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Archive for category: News

Project and Host

Western Heritage Home Orphanage/Community Learning Center

Boy flexing his muscles in Ghana

Our Legacy Project was to build an orphanage and community learning center in Axim. WE ARE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THAT ON DECEMBER 5, 2007, 28 CHILDREN MOVED INTO THEIR NEW HOME!! This project was initiated by our Ghanaian NGO partner, Western Heritage Home (WHH), to fill a crucial community need in Axim, and GCJ decided to help them. The children need shelter, and Axim needs a place for community gatherings, training classes, and vocational workshops of all kinds.

Currently there is no computer training center for adults in the Nzema East District of some 125,000 people. The community center and computer learning lab will provide revenue to support the children’s program. The building is 75% complete, thanks to funding procured by GCJ Ghana delegates/alums.

The GCJ team has worked together to support WHH in building this Orphanage and Learning Center, which will house up to 35 children orphaned due to HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other family tragedies.

The Learning Center will provide a much-needed facility for community leaders to hold meetings and classes on HIV/AIDs and general health awareness, women’s entrepreneurial and empowerment possibilities , and conflict resolution, and hold modest conferences. It will provide a place for Ghanaian and international volunteers to assist in Axim development project. It will house a Comuter Center to provide computer training and internet access to the community.

Staff for the Children’s Home have been hired. We are lacking kitchen counters, cabinets, chairs but the children are moved in. They are calling themselves “pioneers”, because they have moved in before things are quite ready, and are paving the way for future children. They are at home, have been attending school for a year, have had regular after-school meals, and have new hope and purpose for their lives! Thanks to all who have helped us so much.

Host: Western Heritage Home

Western Heritage Home is a Ghanaian-registered, Axim-based NGO which focuses on children, especially orphaned children, school fees, women’s empowerment, promoting AIDS awareness, and conflict resolution. James Kainyiah, WHH Founder and Chairman, is our local host. WHH has developed a vibrant board of men and women to oversee and manage the home and begin developing a sustainability plan, to find ways to generate income to pay ongoing school, living and maintenance costs. When a large number of North American delegates returned in September, they were able to work with Board on developing vision and skills: Barbara and Louise led sessions on Appreciative Inquiry and Maryanne brought bookkeeping software.

Follow-Up Projects

Be sure to check out the inspiring array of activities the Ghana delegates from North America continue to spawn and nurture.  They have formed Ghana Together to continue to support this powerful work.

Follow Up Projects in Axim (WHH Children’s Program to support the orphans, Sanitation Station, Water System Extension, Women’s’ Microfinance)

Other delegate initiated projects in Ghana: (Konongo Library Project, Appreciative Inquiry, Life Story Project)

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November 12, 2007/by Jessie

Project and Host

  • Host Organization and Staff
  • Learn More

After considerable deliberation and exploration with NIDPRODEV, we settled on the village of Oporoza as the ideal site for the Journey, since it is the heart of the Ijaw Gbaramatu Kingdom, with relatively more resources than other parts of the creeks in the Delta. Job, a dedicated NIDPRODEV member and teacher in the village, wanted a library to help his students better prepare for their futures and enable them to pass the qualifying exams for higher education opportunities. Oporoza village leaders believed the library will attract better funding for the school, hopefully leading the government to staff it with salaried teachers. All agreed to work to make the library available to neighboring communities (including other ethnic groups such as Itsekiri), providing vital learning resources for the entire region. The community, under the direction of the CDC (Community Development Committee) Chairman, provided local building materials, some funding, and managed the design and construction.

Building the Niger Delta Friendship Library

Building the Niger Delta Friendship Library

Project Director Mary Ella Keblusek and Founding Director Susan Partnow made a pre-Journey trip to the Delta in August, when they visited Oporoza and presided over the ground-breaking ceremony. We wanted the construction of the library to be complete so we could commission it and witness its opening during the November delegation.

In a country strewn with half finished, rotting projects, such completion seemed essential. We were thrilled to welcome dignitaries and residents from throughout the region at the commissioning — and with an amazing party of celebration hosted by the village all that night. (They brought in the Delta’s best known musician for all to enjoy.)
The U.S. delegation brought over 1500 donated books to get the library collection started. In addition, we purchased text books for Oporoza students in Nigeria. It costs just $250 for a complete set of books to take a student through Junior Secondary and Senior Secondary, a total of six years of schooling.

