GET WET!!!

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Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.
Albert Schweitzer, Civilization and Ethics, 1949

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Hi all,
just about jumping out of my skin with excitement and nerves!
Off to Kiribati on Monday for a three week taste of the Central Pacific! How wonderful is that? Nerves, of course, before a new class, as ever.
Am not at all organised, and have to settle down a bit, so that I can see myself clear to make the Easter action at Kirribilli on this weekend. (see www.flotilla2004.com for more details).

Went down to Melbourne with my kids last weekend to see my brothers and their families. We had a very lovely time, enjoying the Botanic Gardens, Art Gallery, Luna Park, Palm Sunday Parade, video at home and seeing the little cousins. Good fun and a delightful way to visit with family.

Steve has passed his safety training... next course being run on 3rd May for those with an interest.
Need to get the provisioning lists going and a few other organisational items to attend to. Will try and get these done while I am away and in my hotel room - hope I don't spend too long in there!!

Liferafts are being serviced. Radios are being set up for email on the high seas. Lawyers are being consulted. Support people are working away preparing a send off, fundraising, making flags and preparing gifts for people on Nauru.
A lot of people are putting their energies into this project. It is inspirational.

Meanwhile Aladdin Sisalem, a lone Palestinian refugee languishes on Manus Island, PNG, for no apparent reason other than the Australian government WILL NOT back down. (see www.hopecaravan.com or www.freealaddin.com for more details). What arrogance! What bastardry! What a bloody waste of a person's life! What wilful evil! Let Aladdin come to Australia. He is a refugee according to the UNHCR.

Now is the time to act and to keep acting until these injustices cease.

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Hope is the companion of power and the mother of success, for those of us who hope strongest have within us the gift of miracles.

Sydney Bremer

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Love Ruth

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Hi everyone,
another weekend rolls around and I am home sans kids with plenty of work to do! Been typing up notes for the trip to Kiribati. Getting there!

Hey, it was election day today for our local councillors and mayor. I had no problems choosing my Green vote today - someone must stop the madness and work at a grassroots level. That is the point of local elections isn't it?

I won the school raffle. I don't know what I have got, but it is a lucky streak. I tend to win these things from time to time (maybe it is a reflection that I buy a lot of raffle tickets!). I also win on the pokies (slot/poker machines) - although I have only played a few times - last time I put a dollar in and pulled out $63.00. This is the second time in about 4 years I have won the first prize at the school raffle. Not bad odds I reckon! Last time was a basket of chocolate eggs, this time a BMX bike. How is that for good fortune. Will have to keep it hidden for a few months for someone's birthday. Lucky he isn't here today!

Had fun, too, a few days ago with Zohl (very good to get a chance to know each other better) who visited with me on her way to Sydney to work on the Flotillas. We went to the pre-loved bookstore and I found a stockpile of books to take home. Way too many for me to read this year, but a good start to a collection of sailing books to take on our voyage - I love biographies of women sailors in particular, but am partial to tales of adventure, spirit and a willingness to take on life. Inspiring people and thrilling to be part of their stories for a while.
-------------------------------------------

Lovers on Aran

The timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass,
Came dazzling around, into the rocks,
Came glinting, sifting from the Americas

To posess Aran.
Or did Aran rush to throw wide arms of rock around a tide
That yielded with an ebb, with a soft crash?

Did sea define the land or land the sea?
Each drew new meaning from the waves' collision.
Sea broke on land to full identity.

Seamus Heaney
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Love to all
Ruth

Road Kill

I thought
if they've taken a bus to the Hague
let's take a Caterpillar
I mean I know it couldn't be
the really expensive kind
that they use to ride against the olive trees
and against people's homes
and over Rachel Corrie
and back again


But it could be the basic model
a symbol of how crushing
oppression is
a symbol of how crushing
taxes are
and what those taxes pay for
in foreign aid abroad
and I would paint it black
and tour around any country
to warn about non violent resistance
and what happens in a militarized state
that overrides the laws

and after they still do not
take responsibility for rachel's death and tom's
and countless others
I shall paint it again in pink
for that color between
blood's red stain and hope
and I shall empower the Machine
and redefine it as Art, Roadmap Art!
a Sculpture a Monument a Memorial
and I shall engrave and scratch and sign
all the names of those whose lives
have been thus crushed.

and when we are done
depicting depravities
there could be a museum for the bus
and for the bulldozer
and all the other scrap metal in peoples lives
ripped apart by bullets and bombs
and we can visit there
whenever we need to mourn
or be reminded
of what we have allowed to transpire.

