Global Literacy Project: Weaving our U*U Global Village Network

SESSION II: Who is in our U*U Global Village Network?

GOALS

  • Introduce international U*U organizations and programs
  • Explore the U*U presence in parts of the world
  • Share information about the countries with U*U presence
  • Meet individual U*Us from different countries

PREPARATION

  • Be prepared to show the slide show “A Web of U*U Global Organizations,” either with a laptop and LCD projector or using a DVD.
  • Arrange the chairs in a semi-circle, facing a wall on which you have posted a world map, with a chalice on a small table in the center of the circle.
  • Thin yarn or string in two new colors—possibly black and white. All nine colors of yarn in balls for the Closing Ritual.
  • Push pins—small ones will work best—or tape (if you are using a laminated map).
  • Scissors
  • Print the page of chalices in Resource Links and cut apart. If you use label paper (any size), the chalices will be easy to stick on the map. Otherwise use tape or push pins.
  • Print out several copies of each the Global Sisters Stories for #5 Meeting the People

PROCESS

  1. Gathering Together10 minutes

Invite participants to share briefly their explorations and discoveries since the last session. There will be time later on for them to share in greater depth.

  1. Global Chalice Lighting (in English and French) 5 minutes

The World
May the world that is one in its life, a rich blue top spinning in the endless night of space, a world that is one in its interdependence and fragility, be one in our hearts and minds and deeds also.

Le Monde
Que le monde qui est unique, qui évolve dans l'immensité profonde et bleue de l'univers, le monde qui se complète, interdépendant et fragile, soit entier dans nos coeurs, nos esprits et nos actes.

—Charles Eddis, Canadian Unitarian Council, cuc.ca

  1. UU Organizations and Programs35 minutes

Show the slide show “A Web of U*U Global Organizations.”

Invite participants to share what they have learned in their explorations of U*U organizations and programs. If there is no report on an organization, use the information below to plot the group’s locations, using black yarn or string. After all of the groups have been plotted on the map, discuss the questions at the end of this section.

Questions for the Reports

  1. Where is the organization based and where does it do its work?
  • Plot these locations on the map, connecting the home office with the project locations.
  • With groups that have many sites, plot 3-5 of them.
  1. How long has this organization existed?
  2. What are its mission and goals?
  3. What are its major accomplishments?
  4. How is it supported financially?
  5. What are its current programs?
  6. What challenges is it facing now?
  • International Council of Unitarians and Universalists

The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists is a network of Unitarian, Universalist and Unitarian Universalist organizations. Member groups come from 23 countries and many more are being organized around the world. Current president lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Current executive director lives in EastKilbride, Scotland, not far from Glasgow.

  • UU Partner Church Council

The mission of the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council is to foster and support partner relationships between North American congregations and congregations, schools, and agencies in all other countries where partnering is sought and welcomed. This includes countries where partners are already active, such as Romania, Hungary, and the CzechRepublic, as well as other countries where new partnerships are now beginning, such as the Philippines, India, and Poland. Incorporated in Washington state; office in Bedford, MA.

  • UU United Nations Office

The Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office promotes the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all, as reflected in the United Nations Charter. Through targeted education, advocacy and outreach, we engage Unitarian Universalists in support of international cooperation and the work of the United Nations. Based in New York City, across the street from the UN.

Program Example: The Every Child is Our Child Program focuses on children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS and works toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of universal primary education, fighting HIV/AIDS, reducing hunger and poverty, and promoting gender equality. This effort is guided by a partnership with the Queen Mothers Association in the Manya Krobo region of Eastern Ghana.

  • UU Service Committee

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. UUSC envisions a world free from oppression and injustice, where all can realize their full human rights. Based in Cambridge, MA.

Program Example: UUSC partners with civil liberties organizations and civil society groups working to defend freedom and rights by strengthening individual liberty and democratic processes in the Global War on Terror. Theymobilize their constituency to defend civil liberties and democratic processes in the United States and around the world.

One such program is the AfghanCenter. Through its “Women of the World” project, this organization provides “rights awareness” training for the women of Afghanistan. It works to empower women to understand their rights and mobilize them to improve the quality of life in Afghanistan. In 2008, they will focus on expanding women’s rights and freedoms in three areas, including Afghan civil law, Islamic law, and Afghan culture.

  • UUA Office of International Resources

The Office of International Resources seeks to support congregations as they respond to the call of the Unitarian Universalist Association's Sixth Principle: "to affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all." The International Office does this by providing resourcesto congregations, and by maintaining linkages with and between Unitarian Universalist (UU) organizations involved in international work. Based at the UUA in Boston, MA.

  • Project Harvest Hope

Project Harvest Hope provides assistance for sustainable rural development and the strengthening of civil society in the Székelyföld region of Romania. We are working to protect the Unitarian homelands by creating regional interfaith alliances. Based in St. Paul, MN.

