Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton have set up a charitable gift fund for those who may very generously wish to donate to charity to help the couple celebrate their April wedding.
PeacePlayers International – Northern Ireland (PPI-NI) is proud and honoured to be one of the 26 charities that have been personally chosen by Prince William and Miss Middleton for inclusion!
Juman, Malak and Gal are participants on the "Jerusalem All Stars," a pair of ground-breaking teams in Israeli's National Basketball League, where they are the first ever fully integrated teams with players from both East and West Jerusalem.
arlier, PeacePlayers International – Northern Ireland Coordinator Darryl Petticrew described how he became involved in PeacePlayers International, and what the program means to him. Today, Darryl explains what he learned while getting certified to teach a course to the PPI – NI Leadership Development Team.
Darryl with a member of the PPI-NI LDP team. Darryl's "Living with Diversity" course will enable him to share its lessons with the LDP.
Over the past four months I have been participating in a course called Living with Diversity. It is an Open College Network (OCN) Level 3 course offered by YMCA Ireland. The objective of the course is to focus on issues around diversity and how to deliver community relations sessions while taking this into account. The participants ranged from youth workers and integrated school teachers to Police officers. I was by far the youngest person in the course, and surrounded by a wealth of experience in other participants.
I picked up new skills and increased awareness, but for me the most meaningful learning was the experience of the course. It hit some very hard issues and raised great points for discussion. As well as discussion, the course offered two panels for questioning and answering sessions. One panel consisted of political representatives from the major parties in Northern Ireland. Before this session I had no interest in politics at all; however my eyes were opened to what seems like a lack of real leadership and representation of the population in the politics of this country. The voting percentage of the last election was under 50% – a reflection of the little faith we in Northern Ireland have in our politicians. This further reinforces the importance of the work organisations like PeacePlayers is doing.
The second panel gave us opportunities to speak with the Historical Enquiries Team, the WAVE Trauma Centre (which supports those who have lost loved ones due to political violence in Northern Ireland), and Pat Magee, an ex-paramilitary. This was an amazing opportunity to listen to people who have been directly affected by the troubles in Northern Ireland.
Living with Diversity has opened my eyes in many different ways and I have built some amazing relationships. A very significant thing for me was the opportunity to speak with Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers. The police in Northern Ireland are constantly under pressure and in many cases disliked. However, I was able to see the human side to the PSNI and look beyond the uniform and totally transform my perception.
The training has also provided me with the chance to deliver an OCN accredited course for PeacePlayers. For our up and coming Leadership Development Programme residential I will be delivering a level 2 Reconciliation and Peace Peer course over three weekends.arlier, PeacePlayers International – Northern Ireland Coordinator Darryl Petticrew described how he became involved in PeacePlayers International, and what the program means to him. Today, Darryl explains what he learned while getting certified to teach a course to the PPI – NI Leadership Development Team.
The “WNBA” league, PeacePlayers International – Middle East’s oldest female twinning group, held its first event of the season on Thursday, December 3rd. Girls from the PPI – ME communities of Beit Safafa and Esawiah – who have participated in the program for over three years – joined members of the Leyada High School basketball team for a joint practice led by PPI – ME Basketball Operations Manager and professional coach Vito Gillic’.
This “WNBA” season represents a continuation of last year’s successful “Premiere League” twinnings, during which the girls competed on four integrated teams in a league format that culminated with playoffs and a championship game. With the summer break and holidays behind them, the girls were ready to pick up where they had left off.
As the PeacePlayers shuffled into the gym, they excitedly caught up with one another while lacing up their basketball shoes. It was immediately clear that the girls had lost neither their basketball skills over the break, nor their friendships.
And with these girls, basketball is business. As always, they came into the gym ready to play. In twinned pairs, the girls warmed up by practicing their layups, ball handling skills and coordination.
Throughout practice, the athletes also seemed to work on their cheering skills. “Yalla, yalla!” meaning “Let’s go let’s go!” constantly bounced off the walls of the gym as the girls ran hard through the drills.
At the end of the practice, the group split into four teams for scrimmaging. A coach was assigned to each team to provide both advice and encouragement to the players.
The athletes worked well together and it is clear that they have high hopes for the season. As the girls left the gym, they seemed to only be thinking of the next practice…”Yalla, isn’t it Thursday again yet?”