The management of the library is overseen by the Board of Trustees established: Joel Bisinia, our GCJ partner and NIDPRODEV founder, is the chair. Members consist of men and women from the village and from Warri, the major city in the region, including Itsekiri as well as Ijaw. They have raised the money for the librarian’s salary. The library is open daily and running relatively well. Ongoing funding continues to be a challenge.

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NIDPRODEV

Niger Delta Professionals for Development is a non-profit organization/NGO operating in Nigeria since 1999, focusing on conflict mediation, peace building, youth empowerment and gender rights issues in the Niger Delta. NIDPRODEV’s objectives are:

  • To facilitate dialogue, strengthen co-existence and create a safe platform for difference and diversity amongst ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta region.
  • To strengthen capacities of youth, women and community-based organizations in dealing with intra- and inter-personal conflicts in their organizations.
  • To educate, inform and develop the human mind for creative thinking within the Niger Delta region.
  • To create an enabling environment that promotes economic investment and developmental activities.
  • To articulate and advocate for the rights of the people of the Niger Delta and beyond.
  • To encourage and promote activities and programs that help to increase safe health practices and to advocate for gender rights and gender mainstreaming in institutions in the region.

NIDPRODEV, led by Founder and Regional Director Joel Bisina, has a dynamic track record of successful initiatives to meet the significant challenges of the Niger Delta. To learn more, download the NIDPRODEV brochure.

Nigeria 2005 host country volunteer staff

We are grateful for the “on-the-ground” expertise and invaluable assistance of our Nigerian colleagues, led by Joel Bisina, Nigeria 2005 Host Country Director.

  • Ifeoma Olisakwe – Finance support
  • Job Bebenimibo – Logistics support
  • Dr. Elijah Ige Ohimain – Environmental issues
  • Deborah Laju Edah – Inter-ethnic issues
  • Fanty Goodness Wariyai – Logistics support
  • Thankgod Seibi – Library construction
  • Godwin Miebi – Logistics and school liaison

Nigeria-based volunteers

  • Vero Smooth – Oporoza Village liaison and cultural coordinator
  • Matthew Diofelo – Chairman, Oporoza Community Development Committee
  • Prince Yoko – Library construction

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Links

  • See library plans.
  • Read about the Citizen Diplomacy Library project on NIDPRODEV’s website.
  • Check out our newsletters for updates on Nigeria.
  • Read more about Oporoza: Report From the Field, a first-hand account by Tunke Bisina, a Warri journalist.
  • Learn about school libraries in Nigeria: The Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme and the Development of School Libraries in Nigeria: a catalyst for greater female participation in national development by Rose Okiy.
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November 12, 2007/by Jessie

Nigeria Trip Report

Nigeria 2005 Journey Report

In November 2005, 19 Americans and 21 Nigerians came together in Oporoza, a village in the riverine region of the Niger Delta. We worked hard, sweated much, danced often. We laughed in the face of many challenges and were moved to tears by the conditions in this region. We made deep connections and learned an enormous amount-about ourselves, each other, our village hosts and the complex fabric of Nigerian life.

Niger Delta Friendship Library Under Construction

The GCJ Nigeria 2005 project was a regional library, the first public library in the entire riverine region. The Niger Delta Friendship library was successfully completed and commissioned on November 28. The doors are open and more than 1300 books-most of them brought by GCJ delegates in boxes and suitcases-are now available to the community.

  • Commemoration speech by the U.S. Consul General 11.22.05, Warri, Nigeria
  • Joel’s speech for the Library Commissioning
  • Susan’s speech for the Library Commissioning
  • Thank you letter from Oporoza student

Reports of some of our delegates:

  • Cameron’s travel blog (one of several entries – click previous or next journal for more)
  • Kendra’s blog
  • Christi’s article: on her perspective as a librarian.
  • Article in the Boeing Corporate Philanthropy Report (page 30). Boeing was a significant sponsor of the Journey.

Other info:

  • Delegate Bios
  • Making Communication Work: a report by Sylvester Aigbe to the Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources, 4th World Congress Conference.
  • Article in Real Change News

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Niger Delta Friendship Library

Greetings from Nigeria!

(report on our first few days) Global Citizen Journey Executive Director, Mary Ella Keblusek lit up the crowd with a brief rendition of “The Bluest Skies are In Seattle”. This, plus the group’s choir of the National Anthem were all part of a joint ceremony with the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce. US citizens were spared this moment of embarrassment.

