Maggie Doyne is someone that I have recently come to know of.  On discovering her and her work in Nepal I knew I had to share what I found with you.  Please if you can do anything at all to help her and the children in Nepal, feel free.  Even just spreading the message about her work there is so important, the more people who know and are informed, the more people who can help!  So at least please tell others of her and the beautiful children who need her and us all.

From Maggie Doyne’s webiste: maggiedoyne.squarespace.com

After my senior year of high school, as my friends were heading off to college, my parents dropped me off at Newark Airport where I boarded a plane and set off to travel the world. It was just me and my backpack on my first solo trip away from home. Four countries and 20,000 miles later, I was trekking through the Himalayas in war-torn Nepal, where I began to meet hundreds of orphan children. I fell in love with their bright eyes and beautiful smiles, but was shocked to see them barely surviving without the most basic things that I had grown up with as a child.

Playing inside the chicken coop!As I shared my dream to build a safe home for these children, with my hometown in Mendham, NJ, I was astounded by the outpouring of support. This past year, I officially opened the frontdoor of Kopila Valley Children’s Home, built brick-by-brick, by me and the local community in Nepal. There are now 28 children living in our home. We have been able to enroll sixty children into school, facilitate life-changing operations for children in need, and create a village outreach program to improve schools in remote areas. I truly believe that if every child in the world is provided with their most basic needs and rights—a safe home, medical care, an education, and love, they will grow to be leaders and end cycles of poverty and violence in our world.

I have grown and learned more in this past year than I could have ever imagined and recently created The BlinkNow Foundation to share my ideas with other young people, especially children in the U.S. I believe that in the blink of an eye, we can all make a difference.
We are all truly limitless!

Thank you.

How you can get involved with Kopila Valley Children’s Home

• Sponsor a child or project
• Send small gifts to the children (poems, pictures, bracelets)

Project Photos

• Click Here WRITE to MAGGIE

Early Years

• January 6, 1924: Born in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province.

• 1943: Graduated from Mokpo Commercial High School, South Jeolla Province.

• 1944: Launches the Mokpo Shipping Company.

• 1946: Marries Cha Yong-ae, who later gives birth to two sons Hong-il and Hong-eop

• 1948-50: Serves as CEO of Mokpo Daily

• 1951: Serves as CEO of Heungguk Shipping Co., President of the Jeollanam-do Shipping Association, and a Trustee at the Korean Shipbuilders’ Association

Political Career

• 1960: Becomes a spokesperson for the Democratic Party (DP)

• 1961: Elected to the 5th-term National Assembly in a by-election.

• 1962: Marries to Lee Hee-ho, who later gives birth to Kim’s youngest son Hong-geol

• 1963: Elected to the 6th-term National Assembly; serves as spokesperson for the Democratic Party.

• 1964: Delivers a 5 hour and 19 minute-long filibuster speech to stall parliamentary approval of the unlawful arrest of Rep. Kim Jun-yeon.

• 1965: Named spokesperson of the People’s Party.

• 1967: Serves as a member of the Political Affairs Committee of the People’s Party.

• June 1967: Elected to the 7th-term National Assembly.

First Attempt at Presidency

• September 1970: Elected the New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate for the 7th-term presidential election.

• October 1970: Proposes inter-Korean exchanges for non-political purposes and theories for reunification with North Korea.

The Yusin Constitution Period 1972~1979

• July 1972: Proposes joint entry of the two Koreas into the United Nations at a foreign press conference after the July 4th South-North Joint Statement.

• October 1972: President Park Chunghee’s military regime dissolves the National Assembly and suspends the Constitution in the form of “Yusin,” or reform measures; a brief stay in Tokyo for medical treatment turns into an exile for Kim. He issued his first anti-Yusin statement from Tokyo and continued to protest Yusin measures in the U.S. and Japan through the local press and Korean communities.

• August 8, 1973: Abducted from a Tokyo hotel by CIA agents. He was released Aug. 13, and was placed under house arrest at his Donggyo-dong residence in Seoul and barred from any political activities.

• August 1974: Supports reform-minded Kim Young-sam in his bid to become the party leader at the New Democratic Party national convention.

• November 1974: While still under house arrest, Kim joins the National Conference for Democracy Restoration, an anti-dictatorship campaign organization.

• March 1976: Leads the March 1st Declaration for Democratization along with other dissidents; arrested for breach of Emergency Executive Order No. 9 and imprisoned until December 1978.

