Special Activities
A Whale of a Time
The Whale Festival held this spring, 2009 on the beach in Malibu, CA, sounded like a great place to have a Mona Foundation booth so that we could meet some of the people in our area and familiarize them with the wonderful projects we support around the world. The challenge was to find our relevance to a festival celebrating the migration of whales.
Whenever we have an event there is one volunteer who I always know will not only have creative ideas but will roll up her sleeves, be the first one there, and the last to leave. So, Kathryn Adams was the first person called. She immediately suggested the collaboration with Full Circle Learning Academy, the charter school in Los Angeles that the foundation recently decided to help support. As a member of their board, she started to discuss how the school might participate.
The result was a 7 foot whale made of different sections. Each grade level created one and then it was assembled into an incredibly interesting and colorful patchwork whale. Additionally, the after school students created 3-dimmensional hanging sea creatures that hung from fishing wire all through the booth. Two murals of the ocean that read "Keep the ocean clean.it's the whale's playground." were painted and hung along the sides of the booth. As the children came in to learn about sea life, they were given the opportunity to draw, color, and cut out a sea creature and add it to the mural. Nikki and Aynsley, both 12, worked with the children the entire time with great enthusiasm.
They even helped visiting children "go fish" by handing them fishing poles and letting them "catch" small bags of gummy fish. This gave us an opportunity to talk with the parents about the projects supported by the Mona Foundation. Posters and banners along with the colorful decorations attracted perhaps the most visitors of any booth. There were always people visiting and many were very interested in the Mona Foundation and in Full Circle Learning Academy.
It was exciting to be part of a great collaboration between the Mona Foundation and Full Circle Learning Academy, increasing awareness of the work that is being done by Full Circle Learning and all the other wonderful projects that the Mona Foundation supports.
Kathryn Adams has been an ardent supporter of Mona Foundation projects for years, and is a member of our Circle of Giving. At the end of the day she said, "It is not about heroes, or individuals, or even about individual events, but rather it is about people dedicated to humanity and coming together because they care about raising the status of all people through education."
2007 Seminar on SED Given in California
On June 8-10 Bosch School and Retreat Center in the Santa Clara Hills of California hosted Mona Foundation to provide a seminar on SED, including presentations by Dr. Mahnaz Aflatooni Javid on the history, mission and goals of the Foundation. She explored the core principles of Social and Economic Development (SED) and service in the context of the theories of human development. Open for review and discussion were SED principles, an examination of what constitutes development, how it is most effectively accomplished, and how personal transformation occurs over time within individuals with regard to their own involvement with development. Other participants from the foundation were Diane Samandi, Pepper Oldziey, Gouya and Payam Zamani, and Judy Rector.
Thirty participants, many from the development field, participated in meaningful discussions on successful projects and the process of development itself. Several Mona Foundation projects were highlighted as examples of success. It was generally agreed that growth within an individual leads to a value shift from natural self-centeredness of children and youth, to a concentration on others and world-centeredness as an adult. When this happens on a large scale development can take place both internally for the individual and externally for communities.
Participants felt that the weekend was deeply thought-provoking and life changing. Attending were several youth, many working at Bosch for a year of service. They shared inspiring stories of their experiences working with children in projects. Two had served in Mona projects, one in Tierra Santa in Honduras and another in Barli in India. When they spoke about seeing orphans and rural young ladies impacted by educational opportunities, they were so moved their eyes welled with tears. Hearing first-hand stories from youth and others in the field gave all of us pause for reflection on our own motives, activities and purpose as we participate in development projects.
2006 Chicago Conference
Renowned scholars of Persian literature, culture, sciences, math and medicine were present to hear Dr. Mahnaz Javid Aflatooni present a keynote address at the Association of Friends of Persian Culture Conference in Chicago, August 31-Sept 3, to about 800 people. The reception to the presentation of the Mona Foundation's history, philosophy, current projects and future goals was warm and enthusiastic. The talk created great interest and throughout the conference many people stopped at the Foundation's table to inquire about the ways they could support the projects. Special praise is given for Sima Mobini and Judy Rector for their invaluable support to represent the Foundation throughout the conference. Mahnaz and Sima were also interviewed by a Persian TV station about the Foundation. The interview, which lasted about 40 minutes, will be broadcast by the station in the near future.
2006 Sister Schools
Margie Maher of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, a former Montessori School owner and retired educator, has decided to serve the Mona Foundation by using her years of experience to assist our project schools that have Montessori programs. She is actively seeking support to create a sister-school program whereby Montessori schools here in the US partner with schools in other countries. The students here will then help to support other schools through their geography studies to become interested in service projects to raise awareness of the needs of students elsewhere. Recently Mrs. Maher made a connection with the Materials Company of Boston. Ben Feldman, the owner, has generously contributed six boxes of Montessori materials including wooden puzzle maps, sandpaper letters and brown stairs to the Anis Zunuzi School in Haiti. We thank you Margie for this ongoing creative effort!
top2006 Australian Interview
Producers of a Bahá'í Radio program in Perth, Australia had seen an interview with Sima Mobini about the Mona Foundation taped by Persian Bahá'í TV in Los Angeles and requested an interview on the Mona Foundation for their own Radio station. The show taping went very well and we wait to see how it is received in Australia.
