INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITY ILT - Face to Face

Teams Meeting in Portugal

IC MEEITING 2019 in

“we are adding yet

another Grail saint to The Grail registration in the cloud of witnesses” UNFCCC Lucy Jones (USA)

THE GRAIL INTERNATIONAL IT HAPPENED IN … NEWSLETTER EVENTS

November 2018

This newsletter is intended to be a It's still November! And November is a time of two-way communication channel thanksgiving for the lives of our Grail sisters who have for Grail members to fill up the gone before us. Let their lives shine upon us while gaps between Crossroads with short news items and an events reminding us that it’s not the great things that they are calendar. remembered for, but instead a lifetime of invisible and small things - light and inspiration for each of our DEADLINE NEXT ISSUE journeys. December 09, 2018 Phone: +31-74-7074273 cell: +31-6-31072836 [email protected] www.thegrail.org 1

International Activity ILT Face to Face Meeting, Golegã – Portugal As we write this letter, we would like to thank the Grail in Golegã, Portugal, for hosting the ILT face to face meeting followed by the Teams Meeting in which 35 participants gathered to work together for a week. It is with deep gratitude that we thank all Portuguese Grail members who worked hard to make this meeting possible and all of the preparation and work of each participant.

A few updates from the ILT face to face meeting: We would like to draw your attention to a few calendar updates, changes and additions: • Network Forum planned for late February/early March 2019 • 2019 IC Meeting in Kisekibaha, Tanzania from July 3 to July 14 • 2020 IC Meeting in July to launch the 2021 ILT election process • 2021 IGA side by side with the Big Meeting (100th Anniversary of the Grail) in Brazil

We thank you all for your attention to these calendar changes. ------TEAMS MEETING – 22 to 26 October 2018 At the IGA in 2017 some new teams were formed based on IGA decisions and other teams were reconfigured with new members. As these teams were put together, not only was a great deal of attention paid to the task at hand, but also to including membership which represents our global and intergenerational diversity. To that end 35 participants gathered in Golegã representing every team. These teams, although formed in April and May 2018, had all done preparation for this meeting. This meeting not only provided a chance to meet face to face as teams, there was also ample opportunity to meet across teams as none of our teams can work in a silo. We definitely need to work closely with each other. 2

GRAIL STORIES

the histories of 18 Grail countries from the 1980’s to 2017

The idea of Grail countries writing their stories was born around the time of the 70- 100 meeting in 2013. The 1984 book in which 16 countries wrote their stories from their beginnings needed to be updated. Also, since then the Grail has grown and a number of new Grail groups have developed in the last 34 years.

All countries were invited to write their stories from the 1980s onward. There was some delay in getting the stories and so the date for completion was moved annually. It had been hoped to have the stories ready for the 2017 IGA but that was not possible. The idea was that the stories would be posted on the international Grail website. The incentive to complete the project came when, in December 2017, the Grail in the Netherlands provided funds to have copies printed, especially for those countries and individuals who do not have ready access to the internet and website. We are deeply grateful to the Grail in the Netherlands for their generosity and thoughtfulness. During the Work Teams’ meeting held in Golega, Portugal, the book was launched. All countries represented received a number of copies of the book and also a flash drive containing a PDF version of the book as well as Word documents containing each country’s story.. The aim is that the book is readily available for people to use in whatever way they find most helpful for their country’s Growth in the Grail programmes. It also provides a valuable preparation for the Grail’s centenary in 2021, getting to know the work of other Grail countries before we come together to celebrate.

We are grateful to the national leadership teams and individuals who wrote their country’s stories for this book. Gratitude is also expressed to those who helped to edit, proofread and prepare the texts for publication.

Some additional copies of the book are available from Loek Goemans at [email protected]

Mary Gindhart, Carol Webb, Loek Goemans The History and Archives Team

------We are all very grateful to The History and Archives Team! THANK YOU!! Congratulations!! This is a great job!! We are called to read and meditate on every page, which will give us the opportunity to inspire ourselves for the next 100 years!!

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IC MEETING – Kisekibaha, Tanzania 3 to 14 July 2019

In order to prepare us for the International Council meeting in Tanzania, we thought it would be good, in upcoming Newsletters, to explore aspects of Tanzania (the country, the culture, the language, art and literature...) that most of us do not know. We started with the picture we chose for the International Council. It is a detail of a big painting. Look carefully at the painting. What do you see? Butterflies?Flowers? Birds? This painting is from Ally Omari. This painter is a member of CTAPS (The Craft and Arts Promotion Society) which represents the second most important Tingatinga association in , Tanzania. Tingatinga School Artist - Tanzanian painting style

Tingatinga is a painting style that developed in the second half of the 20th century in the Oyster Bay area in Dar es Salaam. The genre is named after the Tanzanian painter Edward Said Tingatinga.

