November has been an exciting month for SAWA as the team gains recognition from local and global organizations for our commitment to promoting a peaceful and just world. Founder, Daphne Nederhorst has been officially accepted as an Ashoka Fellow (a true honour from a prestigious global organization made up of the worlds’ leading social entrepreneurs), and was nominated for the YMCA Power of Peace Award. Meanwhile I, Claudia Goodine, your SAWA blogger, received an award of recognition from The Ar…
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Added by SAWA Global on November 24, 2009 at 4:41pm —
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“Ingenuity, plus courage, plus work, equals miracles.” (Robert Richards)
No one thought it could be done, no one even dreamed about doing it, except one; and sometimes that’s all you need. Sometimes, miracles come out of the most unlikely situations. If you haven’t heard already, there was a boy, despite all odds, who harnessed the wind. And because SAWA is all about sharing stories of hope from around the world, stories that demonstrate incredible ingenuity and leadership in some of the…
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Added by SAWA Global on November 3, 2009 at 9:02pm —
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SAWA Blog 44: SAWA is Bringing Together a Community that is Changing the World
“There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other” ~ Douglas Everett
Our imaginings on what is possible in this world are being brightened all the time by the stories of hope coming from SAWA Heroes all over the world. From heroes like Selemen who is uplifting the youth in Rwanda by teaching them employable skills and cr…
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Added by SAWA Global on October 21, 2009 at 11:10pm —
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“The purpose of life is to help others.” - Nadia Kanegai
A big warm welcome to SAWA Hero Nadia Kanegai who arrived in Vancouver on Sunday September 20th. Like Selemen and Dr. Robert, she will be attending the Connecting for Change Conference on September 26th- 28th. But SAWA has other exciting networking events in store for her while she is here so that she can share her insights and leadership and make valuable contacts and connections that can help her grow her various projects – which…
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Added by SAWA Global on September 28, 2009 at 3:35pm —
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“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”~ Christopher Reeve quotes
SAWA Hero Dr. Robert was the final hero to arrive just before the start of the Connecting for Change conference that took place this weekend. While the conference was full of 120 influential corporate and world leaders, the special attendance of the three SAWA Heroes was honoured in the opening ceremonies, in recognition of their unique leadershi…
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Added by SAWA Global on September 28, 2009 at 3:30pm —
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SAWA connects SAWA Heroes and their solutions to the world so that together we can solve our most pressing global challenges like extreme poverty, environmental degradation, and the spread of HIV AIDS. And this is a milestone month for SAWA as we show just how far we are able to connect SAWA Heroes and build a community around their leadership.
Through much determination and worthwhile effort, SAWA obtained visas for three SAWA Heroes to come to Vancouver for a month to participate in workshops…
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Added by SAWA Global on September 11, 2009 at 1:27pm —
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About a month ago, a student group in Liberia called Oikos Monrovia contacted SAWA. Oikos Monrovia comprises of innovative, enthusiastic, and progressive students from the Business College of the University of Liberia in Liberia West Africa. They are interested in connecting with SAWA Heroes to learn about their solutions and successes in order to replicate them in their own country. This is what SAWA is all about – spreading positive change and magnifying the success of solutions that work.
As…
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Added by SAWA Global on August 26, 2009 at 9:45am —
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SAWA is making new connections with youth leaders in Togo and Senegal through the YMCA’s Youth Peace Network Program (YPN). With the help of scholarships funded by CIDA, this program brings youth (between the ages of 19 and 30) from all over the world to the YMCA in Vancouver to participate in a 3 month leadership workshop that is centred around promoting peace, conflict resolution, and social justice. The program fosters regional and international networks as the youth connect with organization…
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Added by SAWA Global on July 28, 2009 at 11:49am —
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SAWA continues to grow in impact and credibility as global associations such as the Ashoka Foundation take notice. This global association invests in social entrepreneurs who have truly innovative ideas on how to solve the world’s most urgent social problems. The Ashoka Foundation has extremely high standards on which ideas they give their support to. In their words,
“Ashoka is only interested in ideas that it believes will change [society] significantly and that will trigger nationwide impac…
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Added by SAWA Global on July 7, 2009 at 6:51pm —
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For the month of June, SAWA’s founder Daphne Nederhorst has the exciting opportunity to moderate a discussion on the web portal Social Edge. Social Edge, launched in June 2003, is a networking and discussion forum sponsored by the Jeff Skoll foundation – a site for social entrepreneurs to connect, network, learn, inspire and share resources. The site fosters frank dialogue, mutual respect and aims to strike a balance between the visionary and the practical.
