijera kori" - is actually the voice of the people,
not merely the name of the NGO.
(Re)building
Cultural Space in Mongolia - Paul D. Scott
Baldan Baraivan, a Buddhist monastery situated 300 kilometers east of
the Mongolian capital city of Ulaan Bataar, was completely destroyed
during the purges and repression. In the summer of 1999 the Cultural
Restoration Tourism Project (CRTP) began the work of restoration, using
volunteer-tourism as the mechanism for recovery.
Poetry
I See a War - Huang Xiang
When Huang Xiang and his wife Zhang Ling participated in petition
writing in 1995, in advance of the Tiananmen anniversary of June 4th,
they were detained for over one month and forced to relocate from Beijing.
Ironically, one of the petitions they co-produced was entitled "Greeting
the United Nations Year of Tolerance, We Appeal for the Realization
of Tolerance in China."
Fiction
The Cost of Living - Cho Se-hui (trans. Bruce & Ju-chan Fulton)
"Consistent with our social standing, we lived in a slum. The
work we did was unskilled labor. Yông-ho loaded and carried
castings on a metal handcart. Yông-hûi, undergoing
instruction in the training center, cleaned the central corridor leading
to the workrooms. I delivered small parts to the people on the
automobile assembly line... Those on the assembly line regarded
me as a supplementary machine. To the factory manager the workers
collectively were a machine."
