Only four days left to make a 2019 donation!

A significant one – today and long into the future!

You will help build peace and bring justice to regions of conflict, including the West Bank, by supporting the women who gather regularly with Lucy Talgieh, Women’s Project Coordinator for Wi’am: Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center, KAIROS’ partner in the West Bank. They spend time together learning about their human rights and working together to find local solutions to problems with access to employment, health services, and garbage collection, to name just a few.

A recent KAIROS delegation to Palestine was inspired over and over again by women who, despite the difficulty of their lives under many years of occupation, are persistently hopeful. Many have sons and daughters in jail for protesting the occupation. They deal daily with the humiliation and challenges that come from moving about their region and accessing their land. Unemployment and difficulty accessing basic needs like clean water are ongoing hardships.

And yet, KAIROS Executive Director Jennifer Henry described what the delegation saw in these women as “pure hope”. One of them, Miriam, described its source: “This is what gives me hope – this place where we come together as a group to heal, train, learn, have fun together, and empower ourselves.”

Your Christmas donation to KAIROS sustains hope in Miriam, Lucy and numerous other women in towns and villages across the West Bank.

You also help bring justice to women like Ombeni and Bora in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. When their parents died earlier this year, their paternal uncles seized the family property and left the young women homeless. Seeking justice, Ombeni and Bora turned to KAIROS’ partner organization, Héritiers de la Justice, which guided and accompanied them through the legal process of recovering their home. Today, the property and the two homes on it are legally theirs.

Thanks to your support, Héritiers de la Justice had the resources to help Ombeni and Bora.

Wi’am and Héritiers de la Justice are part of KAIROS’ Women of Courage: Women, Peace and Security program, along with Organización Femenina Popular in Colombia, the South Sudan Council of Churches – National Women’s Programme, and National Council of Churches in the Philippines. You can designate your donation to any of these courageous, tenacious organizations!

As the desire for right relations and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples grows across Canada and people take concrete steps to achieve it, your support of the KAIROS Blanket Exercise (KBE) is even more meaningful. Repeatedly, we see this powerful learning tool changing hearts and minds, particularly among youth.

From two university students in British Columbia in September:

This exercise was immensely impactful. I wish I had done it earlier. Canadian history is taught through the eyes of the settlers, and this perspective is flawed. I am so grateful to have had this experience and I will use it to think critically about my assumptions and behaviours. This brought up a lot of emotions, which I hope I can use to fuel more personal inquiries and grow my understanding. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!

This exercise is of immense importance and significance. Having conversations about how colonization has affected and continues to impact Indigenous peoples is crucial, especially acknowledging that colonization is not an historic event, but is also continued behaviours and the creation of systems of violence that continue today.

Your Christmas donation means that KAIROS can keep sharing the KBE across Canada and beyond, with all sectors of society.

Your contribution will bring hope and change to communities building peace and justice, often in the face of great odds. We have lots of donation options for you!

By clicking here, you can choose to designate your contribution to:

• KAIROS’ General Fund
• The overall Women of Courage: Women, Peace and Security program
• The National Council of Churches in the Philippines
• The KAIROS Blanket Exercise program
• KAIROS’ Indigenous Rights program
• KAIROS’ Ecological Justice program

Every dollar donated to these Women of Courage: Women, Peace and Security partners will generate an additional $3 in matching funds from Global Affairs Canada:

• Wi’am: Palestinian Conflict Transformation Center (West Bank)
• Héritiers de la Justice (Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Organización Femenina Popular (Colombia)
• The South Sudan Council of Churches – National Women’s Programme.

You can give a loved one a meaningful Christmas gift through the Gift of Sharing section of our website. We’ll send a card to the person you name and include a message from you if you wish.

And finally, you can increase your giving impact by joining KAIROS’ Spirit of Change monthly giving program and helping to  ensure that KAIROS’ vital work within Canada and across the globe is sustained.

Thank you for supporting KAIROS!