“I’m thankful for my family.” – Agathocleous, 12
“I’m thankful for my cat, Aphrodite.” – Maria, 13
“I’m thankful for my friends, especially my girlfriends.” - Lougas, 14
“I’m thankful for my brother.” – Marios, 14
“I’m thankful for my school.” – (refused to be identified for fear of being ridiculed by classmates)
“I’m thankful for the game of football.” – Stelios, 14
“I’m thankful for the breaks during school.” – Galatia, 14
“I’m thankful for my favorite football team, Apoel [in Nicosia].” – Kyriakos, 15
“I’m thankful for the game of baskteball.” – Panyiotis (and everyone else at practice)
“I’m thankful for weekends, when I don’t have to go to school.” – Tellis, 15
“I’m thankful for my family, especially my mom and dad.” – Elena, 13
“I’m thankful for my village and everyone in it!” – Nicolas, 12
“I’m thankful for my new baby, Ourania.” – Marina Vasilara, PPI – CY Managing Director
“I’m thankful God has blessed me and my wife with a baby coming soon.” – Coach Antonis Tsolakis, Agros
“I’m thankful I didn’t over/undercook the turkey and that I didn’t have to take any of my dinner guests to the hospital.” – Rory , PPI – CY Fellow
“I’m thankful for the 9 puppies that my dog Pepsi gave birth to recently.” – Orhun Mevlit, PPI – CY Turkish-Cypriot coordinator
“I’m thankful that I get to play basketball…with PeacePlayers.” – Stefano, 12 and his brother Nicolas, 13
Thanksgiving is usually celebrated by a small number of American ex-pats on the island of Cyprus, but this year the spirit of the American holiday was also brought to a number of PPI – CY members.
Take a wild guess which pie is from the bakery and which one Rory cooked. The answer will not suprise you.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, participants were asked in practice what they were thankful for this past year and in general. The responses ranged from the very funny to the very serious. Regardless, PPI – CY participants all displayed an amazing amount of maturity, intelligence, and even humor in recounting what they were thankful for in 2009. Cypriots are certainly thankful for all that is most important in life: family, friends, education, their local community, and sports.
While PPI – CY as a majority took time away to reflect on this past year, a small group of PPI – CY staff and stakeholders sat down to traditional turkey dinner. PPI – CY MD Marina Vasilara, her husband George, PPI – CY Turkish-Cypriot Coordinator Orhun Mevlit and his wife Coach Bahar Mevlit, Advisory Board member Nadia Karayianni, and PPI – CY volunteer and pro basketball player T.J. Taylor all sat down to a Thanksgiving meal cooked by PPI – CY Fellow Rory O’Neil (with lots of help from Marina!). The menu: An 8 kg turkey (17.6 lbs.), 2 kinds of mashed potatoes (sweet and regular), 3 boxes of smuggled Stove-Top stuffing (Thanks Mom), salads, halloumi cheese (can’t have a meal in Cyprus without halloumi), and two pumpkin pies, of which one was baked by Rory. (A bakery-produced pumpkin pie was ordered as a precaution in the event of a cooking disaster).
Believe it or not, there were no complaints regarding the turkey. The pies...were a different story.
Surprisingly, there were no trips to the hospital, resignations, or lawsuits, and very few complaints. Orhun even said, “This is the best turkey I’ve ever tasted.” However, there were some issues with the pie that Rory had cooked himself (with ingredients shipped by his mother). When the two pies were put on the table, Marina’s husband George inquired if they were two of the same type of pie, or two completely different ones. And he wasn’t joking. After TJ was selected as the taste-tester and sampled both pies, the bakery-produced pie went down smoothly. Rory’s pie…was almost coughed up and barely made it down his throat. After catching his breath, TJ softened the blow by saying: “I don’t like pumpkin pies in general.” Thanks TJ (tear drop)…thanks.
Needless to say, the spirit of Thanksgiving made it as far as the Eastern Mediterranean this year. From all of us at PPI – CY, we hope everyone who celebrated the holiday in the United States experienced a great turkey-day with their friends and family. We here at PPI – CY echo the words of PPI – SA Fellow Tim Roche by saying that we are extremeley thankful for all the the support that comes from the D.C. office of PeacePlayers International. Without their help, guidance, and direction PPI – CY does not operate on a week-to-week basis. To Tim, Tal, Brian, and Brendan, thank you and Happy Thanksgiving (belated).
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