Mother Teresa, Woman of the Century

Mother Teresa was born in Albania as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. When just eighteen years old, she attended the religious Order called 'Our Lady of Loreto' in Ireland. She received her spiritual training in Ireland and Darjeeling, India. It was in 1931, that the Mother took the name of Teresa from the French nun Th??e Martin, who was canonized in 1927 with the title St. Th??e of Lisieux. In 1937, Mother Teresa took her vows. She taught for 20 years in Saint Mary's High School in Calcutta, India.

The mother was utterly moved by the poverty, suffering and misery of a large number of people in India. She decided to dedicate her whole life for the welfare of the poor and took Indian citizenship in 1948. The same year, Pope Pious XII granted her permission to leave her duties. Mother Teresa became an independent nun. She began to share her life with the poor, the sick and the hungry of Calcutta. She started to teach the children of the streets how to read and write. She established a congregation called the Missionaries of Charity - a charitable organization which was to be the centre of all her activities with its branches spread in many parts of the country.

In 1950, Mother also began to care for lepers. She set up a care centre for the patients of leprosy. In 1965, Pope Paul VI put the Missionaries of Charity under his protection and gave Mother the permission to expand her Order to other countries. Branches of the organization opened almost everywhere around the world to assist lepers, the elderly, the blind, and people living with AIDS. Mother also opened schools and homes for the poor and abandoned children. Her vocation was a message of love. Her work demonstrates that a true conviction is always accompanied by action and that love in action is service.
Mother Teresa's efforts and her dedication were recognized all over the world. The Nobel Peace Prize that was conferred to her in 1979 put a seal of recognition on her sacrifice and achievements. Despite having reservations, the Mother accepted it on behalf of the "poorest of the poor".

In August, 1997 she ended her services and set out on her journey towards heaven. The cruel hands of destiny snatched the angel of love from us. The people of Calcutta and the world over bid her a teary farewell. The Government of India payed adequate respects to her with a solemn funeral march complete with a guard of honour.

Although Mother Teresa is not amongst us, her sacrifice and dedication has set a great example for others to follow. The great job that she did will always be remembered by all of us.

Dance to the Great Mother

A few months ago, I looked again — after a period of eight years — at Delilah’s video “Dance to the Great Mother” and I was really overwhelmed by its archaic and timeless beauty. At the time when I had first watched it, I was on the search for practical examples of belly dancing for pregnant women and I was starting to work on my own video. There was nothing to be found in this sector, except Delilah`s work, but it was a piece of art and, apart from my appreciation of Delilah`s fantastic dances, I was not really taken by it - my focus was too far away from perfect - even if pregnant - stage dancing and there was nothing for me to “use”.

Now, many years later, after having finished my practical concept and work, and having gone far beyond it in my research in marriarchy and women`s life in Ancient Egypt, I`ve come back to this video and it was a blast. All that I have read, researched and imagined is visualized in what she does and dances. In the old Egyptian temples, there were so-called mamisi, birthchambers for the pharaonic queens. When seeing Delilah dance, I could well imagine a queen giving birth in this mamisi while other women were dancing in the temple: the dance of labour, pain, strength, ecstasy, birth and praise. The way she dances could have been exactly the way of dance presented in honour of the Great Mother, Isis, the portal to life.

Delilah is not only the head of Visionary Belly Dancing, she also gives us a vision from the past, beyond our times into the future, where we all hope womanhood, fertility and female life in all its cycles will regain the dignity and sublimity we once naturally had. Delilah also gives us the vision of the goddesslikeness of a pregnant woman with her fertile womb. When I show this video to my pregnancy class, some women exclaim right away: "My God, how beautiful a pregnant woman is!" This reminds me of a little episode in my growing experiences with belly dancing and pregnancy.