For most folks, we made the long flight to Lagos with a spur of excitement. The long flight from Europe allowed many to catch up on sleep or take pictures of the vast Sahara. It took about two hours to pass through customs and receive baggage, then about an hours drive to the hotel: a 2.5 star with a local feel. Grilled ram (actually beef) with onions and one too many beers before bed at 1 am.

Many woke up at 5 the next morning with light and the neighborhood’s Imam call to prayer. Breakfast; fish stew with boiled yam with an exotic flare to our western palates, supplemented by tea, oatmeal, and juice. Afterwards, we piled into two minivans an hour and a half drive to the Chevron Nigeria Ltd. headquarters.

The air is heavy with exhaust, but not nearly as much diesel as others remember in Jakarta and distant metropolises. Roads are jammed with 15 to 20 trafficyear old European cars, some Japanese, with only a select few American SUVs. The motorcycles. The bare feet and the transportation. And the Public Transit consists of yellow vans, bigger than minis, but not much, painted yellow with passengers standing outside the sliding door traveling up to 40 miles an hour on narrow, tight lanes. Which buses go where? No one knows from our frame of perspective.

We met with senior managers at Chevron who did a number with words outlining the tensions which occurred 2 years ago. They modeled a new giving plan that invites more participation and involvement among local leaders in deciding which projects receive funding. The folks were Didji Hastrup and Simon Winchester who, with their thoughtful and articulate manners, showed a clear interest in GCJ’s journey and its purpose. Simon was certainly thought thru a lot of the corporation’s involvement, and other whom are providing assistance.

Our minds exhausted, and then off for a picnic lunch on the Nigerian beach off Victoria Island in Lagos where a big bargaining brouhaha over the cost of tents and tables commenced between Joel and the proper stakeholders. Chicken and rice spilled onto our laps amidst the notes of a local guitar player singing Marley and his ubiquitous melodies, but each was able to down their bottles of water and use the extra for other purposes.

Off to the National Museum which had a small, but worthwhile, collection of tribal artifacts, staffs, spears, dance masquerades, swords, armor, and carvings. Too many tribes to keep track of. Too many complexities we slowly learn. It was here that the Chamber hosted us for a dance and music performance which was stunning. During intermission, a Nigerian who does excellent trumpet-mimicry asked Susan and Mary Ella to come up to do Oshe Babalua. He asked for a Seattle song, one local to us, which resulted in The Bluest Skies.

Running out of time more later! And know you are all in our thoughts as we make this pilgrimage of the heart. Thank you for your unending support!

There are reminders that folks haven’t forgotten how tense things were previously-and still remain so. Soldiers stand on the roadways ready to flag cars for papers and as white worms among the crowds, we are strongly encouraged to return home before dark.

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November 12, 2007/by Jessie

About Nigeria

The Niger Delta.

Part of our journey will be to witness the environmental and human impact of oil production in the Delta, as well as the progress of NIDPRODEV and other groups in addressing these issues. We hope to bring back stories that could put pressure on the oil companies to voluntarily implement environmental controls and educate the public about the region.The Niger Delta is the seventh-largest oil producing region in the world and an increasingly major supplier to the United States – something many Americans don’t know. A number of international oil corporations are drilling there, with few if any environmental controls. The environment has suffered significantly, with unburied pipelines leaching oil into the soil, natural gas flares polluting the air around the clock, and oil fouling the once fish-rich waters. The local population has also suffered. Despite being the source of Nigeria’s wealth, this is the poorest region in the country. Wherever oil is discovered, the land is confiscated by the government with little, if any, compensation to the people, and the oil profits going to the central government.

Poverty and environmental issues have created unrest in the region. Members of the majority Ijaw tribe, traditionally agrarian, now have great difficulty supporting themselves, as fishing has deteriorated. Tensions have arisen between the Ijaw and Itsekiri tribes because, as traders, the Itsekiri have more easily made the transition to working for the oil companies.


Our Nigerian delegation will include men and women from the Ijaw and the Itsekiri, as well as Muslims from the North and a number of other tribes from around Nigeria. The story of the “creeks” area is not widely known even within Nigeria, so this project offers a powerful opportunity for national dialogue.
Our host organization NIDPRODEV, led by acclaimed conflict mediator Joel Bisina, is helping to bring peace to this strife-torn region. In 2003-4, NIDPRODEV brought young leaders from both sides together, culminating in a truce. In addition, they provided leadership training to local women, who then led an oil-platform demonstration that successfully pressured the oil company and the government to bring more resources to the region.

