The Missing Peace at Yerba Buena Center,
San Francisco, November 2007

New Values-Oriented School
Opens in Nigeria

And a Big "Thank You"

The Dalai Lama Receives
the Congressional Gold Medal

On October 17, 2007 The United States will be honoring His Holiness the Dalai Lama with the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The Congressional Gold Medal is being awarded to the Dalai Lama to recognize what the United States Congress called “his many enduring and outstanding contributions to peace, nonviolence, human rights and religious understanding.” The medal’s past recipients include Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to speak as part of the day’s festivities which will feature Tibetan-style performances, featuring about 200 singers and dancers. While thousands are expected to attend in person others around the world can view the ceremony as well via a webcast. For more information on the event or to register to view the webcast please visit the event website.

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You are invited to the opening gala for The Missing Peace at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts [YBCA]. Taking place Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 6:30pm at YBCA, the event will include a reception, dinner, entertainment, auction and an exhibition preview to benefit the Missing Peace.

The Master of Ceremonies for the evening will be Emmy winning and Oscar nominated actress Sharon Stone. The exhibition opens to the public on December 1st. For more information on the gala please visit The Missing Peace online or contact Bina Tethong with The Missing Peace Project. We hope to see you there!

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[An article in our series about organizations we hope you’ll find interesting.]

Creative Minds International Academy in Nigeria, West Africa is helping young people to discover and develop their inherent gifts, talents and abilities and to help raise ethically responsible, self-disciplined, and creative citizens capable of participation in a positive and sustainable society. Inspired by Project Happiness and established in 2007 as a values-based education school, Creative Minds is committed to preparing their students for the intellectual, personal and creative challenges of school life and beyond.

Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba, Founder/Principal of Creative Minds states, “Our School is committed to the belief that the ability to recognize and celebrate differences is an essential quality that all of us can strive for. We are deeply committed to providing young people with opportunities to develop a sound knowledge, understanding and appreciation of Nigeria’s rich traditional values and cultural heritage and to situate this understanding in a global context through a greater shared acceptance and understanding of our diverse world.”

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Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba’s participation in the life of The Dalai Lama Foundation is “truly motivating.”

He first volunteered to help us with study circles, and soon became the international coordinator of this activity.

Often on a daily basis he walked some distance to an Internet Café and was soon questioning, gathering information and encouraging the formation of these groups. He seeded a score of these groups in Nigeria alone.

As one of the three “cornerstone” teachers of Project Happiness in its first year, he and two students from Nigeria traveled to India in what became a life-changing voyage of discovery.

His videos for Project Happiness give you a glimpse of several school “assembly” activities with performances by students.

I interviewed Emmanuel (audio — listen online) when we were in India earlier this year, and you can listen to him describing his experiences…and learn the importance of persistence. —Jim (“Sky”) Schuyler .

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