For Immediate Release
December 14, 2008
Contact: Carly Ritter
ritter@gofnyc.org
Tel: (646) 251-1181

MIZERO Children of Rwanda Choir to perform at St. John’s Lutheran Church
December 20, 2008 - 7:30 PM

The message of forgiveness coming from the mouths of babes! These young orphans and vulnerable children from the beautiful African country of Rwanda will delight and inspire their audiences with song, drumming and dancing!

New York, N.Y. – On December 20th, the day following their performance at the United Nations, a group of Rwandan children, many of whom are orphans who survived the genocide in 1994, will perform at St. John’s Lutheran Church (83 Christopher Street, NYC) at 7:30 PM, taking audiences on a journey into the lives of the Rwandan people through music, dance, costumes and drumming. The group is known as the MIZERO Children of Rwanda - in Kinyarwanda, the language of their home land, “MIZERO” means “HOPE.” The group is on their USA “Forgiveness Tour,” serving as young ambassadors for peace and healing.

While many organizations are helping Rwanda recover from the 1994 genocide, few have addressed the issue of cultural brokenness. “My vision for MIZERO is to build, bring and to spread hope to Rwandan children through our vibrant music and dance traditions. It is my goal to mentor them to help them discover the power of forgiveness as I have, to help these young ones grow up free from hatred, bitterness and the spirit of revenge. This use of the arts combined with the message of forgiveness can help these children heal their wounds from the past and put a stop to violence and any future genocide through this next generation of young leaders,” says MIZERO founder and CEO, Jean Paul Samputu

The UN has declared the year 2009 as the Year of Reconciliation. Samputu and MIZERO have embarked on an impassioned 2009 schedule filled with activities that focus on ‘Forgiveness as a Step to Reconciliation’. This includes the ‘Forgiveness Tour’, various conferences and concerts, and global conferences called ‘Gathering of Forgiveness: A Step to Reconciliation’ to be held in Rwanda in February and July which will also commemorate the 15th year of the Rwandan genocide.

MIZERO Children of Rwanda believes that through music and arts, youth receive self-confidence, life skills and creative expression to help them heal and go forward. These children are sharing their gifts of music and performance while raising awareness about the 1 million other Rwandan orphans. Please visit the Web sites for MIZERO Children of Rwanda (www.mizerochildren.org), Jean Paul Samputu (www.samputu.com), and Gardens of Forgiveness (www.gofnyc.org) to learn more.

Garden of Forgiveness Formally Dedicated in Stuyvesant Square Park, NYC!

The Friends Seminary Peace Club, Garden of Forgiveness, and Stuyvesant Square Park community came together on It's My Park Day to formally dedicate the Garden of Forgiveness in Stuyvesant Square Park. A stunning plaque naming the garden as a Garden of Forgiveness, and including a quotation from Desmond Tutu ("Without forgiveness, there is no future") was unveiled and will be secured in the garden for posterity.

Peace Club leader Claire Brennan spoke eloquently about the process of creating this newest member of the Global Gardens of Forgiveness Network, and of why forgiveness is a key element in peacemaking. Garden of Forgiveness Executive Director Lyndon Harris also spoke beautifully on the power of forgiveness to heal the past and create new possibilities for the future. We will upload videos from these dedication speeches to YouTube - so keep an eye out for them!

Many families had gathered the morning of the dedication to help plant some bulbs in the still growing garden. Designed by Craig Snoke, working with the Peace Club students, the garden includes white mums in the shape of a white dove of peace opening its wings. Absolutely beautiful! Each bulb planted on the 25th was planted with the hope and intention of peace through forgiveness.

Scroll up for some pictures from the event, visit the Stuyvesant Square Park wiki page on our website for more information, and stay tuned for updates on this garden's growth!

(Submitted by C. Ritter)

Turkish Cultural Center in NYC hosts screening of "The Power of Forgiveness" with The Garden of Forgiveness!

