DUE TO WINTER WEATHER FORECASTS, THE OPENING HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12th.
What: Photography Exhibit of Portraits of Muslims from North Carolina
Where: FaithAction International House, 705 N. Greene St., Greensboro, NC 27401
When: Feb. 5 – Mar. 3, 2010
Opening Reception: 6 – 9pm, Friday, Feb. 5, 2010 6-9pm, Friday, Feb. 12, 2010 (New Opening Date)
Community-based artist Todd Drake has worked with Muslims in North Carolina to create self-portraits that share real reflections of self to a wider audience. Muslims from a variety of backgrounds and living in a variety of communities across North Carolina participated in this series, working collaboratively with Drake to realize their own vision.
For more information, visit the Esse Quam Videri web site. “Esse Quam Videri” — To be, rather than to seem — is the North Carolina State motto.
Click on the photo to see a whole album of photos from the World Religion Day celebration that took place January 17th at the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Greensboro, NC. World Religion Day, a brainchild of the Baha’i National Spiritual Assembly, is celebrated in about 100 countries in the world. Here in Greensboro, FaithAction has teamed up with the Triad Interfaith Council to sponsor the event. Many different faith communities are represented and the afternoon is filled with singing, dancing and the joy of celebration together with others, regardless of race, faith or national origin.
New refugee families continue to arrive in Greensboro, primarily from Bhutan, Iraq and Burma. As in previous years there will also be Montagnards coming to Greensboro, most of whom will be joining family members who already are here. We also expect to have families coming from Central Africa, Liberia and Burundi. The recent sudden closing of a refugee center in Thailand is forcing the US and other governments to receive refugees on very short notice, and many of these are coming into the Triad area.
Upcoming needs for adults and children which can be dropped off at FaithAction International House:
winter coats for children and adults
gloves, hats, and scarves
underwear for children and adults
socks
blankets and comforters
bedroom and bath linens of all types
kitchenware including dishes, pots and pans, small appliances in good working order
disposable diapers, especially in sizes 4, 5 & 6
sanitary supplies
Please contact us at 336-379-0037 if you have questions or need us to pick up donated items. Donations may be dropped off from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. weekdays at the FaithAction International House at 705 North Greene Street in downtown Greensboro.
Starting in January 2010, FaithAction International House plans to offer a new series of foreign language classes for community members interested in improving their capacity to communicate across cultures! Each class includes a total of 18 hours of instruction over 9 to 12 weeks for a cost of $65. We will have classes in Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish, as well as free English classes for immigrants and refugees. We also offer the Language Exchange in which an English speaking learning another language is matched with a native speaker of that language who is learning English. New in 2010 will be a twice monthly Spanish Conversation Club. For more information, go to our “Classes” page under the tab for Learn.
National Conference for Community and Justice
The Greensboro Chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice produced a video to showcase the two men they honored for their commitment to equity and inclusion. The theme of the 2009 NCCJ Brotherhood/Sisterhood Citation Award Dinner was “Living the Golden Rule.” We’re proud that our Executive Director was chosen for this award, along with Rabbi Fred Guttman of Temple Emanuel.
There were more than 300 people who shared their favorite dishes and a lovely program of dance and music at FaithAction’s Multi-Cultural Potluck Thanksgiving Dinner on the first Monday of November. This was our 7th Annual celebration of Thanksgiving. We selected Thanksgiving as an event that does not belong to one religious or cultural group – it is an especially American tradition that all refugees and immigrants quickly adopt as their own. So, Christians and Jews joined with Muslims, Buddhists and Baha’is and people from American and all around the world shared food, prayers of thanks, songs and dance – but most of all just good fellowship.
We co-sponsored a town hall meeting on immigration reform back in September. Here is one video that has come out of that. We had hoped that Senator Kay Hagen would come. Then we hoped that her “Senior Advisor” would stay long enough to really hear the voices of the undocumented immigrants. Maybe next time.
The Gala Premiere was held and nearly 200 folk turned out to enjoy the small but powerful films made by our refugee and immigrant students.
Our nine students, from Burma, Mexico, Bhutan, Togo, Niger, Liberia and Spain,all created short (1-3 minute) movies on the theme of “My Journey.” Each student interpreted that idea differently. It was wonderfully empowering to be able to produce a graphic and dramatic presentation about one’s life, said one refugee. Now these students have a skill that will allow them to produce simple movies about their communities, their cultures, and themselves.
Thanks to the American Friends Service Committee for co-sponsoring the Movie Making Class for Refugees and Immigrants. Thanks to the many volunteers who gave many hours of their time sharing their knowledge and skills. Thanks also to the Greensboro Historical Museum for hosting the Gala Premiere of the movies.
Be watching for an announcement of our next Movie Making Class for Refugees and Immigrants, sometime early in 2010.
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice has given FaithAction International House a small grant of $3,000 to help us reach into refugee and immigrant communities with information about the importance of being counted during the upcoming US Census 2010. We will use the funds to make sure that accurate information about the Census and how it is conducted gets to the thousands of Spanish, French, and Arabic speaking immigrants living in the Greater Greensboro area. Read more about this grant from the News & Recordhere.
The Southern Coalition for Social Justice has given FaithAction International House a small grant of $3,000 to help us reach into refugee and immigrant communities with information about the importance of being counted during the upcoming US Census 2010. We will use the funds to make sure that accurate information about the Census and how it is conducted gets to the thousands of Spanish, French, and Arabic speaking immigrants living in the Greater Greensboro area. Read more about this grant from the News & Record 