For the most up to date information, please go to our website calendar or see the calendar of events at the bottom of the Weekly Wire. Printed materials may have outdated information.
Hills of Peace Family Camp closing date is now July 10, Hills of Peace Arts on the Lake has been cancelled and Wayne Stanton’s phone number was listed incorrectly in the Mission Conference program. His phone number is 306-373-5537. The BC Hymnal Songfest and Workshop has been changed to June 1st.
The website and the Weekly Wire are both excellent resources for updated information!
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Upcoming Events at a glance
February 22 Samish Island Kitchen and Cabin Work Day
March 7-9 Nurturing Spirit Weekend Samish Island
March 21-23 Youth Rally - Regina
April 23-27 Fine Arts Retreat Samish Island
April 25-27 Pastors Retreat - Edmonton
April 28-May 2 Samish Island Work Week
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This Week…in the Weekly Wire!
Nurturing Spirit Weekend at Samish Island
Spiritual Retreat – HOP
HOP Family Reunion
World Accord Update
Young Adult Survey
Hymnal Workshop and Songfest – Vancouver
Pastor’s Retreat – Edmonton
What’s Up…In the CWM – Christmas in Review
Youth Rally in Regina
Fine Arts Retreat at Samish Island
Samish Island Work Party
Caretakers for HOP
Quote of the Week
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Spiritual Retreat
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Click here to read
What’s Up…In the CWM Christmas in Review
Christmas in Review is available online only
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New Hymnal Songfest and Workshop
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Pastor’s Retreat
The Pastor’s Retreat will be held in Edmonton the weekend of April 25 to 27, 2014. The guest minister will be Carman Thompson, Field Apostolic Assistant to Apostle Susan Oxley. All Pastors and their counselors / support teams are invited and encouraged to attend. The retreat is an opportunity to be spiritually renewed and connect with the other Pastors in Canada West Mission. In addition, Carman will introduce the new guidelines for “Ministry and Priesthood”.
Please register online by February 15, 2014
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Please take a moment to fill out this
Community of Christ
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HOP Family Reunion
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Youth Rally Schedule
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Nurturing Spirit Weekend at Samish Island
See our schedule below
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Fine Arts Retreat – Samish Island
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Samish Island
Kitchen and Cabin Work Day February 22
RSVP to Jennifer Watson, Food Service Manager
360 766 6372 email: ianjen.watson@gmail.com
Come see the new wall covering!! Season starts in March!
We need your help opening up the camp.
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Live at Hills of Peace!
Caretaker Job Opportunity
The Caretaker of the Hills of Peace Campground is responsible for maintaining the grounds, buildings, and services of the Hills of Peace Campground in a safe and attractive condition for the benefit of all users. For a complete list of duties, go to Caretaker Job Opportunity. Accommodations, utilities and a small remuneration are included.
Please send your application to Courtney Znak at courtneynhaley@hotmail.com
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World Accord Update
Hi there!
I’m writing again to give you another update, since I’m on my way to Central America again for a month and wanted you to know what’s been going on/coming up. A bunch of people have so kindly been asking about our events, so I’m just including that info below if you did want to get involved. I’m not sending this to coerce you into participating in a World Accord event; rather, I would love to see you and share my stories in person, but if not, an email letting me know how you are would be fabulous. In my five months with World Accord, I’ve been to Central America, Missouri, and Haiti, which has been fascinating, tiring and enriching on many levels. I’ve tried to provide some snapshots from my trip visiting our partner – please read on for stories from the field!
World Accord Gala – book your social calendars for Saturday, March 29, 2014!
So, this is rather exciting, because I get to dress up and be fashionable in the name of social justice! This will be one of my first events with World Accord and it would be great to see everyone. Tickets are $100, which includes a live band, roster of speakers including World Accord staff and their stories from the field (which includes me I believe); dinner; some drinks; an auction; and dancing if you’re so inclined. The event takes place in Oakville, so great for anyone between Toronto and Waterloo! More information can be found here. Apparently the best way to purchase tickets is to phone our office directly at 1-800-525-3545, so you don’t have to pay a surcharge of any kind.
Fastathon – May 23-25 2014
Join us for an awesome cause, where we put ourselves in a large part of the population’s shoes and go without food for 2 days. Unlike most of the world, you can tailor the fast to your comfort level, but we start Friday night and go until Sunday at a camp in Priceville, Ontario. During the event, we have fun and educational activities relating to various development issues, so while the event may not be food nourishing, it’ll definitely be nurturing for the mind! There are opportunities to win amazing prizes as well. Participants are encouraged to fundraise for the cause – all the proceeds go to the organizing of the event and to our amazing partners. More information can be found here.
Stories from the Field - Haiti
As you all know, I was down in balmy Haiti for 10 weeks in December 2013 with David, our ED for World Accord. Just like in Central America, the objective of our trip was to spend more time with our partners and get a better sense of the projects “on the ground”.
