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GRAIL INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER September 2016

Deadline next issue: October 03, 2016 Phone: +31-74-7074273, cell: +31-6-31072836

iltsecr@thegrail.org http://www.thegrail.org

Picture taken during the International Exchange Program in Europe – July 2016

Content:

Grail International Exchange – Opportunities for Grail Members and Teams

Celebration of the International Day of the Girl Africa Region Formator Training Program in South Africa

Prayers for Each Global Goal for Sustainable Development Calendar

This letter is intended to be a two-way communication channel for Grail members to fill up the gaps between Crossroads with short news items and an events calendar. You are encouraged to send in

short impressions of international and national meetings and activities (maximum 10-15 lines)

job advertisements, vacancies at your Grail center

changes of address

international events for the calendar This letter is sent from iltsecr@thegrail.org to one contact person of every Grail country, who will make sure all members in their country get a chance to read it.

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Grail International Exchange – Opportunities for Grail Members and Teams

There has been quite a lot of Grail International Exchange activity already in 2016 – thanks to the Spirit at work, to the leadership of our ILT, especially Maria Carlos in Portugal, and to the generosity of the hosting Grail groups in The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, along with Tanzania and some other countries. Special thanks also to the brave Grail Members who sought out an opportunity for Exchange and stepped out to meet new Grail friends in other places. We all in the

Grail benefit from these experiences, whether we host, or travel, or read of the exchange in our Grail communications. Grail Members and Teams - Don’t wait to be invited by the International Exchange Team – if you are interested in spending time with another Grail group, contact them and start the discussions! If your Grail team is keen to welcome Grail visitor(s) from elsewhere, get the word out and see who might be interested. The Grail International Exchange Team’s role is to advertise, facilitate, encourage and help find some funds to support Grail Exchange – you do not have to wait for us!! The International Exchange Team currently includes Maria Carlos Ramos (ILT, Portugal), Kate Devlin (USA), Ushuaia Camarena Acosta (Mexico) and Fran Warner (Australia). This team first met together in Golega at Easter this year, and called for National Teams from all Grail Groups to send us the updated exchange opportunities now offered in your countries. If you have not done this, please discuss what opportunities your Grail group can offer, and use the Proposal Form to send us the details for sharing within the wider Grail. The form can be found on the International Grail website. Thanks to those groups who have already sent us this information. The current Table of Grail International Exchange /Volunteer Opportunities is also on the Grail International website. Newly added opportunities include

The Netherlands - One Grail person could stay for a few months in the Grail house in Utrecht: to

get to know the Dutch Grail and participate in the Grail house or for a short study visit

Tanzania – a Grail Member, skilled in IT, to advise about communications improvement

- A qualified secondary school teacher to work at St Teresa of Avila secondary school

Sweden – any Grail member to visit

Recently a group of eight women were

welcomed by the Grail in The Netherlands,

Germany and Belgium – your National

Team and Communication Person have

received a great report of this exchange.

One of the organising group wrote after

this program,

“My faith in the future of the International Grail has been renewed by seeing this group of women with a deep and sincere interest in the pains of today’s world and with warm hearts to help in whatever way they can.”

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One of the participants wrote after the program – “The Grail in The Netherlands has put a huge amount of effort and research into designing this program to allow participants to take home with them an informed awareness of the work being done across three countries (The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium) in the areas of

- Working with migrants and refugees

- Interfaith harmony

- Human trafficking

In addition to this exchange, an individual Grail member from Portugal has recently travelled to Tanzania for an exchange experience. What is next in International Exchange? Each Grail National Team is now asked to ensure that the I E documents (Application Form, Proposal, How the Process Works, and the Table of Exchange/Volunteer Opportunities) are uploaded onto the Grail website of your own country. Also, if your country has not already done so, please send to the ILT Secretariat the updated exchange opportunities you can offer in your own country. Maria Carlos, Kate, Ushuaia and Fran: International Exchange Team

Celebration of the International Day of the Girl

On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare 11 October as the International Day of the Girl Child. The designation of October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child is, according to the United Nations, a day meant to focus "attention on the need to address the unique challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights". The purpose of this day is to promote awareness and action with respect to issues girls face both nationally and internationally. We invite all of us to celebrate this day. Use it to raise awareness of local and global challenges and issues that are faced by girls, but also consider solutions, and motivate engagement. We would like to have Grail teams and individuals organize/prepare a program or activity for and with girls to celebrate the day. We can also interact and share with each other what we are doing to observe this very important day for the girls through our Facebook, emails, etc. You can find some information related to the IDG (International Day of the Girl) on dayofthegirlsummit.org/ and www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/girl-child Mary Kay Louchart, Sharon Joslyn and Abida Jamal: Grail Link to the UN Network

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Africa Region Formator Training Program in South Africa