In 1993, I was sent to Paris to do a shooting with pregnant models. The photos were supposed to go with an article about my work. When I arrived, the photographer told me that the journal had asked for one photo with a naked belly. I was completely against this and told her that I would not contribute to the sexistic image of belly dancing by showing them a pregnant belly. The photographer was happy, she thought the same and we decided to neglect the demand. But, then I entered the cabin where the models changed and there was a tall woman shaped like a goddess, with that huge womb. I stared at her in complete admirement, turned back to the photographer and told her that I had changed my mind and that on the contrary I would like to show the world how beautiful and sacred a pregnant womb is. . . .

By the time Delilah produced her video she was going quite far — and she was right. We should dare to confront the public with our fertility and not be ashamed of it, hiding it away under huge tents. For me, birth is the last taboo in our western societies. We can see death in all its varieties every day and night on TV, but birth? Which of you has ever attended one? We give birth, but it is hidden away from our eyes. I act as a doula (a woman that accompanies a woman giving birth and I`m not the midwife) and again and again, with tears in my eyes, I`m overwhelmed by the existential beauty and force of a birth. In the times of the harem, birth was never a lonely act, but rather a social act. We have become or have made ourselves poor by isolating ourselves. A video like Delilah`s should be shown to groups of pregnant women, and should give them the feeling of pride and of joy. They should join her in her cheerful dance (the last on the video), clapping their hands, shouting, singing the sanscrit and dancing themselves as would have been the case in ancient times, and still is in the Arabic countries even today.

With Delilah`s vision in mind, I’d like to see pregnant women go to classes like the one I have introduced and learn for themselves how to become an autonomous woman in order to create an autonomous birth. Belly dancing is a wonderful means to this end, because throughout the world, women who are allowed to move freely during childbirth instinctively start moving their pelvis in hip circles. They dance the ancient movements of fertility like the hip circle, the hip-rocking or the hip-eight, to which I give emotional names like the full moon, the crescent moon (or cradle) and the sign of infinity (with the pregnant woman standing in the infinite line of life). These emotional pictures show women their way to their feminine roots. Belly dancing helps a woman in many ways:

1. To accept her growing womb (not every woman looks forward to this) and even to celebrate it;
   
2. To strengthen the muscles of the pelvis, the legs and the whole body and to prepare her in the best way for a childbirth in an upright position;
   
3. To release tension (through shoulder movements) that results from the weight of growing breasts and to get extra space (through chest movements) if the baby is in a high position. (Chest movements are also useful against heartburn.);
   
4. To contact the baby by soothing it through continuous hip circles, resulting in a kind of massage through the waters;
   
5. To stimulate the uterus under childbirth when necessary by doing what I call the birth movements. These are the vertical movements of the pelvis which excite the pelvis, contrary to the horizontal ones which relax it.

The ummy is one of these stimulating movements and should never be danced, just instructed and kept in mind to be recalled during childbirth. During the births I have assisted, I was very much impressed by the power of these birth movements — they definitely work and accelerate labour which is too slow or weak. But, remember: Here, I don`t speak of pregnant women who have been belly dancing for years or even professional dancers; their bodies are accustomed to the movements and don`t react so heavily. Most of the professional dancers have danced till the last moment without any trouble. For them, Delilah`s video is one they will particularly appreciate during their pregnancy because she lives and dances the vision we all have in us. The “normal” pregnant woman with no belly dancing experience can admire Delilah`s dances as a piece of art and then learn from my video how to move without doing any damage to her health and to the baby; on the contrary: she will enjoy the benefits of belly dancing and - with close contact to her baby — arrive at a new and cheering sensuality.

Super Mom

Mom, you're a wonderful mother,
So gentle, yet so strong.
The many ways you show you care
Always make me feel I belong. You're patient when I'm foolish;
You give guidance when I ask;
It seems you can do most anything;
You're the master of every task. You're a dependable source of comfort;
You're my cushion when I fall.
You help in times of trouble;
You support me whenever I call. I love you more than you know;
You have my total respect.
If I had my choice of mothers,
You'd be the one I'd select!