Mary La Rosa 3.16.04

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As I said all along - it is a privilege to meet so many wonderful and talented people on both the Flotillas of Hope and the Hopecaravan lists...
Thanks Mary for your inspiring and evocative poem.

Ruth

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http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/national/charts/synoptic.shtml

Have a look at the weather map! Today's weather shows the two!!! cyclones off the Aussie coast and some other low pressure systems which may develop into cyclones.
In Newcastle we have been getting wonderful falls of rain (some people are frustrated by it, but until my son misses his football, all is not lost!!). I love the rain. I love the noise, the smell, the sound and the feeling of being wrapped by it! Also great for sleeping - love to have plenty of blankets,and although it has not gotten cold yet - the damp air gives me the excuse to snuggle into my bed.
Yes, yes, I know it just won't be the same when I have a night watch to do! That midnight to four in the morning is a brilliant time to take stock of the world. If we didn't have radio it would be easy to assume the rest of the world has gone on hold... back to that time warp I was talking about before!

Check out the weather map from time to time. Watch the changes over the next few months as the cyclone (wet) season (hopefully) gives way to the dry.

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To a Buddha Seated on a Lotus

Lord Buddha, on thy Lotus-throne,
With praying eyes and hands elate,
What mystic rapture dost thou own,
Immutable and ultimate?
What peace, unravished of our ken,
Annihilate from the world of men?

The wind of change for ever blows
Across the tumult of our way,
Tomorrow's unborn griefs depose
The sorrows of our yesterday.
Dream yields to dream, strife follows strife,
And death unweaves the webs of Life.

For us the travail and the heat,
The broken secrets of our pride,
The strenuous lessons of defeat,
The flower deferred, the fruit denied;
But not the peace, supremely won,
Lord Buddha, of thy Lotus-throne.

With futile hands we seek to gain
Our inaccessible desire,
Diviner summits to attain,
With faith that sinks and feet that tire;
But nought shall conquer or control
The heavenward hunger of our soul.

The end, elusive and afar,
Still lures us with its beckoning flight,
And all our mortal moments are
A session of the Infinite.
How shall we reach the great, unknown
Nirvana of thy Lotus-throne?

- Sarojini Naidu (b 1878)

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One of those weeks you wish you could hibernate from??? Well I didn't get to hibernate, but got through it and even had the honour of some deep(er) connections with friends, some warm family ties and a lesson or two learned.
Wow, what a great week! Forget the car breakdown, the work glitches and the stresses of doing too much. Life is a bowl of cherries, a beach and a life lived full and free. It all makes me a better person - I hope!

S asked if I believe in miracles? I sure do, I experience them every day, in so many ways...
S, good luck and may miracles be with you on your journey back to Pakistan and your family waiting for you there. I wish I could make a miracle or two happen for you. And I know there are other friends of yours who dearly and deeply wish the same. Goddess please keep him safe.

I also wish a miracle for Roger and Monica, family for whom a miracle would be timely, and appreciated. I take my health so much for granted, and see that it, too, is a precious miracle not enjoyed by all.
And while I am saying prayers for people, dear Anais, you to could do with a miracle, as well. My heart goes out to you and your family. Goddess keep you safe, too.

And prayers and or miracles to all you friends and family who need comfort and connection. And even those of you who don't. You are loved.

I am a very lucky person to have you all in my life.
Thanks.
Ruth

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=============================
It can be said of most small-ship wanderers that they voyage not to acquire money or status but to accumulate new experience. And beyond that, perhaps, bare points of contact when the beginning, present, and future connect somehow with a ship, sea, sky, and an individual, when for a moment the secret of it all will stand revealed almost within reach. It is these times past and present that give meaning to life.
Charles Borden “Sea Quest” Macrae Smith Company, Philadelphia 1967

=============================

What If
The million-and-first meditation and the last

What if we smashed the mirrors
And saw our true face?
What if we left the sacred Books to the worms
And found our real mind?
What if we burned the wooden Buddhas?
Gave the stone Buddhas back to the mountains?
Dispersed the Gurus with a great laugh
And discovered the Path we had always been on?

