Go Hungry for Change

Global Fast :: We Changed 10,000 Lives from JJ Starr on Vimeo.

This is a new type of movement. Global Fast empowers anyone to make an impact as big as their vision. It's about your words and actions, not the size of your wallet. They give you the necessary tools to reach your community and change the world through charity and personal sacrifice. 

"By fasting and being uncomfortable for the afternoon, I am forced to remember how good I have it. And regardless of how much I want to complain (and still do), I am confronted by the fact that missing a meal is not even comparable to having to drink muddy water out of a hole in the ground. My hope is that by doing Global Fast, my heart starts to change, so that I actually care more about people in desperate need than I do my own comfort, at least for one meal a week. Its a step towards compassion, something that the world can always use."

This video includes shots of Pepperdine University students, where leaders created a one-day fasting event that raised over $10,000 to help refugees in Darfur. It also includes new footage from water wells built in India, as a result of a one-day fast for World Water Day 2010.

Visit globalfast.org for more information

She is only ten years old

 

In 2010 Iran's Department of Statistics announced that 10 million Iranians live under the "Absolute Poverty Line" and 30 million live under the "Relative Poverty Line."

It is such hearth wrenching realities that make me want to run back to Tehran and lend a hand.  Helpless and far across the globe I can't help but to feel ANGRY!

I'm Mad as Hell

1 billion people live in chronic hunger. In the time it takes to watch this video, two children will die of hunger.

 

http://www.1billionhungry.org/imaginechange 

On October 11, 2010 a new global hunger index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) showed that one billion people face hunger this year.
The present dramatic situation has come about because instead of tackling the structural causes of food insecurity, the world neglected agriculture in development policies, resulting in an under-investment in this sector, in particular in developing countries.
It is unacceptable in the 21st century that almost one in six of the world's population is now going hungry.   According to the WFP At a time when there are more hungry people in the world than ever before, there is less food aid than we have seen in living memory.
Put pressure on politicians to end hunger. 

Sign the petition and push for change wherever you are - One Billion Hungry

A Magical Pair of Shoes

Firouz Naderi is an Iranian-American scientist and the Associate Director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), responsible for Project Formulation and Strategy. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the recipient of a number of awards, including NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal. He was most recently recognized by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) with the William Randolph Lovelace II Award for outstanding contributions to space science and technology. But most importantly his a humanitarian and compassionate man. Watch this touching video where he tells the tail of an amazing boy and a noteworthy cause ....

 To sponsor a child of your own http://www.keepchildreninschool.org/

It is true that it is those honest heartfelt stories that touch us the most, so much so that we are compelled to act.  The first time I heard this story I was ashamed. I have a closet full of shoes and still find myself saying, I need that new trendy pair of heels for that perfect outfit.  It is then that I truly grasped what it meant to be selfish.

A Letter from Soraya

Three years ago, at the age of 19, I was just getting out of a drug rehab center, had not finished high school, and had no clue what I was going to do with my life. But I was one of the fortunate few who were accepted into the Omid-e-Mehr program.

A few months ago I graduated from the program.

Much has happened in these three years. The highlights I remember most are that I received my high school diploma; received my IELTS level 6 internationally English language certificate; received my internationally recognized ICDL certificate for the computer skills I have acquired; completed my advanced accounting course and received my TVTO accounting certificate from the Iranian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; learned about the law and my rights both as an individual and as a women; visited every major museum in Tehran; been on many field trips around Iran to see both monuments and nature (the picture you see is from last year's trip to the Caspian); made many new friends; and found out what it feels like to be on top of the world.

I now believe in myself, am working full-time in the accounting department of a wonderful company in Tehran and live with two of my friends from Omid-e-Mehr in a small apartment. The future looks wonderful. Three years ago I did not think any of this was possible. For me the most important thing that has happened is that today I have a choice, a choice to decide what I want to do with my life, and the tools to succeed in whatever I choose to do.

None of this would have been possible without the Omid-e-Mehr. None of this would have happened without people like you supporting the Omid-e-Mehr. Words can not express what you have done for me. This is just to say thank you and to wish you the very best for the holidays.

Omid-e-Mehr will always need your support. Your support has helped me change my life. You can give the same gift of life that you have given me to thousands of other girls who truly need it.

Soraya

thankful this thanksgiving

As i sit here warm and cozy with my belly bulging from all the turkey, mashed potatoes and apple pie I stuffed myself with, I can’t help but feel conscious of all those who are going to bed hungry.

www.1billionhungry.org/imaginechange/ 

Hunger Kills 3.5 Million Children Each Year ... But it doesn’t have to!

Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger - roughly 8,765,812.7 a year

1/8 children under the age of 12 in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night

One out of four children - roughly 146 million - in developing countries are underweight

This thanksgiving lets be aware, inspired and give thanks by reaching out to another

For more information and live statistics check out Stop The Hunger 

ascension

   معراج

گفت: آنجا چشمۀ خورشيدهاست
آسمان‌ ها روشن از نور و صفاست
موج اقيانوس جوشان فضاست.
باز من گفتم كه: بالاتر كجاست؟
گفت: بالاتر، جهانی ديگر است
عالمی كز عالم خاكی جداست
پهن دشت آسمان بی‌انتهاست
باز من گفتم كه: بالاتر كجاست؟
گفت:بالاتر از آنجا راه نيست
زان كه آنجا بارگاه كبرياست
آخرين معراج ما عرش خداست!
باز من گفتم كه:  بالاتر كجاست!
لحظه‌ای  در ديدگانم خيره شد
گفت:اين انديشه‌ها بس نارساست!
گفتمش: از چشم شاعر كن نگاه
تا نپنداری كه گفتاری خطاست.

دورتر از چشمۀ خورشيدها؛
برتر از اين عالم بی‌انتها؛
باز هم بالاتر از عرش خدا
عرصۀ  پرواز مرغ  فكر ماست

  فريدون مشيری

Helping women stay engaged in society

The Omid-e-Mehr Foundation began in 2004 as a privately-funded charity to provide emotional and practical support for severely disadvantaged young women in Tehran. These are women who are faced with relentless emotional and financial deprivation. They are desperately vulnerable to anti-social influences, and struggle to remain engaged in society....to learn more click here

Lady of Roses

There are some people who have had such a varied and interesting life that any single part of it can be made the subject of a fascinating documentary film. The late Homayoun Sanatizadeh can undoubtedly be included in this category. He was a cultured man, a scholar, translator, entrepreneur, and one of the pioneers of modern publishing in Iran who, unlike his western counterparts, did not achieve fame and fortune in his homeland.
About thirty years ago, with the valuable assistance and cooperation of his equally enterprising wife, Shahindokht, he decided to venture into a completely different field. They started to grow roses and set up a small traditional workshop for producing rose essence in an area outside Kerman where opium poppies were grown. The project was dogged with difficulties, opposition and mishaps at every step. First, the farmers and inhabitants were strongly opposed to the idea of replacing the opium poppy with roses which they believed would be much less profitable.
This fascinating story is the subject of a film produced by the documentary film maker, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb. Entitled ‘The Lady of the Roses’, the film tells us the story of a dream come true – the dream of creating a vast rose garden in the dry and hot climate of Kerman, to replace poppies with roses and opium with rosewater, and to provide employment for 1500 families in a deprived area.

Click here for a preview

Art of Change-Making: Philanthropy at its Best

Screening of the documentary film 'Lady of the Roses,' followed by a bilingual (English/Persian) panel discussion
UCLA-CNES Bilingual Lecture Series on Iran

Location: Sunday, November 14, 2010,  
5-8 PM 

                 147 Dodd Hall
, UCLA

Leila's Story

As many of you know I spent the last year in Iran working at Omid-e-Mehr an organization who gives deserving young women a chance to a new life.  Bellow is the incredible story of one the young girls who has changed my life.
At age 9, her family sold her to a man who forced her into prostitution. At 18, she was arrested and sentenced to death for adultery, while her pimp only paid a fine.

In Iran, women can drive, vote and own property. They also can be legally independent from male relatives -- a status that is rare in the rest of the region, where the male-dominant tenets of Islam and tribal culture often subjugate women.
Yet Iran's legal system also codifies traditions that confer second-class status for women. A woman's testimony in court is worth half that of a man's. A girl is considered an adult under the law at age 9, but the age for boys is 13. The laws also deny women equal rights in divorce, custody and inheritance.

But Layla's story -- a young woman forced into prostitution and condemned to death for it -- is extraordinary in how it turned out.
Her fate changed when Ms. Sadr, a crusading lawyer on women's rights in Iran, walked into her cell and saved her. Layla's ruddy face carries an easy smile, and the sparkle in her eyes offers no hint of the harshness of her past.
"When I was little, I didn't have any dreams for my life," said Layla. "All my life, people hurt me ... until Shadi came. Now, each day is better than the last."

