Gardens of Forgiveness, Rwanda

Our friends who went to Rwanda with STATIONS TWO met many incredible people. Diane Hosey wrote me in an e-mail about Julie Moir Messervy-Master Gardener: She has some great pictures of Rwanda and a shout out to Today Marks the Beginning on it (good on her). I invite you to review her site and watch her video presentation on her design with Yo Yo Ma and the Toronto Music Garden. Though done some years ago you will get a true flavor of her personality and the spiritual nature of her work. She was a joy to be around and between her and Nancy they “worked every room they were in”! And I thought I was high energy! Julie was invited by Lyndon to view sites for a Forgiveness Garden in Rwanda.

Click on: A Garden of Forgiveness in Rwanda - The Home Outside - JMMDS Landscape Design Blog — Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio

Student's Peacemaker Art

Keep checking here, on Facebook or on our website to learn more about the upcoming art show of DISD students' portraits of Peacemakers from around the world. Creating a collage portrait from found objects of people like Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Ceasar Chavez, etc. is one of the curriculum sections of MasterPEACE: Young artists making a kinder world. Coming Soon!

Stations Two RWANDA

The photo is one from the celebration and christening of Stations Two in Kigali Hotel Palisse. Burundi musicians and singers lead the procession from hotel. The singers loved that the Burundi women at Grace Methodist in Dallas, wrote them a note on Stations and adopted Nancy Rebal as their sister. The Forgiveness Dude cut-out (as Diane Hosey dubbed it) that invites people to share their words of forgiveness, is now in permanent collection of the education program at the Genocide Museum. The Museum Director there would like to have MasterPeace taught there as well and wants to explore a school in Dallas sharing with the children in a school in Kigali using the same program.

Update Stations TWO

Check out the beautiful pictures and updated blog about STATIONS TWO - Gathering the Collective Voice of Forgiveness in Rwanda. http://jamesneel.typepad.com/off_to_rwanda/ Internet connections are iffy there so they are updating when they can. This interactive public artwork is to help commemorate the 15th anniversary of the genocide. Much sadness but also catharsis and joy.

Stations Two to Rwanda

Follow friends' blog to Rwanda to help commemorate the 15th anniversary of the genocide. They are bringing STATIONS TWO, an interactive artwork collecting the human voice of forgiveness. http://jamesneel.typepad.com/off_to_rwanda/

Being 58 - a poem

I fly through the air with the the greatest of ease
The woman way up on the flying trapeze.

The body is older and wider than some
But healthy and vibrant up under the sun.

The mind is more thoughtful, reflective and calm
The heart grows wider spreading the balm.

My outlook is sunny and funny and true
I talk of the new age coming out of the blue.

I know days are coming perhaps full of despair
But I continue to fly way up in the air.

Peace in Action - Dallas School Kids

One of the lessons in the MasterPEACE curriculum is making a commitment to peace. Dallas students create a magnetized peace commitment they can place on the fridge or their locker reminding them to "be nicer to my sister", "not gossip about friends", "control my emotions" and so forth. Photographer John Katz took a photo if a young girl who has become a hero to me. Her commitment to peace, "never give up". Look for an upcoming art show of the Dallas school children's work at the Women Museum.