• December 1978: Released from jail after two years and nine months following suspension of sentence; placed immediately under indefinite house arrest but released after President Park’s assassination and the subsequent repeal of Emergency Executive Order No. 9.

Post Yusin Era in Early 1980s

• February 1980: Pardoned and reinstated.

• May 1980: Holds a joint press conference with New Democratic Party leader Kim Young-sam to propose six measures for stabilizing the nation, including lifting of martial law and the release of political prisoners.

• May 17 1980: Arrested by the Martial Law Command led by Major General Chun Doohwan on fabricated charges of treason; Gwangju Democratization Movement breaks out.

• September 17, 1980: Sentenced to death by a court martial.

• January 1981: Sentence commuted to imprisonment due to international pressure.

• March 1982: Prison term reduced to 20 years.

• December 1982: Sentence suspended after 2 years and 7 months; leaves for the United States for medical treatment.

U.S. Exile 1983-85

• January 1983: Settles in Alexandria, Virginia with family, speaks to Newsweek and other U.S. press outlets on the democracy and human rights situation in Korea.

• February 1983: Establishes the Korean Institute for Human Rights in Washington, D.C.; leads U.S.-based campaigns for Korea’s democratization.

• February 1985: Returns to Korea after 2 years and 3 months of exile; arrested at Gimpo Airport and immediately put under house arrest.

Return to Korea and Politics

• March 1985: Agrees to consolidate opposition forces and co-chair the Council for the Promotion of Democracy (CPD) with Kim Young-sam.

• April 1987: Launches a new Reunification Democratic Party (RDP) jointly with Kim Young-sam.

• September 1987: Visits Gwangju after 17 years and pays respect to victims of May 18th Democratic Movement buried at Mangweol-dong Cemetery (now May 18th Memorial Park); visits hometown Mokpo and Haui Island after 28 years.

• October 1987: Announces bid for the 13thterm presidential election.

• November 1987: Establishes the Party for Peace and Democracy (PPD); elected Party President and candidate for the 13th presidential election, but loses to Roh Tae-woo in December 1987.

• April 1988: Elected to the 13th-term National Assembly; PPD becomes the first ever opposition party to hold a majority in the National Assembly.

• April 1991: The PPD recruits leading dissident figures and re-launches as New Democratic Union Party (NDUP).

• September 1991: The NDUP merges with the Democratic Party led by Lee Gi-taek.

• March 1992: Elected to the 14th-term National Assembly.

• December 1992: Loses the presidential election to Kim Young-sam and announces his retirement from politics.

• July 1993: Returns to Korea.

• January 1994: Establishes the Kim Dae-jung Peace Foundation for the Asia-Pacific Region.

• July 1995: Returns to politics.

• September 1995: Inaugurates the National Congress for New Politics (NCNP).

• May 1997: Nominated as NCNP’s presidential candidate.

15th-Term President of Korea 1997-2003

• December 1997: Elected the 15th-term President of Korea, marking the first peaceful transfer of power between rival parties.

• February 1998: Sworn in as the 15th-term President of the Republic of Korea.

• January 2000: Named President of the Millennium Democratic Party.

• June 2000: Holds an inter-Korean summit with Kim Jong-il, Chairman of the National Defense Commission of North Korea, for the first time in the 55 years of the division of the Korean Peninsula; announces the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration.

• December 2000: Awarded the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize.

• February 2003: Presidential term ends. While in office, Kim was noted for implementing policies to advance democracy, transparent marketeconomy, informatization, welfare framework and above all, reconciliation between the two Koreas.

Life After Cheong Wa Dae

• August 2003: Conferred the Manhae Peace Award, Korea.

• November 2003: Dedication of the Kim Daejung Presidential Library and Museum

• December 2003: Decorated with the Bernardo O’Higgins Great Cross of Chile.

• June 2004: Visits China and holds talks with Chairman Jiang Zemin.

• November 2004: Visits Sweden and Rome; holds talks with Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson and Italian President Carlo Ciampi; presents a speech at the 5th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates (Rome, Italy).

• December 2004: Visits Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; delivers a special address at the 2nd East Asia Forum.

• December 2004: ‘The 21st Century and the Korean People,’ a selection of speeches and interviews, in published in Korean, English and Japanese.

• June 2005: Holds an interview at the Kim Daejung Presidential Library with Hankook Ilbo, sister paper of The Korea Times, on the occasion of the Korean language daily’s 51st anniversary.