Read about the historic joint participation of Ijaw and Itsekiri at the Oporoza library ground breaking in our September 2005 newsletter.

 

Joel Bisinia (L) and Mary Ella Keblusek

Learn more about Delta State in the Niger Delta at www.deltastate.gov.ng.
Learn more about Nigeria at CLPMag.org.

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November 12, 2007/by Jessie

Nigeria Donors

Donors and Supporters of GCJ Nigeria

Big thanks to the generous donors who helped make Nigeria 2005 possible.

Major underwriters:

  • NNPC/Chevron Nigeria Joint Venture, Lekki Nigeria
  • Boeing International Corporation, Ghana

Significant financial supporters:

  • National Association of Gbaramantu Students (NAGS), Nigeria
  • Associated Airlines, Lagos Nigeria
  • Edo-Delta Union of the Pacific Northwest, Seattle/Portland

Significant in-kind donations:

Nigeria-based:

  • Delta State Government – lodging, logistics, hotel breakfasts in Warri, transportation support for the delegation in Delta State
  • National Association of Gbaramantu Students (NAGS) – volunteer services to build the library
  • U.S. Embassy, Abuja, U.S. Consulate, Lagos – logistics, media and outreach support
  • Lagos Airport Hotel, Lagos – discounted lodging
  • Wellington Hotel, Effurun, Warri – discounted meals and lodging, free use of conference room
  • International Foundation for Education and Self Help (IFESH), Port Harcourt – significant donation of books for the library and NIDPRODEV offices
  • Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, Lagos – reception at the National Museum in Lagos
  • Oporoza Community Development Committee (CDC) – hosting delegates and providing much support throughout our stay in Oporoza

U.S.-based:

  • Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF), Greenville SC – Computers and printer for the library media room
  • Emerald City Graphics, Kent WA – Printing of the Global Citizen Journey brochure
  • GAL International, Philadelphia – container space for shipping books to Nigeria
  • The Film Connection, Seattle – Educational and documentary DVDs for the library
  • NVC Consulting, The Spiral Dynamics People™ – books and resources on Spiral Dynamics, including free scoring of their values test for all delegates
  • Seattle businesses that donated books: Elliot Bay Book Company, Magnolia’s Book Store, Toucan Creations, University Book Store

And thanks to all the many individual donors who funded delegates and text books, donated books and gave generously of their time.

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November 12, 2007/by Jessie

Burundi 2008

About Burundi

Burundi News & Links
View Larger Map

Wedged between Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda in east-central Africa, Burundi occupies a high plateau divided by several deep valleys. It is equal in size to Maryland. The capital of Burundi is Bujumbura. The monetary unit is the Burundi franc. The three ethnic groups are Hutu(Bantu) 85%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 14%, and Twa (Pygmy) 1%. Religions include Roman Catholic 62%, indigenous 23%, Islam 10%, and Protestant 5%. Despite years of being battered through civil war, and the land yields agricultural commodities such as coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc(tapioca), beef, milk, hides. The official languages are Kirundi and French.

Burundi is now recovering from over 40 years of ethnic violence between the Hutus and Tutsis which resulted in over 500,000 people being killed, including women and children, just in the last 12 years of civil war. The conflict arises from the transition from years of colonial oppression when the British favored the minority Tutsi population, giving them power and privileges over the majority Hutus, who build up years of resentment. In December 1999 Nelson Mandela was appointed by a group of African nations to act as a mediator in the tribal conflict. An accord was reached in 2000, but some aspects of the agreement were left incomplete. Since then peace accords have been proposed along with a constitution suggesting various ways that Tutsi and Hutu tribes could be represented proportionately.

Click play to watch Tourists4Development’s tour of Bujumbara.Tourists4Development is a TV series to promote responsible tourism experiences and projects taking place in Africa, aimed at promoting a new way of travelling and showing people how to contribute to the development of local economies through tourism.

Ten of their short episodes take place in Burundi and offer a great introduction to the country. Enjoy!

Click here for more of T4D’s clips from Burundi.

None of these accords satisfied all the parties involved. In February 2005 the proposed constitution was overwhelmingly approved by Burundi’s voters. Since May 2006 there has been a ceasefire in place between the FDD (Forces for the Defense of the Democracy) and the FNL (Forces for National Liberation). Today Burundi enjoys a very fragile peace, needing the international community to support the people’s efforts in rebuilding this nation through peace, reconciliation, trauma healing, and building trust between the ethnic groups.