Daphne posted a great discussion abou…
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Added by SAWA Global on June 18, 2009 at 6:44pm —
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SAWA’s mentorship program has a new name – now called the Wakili program! Wakili means “advocate” in Swahili. An advocate is someone who speaks up for a cause. Being a part of SAWA’s Wakili program means bringing your own personal connections, ideas, resources and skills to support and promote a SAWA Hero’s project. It is a partnership program intended to magnify the successes of our SAWA Heroes’ projects. Here are some updates on how the program is already making significant positive impacts on…
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Added by SAWA Global on June 6, 2009 at 8:00pm —
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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.” -Margaret Mead
When people work together amazing things can happen. Hopeless situations can turn into reasons for hope. We learn this everyday from SAWA Heroes all over the world who, despite overwhelming challenges, have taken responsibility for improving the lives of people in their communities. Taking responsibility for the well-being of your community in whatever way you can is accepting that you b…
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Added by SAWA Global on May 22, 2009 at 9:23pm —
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SAWA found the perfect way to celebrate Earth Day this year – with a 5 day event at the UBC Botanical Gardens that allowed us to celebrate the amazing work being done by our SAWA Heroes. Inside the botanical gardens, Greenheart has created a beautiful canopy walkway up in the treetops. Along this canopy walkway SAWA placed beautiful biodegradable posters that introduced Vancouver to 10 SAWA heroes who are making positive changes in their communities. As hundreds of people walked through the walk…
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Added by SAWA Global on April 29, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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Vancouver's annual Projecting Change Film Festival was particularly special for SAWA this year after SAWA was praised as their charity of choice. Every year the festival celebrates and promotes green and sustainable living through engaging films and inspiring speakers, and this year the opening speech by the founders of the festival focused on SAWA Global and the "amazing work" we are doing.
On opening night SAWA shared its message of hope and inspiration to a sold out theatre - with over 350 p…
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Added by SAWA Global on April 13, 2009 at 11:03pm —
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Great news for SAWA! The first Wednesday of every month there will be a fundraiser for SAWA at Chai restaurant (above East is East on Broadway). Chai is a welcoming beautiful space pulsating with creativity, talent, and phenomenal live music! Walking in there is like walking into a party in the most cozy, colourful, nicely decorated, giant treehouse you could ever imagine – with stools and benches made out of beautiful wood, and Indian cushions and wall hangings adorning the walls.
Come out and…
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Added by SAWA Global on April 1, 2009 at 7:58pm —
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BLOG #31: SAWA Gives Opportunity to Make a Difference with Mentorship Program
SAWA helps you be inspired by the world with the stories that give testament to the strength of the human spirit, the stories of heroism rising in the face of great challenges, the stories of our SAWA Heroes. But SAWA is not just about showcasing these stories of hope and inspiration. SAWA also provides an opportunity for you to channel that inspiration into making a difference.
SAWA’s mentorship program directly con…
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Added by SAWA Global on March 24, 2009 at 3:02pm —
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Today on March 6th, SAWA celebrated International Womens' Day and womens' leadership in the world by sending our own inspiring leader Daphne Nederhorst to participate in a special event at The Global Dialogue Centre - an online interactive site dedicated to fostering dialogue on leadership, personal development, and ideas on how to make the world a better place. This Global Dialogue Centre is “a virtual gathering place” where people can “connect with a purpose.”
Over 300 women from over 20 coun…
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Added by SAWA Global on March 6, 2009 at 6:08pm —
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SAWA Blog # 28: SAWA presents to the UN!
At the beginning of February, SAWA was invited to address the UN in New York to present its ideas on innovative ways to use media to solve urgent global challenges. So on Feb 11th, our founder Daphne, as well as team members Joanna and David, flew down to NY where Daphne gave a well received and truly inspiring presentation to the UN about SAWA’s current impact and future goals.
Daphne gave a superb presentation that stood out, and the response was grea…
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Added by SAWA Global on February 18, 2009 at 7:00pm —
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On February 11th Daphne Nederhorst, the founder of Vancouver-based SAWA Global, will be speaking at the UNICEF 2009 Web4Dev Conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. She will be presenting her innovative ideas on how to use new media and social media tools to address global challenges to over 200 experts from the UN, NGOs and media organizations from around the world. Global experts on social and new media will also be on Nederhorst's presentation panel, including Kate Cusick, D…
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Added by SAWA Global on February 9, 2009 at 12:00am —
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SAWA BLOG #27 Class Afloat Trip to Senegal and Cape Verde part 2: The Heroes
Things are not always what they seem. Sometimes our preconceived notions about a place are all wrong. That's what Eric experienced when he landed in Senegal. At first apprehensive because of the negative images of Africa on the news, Eric quickly saw that "the face of Senegal is warm and smiling," and full of inspiration and heroism.
Eric met many SAWA Heroes and found that heroism comes in all forms: from large-scale…
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Added by SAWA Global on February 4, 2009 at 10:58pm —
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