Chris Pease, Peace Partners' Treasurer, reflects on the charity’s support for the initiative: “Carolyn initially approached us a year ago for help with workbooks and reading articles, and we donated £250. She approached us again recently, and this time we granted the full request of £500 in view of the success of the project, and the need for a lot more materials. Her email below tells the full encouraging story!” Dear Chris, I just want to say that the funding we got from Peace Partners last year has been really appreciated, and we were able to buy lots of workbooks for prisoners. We have now increased our presence in HMP Leeds, and are running four PEPs a week in different wings. Billa Nanra, an ex-offender from HMP Leeds, is coming in with us to facilitate. Many of the officers remember him. It is creating a lot of good will in the prison and also the prisoners really look up to him, he inspires them. His documentary 'Slaying the Dragon' is shown on the prison information channel which all the prisoners have access to in their cells ,which is great as it promotes the PEP: tprf.org/new-short-film-slaying-the-dragon-highlights-power-of-peace-education-program We are now delivering PEP to around 50 to 60 prisoners each week over the four wings. To save on workbooks we have been photocopying single sheets each week, but many of the attendees like to have a workbook and write a lot in them, so if we can we try to give them one to keep. We also read the article at the end of each session. They read out a paragraph each. It's a great way to finish the session, and they all clap themselves at the end! I am requesting if it would be possible to have some more funding so we can stock up again on workbooks and reading articles? We fund quite a lot of expenses ourselves - pens, paper, printing, biscuits for the break etc. plus other incidental expenses, but to buy workbooks and articles in bulk takes a lot of funding that we don't have. Every 10 sessions we ask the participants to complete feedback forms, and below are a few of the responses from the ones we did in February. In answer to the question - What did you most like about the Peace Education Programme? It opened up my mind and now I can be at peace with myself I just think it is a really good programme and recommend it to all the inmates. I like the way it makes you see things in a different way . It is a place where I find peace in Jail. Interesting and relaxing . It makes you feel you can do something with your life. Love it ! I am a better person for doing it. It is also very heart-warming to hear what they say when we chat to them. Here are a couple of examples: This is the highlight of my week It is the best course in the prison. It is very exciting what is happening here, and we are possibly going to expand further or into another local prison where some of the men from Leeds get transferred to. It is not without its challenges, but I really enjoy it and get a lot from it myself, as do the other volunteers. Thanks and Best Wishes, Carolyn HMP Leeds PEP contact
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April 16th also sees the launch of a summer campaign to promote Hear Yourself, a wonderful new book by Prem Rawat, founder of The Prem Rawat Foundation, to a wider reading public. On our 7th year anniversary the Peace Partners team is delighted to be partnering in this campaign. There is more about this in the post Book Project '23.
Seven years a charity Formed as a UK non-profit organisation by supporters of the work of The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF), a fundraiser for TPRF was held in central London at the end of 2015, and in April 2016 registered charity status was achieved. The charity's aim was summarised in the motto 'working towards a world where human beings have access to sufficient clean water, nutritious food and personal peace'. From the beginning - as the name suggests - it was recognised that success would depend on how far collaborative initiatives could be sustained. In the summer of 2016 the charity hosted its first special Waves of Change event 'Peace and Sustainability' at London's Royal Victoria Dock. This featured presentations from a diverse range of groups, all whose aims closely reflected Peace Partners' and the theme of the event. In subsequent years, further fundraisers for TPRF initiatives, and Waves of Change events and workshops were hosted, the latter having a special focus on peace education projects. When the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, physical events became impossible, and attention shifted to hosting online virtual events and workshops. It was inspiring to see the efforts of the volunteer team, donors and supporters in continuing the charity's activities during the lockdowns. In 2021, Juli Hammersley, charity director from the early days, stepped down. Earlier in the year she had recorded a video interview, in which she talked about her inspiration and motivation - you can view the video here. Since then the charity has undergone significant changes in personnel and organisation, and now, on our 7th anniversary, we are beginning to engage with physical events once more! Through all the changes though, our aim has remained unchanged. We always give a warm welcome to new volunteers. If you have any skills or talents that you would like to bring to the team, please view our current vacancies here or you can email promisenwoko@peacepartners.co.uk. Find out a little more about the charity and how it is developing from our news blog posts: latest-news archive-news Thanks to a generous amount of funding from our donors and from lottery money, we continue to be in a position to support The Prem Rawat Foundation's Peace Education Programme in the UK. Recently we were able to fund a wonderful promotion of the course which included banners, flyers, information leaflets and sample workbooks. This created a huge interest in the programme and plans for implementation of the course are now underway. These projects don’t happen on their own and thanks also go to a wide group of volunteers who were involved in enabling this to happen. This included research, planning, venue liaison, artistic design, finance and technical help. Thanks also to the facilitators who manned the stalls and helped those people who expressed an interest in attending the course. We’re grateful to all who continue to support Peace Partners with this campaign! You may be interested to know that Celebrate Life Events 'Power to Change' documentary, directed by Wendy Lewis, has recently received a Latitude Film Award. Learn more about the movie here. |
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