Lars Torres, a longtime NCDDer who recently switched from being a Researcher for AmericaSpeaks to independently running his own arts-based dialogue organization called the Global Peace Tiles Project (I know - takes some guts!), just added an update to Peace Tiles’ facebook group. I’m so happy for him; he’s accomplished so much already - that I thought I’d share the announcement on the NCDD blog…

Peace Tiles Update :: November 2007
To members of Global Peace Tiles Project

Lars Hasselblad Torres

Hey everybody,

I hope you’re well. Up here in Vermont we just received our first real winter dusting - about 3-inches of snow. We’re excited to feel the change. There also been some great things happening with Peace Tiles, so will get to a real quick summary:

1 - St Egidio Workshop in Kenya
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Ronald Onyango of St Egidio Community - a residential care center for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS - reports on a successful workshop with over 60 children! Read his report here:
http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=105&Itemid=1

2 - Peace Tiles at Boston International School
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The Boston International School has begun to use the Global Peace Tiles project as a way to cultivate environmental stewardship among students in its afterschool programs. The effort will culminate with an exchange of tiles with youth in Senegal, West Africa.

3 - Peace Tiles Coverpop!
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Thanks to the generosity of webapp developer Jim Bumgardner, Peace Tiles has another fun feature at peacetiles.net - Coverpop! Its a great way to gather and view a large collection of images - have a look for yourself:
http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=79

4 - African American Health Project
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AAHP has been using the Peace Tiles process to raise awareness about the global AIDS pandemic and to encourage involvement in World AIDS Day activities. Read more about AAHP at:
http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=96&Itemid=1

5 - Peace Tiles at Global Health Conference
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We’ve been invited to submit a workshop proposal for the Global Health Council’s annual conference in May, 2008. This will be a wonderful time to recap progress since the effort began in 2005 - and to inspire a whole new cadre of health professionals! Ideas? Please send them to [email protected]

6 - Winnipeg-Kenya Prisons Exchange
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A great prisons-exchange pilot is warming up between Stony Mountain correctional facility and inmates in Nakuru, Kenya where local partner REPACTED (http://www.repacted.org) has been using the Peace Tiles process to open discussions about HIV/AIDS among inmates. Stony Mountain gave approval for Peace Tiles as an activity for inmates, and expect to send their tiles to Kenya in January, 2008.

7 - Goucher College World AIDS Day Event
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Following on a presentation of the Peace Tiles project at Goucher College, students in the International Studies program will host a World AIDS Day Peace Tiles workshop to raise campus awareness, and then bring the tiles with them to South Africa as a gift to brighten the walls of children’s AIDS-service organization. Go Goucher!

8 - New Resources at peacetiles.net
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I’ve updated the links in various categories of Peace Tiles’ initiatives, including Urban Visions, Conflict and HIV/AIDS. Check them out at:
http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/index.php?option=com_weblinks&Itemid=23

9 - Twinfield School Residency
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In January 2008 I’ll be running one of the more ambitious Peace Tiles activities I’ve been involved in yet: a 500+ all school extravaganza around the theme, “What is my place?” The purpose is to produce a mural that captures the vitality of the Twinfield School community - from Kindergarten through all staff. Younger children will read, “The Big World and the Little House” to help them get into this (somewhat abstract but rich) theme.

10 - Forthcoming: Peace Tiles Planning Guide
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A new guide to planning a successful Peace Tiles workshop is being written. The purpose of this guide will be to help educators, parents - anyone who’s thinking about using Peace Tiles - to plan the “big picture” - from finding a theme that resonates with youth to securing community involvement to “putting the tiles to work.” It will also include 4 inspiring examples of how Peace Tiles workshops have been realized around the world. Look for it December 1!

11 - From the Archives: WAD2005 in Northern Michigan
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I was surfing the web the other day to discover anything that I might have missed - there’s alot going on! - and came across this lovely article written by children at the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum - host of a World AIDS Day exhibition in 2005. Check it out at:
http://mixedmedia.us/peacetiles/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=106&Itemid=1

12 - AIDS Ride 2008 Peace Tiles
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Organizers of a bike ride from Toronto, Canada to Mexico City are planning to conduct at least 4 Peace Tiles workshops along the way, in an effort to produce a mural for exhibition at the World AIDS Conference which will be held in Mexico City in 2008. For more information about this exciting endeavor, visit:
http://www.aidsride2008.org/

That’s all for now; if you’ve got some news, ideas, or questions -please join us at our new Facebook group - its where I’m hoping the “networking” and discussions for Peace Tiles will be taking place in the future:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4819594719

Thanks everyone! Peace, and stay strong,

lars
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www.peacetiles.net | [email protected] | 802-563-2757