• June 2005: Continued to deliver lectures at home and abroad on inter-Korean relations.

Academic Background

• 1964: Graduate School of Business Administration, Korea University, Seoul

• 1967: Graduate School of Business Administration, Kyung Hee University, Seoul

• 1970: Graduate Program in Economics, Kyung Hee University, Seoul

• 1983: Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

• 1983: Visiting fellow at the Center for International Affairs, Harvard University

• 1992: Honorary Doctorate of Political Science, Diplomatic Academy of the Foreign Ministry of Russia, Moscow

• 1992: Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

• January 1993: Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, UK

jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr

From the Korea Times
]]> http://herobeauty.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/kim-dae-jungs-life-chronology/feed/ 0 HeroGirl http://herobeauty.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/kim-dae-jung-passes-away/ http://herobeauty.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/kim-dae-jung-passes-away/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:03:17 +0000 HeroGirl http://herobeauty.wordpress.com/?p=176 ]]>

Former president of South Korea Kim Dae-Jung has passed away.  He was being treated for pneumonia and has reportedly died of heart failure. “His heart began failing at 1.35 pm and stopped minutes later despite our efforts to revive it,” said the spokesman.  In his career Kim Dae-Jung made it his mission to pursue democracy and reunification with North Korea.  His life was one of turbulence in which he survived assassination attempts,was tortured,exiled,and put under house arrest numerous times.

“I underwent many ordeals in my life but I never strayed from principles and never compromised with injustice, even at the risk of my life,” AFP news agency reported him as saying.

The loss of such a man is a sad one, but his presence in this world and what he stood for should not be forgotten in mourning.

Here is a link to his obituary on BBC.

President Kim Dae-jung was born on December 3, 1925 in a small village on an island of South Korea’s southwestern coast. He graduated from a commercial high school in 1943.

When the Syngman Rhee Administration (1948-1960) began to become increasingly dictatorial, he decided to enter politics. His political career proved to be rather turbulent from the start. He was elected to the National Assembly in a bi-election in 1961 after two unsuccessful bids, but, within three days of his election, the National Assembly was dissolved following a military coup d’etat led by Major General Park Chung Hee.

When he was elected again to the National Assembly in 1963, he began to emerge as a junior leader within his own party. He served as the spokesman for the Democratic Party in 1965 and became the chairman of the party’s Policy Planning Committee the following year.

As President Park Chung Hee sought constitutional revisions in 1969 to allow himself to run for a third term, Kim Dae-jung gave an address against the scheme in an outdoor rally, and he was widely acclaimed for his vision and courage. He was chosen the presidential candidate of the New Democratic Party in 1971, running against the all-powerful incumbent, Park Chung Hee. Despite the obstructionist tactics and illegal electioneering practices of the ruling party, he garnered over 46 per cent of the votes cast.

During the Assembly election campaign that soon followed the presidential vote, opposition leader Kim experienced what was to be the first of at least five attempts on his life by his political foes. A heavy-load truck rammed into his car, seriously injuring him and his two aides. President Kim still suffers from the leg injury.

Barely a year after the election, President Park imposed martial law, banned all political activities and rammed the so-called Yushin (revitalizing reform) Constitution through the National Assembly. It gave the president power for life. Kim Dae-jung strenuously objected to these extra-legal measures and led campaigns against Park’s regime in the U.S. and Japan. In August 1973, agents of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency abducted Kim from a Tokyo hotel. The plot was to “eliminate” him but swift and strong reactions from the U.S. and Japan resulted in his release in Seoul a week later. He was immediately placed under house arrest.

On March 1, 1976, the indomitable opposition leader joined other democracy fighters in issuing the “Independence Day Declaration for Democratization,” which touched off yet another wave of pro-democracy demonstrations in Korea. Subsequently, he was sentenced to five years in prison. He remained in jail until the authorities released him and put him under house arrest in 1978.

Soon after President Park was assassinated by one of his close aides in October 1979, Kim had his civil and political rights restored. After a few months of political unrest another group of soldiers seized power and Kim Dae-jung was thrown into prison, again, in May 1980 on charges of treason. In November of that year, a military court sentenced him to death. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, and then to a 20-year term. In December 1982, his prison term was suspended, and he was allowed to travel to the United States.