10 HARD Ways to Make Your Life Better

Some of the most worthwhile things in life aren’t easy. One of the things I dislike most about “power of positive thinking”-style personal development philosophies (such as “The Secret”) is the implication that if you just have the right attitude and the right state of mind, the rest will just fall into place. I think it causes a lot of hurt and disappointment in people who invest their time, effort, and of course, money into these systems and find themselves, one or two or five years down the line, exactly where they were before.
“You must not have wanted it badly enough,” the authors of these philosophies seem to be saying. “There must still be something wrong with you.”
I don’t think that, ultimately, God or the Spirits or the Universe or the world “provides”. I think a lot of times the world puts obstacles in our way, and no amount of positive thinking makes them go away. And I think that a lot of the people who are “successful”, by whatever standard you want to use, have as much “wrong” with them as a lot of the ones who aren’t successful. Maybe more.
In any case, wherever the motivation comes from, the things that really make our lives worth living can be quite difficult. (And who knows, maybe thinking positively helps take some of the edge off of doing the hard stuff?) What’s more, they can take a lot of time to do, and even more time to get right. But I think that doing is the important thing, not the result — throwing yourself into something with all your heart, mind, and soul is the success, not the “growing rich” part.
Here, then, are ten things that are really hard to do but which have an incredible power to make your life better.

1. Start a business

My dad, who has been self-employed almost all his life, used to tell me that “Only jerks work for jerks.” Working for someone else puts you at their mercy and subjects you to their whims — and often their poor management skills. Not only that, but the profit of your labor goes into their pockets.
Starting a business puts you in control of your work life, and your money. It’s hard — small businesses fail every day. But the rewards of even a failed venture can far outweigh the risk. Just knowing that your failure was the result of your own choices — instead of a decision made at a corporate office a thousand miles away — can be liberating.

2. Organize a group

What makes you passionate? Chances are, being around other people who are passionate about the same thing would make you even more passionate about it. Often the only thing keeping you and them from coming together is that nobody’s put out a sign saying “Come and talk!” Getting a group going is a tremendous challenge, and very often the personality of the founder leaves a tremendous mark on the group as a whole. Seeing a group grow and take off can be tremendously awarding — but even failing can teach you important things about leadership.

3. Volunteer

I don’t mean spend Thanksgiving at a soup kitchen, though that can often be challenging enough. What I mean, though, is to make a long-term investment in your community by joining school committees, donating three hours a week in a shelter, hosting a monthly read-along at the library, tutoring at-risk children after school, teaching adult literacy classes at a local prison, or any of a million ways to play a role in the lives of people who need you. Perhaps the most pressing need in our society is for people to take an interest in and engage with their communities.

4. Take an active role in your children’s’ activities

Pick one thing your child does and commit yourself to it. Coach their team, become a Brownie leader, spend a weekend day in the workshop with them, buy a bike and ride along with them — make their passions your own. Don’t crowd them — especially if you have teenagers — but show them that you value something they do by giving them your time and interest.

5. Start a family

I don’t mean have kids. That can be all too easy! Make the decision to have a family, which means to give of yourself fully to another person or several people. Risk being vulnerable by sharing your fears, quirks, and failures with someone else; you might find it makes you stronger than ever before.
This transcends marriage and parenthood. There are lots of people who can’t marry because the law prevents it. There are people who can’t have children. These are not the essential ingredients of family. The essential ingredients are love, mutual respect, trust, and open giving. Find (or make) someone you can share that with.

6. Write a book

It feels really, really good to see your name on a book cover, but it feels even better to know that someone, somewhere, might find his or her life changed by something you’ve written. Share your particular expertise, whether it’s story-telling or woodworking, with the world — or just your family. Time isn’t the big issue (though it is an issue — don’t let the positive thinkists tell you otherwise!) but if you commit yourself to a page a day — a couple hundred words — within a year you’ll have a pretty decent-sized manuscript. That’s something to work with!

