May 15th, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
C
harles Dumond is a member of the UUA delegation that is currently visiting the “Every Child is Our Child” program partners of the UU-UNO in Ghana.
- Charles DuMond in the Cape Coast Castle male slave dungeon
In this blogpost he shares reflections following visits to schools near the Cape Coast and Elmina Castle near Accra.
“True reconciliation consists of more than forgetting the past.” — Nelson Mandela
On Friday, our last today together as a delegation, we traveled to Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle. Both of these structures played significant roles in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Last year, several of us at UU San Mateo began working through “Building the World We Dream About: A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults.” One of my personal challenges was reconciling the knowledge of my ancestors as slaveholders with my life today.
As we toured the castles, both the heat and the history were unrelenting. We stood in slave dungeons with limited or no ventilation. The guide explained the torture and abuse the prisoners endured before being shipped away from their homeland. You can read books or watch films and know that the slave trade was wrong. When you stand in the dungeon and sweat soaks your clothes, you connect with history in a physical and personal way.
I wondered about the parallels to today. What about our current immigration policy? In 100 years, how will our descendants look at the forced separation of immigrant families, deportations, and ICE detention facilities?
One of the plaques at Cape Coast Castle says:
In Everlasting Memory
Of the anguish of our ancestors
May those who died rest in peace
May those who return find their roots
May humanity never again perpetrate
Such injustice against humanity
We, the living, vow to uphold this
May we all uphold it.
May 13th, 2012 by admin
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May 11th, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
Lorella Hess is a member of the UUA delegation that is currently visiting the “Every Child is Our Child” program partners of the UU-UNO in Ghana. In this blogpost she shares reflections following visits to schools near Odumase.
Conditions in these schools are primitive. The structures are basic and, in some cases, falling apart. Textbooks are battered and in painfully short 
supply. And still the teachers and headmasters know education is the best chance these children will have to improve their lives.
The Queen Mothers know it, too, which is why they have partnered with UU-UNO to get the children’s school expenses paid.
It is easy to care about these children, and for all the poverty and loss in their young lives they have the look of people who know they are loved.
Signs in the classroom read “Rest is Medicine.” “Cleanliness is Medicine.” “Vegetables are Medicine.” Good advice for leading a healthy life.
But the subtext underlying everything we have seen here is that Education is one of the medicines these children need most of all.
May 10th, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
Our first day in Ghana was filled with formalities as we met The Royals. We had audiences with the Paramount Queen Mother, many more queen mothers and the King of the Krobo people We packed into small cinder block rooms or spread out under welcome shade wherever we could find it Standing wasn’t allowed. Krobo hospitality made chairs magically appear-a big task for 13 visitors. The royals have created loving communities that care deeply for the orphaned and vulnerable children of this area.
UUs partner with the Queen Mothers to provide education for more than 95 children – an important contribution when you consider the over 1000 children they are serving. These children attend three different schools. We were mobbed by what seemed to be a million smiling faces when we arrived at their schools the next day to see this project in action. 
We learned of their struggles: one computer for more than 400 students, buildings made of mud that could be washed away in a heavy rain, teachers who do not live locally due to conditions of extreme poverty, the need for meal programs, local libraries and more. We met students who play soccer, who giggle and tell secrets., who want to be teachers, bankers, nurses, lawyers. They are bright, engaging and are just Iike the kids at our neighborhood schools in the US They zoom outside for recess, they sing, they act in plays and they do homework…sometimes.
We are writing this on an ipad in the van on the
way back to Accra tonight. We are wearing shirts and wrapped in skirts handmade from fabric deigned by the Queen Mothers.
They dressed us after cooking a feast for us- all more examples of their strong belief that we are not so different, that we are one family. Indeed we were treated as family. Just before we climbed into our vans, Manya Esther, the Deputy Paramount Queen Mother and director of the ECOC program, put a bracelet on our wrists.
The beads were hand painted with images of the flags from Ghana and the US -friendship bracelets-so we will not forget our family in northeast Ghana.
Bruce Knotts, David Overton, Peter Morales, Charles DuMond
May 8th, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office
2012 Intergenerational Spring Seminar Statement
Beyond Borders: Breaking Barriers of Race and Immigration
Whereas:
Immigration and race impact all people regardless of gender, class, ethnicity, and faith;
Unfortunately, racism, prejudice, and discrimination are prevalent and socially acceptable nationally and internationally;
Race and citizenship status affects one’s ability to access education, health care, employment and other human rights;
Due to immigration status, youth are denied the basic human right of education in our communities;
Migration is on the rise due to increasingly volatile and insecure situations in home countries;
Undocumented individuals who already live in the United States and Canada have limited access to resources and paths to citizenship;
400,000 people are detained and deported each year in the US alone;
We are a global community of many races and ethnic groups whose experiences and beliefs shape our perceptions;
Race is a social construct and regardless of that, racism is real and affects us all;
Racial discrimination prevents individuals from reaching their full potential as global citizens,
Racial discrimination, particularly when it intersects with immigration, explicitly undermines the tenets laid out in the UN Charter;
Ignorance of others’ languages, experiences, and cultures leads to racism and discrimination;
No person is “illegal” and the arbitrary borders that separate us physically should not be used to separate us mentally and emotionally and keep the underprivileged in poverty.
