Giving to the refugee, orphan, widow

When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.

Deuteronomy 24:20-22

The Buzz of Learning

Still having a great time learning, I am getting such a buzz from it all.

Had an academic and an author talk to us the other day, and he referred to
some very fascinating people. One of whom was Paulo Freire.

Freire wrote this:

"The Right in its rigidity prefers the dead to the living; the static to the dynamic; the future as a repetition of the past rather than as a creative venture; pathological forms of love rather than real love; frigid schematization rather than the emotion of living; gregariousness rather than authentic living together; organization men rather than men who organize; imposed myths rather than incarnated values; directives rather than creative and communicative language; and slogans rather than challenges"

(Freire, Paulo. Cultural Action and Conscientization pp.72-73).

I found this statement very challenging and very confronting but very
helpful. Just wanted to share it with you.

Wikepedia has a section on Freire, very interesting character.

Andrew Collins
Enjoy your journey

International Teams Program Approach

International Teams Canada is a Christian mission organization that has a program and project approach to serving the poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable in our host countries: Canada, Ecuador, Romania, the Philippines, Rwanda, Uganda, Southern Sudan and Kenya. We focus on refugees, street children and orphans, along with marginalized women.

We operate by partnering with local churches who get involved by sending short term teams and by going deeper with a 3-5 year commitment to become engaged in a program.

The programs are led by host country program leaders who are involved in all decision making.

Our Canadian support teams consist of staff and high capacity volunteers, who play an important role, fundraising and working with the host country leadership teams to make it all happen.

Our short term teams play a significant role as well. They are often the hands, feet and face of International Teams. They roll up their sleeves, cross the time zones and pour their love and energy into the lives of the people we serve. Often they return home with a new vision and an infectious passion for serving God and serving the poor.

Gary Sharpe, P.Eng. Director, International Programs gary.sharpe@iteams.org

We accomplish our goals by setting specific plans, budgets and measurable objectives for spiritual and social renewal, and strive to achieve them together as a team. We are accountable to report on our progress every six months.

Our resource partners are individuals, churches, businesses, teams, foundations and other funding sources such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). International Teams events like the RIDE for Refugees are another source of funding for our refugee related programs.

Together, we are passionate about serving God and serving the poor.

VALUES CLARIFICATION

VALUES affect so many decisions and actions in our lives, it is best that we understand them and that we align our choices, behaviour and actions with our values. When we make an effort to understand our values, it is easier to keep our priorities in the right order and our actions in line with our beliefs.

Values clarification is a process a person might go through to discover and clarify their values and to bring his/her values in line with behaviour.

Clarify Values

1. Ask yourself, “If I only had 24 hours left to live, how would I spend them?”

2. List twenty possible values and rank them from most to least important for you.

3. Make a pie chart of your top fine values and compare it to your calendar. Are you really spending as much time as you would like on your values?

4. Associate consistent and inconsistent behaviour with each of your top five values.

Identify Full Values

A FULL VALUE is one which is truly and entirely held by a person. Raths, Simon & Harmin (1996) developed seven questions to help identify full values. By taking a value and answering yes to all seven questions, one would define a full value. Please take each of your top values and identify if they are full values.

1. Was the value freely chosen?

2. Was the value chosen from alternatives or was it the only choice?

3. Was the value chosen after considerations of the consequences of this value?

4. Do you cherish the value? Does it make you happy?

5. Are you willing to publicly affirm this is a value to hold?

6. Are you acting on the value (or is it something that is said)?

7. Do you display this value repeatedly and consistently?

Sample Values List

Accuracy	Choice	Tranquility
Adventure	Growth	Resilience
Authenticity	Harmony	Results
Independence	Humor	Risk
Beauty	Honesty	Romance
Nature	Fitness	Success
Aesthetics	Wellness	Security
Collaboration	Freedom	Spirituality
Commitment	Joy	Tradition
Service	Fun	Self-expression
Creativity	Integrity	Trust
Directness	Justice	Vitality
Elegance	Leadership	Zest
Empowerment	Nurturing	Recognition
Mastery	Order	Power
Excellence	Peace	Learning

Article adapted from a content session at the "Milestone April 09", A leadership course offered at the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics. http://www.soderquist.org/