Edward Tingatinga began painting around 1968 in Dar es Salaam. He employed low cost materials such as masonite and bicycle paint and attracted the attention of tourists for their colourful, both naïve and surrealistic style. When Tingatinga died in 1972, his style was so popular that it had started a wide movement of imitators and followers, sometimes informally referred to as the "Tingatinga school".

The first generation of artists from the Tingatinga school basically reproduced the works of the school's founder. In the 1990s new trends emerged within the Tingatinga style, in response to the transformations that the Tanzanian society was undergoing after independence. New subjects related to the new urban and multi-ethnic society of Dar es Salaam (e.g., crowded and busy streets and squares) were introduced, together with occasional technical novelties (such as the use of perspective).

Tintatinga School has had great influence in neighbouring countries, as and . The great majority of artists in Tanzania are men but several women are beginning to be notice in the Tanzanian arts circle. The great promoter of Tingatinga genre, and also Tingatinga’s painters, is the daughter of the founder, Martina Tingatinga.

Watch the videos about Tingatinga: https://youtu.be/QOOJvtCLu3w

https://youtu.be/y2Z_IeNUYZg

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THE GRAIL registration in UNFCCC As Grail Climate Change has been a priority in our Mission for many years. It seems to us fundamental that The Grail become involved in UNFCCC and exchange and work together with other NGOs. ILT is committed to registering and recognizing the International Grail as an organization focused on Climate issues. In order to make the Grail registration in the UNFCCC we ask each country to help ILT in collecting and preparing a solid international report on the actions The Grail has been carrying out in each country in the last 5 years. Please send to the International Secretariat ([email protected]) a description of the actions that have already been taken in your countries, as well as the materials that you have developed, books, articles or leaflets that have been developed in the last 5 years in your country.

IT HAPPENED IN… NETHERLAND - The Peace Week in The Grail House In the Netherlands, PAX (formerly Pax christi), an important peace organisation with Christian roots, always organises a whole peace week around the 21st of September, the international day of peace. They invite committees of citizens and organisations to be ‘an Embassy of Peace’ and join them in organizing peace activities. This year, the Dutch Grail said ‘Yes, let’s be an Embassy of Peace!’, and organize different activities in the Grail house. Together with my younger colleague Rachelle van Andel, we made plans.

We choose to open our peace week with a very special performance by Ekaterina Levental, a harpist, opera singer, ballet dancer and theatre maker. As a 16-year old girl from Jewish origin, she had to flee the ex-USSR and eventually ended up in the Netherlands. In her performance ‘The way’ she shares with us what she went through during this journey to a safe land. Who are you when you are on the run? What is your identity when you belong nowhere and how can you learn to express yourself in your new country? With her beautiful voice and moving performance, Ekaterina really touched our hearts and souls during that evening… We also knew right away that we wanted to organize an evening around the stories of Syrian women. This was also an unforgettable evening. Two Syrian women shared their story: how they fled their country and how they are trying to build up a new life in the Netherlands. We already knew one of these women, Ghadeer, because she participated in an empowerment training in the Grail house. We were so proud to hear her share her story with us!

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In the meantime, we enjoyed a wonderful meal, made by a Palestinian woman who just started her own company. And last but not least, we listened to classical Arabic music played by two very talented young Syrian women, Shaza and Jawa Manla. Besides this, we planned to have the monthly ‘Women Peace Circle’ that I organize in the Grail house, during the peace week. A Women Peace Circle is an evening to feed our inner peace by meditating together and sharing with each other the obstacles to our inner peace. Afterwards we dance circle dances together and share our hopes and prayers for peace during a short ritual. And last but not least: the Grail house was a stop during the first Utrecht Walk for Peace. All people who participated in this walk, stopped by our house: for coffee and for a little inspirational talk about the Grail movement. For the participants in need of some silent time, the zendo in our cellar was open for meditation. Being a stop at the Walk for Peace was a wonderful way for new people to get to know our house and our movement. At the end of the week, Rachelle and I were certainly tired but could also feel: yes, it was a good week! Women that know the house already sometimes came for several activities that week, we were able to welcome new people and, everybody left the house inspired and with a smile. So next year, we will certainly be an Embassy of Peace again! Hilde Debacker, The Grail in The Netherlands ------PORTUGAL - XL Meeting in the Grail Centre in Golegã Seventy participants (78 young women), including 60 between the ages of 15-22, met in Golegã from the 12th to the 13th of September 2018. Called XL, because there were more participants than usual, it was also XL in energy, enthusiasm, participation, creativity and shared ideals. The formal opening was attended by the mayor of Golegã, a representative of the Portuguese Government from the Committee for Citizenship and Equality and Ana Oom the Grail host of the meeting. In this session the Grail project NAMORArte, in its final phase, was revisited. Young people and teachers, who had been involved in this project of peer education that sensitized over 1000 young people, presented their testimonies. The Grail publication for young people “Namorar sem violência: guia prático” (Dating without violence: practical manual) was released.