  • Holdeen India Program

The Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program works with organizations of India's most excluded and oppressed peoples: women; dalits, so-called "untouchables" who fall outside the caste system; and the adivasis or tribals who are India's indigenous peoples, especially migrant, bonded and landless agricultural laborers. UUHIP supports their efforts to participate fully in the social, economic and political life of India. Based in WashingtonDC.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  • Which of these groups did you know about before now?
  • How do they contribute to the U*U Global Village Web?
  • The ICUU uses the abbreviation U*U to be inclusive of Unitarians, Universalists and UUs. Why is this necessary?
  1. International Unitarian and Universalist Congregations 15 minutes

The following countries have U*U congregations. Locate them on the World map and place a flaming chalice there. If your congregation has a partnership relationship with a congregation in any of these countries, plot that connection with white yarn or string.

Australia / Bolivia
Brazil / Britain
Burundi / Canada
Cuba / CzechRepublic
Denmark / Finland
France / Germany
Hungary / Iceland
India / Japan
Kenya / New Zealand
Nigeria / Norway
Pakistan / Philippines
Poland / Puerto Rico.
Romania / Spain
Sri Lanka / Sweden
South Africa / Uganda
United States

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. What do the countries with U*U congregations have in common?
  2. How many congregations are there in each of these countries? How many U*Us? (Most of this information can be found at
  3. Why do you suppose these countries have U*U congregations? Are you surprised at any of the places with a U*U presence?
  4. What other countries might be appropriate for U*U congregations? What would be needed to start U*U congregations there?
  1. Meeting the People35 minutes

Divide into groups and distribute copies of the stories. Read the stories aloud in the groups and then decide how you want to introduce your person to the others. Suggest that they might act as the person, interview the person, or create a timeline of their life. Reconvene after 10 minutes and introduce each other to these U*U women from around the world.

These stories were contributed to the Global Sisters Network. See the Resource Link—Global Sisters Network for information about how to write your own story. All genders are welcome to participate.

Philippines—Lenna Desuasido

Transylvania—Krisztina Pall

Transylvania/US—Zsófia Sztranyiczki

United States—Elissa Courtney Goss

Additional stories can be found in Credo International, by Don McEvoy. (See for information about how to order.) These two stories are of contemporary women:

Bolivia—Olga Flores

Germany—Gunda Hartmann

One of the major goals of the International Convocation of U*U Women is to bring U*U women from around the world together. Your help is needed to make this possible. In Session VI you will learn more about the Convocation. In the meantime, please begin thinking about ways you could contribute to fundraising for scholarships and travel subsidies.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  • Which of these women would you most like to meet and why?
  • What surprises you about these stories?
  • What did you learn about their countries that you didn’t already know?
  1. Exploring the UU Global Village10 minutes

Encourage each participant to agree to investigate the U*U presence in one or more of the countries with chalices on your map. Stress the importance of knowing about the country in understanding the U*U presence there. Invite them to consider their exploration like a “visit” and be prepared to make a “travel report” next time the group meets. Encourage them to illustrate their reports with pictures.

They may want to contact the groups via email for additional information and updates. Encourage them to introduce themselves and explain the program they are participating in. By sharing information about themselves and their U*U connections, they will be helping to weave the U*U Global Village Web.

Check out the Resource Links—Global UU Groups and websites andICUU Groups listed by size.Some of these websites are not in English, although they may have some information in English. Descriptions in English of many of these groups and links to their websites can be found on the ICUU website in the List of Groups and in the curriculum on that website.

A useful resource for current information about specific countries is the United Nations Data Base:

The UN plays a major role in gathering data and in developing consensus on what uniform measures are to be used in determining a nation’s relative position in relationship with other countries.

Questions to Guide Your Explorations

About the country:

  1. What are some highlights of the country’s history?
  2. What are its geographical features, including natural resources and neighboring countries?
  3. What is its economic situation?
  4. What current challenges does the country face?

About the U*U presence there:

  1. How did the first U*U congregation get started?
  2. How many people and congregations are there now?
  3. What are their demographics—rural/urban, economics, education, etc.?
  4. What distinguishes their interpretation of U*U from that in other countries?
  5. What current challenges are they facing?

7. Closing Ritual10 minutes

Stand or sit in a circle. Distribute the balls of yarn you have been using on your map around the circle. Holding on to one end of the yarn, toss a ball to someone else in the circle. As the strands cross, notice that you are forming a web. When all the yarn has been used (or when the web is sufficiently complex and interwoven), stop and admire your work as weavers of the web. (You may want to hang it on the wall later on.) Then read the closing words.

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created—created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.[1]

--John Scharr

And now, we extinguish our chalice, but take its energy with us in our hearts and minds, until we gather here again. Go in peace.

Extinguish the chalice.

1

Global Literacy Project: Weaving our U*U Global Village Network

1

[1]JohnScharr, Book Quotes, Google Desktop tool.