High Mesa Happenings & Heartstrings

A Click and a Minute for Peace

 

Nancy Bankston and the HMHC Team are inviting all readers and families to consider participating in the A Million Minutes for Peace, on the United Nations International Day of Peace

 September 21, 2009.

It means you click once, right now to pledge your minute, and you pray, meditate or reflect a minute on September 21, 2009 at Noon.

Odyssey Networks is “the nation's largest coalition of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith groups dedicated to media production, and distribution of media. Odyssey’s membership includes over 40 faith groups and organizations and comprises more than 200,000 congregations with 120 million congregants.” ( Mission Statement)

Visit Odyssey Networks to get acquainted with their mission and work, and opportunities to find bloggers, discussion groups, and young advocates for Peace Movement , films, etc.

To pledge click here on Pledge to Pray for Peace.

Still undecided ? Watch below:

“By working together, there will be peace one day” JEREMY GILLEY

Jeremy Gilley is an actor turned film maker, who in the late 1990's became preoccupied with questions about the fundamental nature of humanity and the issue of peace. He decided to explore these through the medium of film, and specifically, to create a documentary following his campaign to establish a day of ceasefire and non-violence.
In 1999, Jeremy founded Peace One Day, a non-profit organisation, and in 2001 Peace One Day's efforts were rewarded when the United Nations unanimously adopted the first-ever day of global ceasefire and non-violence on 21 September annually - Peace Day.
In 2007 according to the UN, over 100 million people were active on Peace Day, in 192 countries. There were life-saving initiatives in 14 countries, and over 80 activities in Afghanistan alone where 1.4 million children were vaccinated against polio. (YouTube.)

 

Welcome Back, Barbara!

Barbara is almost back from China;  HMHC is posting this article just now to welcome her back to the blessed place she loves so much! 
                          

    "As I was preparing for my trip to China I took a breath, centered myself and realized just how fortunate I am. I took just a moment to look back over the summer realizing that this has been an awesome time. 
     HMHC hosted the 6th annual Peace Village and it was the best ever! The team came together just after Peace Village 2008 and began planning for 2009. Organization & control of Peace Village (PV) was passed to Kaylah Glasgow and Susan Finch, who have brought intense dedication and great experience to this annual event. 
     They attracted and recruited several retired educators who brought a wealth of experience with them to PV. All that planning and preparation really paid off as the campers and counselors gained so much from the camp.
  The wider community came forth with donations and assistance in so many ways. Some have said that they want to do this, to be a part of this project for they do not see anyone else doing this kind of event. With those kind of comments Peace Village will continue. There are so many who made PV the success that it was: Kaylah Glasgow, our fearless leader, who has been here all 6 years and Susan Finch, who stepped up to co-direct with Kaylah. What a team they make together. As they worked and planned in cooperation, it all came together so smoothly, making it easier for the other volunteers to follow their example. It was just beautiful. 
      Envision Your Future was a new curriculum that the kids loved. It was brought to PV by Linda Hand and Melissa Gebhart from Region 9. The kids also loved the challenge course at Bonito Conference Center. It was just a very rich experience for all.
     As the PV crew was tearing down and leaving the grounds, the Vision Quest group arrived to support our vision questor. We are so grateful that Sonnie and Memo Licona continue to come to HMHC to do the Native American ceremonies and rituals for this community. 
     When my family were visiting one of my kids asked me if I would ever look down there at the Center and just wish that they would all go away?  I can not even imagine such a thought, for it has taken 17yrs to develop this place with this energy where folks can come to participate in the activities. It is also a place where folks can come and share their talents by offering their services to the community.
     And I get to live here, holding the space for all these wonderful events to happen.  I am so blessed!
  And now I must get on with my preparations for my trip to China with a delegation of Holistic Nurses led by Dr. Barbara Dossey, one of the founding members of the American Nurses Association. The mission and goals of this delegation are to explore ways to share our nursing knowledge with each other and with our Chinese colleagues. We will engage in dialogue to share our collective nursing wisdom and values as health diplomats and health coaches in creating a healthy world --local to global. This program is co-provided by People to People Citizen Ambassador Program.