Because of these last years of civil war, 60% of the homes, as well as schools and hospitals, were completely destroyed. The country became a veritable wasteland as people took up arms against each other. Similar to what happened in Rwanda, Burundi saw no effective intervention from the international community.

There are many complex crises facing the people of Burundi and the Great Lakes Region today. Chronic poverty, AIDS, ongoing ethnic conflict, land destruction, water pollution, flooding each winter. These crises have resulted in the large scale displacement of people (many refugees living in displacement camps) and mass famine. Global Citizen Journey seeks ways to support Burundi in the reconstruction of this small nation as a way of impacting the Greater Lakes Region (Burundi, Rwanda, and the Congo) where over 8 million people have died in wars over the last 10 years.

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Burundi News and Links

News Sites:

  • All Africa
  • IRIN News
  • The Burundi Network
  • AfrikaNews – Underreported African News

Blogs:

  • Jax Burundi Blog
  • Brandon’s Crawlspace

Other Resources

  • From Bloodshed to Hope in Burundi
  • Atlapedia Online: Burundi
  • Tourists4Development: Short Videos from Burundi
  • JRMD – Our Burundian Partner Organization

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November 12, 2007/by Jessie

Burundi Partners

 

Our Partners in Burundi:

Kazoza Kumukenyezy

GCJ is sponsoring a group of women who have formed themselves into a farming collective (leaders pictured below). The group is called “Kazoza Kumukenyezi” which translates as “The woman’s future”. These are strong women, mostly widows, who said, “We want to take care of ourselves, we didn’t want to go to the city and beg.” They are currently farming on little scraps and corners of land that others are sparing them, but they need land, tools, and seed to support their efforts. There are currently 104 women in the group, and they are able to raise enough to help support not only the nutritional needs of themselves and their families but also to sell some surplass in the market to generate income. They  raise two crops in a year, peanuts and rice. They have a leadership group of amazing women who have put together this vision in a place of very scarce resources.

Several GCJ delegates traveled to Burundi in summer of 2008 and connected with these women and other residents of Carama district and Bujumbura through the help of our host partner, Prosper Ndabishuriye.  GCJ has been a sponsor and supporter of this women’s collective since then.  The group has flourished:  over the years we’ve helped them add to the acreage, purchased tools, and seeds.  They’ve had great crops with food to feed their families plus a surplus to the sale and make some extra money to help their children go to school.

Burundi was struck by severe flooding in 2014.  Tragically over a 100 people died, many homes were lost, and the women’s’ fields were totally washed out, along with the loss of their entire crop, all their tools, the storage shed, seeds, etc. We helped replace the tools a few years ago.  Now, in 2017, we hope to continue working with the women of Kazoza Kumukenyezi (“The Women’s Future”): they now have an opportunity to purchase adjacent land to expand their business and capacity.

Want to support this womens’ Burundi project? Just click here to donate. 

 

Host: Youth in Reconstruction of a World in Deconstruction (JRMD/WRWD)

Our host is Prosper Ndabishuriye, the founder Youth in Reconstruction of a World in Deconstruction (JRMD/YRWD), an organization devoted to building homes for displaced Burundians. After the genocide in 1993, Ndabishuriye decided to do something to help his country—bring Hutu and Tutsi youth together on a mission to replace the thousands of homes destroyed by war. As they traveled through the countryside together on a bus, their unity in the face of violence and hatred was the only thing that saved their lives at roadblock after roadblock.

 

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November 12, 2007/by Jessie

Orientation Session for Volunteers

Global Citizen Journey is Seeking Interns and Volunteers!

Discover opportunities with Global Citizen Journey (GCJ) as a delegate, intern or volunteer and develop your capacity as a citizen diplomat. We are developing our website and communication materials, editing videos, conducting research and much more to support our upcoming and current delegations. Your skills, talents and energies are welcomed! Fill out our Prospective Volunteer Form after reading through GCJ’s Wish List.

Our next orientation will be scheduled and updated either here or on the home page. Please also follow our Facebook page for orientation updates, event announcements, photos, GCJ journey information, volunteer openings and much more! Monthly meetings will typically be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the second Monday evening at Global Citizen Journey (click to view location coordinates) located in the neighborhood of Fremont in Seattle.  

