Today, Diaspora of Hope (DOH) is an annual BuildaBridge project that engages the transforming power of the arts to bring hope and healing to vulnerable children in the tough places of the world.  International Artists On Calls (AOC) disperse to join local artists at the site.  Together, the AOC and local artists lead a one-week Arts for Hope camp, which serves up to 100 children from the ages of eight to fourteen.  The artistic discipline practiced during the week is determined by the talents of AOC and of the hosting artists.  In the past, Arts for Hope camps have explored creative writing, music, dance, drama, culinary arts, and visual arts through mural painting, mask making, fabric art, and weaving.  Arts for Hope camps conclude with a public celebration, which is presented by the students and their teachers to families, friends, and the community.

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On October 17th, Greater Philadelphia Cares  lead the call to improve Philadelphia's public schools by painting classrooms, restoring playgrounds, and creating green spaces. BuildaBridge took part in Philadelphia Cares Day, a marathon day of service that gives children attractive and more functional learning places in schools located throughout the School District of Philadelphia. BuildaBridge has been partnered with the School District since 2002, providing programs to children and families coping with homelessness in emergency and transitional homes.

At 7:30am on Saturday, October 17, I faced the cold rain, and set out to Fairmount Park, the kick-off point for the 16th Annual Philadelphia Cares Day.  There, I was met by five other BuildaBridge volunteers—which is a big turnout considering the absolutely miserable weather!  From Fairmount Park, we received our site assignment—Prince Hall Elementary School in North Philadelphia.

When we arrived at Prince Hall, I knew BuildaBridge and Prince Hall were a match.   There was a community-painted mural on the building’s exterior, and the school’s entrance had a beautiful mosaic. Immediately upon entering, there were paper-mache fish hanging in a sea of streamers; and the hallways were covered with murals painted by students of influential African Americans, scenes from Egypt, and athletic events.  The murals show that Prince Hall loves art, but there were other areas where they were lacking.

BuildaBridge and other volunteer groups helped Prince Hall Elementary School restore their library.  At the start of the morning, the library was bare. Empty shelves filled the room.  The books that were shelved were outdated—their covers were faded, and they were not books that I, as a child, would have had any interest in reading.  I first found the library to be upsetting—children may not develop a passion for reading and learning because they did not have access to quality resources.  But, half way through the service projects, countless new and gently used, donated books were unpacked.  And, by the end of the day, the majority of the shelves were filled with award winning children books, young-reader chapter book series, and fun-to-read books on science, nature, and history, particularly African American history.  The site of the library upon the end of the day was truly rewarding, and Philadelphia Cares Day proved to be successful.

Veterans For Peace 

Philadelphia Area Chapter 31 

Annual Dinner 

Saturday, October 24th  

6 pm refreshments; 7 pm dinner 

Merz Hall at The Stevens Center of the 

Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion 

Entrance: 2111 Sansom Street 

Discount parking at E-Z Park on 21st Street, just north of Chestnut St 

You must get your parking ticket stamped at the Lutheran Church 

Celebrating a year of activism with friends and allies 

Speaker: Paul Socolar 

Founder/editor of The Philadelphia Public School Notebook 

The $1000 Eugene Bloomfield Peace and Justice Award 

will be awarded to Charlotte Castle, an extraordinary 

22-year-old international activist with BuildaBridge 

Plus music & entertainment 

Delicious chicken dinner with vegetarian option 

Soft drinks, beer & wine for sale 

For information: 610-832-7028; 610-564-7628 

Tickets $40 each; two for $70

Please RSVP soon at 610-832-7028 or Esta dirección de correo electrónico está protegida contra los robots de spam, necesitas tener Javascript activado para poder verla  

Or send a check made out to:  Veterans For Peace, Chapter 31 

Send it to:  Thompson Bradley, 11 Price’s Lane, Rose Valley, PA 19065 

Guatemala: $1600
Work with children from La Limonada, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Guatemala. In conjunction with the Center for Transforming Mission in Guatemala, artists will travel by bus from Guatemala City to the beach community of Puerto Barrios for a 5 day Hope inspired arts camp.