2006 Montessori Conference and Plans
Dr. Mahnaz Aflatooni Javid, Margie Maher and Judy Rector attended the west coast Montessori, Partnership and Peace Education conference in Monterey, CA, April 27-30. Mona Foundation was invited to share the work of the Foundation with Montessori educators from around the US who were exploring the connections between education and world peace. With the introduction of the Foundation's work, and the discussion of Service Learning projects here at schools in the US, it is hoped that the attendees will partnership with Montessori Schools in our projects. This initiative has been named “Seeds of Peace” by Tim Selden, a recognized leader in Montessori education worldwide. Mr. Seldin agreed to partner with Mona Foundation and together work toward establishing connections between US Montessori schools and schools in our projects. It is hoped that through service learning opportunities with their students and parents, teachers will arrange a support network/exchange to foster empathy, understanding and support for their own local community activities and international projects as well. Mahnaz Javid has been asked to be a keynote speaker at the November Montessori conference in Florida where 600-800 attendees will hear of this initiative. We're confident that support for Mona's projects will grow from this wonderful opportunity!
2005 Microsoft Women's Conference
Dr. Mahnaz Aflatooni Javid participated in a panel discussion, sharing about the Mona Foundation, at a Conference for the approximately 4,000 female employeees at Microsoft in December 2005
2005 Winter Conferences
Dr. Randie Gottlieb, our wonderful trainer who has gone several times to provide teacher training for the Ngobe-Bugle Molejon School teachers in Panama, presented a wonderful talk and slide show on the Ngobe Bugle and the efforts of the Mona Foundation at the Rabbani Social and Economic Development Conference in Orlando, December 2005. At this same conference Pepper Oldziey provided a booth of the Mona Foundation display and materials. Many interested visitors were delighted to learn of the work of the Foundation.
Similarly, Pune Gebleh and Sima Mobini presented a Mona Foundation display at a conference in Phoenix, Arizona this December. There was a workshop presented by Dr. Mahnaz Aflatooni Javid and several fruitful meetings
2004 Global Classroom Exchange:
USA and Bolivia
The University of Washington will begin a faculty/student exchange program with Nur University in Bolivia. The purpose of the program is to teach sustainable social and economic development. This is the first phase of the exchange; the outcomes of these programs are dynamic and will evolve as the two universities get together.
The University of Washington Honors Program has involved the Mona Foundation in teaching a 3-credit upperclass course on sustainable development. Julie Villegas, the Associate Director of the Honors Program describes the collaboration, “One of the goals of this seminar is to prepare students for both local and international service. The next step will be to build on the work that has been done in this seminar through faculty and student exchanges using the Global Classrooms Project. The Project will assist in communication as well as providing technology tools to enhance the curriculum and international exchanges that develop out of the partnership between the universities.”
Nur University, a Bolivian non-profit educational institution, is focused on the sustainable development of the region and the country and has a vision “to integrate concepts of development with the rigors of academic excellence and capacity building components of moral leadership and community service.”
The proposal developed describes the University of Washington and Nur University working together to create a structure for international exchange focused on sustainable development. The two universities will support collaboration between faculty members. The UW Honors program will send a faculty member to Nur for a short site visit this year to share curriculum and plan a new Honors seminar focusing on Sustainable Development. This three credit seminar will be offered simultaneously at both universities. Collaboration will continue after the first year with participation encouraged from multiple disciplines. Faculty will rotate each year.
The Honors Program will host a website to provide interactive tools for curriculum materials, instruction, student and faculty communication, and international sustainable development resources. The intention is continued faculty exchanges and initiation of student exchanges between the universities. Judy Rector is the Mona Foundation representative working on this exciting new project.
2004 Mona presentations in Canada
“I've been hearing about Mona Foundation for some time now and it's so good to finally get to know what you are about and what you do.” This was the overwhelming response to the variety of opportunities offered to Mona representatives on their trip to Canada.
Randie Gottlieb and Suzie Rutherford presented the work of the Foundation in Panama in various locations. In British Columbia, the Shawnigan Lake Community Center and the Maxwell International Bahá'í School hosted presentations. Classes were given at Maxwell on “The Power of Language”, “Social and Economic Development” and “Rankism”. The students there have been active in raising funds, $1800, for Mona programs in 2001. These students are also looking for “Year of Service” sites.
Other presentations included the University of Victoria, Evergreen School and a community problem-solving session. Personal contacts were made which included market locations for indigenous products from several of our programs, internet sales opportunities, and an art collection company which enables donors to give the proceeds from their artwork to support development programs around the world.
2003 Mona participates in World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
As a part of a contingent of 14 non-profits who were the recipients of Microsoft Unlimited Potential grant, Mona Foundation was invited by Microsoft Corporation, expenses paid, to participate in WSIS to showcase the projects we support including the establishment of the Community Technology and Learning Center in the Chiriqui region of Panama. Mona Foundation's booth, provided by Microsoft within its pavilion at the Exhibition Hall, was visited by more than 4 thousand people, including Mrs. Kofi Annan. Full Story