If you would like an orientation to Global Citizen Journey (GCJ), please contact us at susanpartnow@gmail.com and we will provide video, slides and conversation to help you learn about the mission and vision of GCJ, a unique Seattle-based nonprofit.

We will talk about our journeys and share stories from our first journey to the Niger Delta in 2005 when we brought 19 Puget Sound residents with 21 Nigerians from all around Nigeria, to live in a small village where we completed the first library in the oil-rich, environmentally devastated region. You will also hear stories from our second journey to the coastal town of Axim, Ghana, where 15 U.S. delegates joined 14 Ghanaians in circle work, town hall meetings, educational/health outreach and building of an orphanage and community center. You will learn about our journeys to India, when were we were hosted by Maher in Maharashtra and ELFA in Kashmir. You will also get to know about the Burundi women’s second harvest on their land purchased by GCJ and our work with Population Caring Organization (PCO) and other nonprofits in Liberia to launch the Liberia Peacebuilder Initiative to build a community-based network to foster conflict resolution, reconciliation and sustainable peace at the grassroots, to help stabilize Liberia and grow the peace it has begun to experience.  

For more information and/or to RSVP to our orientation sessions/events in the future, please contact:

Susan Partnow, Founding Director, Global Citizen Journey, susan@globalcitizenjourney.org or  206-310-1203.

October 28, 2007/1 Comment/by Susan Partnow

Make a Difference: Donate!

Thank you for your support!

We are driven by our passion and volunteers, with almost no overhead. This means 100 percent of your donations support our programs! Your donations serve to build our capacity to support the journeys to help those in need, our fellow global citizens, across different parts of the world as well as to supplement the funds we gather for community service projects. Examples from our journeys include the Niger Delta Friendship Library, the WHH Orphanage and Community Learning Center, the women’s collective farming endeavors in the Carama District in Burundi, microlending in Nigeria and Ghana and school supplies for public schools in Kashmir, India.

We will allocate your funds in the wisest way to support our current activities or projects for our upcoming and previous journeys. Or, if you have a preference, you can indicate how you wish your donation to be allocated.

Donate Through PayPal

If you have a PayPal account, you can use the button below to send funds directly and avoid a service fee. We’ll send you a reply email asking you to specify the delegate or project you want your funds earmarked for.


Donate With a Check

You may send a check payable to Global Citizen Journey; be sure to indicate who/what your contribution is earmarked for in the memo line:

Global Citizen Journey, c/o Jim Peckenpaugh
4425 Baker Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107

 

Thank you so much for your support! Please sign up for our quarterly GCJ newsletter so you can remain a part of our growing family of global citizens.

April 1, 2007/by Susan Partnow

GCJ Advisory Council

GCJ Advisory Council

We are grateful for the wisdom and expert advice so generously offered by these inspiring leaders and nonprofit veterans.

  • Jerilyn Brusseau, Co-founder, PeaceTrees Vietnam
  • Joel Bisina, Founder/Regional Director, Niger Delta Professionals for Development (NIDPRODEV) & President, Leadership Centre for Peace, Integrity and Transformation (LCPIT)
  • Greg Carroll, PhD, Associate Professor & Coordinator for Peace and Intercultural Relations, Salem State College
  • Christine Di Stefano, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Washington & Director, NEW (National Education for Women’s) Leadership Puget Sound
  • John Graham, President, Giraffe Heroes Project & Initiatives of Change
  • Leah Green, Founder & Director, The Compassionate Listening Project
  • Shana Greene, Executive Director, Village Volunteers
  • Mark Howard, International Coordinator, EarthCorps
  • Marsha Iverson, Public Relations Specialist, King County Library
  • Jan Levy, Executive Director, Leadership Tomorrow
  • Ann Medlock, Founder and Creative Director, Giraffe Heroes Project
  • Fred Mednick, Teachers Without Borders
  • Bob Ness, Principal Consultant, Ness Consulting
  • Steve Olweean, Director of Common Bond Institute, President of International Humanistic Psychology Association (IHPA)
  • Vicki Robin, President, New Road Map Foundation
  • Len & Libby Traubman, Founders, Jewish-Palestinian Living Room Dialogue
  • Leif Utne, VP Community Development at Zanby
  • Dwight Wilson, Executive Director, World Corps
  • Louise C. Wilkinson, PhD, Cross Cultural Specialist, The Boeing Company
March 4, 2007/by Susan Partnow
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