Souris Mon Frère, Souris Ma Sœur

  Qui somme nous, d’où venons-nous?

Des questions reliées à notre existence sont parfois importante

Et pourtant, sont parfois ce qui nous retient,

Nous sépare et nous couvre les yeux.

Un tel voile, nous laisse aveugle à de tell merveille que ce monde nous offre.

Le croirais-tu si je t’aurai dit que tu es ma sœur,

Que toi mon frère qui souffre au japon ressens la haine de celui an Libye.

Toi qui écris une lettre d’espoir en bas d’un baobab,

Dans unvillage à l’extérieur du Dakar est recentie

Par celle rejeté d’une voiture dans une ruelle à Detroit.

Il existe encore cet instinct humain qui nous connecte.

Nous pleurons tous, nous rions tous, et oui un jour nous mourions tous.

Cependant la beauté de cette vie nous entour.

Alors prochaine fois que nos yeux croisent souri mon frère.

Un suicide de moins, une addicte de drogue de moins, une âme secourue de plus

remplie d’espoire, de confiance et de foi.

Sourris mon frere, Sourris ma soeur.

 

par Laurenie L.

Time to get Root.ED!

Vaughn in small rural village in Mali 2009

Hey!

So..this is the first post!  Guess I should first off introduce myself ; my name is Chris Vaughn –people just call me Vaughn (too many Chris’ in this city)  I am a Montreal native, raised in NDG and love life, culture, music and all that good stuff.  After graduating from Bioresource Engineering at McGill last year, I did an amazing urban agriculture internship with a non profit called Alternatives.  We trained for 8 months, learning practical techniques of social equality, permaculture etc… and then we spent two months in Mali!

It changed my life (as you can see by the expression on my face!)

When I got back, I came back to my amazing job as a coordinator at Head&Hands; a non profit youth resource center in Montreal.  I saw all the youth at my drop in centre (J2K) and was like….these youth NEED to experience Africa.  They need to see what people who look  just like them are doing across the world to make their lives, communities and city and better place.  I am and most of the youth that come to the centre are visible minorities, coming from an array of different backgrounds.  Sad to say, that most of the people who apply and go through these life changing internships are white university students with financially stable families to back up on.  No hate…just reality.

So we started Root.ED.  A program for the new environmental and social leaders of Montreal; giving them a chance to help the well being of their community as well as learning through amazing work experiences overseas.

This project (and this website!!) is a work in progress…soon we will have the participants up and running..with their own blogs and experiences!

Stay posted for updates, pics, and ways you yourself can get Root.ED with us.

ONE LOVE,

VAUGHN