I long to help parents and teachers communicate difficult issues in a lighthearted way so that our future generation can better understand the human experience and their relationship to challenging experiences.

http://youtu.be/jBVS-RvI_ho

Enjoy.

Aja

The star quilts made by the women of the Tribal Traditions of the Lakota Sioux are stunning, something special indeed. They are used in many of the traditions of the Lakota people. For example when a couple gets married they are put under a star quilt during the marriage ceremony. I often sit in one when I want to feel connected to something bigger than myself, perhaps what the Lakota call

The quilts have some power that is hard to put into words. Perhaps it’s because the quilts, the women who make them and the medicine man Sam Moves Camp have been teaching me over the duration of this wonderful project. It is possible the knowledge connects me to my higher wisdom because I have “labeled” the quilts sacred, or maybe they really do have some power beyond words! It’s hard to know for sure. Take some time to learn more about the Tribal Traditions project, the Lakota people, how to donate, or buy a quilt at: www.tribaltraditions.org.

Aja

As I allowed my experience and the people around me to teach me, I began to see that poverty wasn’t a result of how much money I had, but more a state of mind. I could have one dollar to my name and feel like the richest person on earth if my experience was ripe and colorful. There were also times that I had tens of thousands of dollars in my bank account and I felt isolated and scared for the moment it might run out.

I am often shocked at the joy I see in slums around the world. Through the media I was trained to believe people in Africa or others in extreme poverty are always sad. I was shocked the first time I went into a slum and saw orphaned children playing and laughing just like back home but without the plastic toys. It was at that moment I realized they were human and not just some alienated picture on TV.

I haven’t yet mastered the climb out of poverty, but working on the Global Peace Train with women in the slums of Kenya and the Pine Ridge Reservation has helped me see how fortunate I am. I aspire to master this climb alongside the many women the Global Peace Train serves, and share what we learn along the way.

May we all free our minds,

Aja

GBaby’s character was created out of interviews I did with real people around the world.
 He was literally bought from a young girl on a train in India and his story is born from the real life facts and spun together with many different people’s imaginations. The first public photo of him from last week shows where he began.  He was born an orphan on the streets of india, he lived on a trash pile in India selling recyclables for cash, and he dreamed of one day reaching America… 

One of my favorite things about GBaby is that his story is about some of the hardest circumstances to overcome: no mother or father, no money, no hope. He never gave up and fought all those challenges to make it to America to follow his dream of being a world-changing rapper. His story is still new, people don’t always know what to think of him, and he requires people to step out of their comfort zones in order to build the next part of his story. He hasn’t made it out of poverty just by arriving in America, his challenge now is to get people to believe in him… I bet you could imagine how hard it would be to believe a plastic doll could ever become a rapper. But I bet, as he goes on his journey we will have the opportunity to believe in something seemingly impossible and make it possible! 

Aja

When I visit far off lands like Kenya or the Pine Ridge Reservation, I am reminded about what really matters… Connecting and communicating with others. The time in these places is slower and the people actually have time to deeply connect with each other. It doesn’t matter who I visit or where they live, there are several steps I always take in order to connect with others:

Trust: I must 1st build trust. I often do this by being vulnerable and beginning with what is human, suffering. When I open my heart to others and share my own suffering first, suddenly I appear human to them and they can often understand some aspect of my experience.

Train: I allow myself to be trained before I begin training. This step can spin out of control in a harmful way if I see myself as above or better than the people I am connecting with. It is most important to first allow myself to be trained or taught about what the people need or want most. After they have trained me on what life is like and where they want to go, then I can pull from my own experience and offer some useful tools. Above all else, I always remind myself that it is only out of my own experience that I can teach anything at all.

Transform: I allow transformation to occur. It is a process. In this step I must allow myself to be transformed and from that space others gain the opportunity to transform themselves as well. Just like the name of this blog! Change yourself, change the world. Following these three key communication tools I have been able to open doors with rich entrepreneurs, homeless alcoholics, gang members, and children and adults of all kinds.

Trust, Train, Transform is good to remember when seeking a deep communication with others: Build trust, allow yourself to be trained, and transform yourself first.