On July 30th, the Garden of Forgiveness presented a screening of "The Power of Forgiveness," hosted and sponsored by the Turkish Cultural Center. We had a great crowd of people who offered deep insights after the film. Garden of Forgiveness Executive Director Lyndon Harris spoke of his own journey to forgiveness and to the work of the Garden of Forgiveness, and took questions and comments. One woman remembered something her father told her when she was full of anger and bitterness at a point in her life: he said, "you are producing your own poison." A powerful way of thinking of holding onto grudges and grievances! It reminded us of the Nelson Mandela quotation that bitterness is "like drinking a glass of poison and waiting for your enemies to die." We also heard powerful stories from a Turkish woman who had suffered discrimination and hostility after 9/11 simply because she is a Muslim, a man who spoke to the vital importance of overcoming such ignorance with open dialogues, and a woman who had asked for forgiveness from her brother and now enjoys a great relationship with him after many years of not speaking. To be sure, we all saw examples of the "power of forgiveness" that night! The conversation was wonderful, and the group really appreciated the film, sensitively made by Journey Films (www.journeyfilms.com).

We also want to express our deepest gratitude to the Turkish Cultural Center, which hosted the screening and showed the most beautiful hospitality. They had delicious Turkish coffee and treats, as well as rose water for everyone to use! Their space is gorgeous, warm, and inviting and they put on exceptional programming. One of our favorites is their "Abraham's Table" series where they have a Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholar all speak on one topic from the perspective of their faiths. It's an enlightening series, which highlights the wonderful similarities and differences of these three faiths - and helps us all grow in understanding and compassion for one another! Thank you Turkish Cultural Center for supporting our work of forgiveness and putting on such a marvelous screening!!

To read more about the event, and to learn more about the terrific work of the Turkish Cultural Center, please visit: http://www.turkishculturalcenter.com/alt/power_of_forgiveness.htm

(Submitted by C. Ritter)

On June 26th, we welcomed a wonderful group of youth from St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, GA, to learn about the Gardens of Forgiveness movement. We had originally planned to work with them in our newest Garden of Forgiveness (Stuyvesant Square Park, NYC, started by the high school Peace Club of Friends Seminary). However, due to rainy weather, we instead had the group over to our office to view a slideshow presentation by our Executive Director, Rev. Lyndon Harris, about his journey from 9/11 to forgiveness.

The group asked terrific questions about forgiveness, and offered their own insights on our work. They had been touring Ground Zero and St. Paul's Chapel in the days before meeting with us, and had spoken with several of the staff from the St. Paul's Chapel 9/11 relief operation. (Katherine Avery, Director of Program Development at St. Luke's, was Rev. Harris' administrative assistant - and a shining light - during the relief operation. She was one of the adults leading this youth pilgrimage.) We gave each of the youth bookmarks with seeds embedded in them, in hopes that they might plant their own mini Gardens of Forgiveness - or, more appropriately, potted plants of forgiveness! We also 'planted a seed' (aka made a suggestion) for a Garden of Forgiveness at St. Luke's in Atlanta!

To read about St. Luke's "Returning Good for Evil" youth "Pilgri-mission" to NYC, visit their blog at: http://stlukeseyc.blogspot.com/

AOL Health News reports that houseplants reduce stress, lower blood pressure, boost creativity, and clean toxins out of the air!

For people who love plants and gardening, these research results probably won't be much of a surprise. But research shows that just seeing greenery is calming and stress-reducing. Plants can also add moisture to the air, which lessens sore throats and cold symptoms. The article also says that plants like the kentia palm pull toxins out of the air! And Chinese evergreen and arrowhead vine lowers blood pressure!

This should inspire us all to add plants to our homes and work spaces. And it further shows why "Gardens of Forgiveness" are such brilliant, beautiful ideas! Gardens and plants are healing, as is forgiveness. And by reducing stress, plants make an environment "forgiveness-friendly." By spending time in a Garden of Forgiveness, one can get the peace and healing one needs. I just love the idea of plants pulling toxins from the air around us... just the way forgiveness pulls out and releases toxins from our bodies and souls!