Kim ended his exile in the U.S. and returned home in early 1985 despite his supporters’ warnings that he might meet the same tragic fate as Philippine Senator Benigno Aquino. Back in Seoul, he was immediately put under house arrest but his return intensified the nationwide pro-democracy movement. In June 1987, Kim was cleared of all outstanding charges and his civil and political rights were fully restored. He ran and was defeated in presidential elections in 1987 and 1992.

In December 1997, he was elected to the presidency, winning 40.3 per cent of the votes. When he was inaugurated as the eighth President of the Republic of Korea, it marked the first transition of power from the ruling to the opposition party in Korea’s modern history.

Taking over the government in the midst of an unprecedented financial crisis, President Kim devoted himself to the task of economic recovery and managed to pull the country back from the brink of bankruptcy. Reforms and restructuring that began early in his Administration still continue.

President Kim Dae-jung’s vision for the Korean people led him to pursue a policy of engagement toward North Korea. He and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il worked together on a joint declaration they signed on June 15, 2000 paving the way for a brighter future for all Koreans and other peace-loving peoples of the world.

From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 2000, Editor Tore Frängsmyr, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 2001

Bio From IB.ORg

Kimmie Weeks has worked to alleviate poverty and human suffering in Africa and around the world since he was fourteen years old. Kimmie was born in Liberia, West Africa in 1981. At the young age of nine he came face to face with civil war, human suffering, and death. Weeks can still vividly recall eating roots and wild leaves when his family did not have access to food, drinking infested water when national water supply was shut off, and nearly being buried alive after epidemics had wrecked his emaciated body.

These experiences would have broken the souls of most people. However, they encouraged Kimmie to follow a path where he could make a difference and work to ensure a world where all children have access to food, medicine, and shelter. It is a vision that he has pursued ever since.

Over the years, Kimmie has formed partnerships and led organizations that have provided education to thousands of students in West Africa, lobbied the disarmament of over 20,000 child soldiers, and provided health care and recreation supplies to children.

Kimmie has faced many obstacles in pursuit of his dream. The biggest was when the Liberian government attempted to assassinate him for a report he issued on its involvement in the training of child soldiers. As a result, Kimmie was forced to flee Liberia when he was seventeen and has since been granted political asylum in the United States.

Today, a graduate of Amherst College, Kimmie is working towards building a movement to positively change the face of Africa. His goal and emphasis focus on empowering the people, providing new opportunities, creating strategic development partnerships with Africa and the west, and using technology to link Africa with the rest of the world. This year, the BBC released the documentary Kimmie Weeks: Back to the Front, which is now airing in the UK. Kimmie is also featured in the new book Peace in Our Lifetime as an international peacemaker, along with Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Kimmie’s passion for his mission is found in his unique situation, which gives him the ability and opportunity to connect children in need to those young people who have the potential to help.

To learn more about and support Youth Action International go to http://www.youthactioninternational.org/yai/.

Kimmie Weeks speaks on ending poverty in Africa:

Internationally acclaimed child rights activist Kimmie Weeks visits Uganda and looks at the problems facing the Karamajongs:

Some coverage of Kimmie Weeks:

Kimmie Weeks Embarks On Global Speaking Tour

Kimmie Weeks Tapped For Major International Recognition

Noted African Activist Kimmie Weeks To Graduate from Amherst College

Liberian Activist Kimmie Weeks To End Five-Year Political Exile

Kimmie Weeks Featured in UN Exhibit on World Peacemakers

New book features Kimmie Weeks

Kimmie Weeks cautions international community…

Too Young to Fight (TIME for Kids)

Kimmie Weeks calls for intervention

Weeks announces campaign to fight AIDS

Kimmie Weeks calls for end to Iraq sanctions

Colin Powell and Kimmie Weeks celebrate USAIDS Food for Peace

A Youth Shall Lead Them (News Journal)

Kimmie awarded at Goodwill Games

“Being of Pakistani, Chinese and Spanish background, Montréal born Sofia Servando Baig began penning words of
love and hope at an early age. Frustrated with the world’s apathy and indifference to war, pain and suffering, she
took it upon herself to use her voice to express her own struggles with life. As a spoken word poet, she aspires to
instill in people passion, courage and confidence and above all, to inspire. Sofia has shared her work extensively
with audiences all across Canada, the United States and Europe. Sofia has recently released her debut album entitled,
Daughter of the Sand, which is a collection of selected poems and has already begun to garner great acclaim.
More info: www.sofiabaig.com“

Please make sure and go to her site to listen to more recent tracks from her.