Aja

After carefully assessing our needs, we would like to add the following professional experience and skills to our volunteer organization:

• Fund Development(Grant Writing, Major Giving Programs, Donor Relations, etc.)
• Special Events(Major and Minor Events)
• Marketing Communications(Social Media, Website Maintenance, E-blasts, Promotional Materials)
• Call Center Management
• Database Management
• Project Management

As you can see, there are many ways to get involved. If you would like to join an amazing team of volunteers in 2012, please send a brief emaildescribing your interests and skills to aja@globalpeacetrain.org. We will be sure to follow up with you in a couple weeks and will provide more details regarding your selection(s). We expect to start our committee meetings the third week of January, 2012.

We thank you in advance and look forward to your participation in the coming year. Please know that your support will be greatly appreciated by the global communities that continue to endure extreme poverty and hardship and that your involvement will significantly raise local and international awareness!

Sincerely,

Aja Duniven
Global Peace Train- Executive Director

Phone: 303.818.8209

Email: aja@globalpeacetrain.org

Web:http://www.globalpeacetrain.org/

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-Peace-Train/135118249882007

About Global Peace Train:

Founded in 2009, Global Peace Train (GPT) is a volunteer-based, Colorado nonprofit [501(c)3] that empowers some of the world’s most underprivileged communities to become self sufficient by custom fitting business models with traditional culture. We achieve our mission by collaboratively working with NGO’s and the most destitute populations all over the globe. Our goal is to provide the resources the communities need to lift themselves from poverty and to educate them in the skills they ask for in order to personally empower them towards a brighter future.

About our Programs:

To date, GPT efforts have involved micro-lending for women-led projects in Kenya*, economic development in the Lakota** Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and transformative programming with metro-Denver gang members.

*The Mission of theKenya Projectis to empower the native women and develop a sustainable program that can be handed over to the local participants when it is fully operational.  The objective of Miracles with Microloans© is to reduce poverty while creating dignity, not dependence. Miracles with Microloans© is designed to facilitate the empowerment of underserved women in the Kuwinda slum, using micro financing as a vehicle to develop sustainable community enterprises.  This microfinance program offers small loans to impoverished women so they can start small businesses and lift their families out of poverty.

**The Mission of the Lakota Project is to empower the native women to build an economy and share their tradition. By designing an e-commerce website and teaching them business skills, they learn how to bring their beautiful quilts to market with integrity and passion.http://youtu.be/Z9SYprRtPjA

At Global Peace Train, we are in the business of teaching people how to get out of poverty. There are many different skills to learn in order to get out of poverty, and it can be hard to know what they are unless you have been there yourself and been successful at getting out. We have found that asking the people we work with questions about what they love to do really gets the sparks flying. Some of the people we work with dream of getting out of prostitution and running their own small business, others simply want to share their art with the world. If there is no passion for the task that will lift someone out of poverty, the complete journey most likely will never happen.

I am excited to announce that I have taken another big step alongside the Lakota people in South Dakota to eliminate the
poverty that exists on the Pine Ridge Reservation. We have built a website that is a tool the women can use to sell their beautiful star quilts. This creates income for the women on the Reservation, and also in turn can help Global Peace Train take the next step in becoming a sustainable charity. Building the website has created another benefit as well, the learning experience we have gone through to create this successful project, that can be payed forward in training other communities to share their sacred traditions with the modern world.

The website is a place to buy the beautiful quilts that the women have been making by hand for generations, and it is a way to share some of the Lakota wisdom with the world. Becoming a member of the Tribal Traditions community provides a way to educate ourselves about poverty, and ancient traditions. It is a chance to give back to the most impoverished community in the US, the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Come! Take the first step with us as we learn how to uplift the Lakota Nation from poverty and share what we have learned with others. Take a peek into this project, make a donation or buy a handmade Lakota quilt at: www.tribaltraditions.org

The mission of the Tribal Traditions of the Lakota Sioux project is to empower the native women on the Pine Ridge Reservation to build an economy and share their tradition. By designing an e-commerce website and teaching them skills in business, they learn how to bring their beautiful quilts to market with integrity, play, and passion. We are proud to announce that we have received our first shipment of these sacred quilts, driven personally by the native artist Germaine Moves Camp, from South Dakota.

Germaine Moves Camp

Also a moving force on this project is a Medicine Man named Sam Moves Camp. His grandfather worked alongside the famous warrior Crazy Horse in the late 1800′s.  I am excited to take another trip to the Reservation soon to sit down with him and receive a greater teaching on the ancient meaning of the star quilts.  It is our intention to create a sacred experience for those who purchase these quilts.  Participating in this commerce is a way to learn about the Native Lakota tradition and feel connected to the sacred human experience.

Take a look at the site: www.tribaltraditions.org