                Peace, Love and Blessings to All

                            Barbara”
 

Peace Village at HMHC

  

Peace Village is an “experiment in peace education,” structured in day-camps, after- school programs and teen curriculum, and adult workshops. Participants in a Peace Village project “promote the practice of nonviolence, the value of seeing [them]selves in one another, and the importance of being a peaceful presence.”

High Mesa Healing Center is proud to host the

Sixth Annual Kid’s Camp Peace Village of 2009.

  Planning for the Peace Village Camp at HMHC has been underway since last November; however Co-Directors, Kaylah Glasgow and Susan Finch work year round; November is when a core of volunteers start to meet monthly with the Co-Directors to help with this tremendous task of creating a week-long day camp: there is the curriculum to review and update; teaching materials to inventory and supply; snacks and lunches to oversee; brochures, application and donation letters to draft and send; traffic coordination, transportation to off-campus activities, AGL interviewing and training, and so forth.

The camp participants are children of 7-13 years of age, divided into 3 age groups; each age group has several Age Group Leaders who work with them and the teachers.

AGL are teens who demonstrate enthusiasm, leadership, responsibility and dedication to the mission of promoting non-violence, who show respect and care for all people and the environment, who inspire their younger peers.

Teachers at Peace Village Camp are school teachers, administrators and parents; some are HMHC Colleagues and Practitioners, others storytellers, musicians, environmentalists. They each bring particular knowledge and talents; they all live in the spirit of the Peace Village Mission.

The Curriculum includes non-violent conflict resolution strategies, music, art, meditation, multicultural and interfaith wisdom capsules, storytelling, nature walks, and peaceful self-empowerment tools. The camp will have an off-day at Angus Outdoor Education, filled with activities such as Animal Track, Brutal Gourmet, Forest Birds, Orienteering, and such.

 Peace Village Camp at HMHC is an amazing opportunity for kids and teens to learn to work together, to play together, to accept differences and to resolve conflicts with a peaceful intention. Peace Village Camp at HMHC is an incredible opportunity for adults to demonstrate that cooperation and community life involvement bring understanding among various cultures and creeds and thus, bring Peace.

Kudos to all involved in this project!

HMHC would like to thank everyone of Peace Village of Ruidoso for the opportunity to open its Campus to the project.

Peace Village at HMHC runs from July 27 to July 31, 9:00am-3:30pm.

For info, donations and participation, contact Kaylah Glasgow or Susan Finch, Co-Directors.

 

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Pictures (click on the picture to see a larger version and caption) included in this posting were taking during the Walk in the Woods: Health and Safety Fair of Ruidoso, NM. HMHC rented a booth to present some of  HMHC Colleagues  and their services:

* Healing Touch by Barbara Mader, RN, CHTP

* Personal Coaching by Kate Winner

* Web Design by Joel Carothers

* Pilates by Vanessa Blackburn, MA, MLT of Village Wellness

* Massage Therapy by Linda Schreiber, LMsT

* Peace Village by Kaylay Glasgow and Susan Finch of Peace Village

* Mail, Blog and Workshop Coordination by Nadette Welterlin-Hugg, MH,

     of Nature's Well to Healing

                                             

                                       

                                                  

                 

  Written and Posted by NWH   

DoSomething.org

 Barbara and friends of HMHC  support and encourage young people  (Peace Village) and causes which promote health today  and into future generations. Please take the time to read about Chad Bullock, a young Anti-Tobacco activist of North Carolina.  He took a leading part in making Durham Bulls Athletic Park a smoke-free park. Not a small feat in tobacco country !