We hereby resolve to:
Remain open, accepting and affirming of the differences in others and live up to our first UU Principle of promoting and affirming the inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Build a society where people are accepted regardless of race, gender and/or immigration status by breaking down the barriers that divide us;
Reject discrimination as a social norm;
Advocate for revision of our countries’ immigration laws to become more humane;
Support the implementation of less costly and more efficient methods to obtain legal status;
Encourage our communities to actively support and insure the passage of the DREAM Act and other related legislation;
Stand in solidarity with every member of our human family, lending our voice, energy and privilege to raise up our brothers and sisters experiencing discrimination;
Unite to teach our home communities that we are not severed ethnicities but one human race.
May 6th, 2012 by admin
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May 3rd, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
On April 23rd, the New York City Bar Association hosted a public forum called “LGBT Rights as Human Rights: Recent Legal Developments in Africa,” which considered developments in LGBT rights in relation to legislation in Africa that criminalizes same-sex activity or organizing on behalf of LGBT people…….
…….Panelists shared their perspectives on the complex causes of the legislation, including the legacy of colonialism, influence of fundamentalist religious groups, inflammatory political rhetoric and misuse of the media to incite violence against LGBT people. Also considered were the far-reaching effects of the legislation, which go beyond violence and imprisonment to include undermining national HIV and AIDS responses and excluding LGBT people from basic human rights entitlements such as schooling, housing and medical care……..
…….Panelists included Boris Dittrich, LGBT Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch; Bruce Knotts, Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office; Wade McMullen, Donald M. Wilson Fellow of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights; Pam Spees, Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights; Dr. Cheikh Traore of the United Nations Development Program’s Sexual Diversity Team; and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, co-director with Katharine Fairfax Wright of the award-winning documentary “Call Me Kuchu,” about murdered Ugandan LGBT rights activist David Kato. The discussion was moderated by Jordan Backman, Chair of the City Bar’s Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights.
Sponsors included the City Bar’s African Affairs Committee, Christina T. Holder, Chair; Civil Rights Committee, Brian J. Kreiswirth, Chair; International Human Rights Committee, Stephen L. Kass, Chair; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Committee, Jordan Backman, Chair; Sex and Law Committee, Pamela B. Zimmerman, Chair; Council on International Affairs, Mark R. Shulman, Chair; and the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, Alexander Papachristou, Executive Director.
For this article in its entirety, click HERE
April 29th, 2012 by admin
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April 25th, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
The April 12-14 UU-UNO Spring Seminar was a great success. Our seminar title was Beyond Borders: Breaking Barriers of Race and Immigration, and we did just that. 
We achieved both diversity in our speakers and participants and greater understanding and communication across the diversity. There was a clear message from our speakers and participants that immigration must be decriminalized. We heard how important immigration is to the life of any great nation. Population is to be feared less than we thought. It had been predicted that India and China would decline due to their massive populations, but instead they enjoy amazing economic growth. Japan which has severely restricted immigration is suffering economic
decline. We looked at race from many different aspects and found ways to understand the appreciate our differences. Rev. Shawn Newton conducted an amazing service based on “Love Thy Neighbor,” which emphasized that trying to love our neighbors, even when it is difficult can produce wonderful results of friendship and love. We ended the seminar with wonderful poetry from UU-UNO intern Dylan Debelis and UU poet and member of the UUA nominating committee, Christopher Sims. We had 119 participants from across the USA and Canada.
April 24th, 2012 by Youth Envoy Coordinator
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ryan Schwartz,
ryan@hummingbirdink.com,
713.446.3736
ORAM releases first how-to guide for US LGBT and accepting communities to
support increasing numbers of LGBT refugees
April 18, 2012, San Francisco…. As increasing numbers of LGBT refugees flee to the United States, ORAM (the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration) has released the first ever guide for American LGBT and accepting communities on welcoming people fleeing persecution in their home countries.
Rainbow Bridges, a 48-page guide developed in a pilot project to resettle LGBT refugees in San Francisco, offers practical step-by-step guidance on welcoming new refugees, ensuring their mental and physical wellbeing, and helping them find support in their new communities. It includes sample forms, a suggested code of conduct, and outlines the avenues for refugees to receive housing, employment, and federal assistance. Rainbow Bridges is available at: http://oraminternational.com/publications
“There are immediate ways those of us in the U.S. can support members of our LGBT community facing persecution overseas,” said Neil Grungras, Executive Director of ORAM. “Uniting in support of queer asylum seekers and refugees is a powerful way of building community and reversing homophobia.”
ORAM estimates the US receives about 2,000 refugees a year who are fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, representing 6% of all refugees in America. Unlike other refugees, those who are LGBT or intersex often undergo the integration process alone, facing exclusion from the religious and immigrant communities that form the safety net for most newly arrived refugees and asylees. Rainbow Bridges will help U.S. LGBT, faith-based, and welcoming communities support these refugees as they build new lives in the United States.
“LGBT refugees need a different reception for our differences and culture. If I were not gay, I would have easily been accepted into the African-American community and offered the services I needed; instead I faced further discrimination and restricted resources,” said Buchi Miles-Tuck, a gay asylee from Nigeria who fled two days before he was going to be killed. “If you have support from the LGBT community, you can get off the plane and experience how to be free in your own skin.”
Neil Grungas and Buchi Miles-Tuck are available to interview.
About ORAM
The Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM) is the only organization focused exclusively on helping vulnerable LGBTI refugees worldwide find safety and rebuild their lives in welcoming communities. ORAM increases global support for refugees and asylum seekers through advocacy and education, as well as technical assistance to people and groups interested in working with refugees, asylees, and asylum seekers. Learn more at www.oraminternational.org.
