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Human Rights
PeaceStorming in Los Angeles
by Penny Sarvis and Mickey Williamson
The effects of worldwide poverty and social injustice can be mitigated by groups that understand and employ a spirit of service and community activism.
Living Compassion is one such group. They are housed in the 320-acre Zen Monastery Peace Center in northern California. American Zen Teacher and author Cheri Huber, along with the resident monks at the Monastery and the Board of Directors of Living Compassion, teach and live, through example, the organization’s mission of “transforming lives and ending suffering.” They do this by offering retreats and workshops at the Monastery and around the world.
To this end, they are bringing a “PeaceStorm” to Los Angeles. From December 7th through the 9th, a corps of concerned individuals from Living Compassion Zen Monastery will visit Broadway Village II, a low-income housing project in South Central Los Angeles created by L.A.-based Beyond Shelter. The idea for PeaceStorming arose when Huber, who is a member of Social Venture Network, a national organization that combines social responsibility, spirituality, and business, expressed the desire to take her talks and workshops to cities around the country. The vision is to identify a local organization needing assistance with a project. Living Compassion will bring monks and retreat-goers to participate in the work. Huber will then offer her talks on peace and awareness practice in the evenings.
Beyond Shelter, which was founded in 1988 and is devoted to ending homelessness (and Living Compassion’s future partner in providing housing in Ndola, Zambia.), came forward to suggest L.A. for the first PeaceStorming endeavor. They know the work that needs to be done because they are well connected to the community. Living Compassion’s PeaceStorming team accepted the invitation to help the residents of Broadway Village II with several revitalization projects in and around the affordable housing project.
Broadway Village II is home to 50 families who are low-income and/or formerly homeless. A vital hub for the Broadway Village II community is the Neighborhood Resource Center. Broadway Village II is part of Beyond Shelter’s Broadway South Neighborhood Revitalization Project, begun in response to the 1992 civil unrest, and to critical housing and social service needs in the area. The neighborhood has the highest concentration of urban poverty on the West Coast.
The projects to be undertaken for the PeaceStorming weekend will benefit not only the residents of Broadway Village II but also hundreds of people in the surrounding area. At the top of the priority list is an organic garden, complete with raised planting beds. Depending on the size of the PeaceStorming team, they will put in native plants for beautification, enhance a small “pocket park” with foliage and benches, paint indoor and outdoor spaces in need of improvements, and build shelves for the community and children’s rooms.
The work projects will take place on Saturday, December 8, and Sunday, December 9, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Anyone is invited to sign up for all or part of the time. It is expected that about half of the residents will join the work crews full time or as their work and family schedules permit.
A community breakfast for the residents and PeaceStormers will kick off the weekend on Saturday morning. Beyond Shelter is seeking donations from area businesses and restaurants to help host the breakfast and to provide supplies needed for the work projects. Evening talks by Cheri Huber will be scheduled on December 7, 8, and 9 in the Los Angeles area. They will be open to the public.
Participating with the residents on projects they identify with is an important feature of PeaceStorming events. It mirrors the work that Living Compassion is doing in the Kantolomba compound in Ndola, Zambia. Kantolomba is a desperately impoverished slum in one of the poorest countries in the world. Houses are built from whatever scrap can be gathered. There is no running water or electricity. Sewage flows through the dirt streets. Diseases flourish in the water and are transmitted easily to the children.
In Kantolomba, everyone is hungry. There is one community school, but few children attend. They are too hungry or sick to make the journey or to do their schoolwork. They need everything: clean water, food, education, health care, employment, safe housing and jobs. Living Compassion is working with the people of Kantolomba to help them move their community toward a vibrant, sustainable future. Beyond Shelter will be partnering with Living Compassion and the residents of Kantolomba to provide safe and permanent housing.
Living Compassion’s desire to assist in helping Africa and South Central Los Angeles springs directly from Zen awareness practice. Living Compassion believes that turning compassion and unconditional acceptance toward oneself creates a deep sense of joy and peace. From this place of profound well-being one is called to assist where help is needed—not because there is something wrong or something to fix, but rather because we are moved to participate in life with our fellow human beings.
We invite your participation this December!
For more information about Living Compassion and for details about the weekend, please visit: www.livingcompassion.org or call 209.728.0860. Penny Sarvis and Mickey Williamson are the coordinators of Living Compassion’s Peace Project.