What if we told the Saviours
We were saved from our first breath
And the Healers, If you could heal yourselves
All would be healed?
What if we washed clean of Authority's ordure
And smelled the fresh sweat of our own bodies?
What if, as Eve eating the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge,
We knew the "Patriarchal Curse" a mere natural thunder
Bringing Eden a cleansing rain?
What if in the lightning's flash
We saw there were
no
Mirrors
Sacred Books
Buddhas
Gurus
Saviours
Healers
Authority
And Knowledge was standing stark under the sky
feet naked to earth, eyes there for wherever light falls? What if..?

Elsa Gidlow (1898-1986)

===============================
"We consider the artist a special sort of person. It is more likely that
each of us is a special sort of artist."
Elsa Gidlow
=============================

Am getting a handle on the communications area - am enjoying the chats I am having with a few old salts regarding the practicalities of the radio and satellite systems on board. Power supply and output, antenna connections, batteries, inverters and shore-bases and HF email providers. All great and intriguing stuff. A lifetime's research if a person wanted!

Need to get on to the legal questions now - we need to get a team working on some of the issues. We thought we had it covered, but need a specialist to get us through. Will have to chase those recommendations.

My Kiribati trip for work is getting closer and finally starting to show form. Visa application tomorrow and a meeting with our business manager on Monday to get all documentation underway.
Look forward to the chance to get away actually. Will enjoy the challenge of a new culture and new teaching environment. I have some time next week to shadow our Newcastle stevedores to see exactly what it is they do - from a trainer's perspective.

My mum's birthday next week - we - she and I, my daughter, my niece and my 'sister' are planning a 'girls' night out' all next weekend! Well for one night really, but we are going away for the weekend. To the mid north coast - about 2 hours north of Newcastle. Am really looking forward to it.

Ruth
===========================

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To
Margaret Reynolds

National President, United Nations Association of Australia,
QUESTIONAIRE.....

1. When did you first become aware of Australia's detention policy?

I sort knew about the policies prior to the TAMPA incident, but that brutal response was what propelled me to seek new information. I met the team of people who had been on board the Freedom Bus - which had journeyed to all the detention centres. They visited Newcastle in either the latter part of 2001 or early 2002.


2. Why did you decide to get involved in helping people in detention?

When the Freedom Bus was here in Newcastle, they showed photos of the folk behind the razor wire. They showed film and photos of their journey. They showed us letters by the refugees. I imagined my own children's faces behind the wire, and realised I could not stay silent any longer.

3. How have you supported asylum seekers?

Yes, I have gone out to Woomera in 2002. I wrote to several people inside Woomera at that time, and tried to see them. I also have collected items for them including phone cards and am currently working on getting some computers and oither educational material for them. I have lobbied, written, phoned, supported others doing the same. Listened, shared gifts, organised film screenings, marched, flown kites and met with fellow activists.

4 .How did you feel when you first made personal contact with someone who was claiming asylum?

I felt that my country was treating him shamefully. My heart went out to him, and I was very sad. I would say that the actual meeting and talking to asylum seekers was very stressful for me. Obviously what is being dealt to them is 100s of times worse, but I still felt a deep responsibility for these human souls.

5. How did you get to know your new friend/s ?

The writing happened through HOPE Caravan, and a contact who had a list devised by Julian Burnside.
Coming home from Woomera we gave a lift to a guy on a TPV. The stories he regaled for the 3 days in the car were extraordinary in their shocking indictment of the Australian Goverenment, it was very intense. I am also conscious of the huge hearts these people must have to endure the trials they have undergone, and say so little of their suffering.

6. How have you tried to support your special friend/s?

I have not got "special friends" as I have tried to keep my focus on this very general, you could almost say deliberately. I am involved in overall advocacy and political actions, a small amount of letter writing and lobbying. I am a co-ordinator of the Flotillas of Hope - a planned journey to Nauru in June 2004. We want to gain media coverage of the continuing incarceration by Australia of refugees in offshore facilities.