"Chad Bullock, the 2006 South Regional Youth Advocate of the Year Award Winner, is currently one of the nine finalists in the Do Something Awards which will be presented as part of the FOX Teen Choice Awards show scheduled to air on August 5th. This contest honors amazing young people who have tackled a problem they saw in the world. Each finalist has been awarded $10,000 and the winner will receive an additional $100,000, all going to their favorite cause.

Chad has been nominated for his work as an Anti-tobacco activist and his youth advocacy work. He has trained 15,000 teens nationwide in developing an action plan, has led activists to make Durham Bulls Athletic Park smoke-free, and petitioned the Attorney General to sue cigarette companies targeting children.

But Chad needs our help to win. The winner is decided by an online vote. Voting is only open to 13-19 year olds so please ask your kids, neighbors, and other teens you know to vote for Chad. They can vote once each day. If Chad wins, his $100,000 prize will go to an organization working against Big Tobacco, making Chad’s win not only a great achievement for himself, but also a win for the lives it will help save. "

Click Do Something to hear Chad and the news media speak of the project.

Voting is only open to 13-19 year olds so please ask your kids, neighbors, and other teens you know to vote for Chad. Please go get the teenagers you to know and ask them to VOTE NOW for Chad!

Thank you for sharing the news, links and clicks for a smoke-free choice!

Posted by NWH

A Global Wave: One World, One Circle, One Cause

We all live on the same planet. We all are connected the same. We all long for the same.

Thank you Ginny and Kate for sharing this opportunity. Please watch the video below, then let's do it, on June the 18th at 7:00pm !

 "Such an easy thing to do. Send love and joy and healing to the earth and all living things at 7:00pm in whatever time zone you're in."

Posted by NWH

On Peace

Jane B-Y sent us words on Peace by Oscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdamez, known as Monsenor Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador. Witnessing ongoing violations of human rights in his country, he started a group speaking on behalf of the poor and victims during the civil war in El Salvador. He was assassinated in 1980 during a sermon, by a death squad. The movie Salvador by Oliver Stone renders the political stage around the life of Monsenor Romero and on the Civil War of El Salvador.

"Peace  is not the product of terror or fear.
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries.
Peace is not the silent result of violent repression.
Peace is the tranquil contribution of all to the good of all.
Peace is dynamism,
Peace is generosity,
It is right and it is duty."

Among others, Jane has included this photo (Bakersfield, CA,) titled "The Day when God dropped the Paintbox".

Sometimes, looking at beautiful colors of nature helps me to gratefully be still.

NWH 

The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes

Yes, it could be considered  a "trend" nowadays: kids speaking to adults on how we are destroying Mother Earth. These messages and other alike pleas have come via emails, videos, music, etc. Actually, it's not really a "new thing."  Every generation in its youth has been calling for a change or another. What's different about today's calls, then? Your answer is as good as mine.

My answer is that I hear the underlying fear. I hear the anxiety of loosing life as we know it, as it is supposed to be. Life ending for good. No future left. A cry for help. What to do? I can't bring back as the girl says in the video, species or forests that have disappeared. But I can take a child in my arms, listen, acknowledge, and nurture strength to face with compassion change and accept things the way they are. I can show that I heard the message and that I care in choosing a behavior which will honor all and everything as it is. I can show and teach skills to cope.

The Peace Village Camp is the opportunity for Teen Counselors, Teachers, Camp Staff and HMHC Staff to hear worries and change them into strength in demonstrating and encouraging peaceful life practices.

Watch and hear:

Posted by NWH

On HMHC Peace Village Camp: from Barbara

Peace Village

"If we are to attain real peace in this world we have to begin with the children." Mahatma Gandhi

Peace Village is a day camp for kids ages 7-13 held annually at High Mesa Healing Center located in Alto, New Mexico. This year the dates are July 21- 25; 9:00 am - 3:30 pm daily. This is our fifth year to host PV. Our focus is to teach kids about non-violent conflict resolution in all situations, while giving them tools to be at peace within themselves. The teachers are made up of young adults that have been team leaders in previous years and adults that have also been involved in Peace Village. This year we have a special treat for the day campers; three mornings will be spent at the Ruidoso Equine Center interacting with the horses.  Kids are our wonderful future and we feel they need to be nurtured and taught to be aware of the world around them, as well as self awareness.