Here is an interview Sofia did with CNN a couple years ago:

A bit of her spoken word:

Her album Daughter of the Sands

CANADA & USA

— INTERNATIONAL

Tracklisting:
1. Blossoming Words (Intro)
2. Jihad Within
3. Daughter of the Sand
4. Woe Unto Me
5. Arched Soul (Ingrata)
6. Runs Deep
7. Roots
8. My Weapon
9. Can I Breathe?
10. Pretentious Philosophy
11. Thread to their Needle/Heart on my Sleeve
12. Caress
13. Test
14. Crooked Crown

I hope you all find what you are looking for here at Hero Beauty.

I also hope you can find a moment to stop and click on the Social Vibe widget in the blog’s left column.

All you have to do is click the widget, type in who your hero is, and post a little message.

That’s all.  Its easy!

The charity we are helping is called CharityWater.

Here is a little about the cause:

It’s hard not to think about water today. In the western world, we face growing concerns about our stewardship of the world’s most precious resource. There’s talk of shortages, evidence of reservoirs and aquifers drying up, and of course, plenty of people who simply don’t care.

But forget about us.

Most of us have never really been thirsty. We’ve never had to leave our houses and walk 5 miles to fetch water. We simply turn on the tap, and water comes out. Clean. Yet more than 1.1 billion people on the planet don’t have clean water.
It’s hard to imagine what a billion people looks like really, but one in six might be easier. One in six people in our world don’t have access to the most basic of human needs. Something we can’t imagine going 12 hours without.

Here, we’d like to introduce you to a few of those billion people. They are very real, and they need our help. They didn’t choose to be born into a village where the only source of water is a polluted swamp. And we didn’t choose to be born in a country where even the homeless have access to clean water and a toilet.

We invite you to put yourself in their shoes. Follow them on their daily journey. Carry 80 pounds of water in yellow fuel cans. Dig with their children in sand for water. Line up at a well and wait 8 hours for a turn.
Now, make a decision to help. We’re not offering grand solutions and billion dollar schemes, but instead, simple things that work. Things like freshwater wells, rainwater catchments and sand filters.

A remarkable autobiographical journey from humble beginnings to a position as a powerful world figure fighting for her nation’s self-determination. Along the ancient Silk Road where Europe, Asia, and Russia converge stands the four-thousand-year-old homeland of a peaceful people, the Uyghurs. Their culture is filled with music, dance, family, and love of tradition passed down by storytelling through the ages.

For millennia, they have survived clashes in the shadow of China, Russia, and Central Asia. Rebiya Kadeer’s courage, intellect, morality, and sacrifice give hope to the nearly eleven million Uyghurs worldwide on whose behalf she speaks as an indomitable world leader for the freedom of her people and the sovereignty of her nation.

Her life story is one of legends: as a refugee child, as a poor housewife, as a multimillionaire, as a high official in China’s National People’s Congress, as a political prisoner in solitary confinement for two of nearly six years in jail, and now as a political dissident living in Washington, DC, exiled from her own land.

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Freedom from Fear and Other Writings

A new collection of writings by the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner includes her acceptance speech as delivered by her son during her six-year incarceration and numerous reminiscences on her role in politics and her fear for her people.

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Human Rights Watch World Report 2009

The world’s leading human rights organization’s indispensable annual record of worldwide human rights abuses.

At causecast.com I was able to find this information on a few ways you can help Aung San Suu Kyi:

If you believe Aung San Suu Kyi is being wrongfully imprisoned, here is what you can do right now to help:
•Go to Causecast’s FREEDOM TO LEAD page to download Shepard Fairey’s iconic image of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
•Write to President Obama asking him to print the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on all U.S. passports.
•Send Shepard Fairey’s iconic image of Aung San Suu Kyi to everyone you know.
•Ask UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to increase pressure on Burma
•Donate to the Human Rights Action Center.

Elderly comfort women are still fighting hard for a formal apology and recognition.  Radio Australia has recently done a piece covering their struggle.

“A diminutive 81-year-old Korean woman is on her third visit to Australia lobbying for increased pressure on Japan over it’s responsibility for war time sex slaves. Gil Won Ok is part of Amnesty International’s campaign to get the Australian parliament to pass a motion, calling on Japan to take full responsibility and to provide compensation for the remaining so-called comfort women. And Gil Won Ok has warned Japan that even after all the women die, the history of such grievous human rights abuses will continue to haunt the country.”

You can listen to it here Windows Media

Also read it here.