Chellie Kew with a young student
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Dear Subud Members,
We send you a shorter than usual version of the eNews this time because we have a few major announcements for you.
News from the Network
- SDIA Website Launched! >>
- The Annual Report is ready! >>
- Conference in Colombia—SD highlights >>
- Tribute to Hugo Flem of Subud Norway >>
- SD Indonesia recognized >>
- Update from Q-Fund >>
- From the Office:
>>
- D.R. Congo visit underway and
- new brochure available
With warm wishes from the office.
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SD Network News
1. Launch of SDIA website.
We invite you to take a look at our new Website! The web address is the same, www.susiladharma.org. We hope you will find it much easier to find information on this site but we apologize for the sections that are still "under construction," The new banner for Susila Dharma, which you can see at the top of this edition of the eNews, has created by graphic designer Marcus Bolt from England.
2. SDIA 2007 Annual Report
We present the 2007 Annual Report in English, Spanish and French, thanks to our translators. This colourful twelve page document highlights the activities of the international Susila Dharma organization last year including the finances and will be approved by the SDIA members at the upcoming Annual Meeting in Amanecer. You can download the Annual Report from the home page of our new website. You can download the Annual report from our home page in all three languages, choosing color or, for more economical printing, black and white.
To download the SDIA Annual Report, go to www.susiladharma.org
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3. Highlights of the Susila Dharma Meeting in Colombia
(The last SDIA meeting in Latin America was in Brazil 2003)
The Susila Dharma highlights for the Subud Conference at Amanecer near Armenia, Colombia July 23-August 5 are:
July 23—Development and Governance
(Bardolf Paul and others)
Our experiences of influencing decision-making and public policies
July 23-25 & 27—Project Management Training
(Virginia Thomas & others)
Designed for project leaders—overview of project management components, "Logical Framework" as a planning tool, communicating, promoting, hosting volunteers, budgeting, financial reporting and preparing for an audit.
July 27-28—Educators Conference (Fernando Fatah)
An exchange of experiences and innovations by Subud educators from the Americas.
July 29—Susila Dharma Day
Presentations by Board and staff and decision making by the voting members of SDIA.
July 30—SDIA Annual General Meeting
This conference is focused on the Americas and we know that people active with Susila Dharma are coming from Canada, USA, Ecuador, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba and of course Colombia. Representatives are also coming from France, Holland, Britain, and Spain. Susila Dharma meetings will be open to all interested people whether or not they are actively supporting or running projects Please register for the Project Management Training in advance by emailing info@susiladharma.org
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4. Hugo Flem and Vestavind: mission completed
A Tribute by Sharifin Gardiner
(Photos: Hugo Flem and his wife Maya of Subud Norway and a building at Vestavind.)
Hugo (Peder) Flem was born and died in the place where his forbears lived: the island of Vigra on the West coast of Norway near Ålesund. His father, Eivind was a farmer and the local librarian, and was the first Subud member in the area. This beautiful district of Sunnmøre, an archipelago and coastline pierced with fjords, far from Oslo and even Bergen, was the ancestral home of the Norman kings of England. For a long time an important maritime base, it is prosperous and easy to reach with a small airport where Hugo worked for many years ... and a close knit Subud group. Thanks to the Gulf Stream it has a mild Atlantic climate, rather like the Western isles of Scotland, but more dramatic, with dark, snow capped mountains in the background.
Hugo left home at the age of fifteen and travelled the world as a sailor and trained as a machinist. Later he became an airport fireman: first, at the national airport near Oslo and later at Vigra. Opened in 1981, his experience of the Anugraha Congress in 1983 led him to become a dedicated Subud member. This quiet, smiling, gentle man of great physical and inner strength, a warm heart and amazing blue eyes, was twice chair of SD Norway and served a term as kejiwaan councillor for Subud Norway; however, his vision and his main work was to convert part of his ancestral property, which had a wooden house and a barn, into a centre for Subud, for the local community, for young people and as an enterprise. He called it Vestavind, West Wind. Most of the work on the property he did with is own hands, combining the traditional with the latest technology. First things first, he converted the barn into a beautiful latihan hall lined with pine from floor to ceiling. He added four cabins that had traditional turf roofs with grass and flowers growing on them. The next project was an extension to the barn with more accommodation, a second latihan room and a kitchen, finally another accommodation block, warmed by air source heating with 8 bedrooms which he was able to finish with some volunteer help and assistance from Maya and two of his children before his physical strength gave out.