To read more about the health benefits of plants, copy and paste the link into your browser:
(http://www.aolhealth.com/healthy-living/home-remedies/houseplants-health-benefits?icid=200100397x1205189597x1200247353)

(Submitted by C. Ritter)

(Summer Friends campers working in the Garden of Forgiveness at Stuyvesant Square Park)

Last Monday I worked in the Stuyvesant Square Park Garden of Forgiveness with "Summer Friends" - a summer camp group associated with Friends Seminary, the school that started this beautiful Garden of Forgiveness in NYC. It was so exciting the see how hard these young people (ages 9-13) worked! And with what enthusiasm and passion! Their task for the day was to spread mulch around the garden, so as to prevent weeds from cropping up and to keep the moisture in the soil for the health of the current plants growing in the garden.

It struck me how much work goes into tending and taking care of a garden. To keep it healthy and flourishing there must be a lot of work done. If only we could view ourselves similarly: that to keep our bodies and souls healthy, we must tend and take care of ourselves with the same concern, attention, tenderness and care. We have to look out for weeds of bitterness and anger, and lay a groundwork of forgiveness so they keep from spreading, choking off the life and beauty of the rest of the garden.

Recently, we had to take care of a fungus that was on our rododendrum. The fungus left black spots on the leaves and stems, and it took a lot of careful work to cut off the infected parts, and treat the rest of the plant with fungicide. As I did this, I thought of how much more seriously we might take our tendency to hold anger, greivances, and bitterness if it showed up on our bodies like a fungus! It certainly wreaks havoc on our bodies, and souls, if left unchecked (as Dr. Fred Luskin has shown in his research). As Nelson Mandela said, resentment is "like drinking a glass of poison and waiting for your enemies to die." But we often don't see the damage to ourselves as it's being done. If we could, we might just be a little quicker to forgive!

It's amazing how healing gardening can be - and how many ways it serves as a metaphor for forgiveness!

(Submitted by C. Ritter)







(Me next to some of our beautiful plants!)

Awards for THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS documentary

In May 2008, The POWER of FORGIVENESS received the Silver Screen Award by the US International Film and Video Festival in the category of Religion, Ethics and Humanities! It was also listed as #6 BESTSELLER on AMAZON / DOCUMENTARIES / SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY!

We are thrilled that this thoughtful and sensitive film on the subject of forgiveness is receiving the attention and accolades it so deserves. We are honored that our work is featured in one of the film's vignettes, and hope that the message we are participating in sharing with the world reaches the multitudes! Films such as these are important tools in creating a world beyond violence and lasting hatreds.

Congratulations to Journey Films for your marvelous work - keep it up! And read below for the official press release about the Silver Screen Award!


For Immediate Release
May 2, 2008
Contact: Dan Juday
dan@journeyfilms.com
703-519-8200

POWER of FORGIVENESS
Wins Silver Screen Award



The POWER of FORGIVENESS has been awarded the Silver Screen Award by the US International Film and Video Festival in the category of Religion, Ethics and Humanities. Founded in 1967, the Festival is one of the world’s leading international events, devoted exclusively to recognition of outstanding film and video productions. This year there were more than 1,100 entries. Award ceremonies will be held on June 6 & 7 in West Hollywood, California.

The POWER of FORGIVENESS is currently being broadcast on public television throughout the United States and is available in home video format (DVD). As part of the outreach effort that launched the film, special screenings of the film were held in more than 40 cities nationally, including The Washington National Cathedral, the United Nations in New York and at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. The film also won Best Picture Award at the Sun Valley Film Festival in 2007.

Of the award, filmmaker Martin Doblmeier said, “It’s very gratifying that a film that has found such a devoted audience around the country is also judge so positively by the industry. As we traveled around the world and interviewed people with so many different stories, we earned a heightened appreciation for both the need for and the benefits of forgiveness.”
The film examines the role forgiveness can play in alleviating anger and grief, as well as the physical, mental and spiritual benefits that come with forgiveness. It combines character-driven stories about the most dramatic transgressions imaginable with other stories that feel more familiar, more understandable to the viewer. Story locations include Beirut, Northern Ireland, Amish country and Ground Zero. The POWER of FORGIVENESS includes stories and interviews with people from many faith traditions: Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel on forgiveness in the Jewish faith; Azim Khamisa on forgiveness and Islam; Rev. James Forbes, pastor emeritus of Riverside Church in New York, on forgiveness from a Christian perspective. And best-selling author Thomas Moore (Care of the Soul) speaks on forgiveness from a spiritual dimension.
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