Today Leila is 22. She is being taken care of at Omid-e-Mehr Foundation  in Tehran. A beacon of light on a landscape which offers compassion to abused and destitute young women. Omid-e-Mehr is a rarity in Iran because it provides a way for girls to escape the shackles of their past and not be defined by it.
Social workers are teaching Layla to read and do math. She gets to draw and paint with her friends. She goes on field trips to the mountains outside Tehran, and to see a movie once a week. Most of all, she feels safe to dream about the future she wants — about finding love and starting a real family.
"It's difficult to be a girl in Iran. You survive by learning to tolerate what life brings you. That was what my life was like in the past," said Layla. "Now I dream about making myself happy, about having the whole world brought to me on a silver platter."
 
Click here to listen as Leila tells you her story

Omid-e-Mehr has saved Leila and 140 other deserving young women with similar stories.  They will only be able to thrive and to continue with their work by the generosity of other people and their belief in Omid-e-Mehr’s capacity to change these girl’s lives.

You can help make a difference click here to learn more about how you can get involved

Think Different....

Aid Workers Around the World

World Humanitarian Day pays tribute to aid workers who have risked their lives to provide relief to vulnerable and displaced communities worldwide.

2010 World Humanitarian Day Project from Action Against Hunger USA on Vimeo.

The Glass House

The fringes of Iranian society can be a lonely place, especially if you are a teenage girl with few resources to fall back on. The Glass House follows four girls striving to pull themselves out of the margins by attending a one-of-kind rehabilitation center Omid-e-Mehr in uptown Tehran.
Forget about the Iran that you’ve seen before.
The Directors Hamid Rahmanian and Melissa Hibbard takes you deep into the lives of these four girls as they courageously tell their stories while they struggle for their uncertain futures. It is the untold story of young women who have been cast aside by their society. They have been abandoned, abused and neglected by their country and their families. With no resources, they had no hope of ever improving their lives, until they come to Omid-e-Mehr.
With a virtually invisible camera, the girls of The Glass House take us on a never-before-seen tour of the underclass of Iran with their brave and defiant stories; Samira struggles to overcome forced drug addiction; Mitra harnesses abandonment into her creative writing; Sussan teeters on a dangerous ledge after years of sexual abuse; and Nazila burgeons out of her hatred with her blazing rap music. This groundbreaking documentary reflects a side of Iran few have access to or paid attention to: a society lost to its traditions with nothing meaningful to replace them and a group of courageous women working to instill a sense of empowerment and hope into the minds and lives of otherwise discarded teenage girls.

For more information about Omid-e-Mehr or how to get involved click here 

To learn more about the movie or how to purchase the Glass House go to  http://www.fictionvillestudio.com/

Defiance is exciting, exhilarating

A very dear and wise person once emailed me passionately expressing his views on our current social state;

"I am bitter of a system which convinces its people, in the name of protecting ones family, to buy tanks like SUVs destroying the planet, and making orphans of another family in an accident. I am angry at a system which pays 11 cents an hour to a textile worker in Bangladesh, so I can buy my t-shirt for 5 bucks or get it free from organizations who run an event. I am frighten of our culture that considers shopping and consumption a hobby, a way, and a right without any consideration to its effect on others and the planet!! 
Therefore I find myself in a constant state of personal revolution to counteract these issues in my own existence, and honestly I recommend it to everyone, as its purposeful, passionate and exhilarating,"

In the past year living in Tehran, on a quest to find my roots I have had the chance to witness first hand the manifestation of people's passion, which is very exciting, and necessary to continue the work of justice. But it does not address what matters most: Our individual responsibility to one another and to our planet which transcends all borders, nationalities and "isms".

Blank reflection in the mirror ….

Our lives are the mirror images of our experiences and perceptions.  The direct effect of what we have undergone, felt, and seen.  The modern world has put a stop to real love and compassion.  We are too self absorbed, busy and overwhelmed with our own lives.

We don't have the ability to leap as we use to, the innocence and naiveté of our youth was murdered a long time ago.
 Thus most tend to keep their distance; don't get personally involved, and try to control their emotions.  It’s the pre-programmed auto self defense mechanism that kicks in.  


Most people now a days find commitments, compassion or personal relations a hassle there are too many distractions too much at stake. 

In today’s consumer world of take...take...take no one is willing to give a chance!  But what if from time to time we leaped for a change, went with our instincts and stepped out of the confining boxes we have created....