tEAm news #66 | 24.11.21
As the final leaves fall from the trees and the temperature feels more wintery we hope you are keeping warm and well and getting ready for all the fun and festivities to come.
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give”
Dates
MOMENT OF PRAYER - Mondays 9-9:15: a moment to pause, prayer, light candles for our work & team. All welcome!
Link here (Meeting ID: 708 452 7633 Passcode: empathy)4.12.21 Christmas Fair: Skinners Kent Academy
5.12.21 Christmas Fair: Skinners Kent Academy Primary School
Christmas campaign on The Empathy Store - involving a few new products! (Stars and Syrian Veggie cook book)
TBC - a get-together pre Christmas
Late Feb/Early Mar 2022: TPT Sevenoaks
Summer 2022: DJ Sevenoaks
Sept 2022: TPT: Activate Learning
The Empathy Store
We’re open for Christmas sales and as a special thank you to our team news community, we have a special 20% discount code for you (please keep it to just you guys as it’s been a hard year for Empathy Action and we would love every penny from others).
The Discount code is “TEAMNEWS'“. Happy shopping!
Help: Hosts in Tunbridge Wells needed
Can you house a lodger between Jan 7th to Mar 13th next year? Or do you know anyone who might be able to help us?
Empathy Action will be having a special International volunteer, from Taiwan, between early Jan and mid March. Her name is Vanya Chung and she’s been spending weekly sessions with Ben getting to learn more about Empathy Action and our work here. Her long term heart is to serve refugees and is looking at a time in the UK working with a few agencies. She’s currently with Operation Mobilisation just outside Birmingham.
She’s a creative and looking a lot at the role of drama and trauma therapy. She’ll be attending a course straight after her time with us with All Nations Christian College (where she has been a student previously).
We have are looking for a great local host in the Tunbridge Wells area who would could look after her (inclusion for meals & bed) over this period to help shape her cultural experience. Can you help or do you know someone (who would fit our kind host match) who could assist us? We’ll need some friendly rates for this but she has a budget of around £500 for the 10 weeks.
Thank you and please get in touch with Ben if you can help or for more information.
Conversations with Sandy
You might be interested to join the following:-
Can we speak our way out of society's most pressing challenges?
“…it is proposed that a form of free dialogue may well be one of the most effective ways of investigating the crisis which faces society, and indeed the whole of human nature and consciousness today” David Bohm
An invitation to talk
Our news reels have been filled this month with COP26 reports, leaving us overwhelmed with “will they, won’t they” questions. Which can cause many to numb the overwhelm of emotions and respond to climate change and biodiversity loss with denial, apathy or silent acceptance.
How do we get beyond this?
When we feel compelled to make changes about things that cause us distress and pain, like climate change, how do we share this with and inspire others?
In part two of our Dialogue Series: Wild Nature, with Reboot the Future, we explore reciprocity and connection: delving into our relationship with Nature.
We offer strategies and examples of how to hold respectful dialogue - inspiring others to access what it is they love about our planet and what compels them to act and protect.
If we allow ourselves to fall in love again with the natural world and non-human beings – if we rekindle this connection – then our determination becomes unstoppable.
Add your voice to our conversation on Monday 29th November 2021 from 4-6pm (GMT). The follow-on conversation will be 13th December 2021 at the same time.
Please register here. We suggest a contribution of £20 per session - this includes a pack of resources, the Masterclass and a ‘buddy’ to connect and discuss further. Please note a contribution is appreciated, but not compulsory - you are welcome to attend, regardless.
Everyone is welcome
OTHER UPDATES
The Poverty Trap simulations (TPT) are back! Following last week’s announcement for Activate Learning TPT in Sept next year we have another enquiry for a booking. This time with our friends at Sevenoaks School for late Feb/early March as part of their ‘Global Inequality’ Geography topic.
Desperate Journeys simulations (DJ) - we’re also in conversations with Sevenoaks School for a DJ (not the full version, but a lite version) for next summer. We are not in a position to run a full DJ due to being depleted in numbers but we are up for running a newer smaller 2-3 tent version and look to involve members of the local displaced communities in a much stronger way. This could be an exciting new offering of DJ for the coming year.
Selling products this Christmas - we’d love your help to boost our Christmas sales via social media. Could share or pass on any posts on our social media channels to your friends or to people who maybe interested in purchasing some of our gifts? Thank you!
Christmas Fairs are coming - are you connected to any that we may easily exhibit at? Please let Ben know if so.
Vix’s new book is a great idea for a Christmas present. You can buy it here (we’re looking forward to reading it… Thank Vix!)
