tEAm news #70 | 20.1.22
Happy New Year!
It was Martin Luther King Day at the beginning of the week. In his ‘I have a Dream’ speech he shares a hope that one day people will be judged by the ‘content of their character’. We also share his dream to build up characters and characteristics or people who readily use their empathy to feel with the proverbial least of these.
What a great vision of hope to start the year!
Ps- a thank you to our intern, Barbra for this template for TN this week!
“That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive.”
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*Dates*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
MOMENT OF PRAYER - Mondays 9-9:15: a moment to pause, prayer, light candles for our work & team. All welcome!
(Vanya will be leading us over the coming 2 months)
Link here (Meeting ID: 708 452 7633 Passcode: empathy)Valentine’s campaign is coming. (It’s an innovative idea that Barbra, Krishna and Cam have been working on) with The Empathy Store … more on this next week!
Late Feb/Early Mar 2022: TPT Sevenoaks (TBC)
Summer 2022: DJ Sevenoaks (TBC)
Sept 2022: TPT: Activate Learning (TBC)
Soapstone hearts that will feature in the Valentine’s campaign
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*Other Updates*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
A special welcome to new team member, Vanya Chung (left) who started here last week and will be with us until early March. Also a welcome back to Cam Wenham (right), who is helping Ben.
More to come on Cam & Vanya over the coming weeks!
The High Life (THL). We’re looking at adapting this post COP26 (a few tweaks will need to be made to the news videos). Paul is looking into this as well as trying to market the sim to more groups to takeaway and use. If you know any groups that would be up for running a sim, please point them to the THL area.
LDF Support (our EA ‘Livelihood Development Fund’ - 10% of our income from sims and donations). We were able to send a small grant upon receiving an emergency request for help to pay for a rent following the sudden arrest of Reham’s husband (a common thing for undocumented Syrians) in Istanbul in December.
We’ve also heard news from Fatin, who we helped last year with a fundraising campaign (via LDF), about a call up from the UNHCR for an interview re resettlement from Jordan to a new country. This official process has taken approaching a decade to get to this stage. Reem has highlighted a small medical need for her (if you would like to help contribute, please get in touch with Ben).
(Both these ladies were part of the Queens of Syria production that came to the UK, which allowed Reem and her family to resettle here.)Desperate Journeys (DJ). We’re hoping to start practicing a newer version of DJ without as much set or cast over the coming 2 months. Over the coming weeks we’d like to share more about this - it’s been humbling to see us gaining the ability to run some of these programmes again. Watch this space!
Syrian Spoon Veggie cookbook update. Sadly, due to Covid, we were unable to launch the cookbook for Christmas, but we’ve just heard the following exciting news:
”… we are finally putting the finishing touches on the cookbook. Still, lots of Covid delays, my poor students and teachers up at Sevenoaks School just keep getting slammed into! However, this Thursday should be our last school edit before sending it off to our proofreader. If all goes well with her, she should have it back in a week, then we do one last proof and send it to printing.I'll continue to keep you in the loop, it's looking fab, I've cooked so many of the recipes and I'm convinced it's the best cookery book I've ever owned. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we don't run into any more delays”
A yummy recipe from the Syrian Spoon cookbook
Ben’s interview on the Wonder Space podcast with Steve Cole (and nominated by Reem… she’s on episode 21)
Covid Precautions for the EA Office
If you are considering or planning to visit the EA office in Church Road please consider the following guidelines. I've checked the government guidance and nothing significant has changed.
Whenever possible work from home
If you plan to work in the office do a Lateral Flow Test on the day you plan to visit, if the test is positive or you have symptoms of Covid do not visit the office.
Keep numbers in the office at one time to a minimum, four is the absolute maximum.
Maintain social distancing, wash hands regularly and clean surfaces using the cleaning materials provided.
Open widows to provide ventilation whenever possible.
If you have any questions please let me know.
Richard Watts, EA Management
A beautiful January morning… and full of hope!