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Other activities of the two-day meeting included a theater presentation and discussion and a storyteller. Peer education activities included a process in which the participants answered questions about the situation of women and girls in different parts of the world organized by the Girl Effect Coimbra group and a workshop on cyber bullying organized by two young women who have participated in Grail initiatives since 2010, especially in projects regarding equality/fighting against violence in dating. Visits to the museums in Golegã, group dynamics and performance of a group of young people who play percussion instruments rounded out the meeting. It was a meeting rich in learning, with moments favorable for sharing and mutual knowledge and an incubator of ideas to be developed collaboratively in the future. Eliana Madeira, The Grail in Portugal ------

The World Parliament of Religions took place in Toronto from 1 to 7 November. As we had the opportunity to inform you last July, Lorna Bowman and Maria Carlos were present.

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the World Parliament of Religions and the 25th anniversary of the Declaration for a Global Ethics, drafted and affirmed by all religious traditions in Chicago in 1993, and which today is a working tool of institutions such as UN.

On another occasion we will be able to share more in detail these days, which brought together about 7,000 people of all religious traditions of the world to discuss the current major world issues and the role of religion in the pursuit of the common good. Issues such as SDG's, Climate Change, Biodiversity, Conflict Resolution and Peace were on the agenda each day. This is an event of international relevance and an opportunity for sharing and networking, to which the Grail must be attentive and seek to participate.

Once that happened in Toronto, we also had the opportunity to meet with the Toronto Grail Group for dining and sharing.

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International Exchange OPPORTUNITIES Volunteers are Needed St. Kizito Child Development Centre - Uganda It has about 100 kids between the ages of 3years to 7 years. Located in Kishabya in Sheema district, western part of Uganda. St. Charles Lwanga Primary School - Uganda It’s a day and boarding primary school with about 500 pupils between the age of 6 to 13 years. Located in Kishabya in Sheema district, western part of Uganda Elizabeth Ggulama Vocational Secondary School – Uganda The school has about 150 students between the ages of 13 to 17 years. It offers secondary subjects like Maths, English, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, History, Geography, and Christian Religious Education among others and vocational subjects i.e cookery, toiling and hair dressing. Located in Masaka district in the central part of the country. Contact The Grail in Uganda: [email protected]

St. Imelda Pre&Primary English Medium School - Tanzania About 41 students, aged 3 - 6 years: Teachers are five and one driver. It is a separate school with its new buildings, it is another challenge we are facing. This information is for all the Grail people and people of good will. You can have a year to teach young ones and to support in one way or another in kind or in a spiritual way. We hope the number of our students will raise as we progress. May God bless you all.

Contact The Grail in Tanzania: Maria Goretti Semvua [email protected]

If you are intrested in an International Grail Exchange Opportunity please contact the National Leadership Team in your country Take Note On the 15th October, the International Spirituality Network, in its most recent form, celebrated three years. During this time, working via email, we have shared thoughts, readings, photos, and had some wonderfully deep and enriching conversations. We have connected with one another across the globe and have often experienced what Grail solidarity is all about.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite anyone who would like to be a part of this to join us. Just email me with a message and I will add you to the list.

Patricia Gemmell ([email protected] )

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Events 2018/2019

• ILT visit Angola – 6 to 10 December 2018 • ILT visit Paraguay – 9 to 12 January 2019 • ILT visit Ecuador – 14 to 20 January 2019 • ILT Face to Face – 28 February to 6 March 2019 • Network Forum – 7 to 10 March 2019 • 63 CSW, New York – 11 to 22 March 2019 • IC Meeting, Kisekibaha, Tanzania - 3 to 14 July

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR ADRESS LIST

Dilma Alves – [email protected] Maria Carlos Ramos – [email protected] Mary Heidkamp – [email protected]

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