I had never been to Haiti before and didn’t quite know what to expect at all! For me, Haiti evoked a melange of emotions and was at once beautiful, sad and inspiring. Devastated by the notorious earthquake of 2010, particularly the capital of Port-au-Prince, Haiti is a country that is obviously struggling, though there are true seeds of change emerging from the rubble. The struggle is worsened by Haiti’s history of foreign interference that has come in the form of racist paternalism, terrible environmental policies and now, foreign aid that seems to have little effect. If you want to see the debacles of foreign aid, Haiti is a prime candidate. One example that illustrates this painfully is the cholera epidemic that spread in Haiti in 2010, killing 8,000 people, which was eventually traced back to a sewage leak from a UN camp into the Haitian waterways. Despite all the challenges and setbacks, what were most striking for me were the determination, tenacity, and humour one could observe in the people we met.
Briefly, World Accord’s partners, Foundation for International Development Assistance (FIDA) and Productive Cooperative Haiti (pcH) work with rural communities in Haiti to assist them with establishing agricultural cooperatives, but only if the communities approach them first. Their approach is designed so that cooperative members always own and guide the process, while offering literacy and agriculture training. There’s so much that we saw and experienced, but I chose some stories and quotes that really inspired or moved me, which hopefully give you a sense of my experience:
- · Yvenis is a 60 year old woman, living in Duchity. She has 4 children and received literacy training once she joined the cooperative. In her words, she describes that when she learned to write “it was like going to heaven”. She was emphatic in saying that she’ll stop going to school only when she dies. We next visited Lotani, also a participant in the same cooperative and benefitted from literacy training. The emotional moment came when she demonstrated her learnings: she sat down with her little daughter and could finally help her with her homework.
- · We attended a graduation ceremony for 1,347 participants who had all been trained in literacy through the co-ops. It was an incredible all-day event: participants came from different cooperatives and each group presented a skit or a dance. During that day and in interviews held after, I learned that people who were illiterate felt that, in signing their names with crosses or with their thumbprints, they were less than human. The described literacy as having the blindfold taken from their eyes and an incredible rise in sense of self. The graduation was highly emotionally charged and it was impossible not to feel overwhelmed – I felt I was witnessing an emancipation of sorts.
- · Our partner has been working with cooperatives in rural mountainous communities north of the capital for around 20 years. It was really interesting to hear of the participants’ experiences, because beyond literacy, having a cooperative in the community has led to real social gains: violence and conflict has nearly disappeared due to the meditators in the cooperative and people are making enough of a profit to send their children to school. Here one could see the social fabric in the communities becoming more cohesive due to the presence and leadership of the cooperatives.
Overall, I learned a whole lot about development and myself. Some people could say that these communities are not producing significant environmental results that our partners in Guatemala or Honduras, for example, are. The Haitian hills remain sadly naked and the deforestation will likely be worsened by planned highways into these isolated communities. However, after reading the history of Haiti and being there, it’s made me realize (again!) that every country, every region, has its own trajectory of growth, determined by its historical baggage, strengths and character. For the only country that was borne from a successful slave revolt and that continuously served as a threat to the imperial powers, Haiti has been acted upon far too long – anything that provides the space for self-sufficiency is the direction that seems to jive well with Haitians.
What have I learned about myself in all this? To strive to be compassionate since I never know the full story to most people, events or places, because knowing people, just like knowing countries can take a lifetime. And getting to know all these partners and their cultural contexts can take infinite patience and time.
Anyhow, that’s all for me and my “deep thoughts” (remember that show on Saturday Night Live?) – on to Central America now!
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Hasta luego!
Farrah Ali-Khan
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Canada West Camping and Event Calendar 2014
February 22 Samish Island Kitchen and Cabin Work Day
March 7-9 Nurturing Spirit Weekend Samish Island
March 21-23 Youth Rally - Regina
April 24-27 Fine Arts Retreat Samish Island
April 25-27 Pastors Retreat - Edmonton
April 28-May 2 Samish Island Work Week
May 11-12 Hills of Peace Camp Opening
May 30-June 1 Camp Genesis (8-9 yrs) Samish Island
June 1 Hymnal Workshop and Songfest – Vancouver
June 6-8 Adult Spiritual Retreat Hills of Peace
June 13-15 Young Adult Retreat Hills of Peace
June 7 Samish Island Work Day
June 7-13 Adult Reunion Samish Island
June 14-15 Ribstone Enrichment Weekend
June 22-28 NW Singles Retreat Samish Island
June 30-July 5 Canada West Youth Camp
July 5-10 Family Reunion Hills of Peace
July 10-14 Junior Camp (8-11 yrs) Hills of Peace
July 12-19 Family Reunion Samish Island
July 15-18 International Youth Forum Independence Mo
July 19-26 Spectacular Graceland University
July 20-26 Camp Kluane (girls 12-14 yrs) Samish Island
July 27-Aug 2 Camp Chimacum (boys 12-14 yrs) Samish Island
August 8-10 Young Family Weekend Hills of Peace
August 3-9 Camp Kimtah (15-18 yrs) Samish Island
August 10-16 Camp Mungai (10-11 yrs) Samish Island
August 29-31 Canada West Mission Conference Chilliwack BC
September 26-28 Men’s Retreat Hills of Peace
September 26-28 Singles’ Retreat Samish Island
October 3-5 Nurturing Spirit Weekend Saskatoon
October 24-26 Peace Colloquy Independence, Missouri
October 17-19 Young Adult Retreat Samish Island
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