 

Kenya: $2000
In conjunction with the Inspiration Center, work with the children of Mathare Valley in Nairobi. Mathare Valley is one of the toughest places in Africa where children have experienced abuse, civil unrest, hunger, disease, and extreme poverty. Use your art form to work alongside local artists to teach approximately 20 children.

Egypt: $2000
Work in conjunction with Arts for Community, an arts organization in Cairo, Egypt. It is an exciting opportunity to serve children who often survive by non-legal activities, have low literacy rates, are exposed to daily abuse, and are ignored by society. Join us by
using your art form to bring about hope in the lives of children in Africa’s largest city.

President Barack Obama has made the cause of service a centerpiece of his presidency. A defining legacy of his Administration may very well be his call to America’s youth to give national and even global direction in service to others.

There can be no doubt about the effectiveness of international volunteering and its potential to be an essential element of the U.S. response to critical challenges at home and abroad.

The Amity Foundation, headquartered in Nanjing, China agrees: “The social capital represented by volunteering plays a key role in economic regeneration.”

With that firmly in mind, BuildaBridge International, in collaboration with the Amity Foundation and American Baptist Churches, USA has responded in a measure of global cooperation by sponsoring the visit of a young social worker, Zheng Ye (pictured left), from the Amity Foundation headquartered in Nanjing, China to the United States. Nanjing is the capital of China 's Jiangsu Province , and one of the largest cities in China with a population of 7 and half million people. By comparison the 2006 estimated population of the Delaware Valley is 5,826, 724.

Zheng Ye is here primarily to learn about American culture and volunteerism in the United States and what better place to learn  about volunteerism than Philadelphia, with its rich heritage of community service established by Benjamin Franklin, who created  the nation’s first Town Watch and Volunteer Fire Department.

Ye (pronounced ‘Yuh’) will be calling the BuildaBridge International House, located in Philadelphia’s Germantown section, home for two months. BuildaBridge, started in 2000 by Dr. Nathan Corbitt and Dr. Vivian Nix-Early, is an ecumenical non-profit, offering unique programs which feature cross-cultural perspectives and arts-integrated approaches to holistic personal and community development. 

The mission of BuildaBridge is to engage the transformative power of the arts to bring hope and healing to children, families and communities in the tough places of the world. BuildaBridge spans barriers of race, class, faith and culture with its commitment to principles of love, compassion, justice, reconciliation and service to others.

Dr. Corbitt, who teaches at Eastern University, and is also the President of BuildaBridge was the logical link between the Amity Foundation and the American Baptists Churches (ABC) who are sponsoring Zheng Ye. Eastern University is an affiliate of the ABC and BuildaBridge, through Dr. Corbitt, is the host of  Zheng Ye’s stay, as well as, the facilitator for Ye’s English language tutoring.

While in Philadelphia, Ye will be meeting with members of the Asian Arts Initiative, as well as, the Marketing Director at Stapley Skilled Nursing Facility in Mt. Airy. Ye will also be attending BuildaBridge’s September Board Meeting and The Greater Philadelphia Art Alliance’s upcoming anniversary event. 

This is Zheng Ye’s (pictured right) first visit to the United States. He majored in social work at the Normal University of Nanjing, a national teaching university. He graduated in 2004 and was able to find a job with the Amity Foundation working in Rural Community Development and Environmental Protection. His job takes him to Amity Foundation project sites that experience high levels of poverty in rural Western and Mid-Western China, where he works with Amity’s local partners in assessing the needs of the community. 

Amity’s Environmental Protection and Rural Development projects target specific rural regions in China populated by China’s ethnic minorities. Projects include the provision of solar stoves, biogas systems and photovoltaic panels to impoverished herdsmen; the development of mechanized farming; the protection and restoration of endangered grasslands and training for peasants and microloans to rural women. 

“It’s happy work” says Ye , “It’s encouraging because you can see the changes in the villages.”  The enthusiasm, hard-work and gratitude of the farmers and villagers have touched Ye’s heart making his job very meaningful to him on a personal level.  His dedication to service is directly related to his being chosen by Amity as a worthy candidate to sponsor for his current visit to the United States.

Although, Ye misses his wife, Wang Jing Zheng, a journalist in Nanjing and his 14 month-old daughter Zheng Jing Xuan. he gives high marks to Philadelphia: “Philadelphia is a beautiful city, full of the history of America. I like the architecture and the people.”