Our classes will consist of non-violent conflict resolution (tools for handling various situations peacefully), nutrition (tools for knowing how to take care of their bodies), recycling/caring for the earth and media literacy (tools to decipher marketing and other information thrown at them daily).

These are the words from one of our teachers:

" Four years stand between who I am now and who I was when I started working with Peace Village at the 2004 inaugural camp at High Mesa Healing Center. (This was the first in New Mexico) A soon-to-be-high school senior then, I had little experience working with kids and even less experience teaching kids about peace.

  I can confidently say that week so long ago defined who I am to this very day. I have just finished my junior year at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. During my first two years at Reed I reflected on those times I had at Peace Village and decided I wanted to become a teacher. I have since taught the non-violent conflict resolution curriculum the last two Peace Village camps, and I will be returning to Ruidoso in July to teach at our fifth camp.

  But of course, the most important aspect of Peace Village is the connection we make with the kids. My first year, I met a thirteen-year-old, a boy who came to us to work off some community service he had (for some reason unknown to us) already accrued in middle school. He was surly, he had some problems at home and he just wasn't opening up to us. By the end of the week, he managed to crack a smile or two.

  It was the next year, when he came back to us, that he really began to shine. Since he was older than the other kids, I asked him if he wanted to be my assistant age-group leader. He obliged, and with this new responsibility, he became a mentor to the other kids. We invited him to eat lunch with the staff, where he hung out with the other teen volunteers. Though none of us have seen him since, we know that he will remember his two weeks he spent with us, because we took the time to make a connection with him. I believe that he felt genuinely cared about by everyone he worked with.

  Peace Village teaches students about non-violence, about how to resolve conflicts, about taking care of oneself and one's neighbors, about getting along with nature, and most importantly, about building community. Peace Village unites children from Ruidoso, Alto, Capitan, Mescalero, and even Roswell and Las Cruces with each other and with caring adults and teenagers from the community. Many of our volunteers have been with Peace Village more than one year, some as many as all four! Some of the children who have gone through all four years with us are now returning as volunteers for the fifth. Peace Village works to build community and support youth, we invite you to join us in this project and help us continue our mission and strengthen our program we love so much. "

It does indeed take a village to raise a child and this village has stepped forward to this call on behalf of our children. Several restaurants donate meals for the volunteers every year for which we are most grateful. Many have given scholarships so that all children may have the experience of Peace Village As we grow and expand there are even more ways to be of service in this community building process.

If you feel so moved to become a part of this in anyway please contact Kaylah Glasgow, Director at 937-0876, or Barbara Mader at 336-7777.

Posted by NWH

"Mudman" comments on Peace Village

Peace Camp 2007

"I was amazed at the fun we had in creating two benches and many smaller cob[earth]sculptues. People seemed to pick up the process of how to natural build in the earth, and as the week went on the skill level improved to the point of my needing to give very little feedback. We were challenged by rain almost every day, but it didn't stop us from playing in the mud; we just scheduled the mud work earlier in the day....
And I was also amazed by the skill level of the young people creating their own sculptures.I even noticed Kaylah playing in the mud and making mud pies the day we ran out of desert.....I counted the preadolescent boys' active volcanoes 1,223..... and all of them exploded on the last day.

I was honored to be a small part of the rite of passage and hope to continue some of this work in the future. Hopefully we can do more mudding in the future." 

blessings
robertfrancis

You can see the work that RobertFrancis and the children did on the grounds at High Mesa, near the labyrinth. Barbara & George have finished up the work of patching the cracks caused by drying, then applying a finish. The benches are great. Come enjoy them.

The Mudman is RobertFrancis Johnson from Santa Fe, who conducts workshops, rites of passage, and other opportunities for getting in touch (literally) with the earth. Read more about him here.