7. Learn an art

Take painting lessons, a pottery workshop, a music class, whatever — learn to express yourself and you might find a self worth expressing. Don’t settle for being a “Sunday painter” — devote yourself to an art and master it.

8. Run for office

The world needs smart, dedicated, and upright people to take care of all the fiddly details of making things run. As it happens, running for local office isn’t as challenging as you’d think (which isn’t to say it’s easy) — Michael Moore, the filmmaker, ran for school board while he was still in high school. Just for kicks. And won! It’s fine to have your heart set on the White House or Capital Hill, but try your hand at city councilperson, county registrar, or something closer to home first. And be clean — run for the experience of putting your community on a better path, and not for the power.

9. Take up a sport

Enough with the working out already! Sure, you want to be healthy, but the whole treadmill-running, iPod-listening, 45-minutes-after-work thing is a little anti-social, don’t you think? OK, you want some solitude once in a while — fine. But at least add a sport, something you do with other people. You’ll be spending time interacting with others, while also developing team-building and leadership skills. And, you might learn something from your fellow players.

10. Set an outrageous goal — and achieve it!

The nine tips above are only a handful of ideas about how to make your life better. Maybe you want to record an album, climb a mountain, make the Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca), see 20 countries — don’t just settle for tiny goals, push yourself all the way to the edge and figure out how to make the craziest thing you can think of happen. Yes, you’ll have to learn a lot along the way, and plan months or even years in advance — that’s what makes outlandish goals worthwhile.
I don’t want to suggest that you need to do all these things to be happy — doing just one is quite a handful! But if you’re unhappy with your life, if you want to make a change for the better, you need to think big and you need to be ready to put in the work to make it happen. It’s easy to “visualize success” and to “think positively”; it’s not so easy to throw yourself into the unknown and make it work. But if you can make it work, you’ll gain far more than you can imagine.

CARD

The Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, Inc. (CARD Inc.) was established in 1986 as a non-profit, non-political foundation. It started its operations with training and livelihood assistance project for landless coconut workers. In January 1989, CARD Inc. pilot tested a modified Grameen Bank scheme in four villages of San Pablo City, Laguna and the results were encouraging that it became a full-scale project in 1990. In view of the above situation and in support to the goal of members’ empowerment, the management of the MMF was officially turned over to the members on September 9, 1999 and has assumed a new name, the CARD Mutual Benefit Association, Inc. (CARD MBA).

CARD MBA is a separate legal entity owned and managed by the members and it is the formal microinsurance provider of CARD Inc., CARD Bank, RBST, CARD BDS and other institutional affiliates. The main office of CARD MBA is in San Pablo City and has twenty seven (27) Provincial Offices located in the provinces of Quezon (1 and 2), Camarines Sur, Masbate, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Leyte, Cebu, Davao, Misamis Oriental, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, Cavite, Bulacan, Iloilo, Zamboanga Del Norte, Laguna (1 and 2), Metro Manila, Compostela Valley, Isabela Province, Palawan, South Cotabato, Bataan, Surigao Del Sur, Samar and Bohol. Its Board of Trustees is composed of active members of the Association elected by the general membership. Members of CARD NGO, CARD Rural Bank, CARD SME (formerly Rural Bank of Sto. Tomas or RBST) (savers not included) and borrowers being assisted by CARD BDS are automatically enrolled with CARD MBA. As of October 31, 2011, CARD MBA has a total membership of 1,435,053 households, 18,423 of them are non-CARD members. Translating that figure into individuals, the Association is serving 7,175,265 insured individuals assuming an average of five (5) members per household. The total asset of the Association has increased from Php 6.61 million in 1999 to Php 3.5 billion in October 30, 2011.

MISSION CARD-MBA is a mutual benefit association formed

To promote the welfare of marginalized women;

To extend financial assistance to its members in the form of death benefits, medical subsidy, pension and loan redemption package; and

To actively involve the members in the direct management of the association including formulation and implementation of policies and procedures geared towards sustainability and improved services.