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Subject: December Newsletter
From: Brendan Luecke
Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2005 12:30:35 -0500

Greetings, and welcome to the December newsletter! We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season, and we’re looking forward to a successful 2006. Due to the business of this time of year, this newsletter issue is a bit shorter, but we will be back in full-length form next month! This month, we’re showcasing an article from our TfP correspondent in Japan, Kana Uemura, as well as introducing you to a Boston organization that needs your help. If any of our readers have story ideas or would like to contribute, please contact Amanda at acollins79@gmail.com.
Happy reading!

PEACE X PEACE

PEACE X PEACE is an international organization which empowers women worldwide to “enrich lives locally and promote peace globally”. It connects women’s groups (called “Circles”) in the United States with women’s Circles around the world in a Global Network. Via the Internet, the “Sister Circles” exchange information and personal experiences. It is the largest organization in the world that uses the Internet to support women of different cultures through communication. Communicating through PEACE X PEACE provides women with the opportunity to change perceptions, create friendships, and work towards collaborative goals, with the ultimate aim of creating lasting peace.

The vision of PEACE X PEACE is “creating a world where women play a significant role in building sustainable peace” by working together with men. The organization assists women specifically because in conflicts women and children suffer disproportionately from displacement, physical injury, and the loss of family members, income, vital community infrastructure, and general security. I personally audited a lecture recently by a member of UNHCR (the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), and learned that 80% of refugees are women and children, again making clear the need for a supportive organization like PEACE X PEACE. This is not to say that men are not welcome to participate in PEACE X PEACE’s mission. In fact, men are encouraged to join the women-led Circles and share their enthusiasm for working together as equals.

Like most other non-for-profit organizations, PEACE X PEACE is supported by volunteers. If you’d like to get involved, the organization is currently in the process of translating their website into Arabic, Spanish, and French. At the same time, it’s also translating newly printed publicity materials into Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and other languages. In addition, Portuguese translators who can work with the Circles in Brazil are needed.

Before you work with PEACE X PEACE, you are required to:

  1. Submit a resume and references because the organization works only with professional translators.
  2. Register with the Global Network.

Assistance is currently needed in the languages mentioned above, but in the future, help in translating more languages will be necessary.

To learn more about volunteering to translate for PEACE X PEACE, please e-mail the translation coordinator, Molly Mayfield Barbee, at molly@peacexpeace.org.

I hope this newsletter story helps explain PEACE X PEACE’s mission. See you next month!

Kana Uemura
Translations for Progress Japanese Site Administrator
To write her, click here and switch to Japanese


Organizers’ Collaborative: “Technology and training to advance and sustain social change”

Founded in 1999 in response to the lack of technological resources accessible to smaller community non-profits, Organizers’ Collaborative is a Boston-based initiative with over 500 members (organizerscollaborative.org). The organization “facilitates the use of low-cost, easy to use, and open source technologies in order to strengthen individual grassroots organizations and unify the progressive movement”. Key activities and efforts throughout the year include:

Currently the organization needs help translating materials into Spanish. Volunteers can also assist in numerous other capacities, such as planning events, designing outreach materials, or offering technical expertise: XML/RSS feeds, software testing, web application development, desktop software development, et cetera. Please see the Volunteers section of the website for further information, or contact staff@organizerscollaborative.org. A note to students: the organization does accept internship applications, and you can work in the Boston office or remotely.


A Brief Note on Translations for Progress

As always, many thanks for your help in making Translations for Progress a reality. In the upcoming weeks, after much hard work by the entire TfP team, we will finally be launching our slightly delayed Spanish, Russian, and French versions of the site. There may be a few bumps in the road as we iron out all the technical details, so we’d like to ask you to “excuse our dust” as we make TfP accessible to all the non-English speakers who need our services!
Thanks!