By the time the 24 participants in the Africa Region Formators Training program were dancing on Saturday night, they had spent ten intense days together exploring issues, trading ideas, and learning new methods. They had reason to celebrate, and energy to make changes once they returned home. They had gathered at Mariannhill near Durban, South Africa, from 23 to 31 July, happy that the full delegation from every one of the five Grail countries had made it there

successfully. Only the visas of the two Angolans planning to come as observers had not been received in time. Two years before, the Africa Region coordinators had decided that Formation should be the topic for a regional gathering – that those in leadership in every country needed time to share a vision of what they were aiming for in their formation programs, and explore how they were going about it. Once they started working with the International Formation Team on the plan for the program, more specific needs were identified, and the program took shape. Creation spirituality was one area participants explored at length, telling traditional African creation stories alongside the Genesis story, while discussing the challenge of helping new women to move beyond a literal interpretation of scripture. Of particular interest in the program were varieties of forms of prayer like Lectio Divina, centering prayer and meditation in creation; but so were practical issues of techniques and methods. On the mid-week day out, participants toured the Jumma Masjid, the largest mosque in South Africa, and prepared and served lunch to homeless people at the Denis Hurley Centre. Then they travelled to Kwa Mashu, north of Durban, where they visited an AIDS/HIV clinic at the Emthonjeni project -- part of the Women’s Leadership Training Program, a Grail initiative in which a number of Grail members are employed. As participants shared their talents and skills with one another throughout the week, a rich pattern of caring and competence emerged. Participants from every country discovered they were not the

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only ones concerned about expectations of those in the Formator role. Sharing questions and experiences led to satisfying insights and plans for each country.

Three members of the International Formation Team -- Regina Bashaasha (Uganda), Kay Hunt (Australia) and Marian Schwab (ILT/USA) -- acted as program team along with Emilia Charbonneau (South Africa). South Africans Loek Goemans and Zodwa Mabaso (ILT) served as back-stage. Emilia and Agatha Modise handled the extensive preparation work involved in getting the participants to South Africa. Participants from Kenya were Rose J. Akinyi, Angelina Kyonda, Sarah Mabanja, Lilian Nyaswa and Elemina Musundi; from Mozambique, Flávia Duvane, Ida Alvarinho Gonçalves, Maria Francisco Macuacua and Abida Zena Jamal Muhimua; from South Africa, Priscilla Erasmus, Nqobile Masuku, Agatha Modise,

Sibongile Mtungwa and Thembi Ngobese; from Tanzania, Margarita Shirima, Gaspara Samba Pendo, Annagladness Msoffe, Hortensia Kawishe and Rufina Mlacha; from Uganda, Florence Asiimwe, Bonnie Kemigisha, Marriet Kobuyambi, Erarean Natukunda and Winifred Nyonyozi. This Formator Training program in South Africa was the first in a series of three international training programs. The second is scheduled to be held in Portugal in October; the time and place of the third is under discussion. Once the programs are completed, a single report will be issued on all three, and will contain resources that can be used in Formation programs throughout the Grail world.

Prayers for Each Global Goal for Sustainable Development

The World Council of Churches has initiated a campaign aimed at engaging faith communities in a worldwide prayer action supporting the United Nations post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. For each one of these goals they have

chosen a prayer that is thematically connected to it. You can find all the prayers for the SDGs at www.prayers_for_each_goal_WCC.pdf

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Prayer for Goal 1: No Poverty

Loving Lord, we come before You today, seeking Your face. Our world is riddled by a horrible, debilitating scourge — extreme poverty, where men, women, and children are suffering its terrible consequences, from imprisonment to alienation to desperation. The psalmist reminds us, ‘The Lord is known for His justice’ (Psalm 9:16) and, ‘The Lord hears the cries of the needy’ (Psalm 69:33). Today, we pray for everyone who is trapped in extreme poverty and feels hopeless and helpless. Thank You that You hear their cries. In Your justice, through Your strength, set them free. Loving Lord, show us how to respond. The Bible also tells us, ‘The needy will not be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor will not be always crushed’ (Psalm 8:19). Lord, bring new life and new hope to those who feel crushed by poverty. Move in this world in a powerful way where disease and deprivation ravage and decimate the dignity of Your precious creation. We look to You. Soften our hearts and tune our ears to the cries of the poor all around us. We want to be Your agents of change. Lord, use us. Challenge us. Inspire us, and move us to action so that together with You we can obliterate the injustice of poverty from our world. In the Name of our Lord and Savior. Amen. Prayer written by the Rev. Meg Saunders © 2015. Marita Estor, Germany

UN Sustainable Development Goals – September 2016 The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the month of September for Grail members to consider are these:

Goal 5: Gender Equality, and Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth What is the Grail in your country doing to further these goals?

Calendar

2016

September 18 – 20, European meeting on the concern of migrants in Mülheim, Germany

October 8 – 16, Formators training at Golegã Grail Centre, Portugal

November 5 - 15, ILT meeting in Portugal 2017

January 14 – 29, Formation on social change methodologies in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

March 13 – 24, CSW61 in New York, USA

July 13 - 25, IGA in Fatima, Portugal