7. Have you been praised or criticised by your family and others in the community ?

At first some of my family were critical, but gradually as the issues have been raised and raised again in public, I am finding my family more and more supportive. My mother has even made a donation to the Flotillas of Hope, something I never expected. Her retort was that I am planning to forego 2-3 months' work, then she could make a contribution.
My father is non-committal.
Most of my friends are extremely supportive of my actions.

8. What would you say to parliamentarians who make the policies that so affect the lives of asylum seekers?

You try to make a life given the same circumstances as the asylum seekers. Try to put yourselves into their shoes. Put your own children in the detention centres and tell us then whether this is a fine place to raise children...

Also if there is indeed a war against terror, why do we continue to perpetuate terror in the countries we enter? Why do we perpetrate terror on those who seek shelter, and why do we terrorise our own populations with fearmongering and false claims?
Why are we frightened of dissent in our own populations?

Count lives, not votes.

9. How has the experience of getting involved with asylum seekers affected you personally?

It has sharpened my wits, and made me aware of the fragility of the good life we share in this country - it wouldn't take much to have a leader in this country try to wrest control of the parliament. I am seeing more and more links in the corporate globalisation of this country. We are still here as a partial democracy by luck, and by the efforts of some dedicated human beings. It could fall apart tomorrow. (I have a friend from Chile who describes how quickly Chile fell to the dictators). We think everything is here to stay. I am convinced it will not, and while I am confident we can promote change for good, it won't happen without effort by many.

Other Comments welcome

Some of the benefits of working in this area have been the incredible and magical links with people from all over the world. They have common goals and hopes and aspirations for not only the refugees, who are symbol themselves of the heartless nature of corporate globalisation, but for the whole planet and beyond. Their visions are beautiful, chaotic, connected, inspired, moving, exciting, hopeful, spiritual and profound. These people refugees, dissidents, activists are the heart of an incredible organism - perhaps this is globalisation from the bottom up, rather than the imposed from above corporate model... I feel honoured to be part of such a movement.


Ruth Boydell

As I was driving (a funnel-web spider which I had found in my kitchen, and which are collected and milked for their antivenene - their bite can be deadly -the first time I got to the hospital they said they would not accept it in a plastic container, I didn't know they could bite through plastic! So I had to drive home, transfer the spider from its unsafe haven into a glass jar with metal lid and return) to my local hospital yesterday, I was struck by the absolute beauty of this place where I live. I live between Lake Macquarie and the Pacific coast (5 minutes each way, and no I don't have water views). Actually some would argue it is not the Pacifc Ocean but the Tasman Sea. I will stand corrected, but the feeling is there that I could set sail (and apart from the bump going through Aotearoa - NZ) and I could just continue going eastwards and arrive on the coast of South America.
Boundless oceans one way, and "boundless plains to share" the other, although here we have some coastal hills which we call the Great Dividing Range which extend from the Victoria north through here and right up into the far north of Queensland. So our few rolling hills are here for me to see, covered in bushland - no longer pristine bushland, but a feast for the eyes.
It was such a perfect day. The smells, sounds, sights of this part of the universe. I feel truly the luckiest person on the globe.
I feel honoured and priveleged to be part of this team of people working actively towards a better world. What sharp minds, great wit, deep caring, and hands joined in friendship and love.

======================
ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR
Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history’s page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.
Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We’ll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who’ve come across the seas
We’ve boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

=========================
The irony of the above lyrics is not to lost on the refugees... One of our team is working on a project whereby we make Tshirts for all the refugees in detention "For those who’ve come across the seas
We’ve boundless plains to share" to be worn on a particular day... and another idea where he records us all singing those words.. it gave me goosebumps to consider the power that might have.

I do love this place. I do not however, love the government. I think this country is capable of opening itself to those displaced by western greed. In fact, I no longer think we should be doing this for humanitarian reasons (and that is not a bad reason) but because we bloody owe.

Looking forward to the filmnight on Wednesday, "Molly and Mobarak" at Club Nova (the old Workers Club) in Newcastle. Should be a few hundred people, and a chance to meet some more Novocastrian supporters. I have a few Tshirts to sell, too. We want to get this satcom equipment, and we had better start peddling for it!! No pun intended!