Vestavind, a magical Northern outpost for Subud has been the venue for youth holidays, kejiwaan and Susila Dharma meetings and for the 2007 Subud Norway AGM or Congress. Vestavind is Hugo's monument and his legacy, and we pray that his vision and intention will be fulfilled. Thank you dear Hugo, and love and condolences to your devoted Maya.
Taufik Waage writes of Hugo's enormous generosity and empathy, he was a man of action: trustworthy, steadfast and modest, an example to everybody. He was what the might call: "A man for all seasons".
Hugo received a vision about building a Subud place at the farm in the latihan just after his father died in 1988. The original vision, which was tested many times to keep it alive, was to create a center that included everybody, Subud and non Subud, young and old, local and international. He just did what was necessary and in the end, when he was not able to do the work, two of his children came to fulfil his work. He reminds me of the old patriarchs in the Torah-most of all of Moses. [Moses didn't complete his mission!] In the end he was able to say "mission completed". After doing latihan with him in his bedroom a couple of days before he died: one of our Subud members saw his father, Eivind standing by his bed with a big smile on his face. It started with Eivind telling him in the latihan what to do and that is also how it ended-Eivind smilingly waiting for him now the job was done.
But, like Moses, he was not admitted entrance to the promised land. He left it to those who inherited from him to make the land "a promised land", to make these buildings a place for everybody, to show that Subud is not a secretive cult, but a way to develop into a real human being following the guidance from within. Hugo himself is the best possible example of that".
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5. Congratulations to SD Indonesia…
...for being recognized for their work in post disaster recovery. Ariana Susanti, chair, writes:
As a follow-up of our microfinance projects in Pangandaran, West Java in cooperation with UN OCHA, here I forwarded to you the news which you can see on email below from Quick Center. They contacted us, based on UN Ocha reference, their activity is promoting Small Financial Institutions (ProFI) project [and] together with Bank Indonesia established a new knowledge centre and knowledge sharing platform on microfinance in disaster surroundings for the practitioners' community. It includes among other [things] a project database, a library, a forum and links to related organizations. Their website [is] www.quick-centre.or.id. Information about SD Indonesia's project is found here:
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6. Q-Fund Update
Chellie Kew, founder of the Q-Fund, sends a colourful update on the foundation which is building schools in Africa.
In the Q-Fund Newsletter, Chellie writes:
…These boys were the first students at Chimoza that I saw in 2004. Now in grades 9 and 10, all are extremely brilliant, but cannot attend classes at the nearby government school until they have the equivalent of U.S.$220 for tuition and uniforms. … Eventually every child at Chimoza will be able to graduate from high school right on our campus. Sadly, because our classroom blocks are not yet complete, we have already lost some Chimoza graduates to work in the mines, and one girl to pregnancy, without a father for her baby.
Learn more about Chellie's work and the Q-Fund here.
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7. From the Office
D.R. Congo visit in progress
(Photo from a previous international Subud trip to DR Congo.)
Virginia Thomas, Executive Director, is currently traveling in DR Congo with Garrett Thompson, Latif Bashua, Heloise Jackson and Jorge Guerin. Their focus during this trip is to build the capacity of Subud members and understand better how international partners can assist them with their enterprises and social project development.
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The SDIA Brochure is ready
SDIA has also published a new brochure that presents the work of Susila Dharma around the world. It is printed in both English and Spanish. You can also download a PDF file of the brochure immediately by using the links below.
SDIA brochure in English
Folleto SDIA en Español.
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