Encouraging The World

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Encouraging The World We provide hands on enrichment workshops and international service learning projects for youth 12-20 years old in Maryland. We need to love and tell the truth.

"What would the world look like if, every student traveled abroad before graduating high school?"

ETW International Service Program- ETW Youth Ambassadors travel abroad for a 2-week international enrichment service cultural excursion, facilitating youth -led activities for parentless children. These opportunities are life changing, and ETW Youth Ambassadors will directly discover value, a new pe

rspective, and purpose. ETW Architect Program- ETW Ambassadors are required to participate in monthly enrichment and volunteer service projects in Maryland, building up the community. History:

Encouraging the World (ETW) is a program of Fusion Partnerships, Inc., which was created by Cirron Lanier Greenidge in 2007 while he was interning in Cyprus, he had the opportunity to visit with many churches and communities and saw the need for encouragement throughout the world. Inspired by the teachings of Saint Paul, ETW has worked in orphanages, juvenile homes, schools, and churches throughout the world from Philippines to Palestine. Cirron was inspired to start Encouraging The World while climbing the Troodos Mountains in Cyprus. In Israel, we worked with the Al-Harah Theater Group and Contacting The World. ETW choreographed and co-directed Facehook?!, which is currently touring Europe and The Middle East, sharing the struggles and lives of young Arab youth through dance, music and drama. Encouraging The World launched several projects in the Philippines from 2011-2012, recruiting 50 volunteers from Thailand, Baltimore, Holland, and the Philippines to serve orphan and juvenile communities in Manila, General Santos, and Davao. We mentored youth and provided recreational relief. ETW also organized tree plantings; clothing drives, and hosted Libi Elementary School’s Nutrition month, feeding an indigenous community of 600 children and families in Malapatan. In 2013, ETW was incorporated and was founded to offer youth leadership and organizational skills, big brother support, provide English lessons, conflict-resolution workshops, dance, acting, sports, bible classes, planning special events and community revitalization projects, and more. Recently, Encouraging The World was presented with the 2013 Black Male Engagement Leadership Award. We also received a grant from The Knight Foundation to establish Encouraging The World in Baltimore, Maryland. People of this world we need to encourage one another. We need to travel and get out of our Comforts. We need to give and take care of the orphan and widow. We need to get in touch with who we were created to be. Vision for the Future

Our ETW International Service Program will send 4-6 youth from Baltimore to Haiti for two weeks, tentatively scheduled for June 20 - July 4, 2014. ETW is planning to build a multi purpose transitional facility for aged out parentless youth and troubled youth. PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8FZ6CLRSZZSXN

Hot News!!! We are in the Ocean City Film Festival, A Command series prequel short, "Ray of Sunshine"Ray of Sunshine is ...
10/02/2024

Hot News!!! We are in the Ocean City Film Festival, A Command series prequel short, "Ray of Sunshine"

Ray of Sunshine is a prequel set in 1999, about Ray, his family, and his background. Ray is the man who gives Ronnie his powers in the first episode of Command.

The Festival is starting on Thursday March 7th and ending on Sunday March 10th with the award ceremony.

Ray of Sunshine is in the block called "Horror, Sci-Fi & The Weird". This block plays twice over the weekend. Once on Friday, March 8th from 7-9:30PM, and then again on Saturday, March 9th from 4:30-7PM.

For a look at the full schedule and programing, you can find that here: FESTIVAL SCHEDULE

We would love it if anybody wants to join to check out the film!

We are also in the middle of trying to organize a screening and premiere for Ray of Sunshine, and to screen Season 1 of Command again in April and will start production for Season 2 this summer.

For OC Film Festival you will need to purchase tickets for anyone that is attending, and that is linked right here: TICKETS

Enjoy the 8th Annual Ocean City Film Festival, showcasing new films by regional and international filmmakers of all backgrounds and genres.

23/11/2023

Anti-Blackness: A Definition

The term Black people refers to African Americans who are descended from the historical African diaspora to the Americas and Caribbean as well as more recent African descended immigrants to the United States from countries in Africa, Americas, Caribbean and Europe.

Anti-Blackness refers to actions or behaviors that minimize, marginalize or devalue the full participation of Black people in life. The spectrum of anti-Black actions and behaviors spans from unconscious bias to motivated acts of prejudice. They include the tolerance of or indifference to the under-representation, differential success and advancement, or experience of Black people in the university.

The impact of anti-Blackness is aggravated by intersectional dimensions of diversity - class, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, immigrant and immigration status, sexual orientation, veteran status, among others. Acts of anti-Blackness may not be maliciously motivated even rise to the level of a policy violation, but the accumulated and negative
impacts of these acts on the campus Black community robs them of their full
participation and sense of belonging at UCI.

As such, anti-Blackness seriously compromises the capacity of the entire university enterprise (campus and medical center) to discover, innovate and serve. As such, it fundamentally contradicts UCI's role as a public research university serving the state, the nation and world.

Nominations are in!!!!Two shows I’ve done this year on:  https://www.broadwayworld.com/baltimore1. Best New Play Or Musi...
14/11/2023

Nominations are in!!!!

Two shows I’ve done this year on: https://www.broadwayworld.com/baltimore

1. Best New Play Or Musical:

Show R/J @ Strand Theater

2. Best Ensemble:
Show R/J Theater

&

Show: DON'T BOTHER ME, I CAN'T COPE Broadway Live

3. Best Lighting:
Show R/J Strand Theater

4. Best Costumes
Show R/J Strand Theater

&

Show: DON'T BOTHER ME, I CAN'T COPE Broadway Live

I’m currently on my 3rd show Sweet Charity, playing at the Motor House Theater, Maryland

Visit our Baltimore Theater News Guide to stay up-to-date on the latest musicals, listings, reviews, and plays in Baltimore with Broadway World!

05/11/2023
Cirron -The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is dire and getting worse by the minute. The US Congress must join many in the i...
02/11/2023

Cirron -

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is dire and getting worse by the minute. The US Congress must join many in the international community in demanding a humanitarian pause, now, so that sufficient supplies – food, water, medicine, fuel — can reach the people of Gaza.

Please read my latest op-ed on the need for a humanitarian pause in Gaza and a vision for where we go from here. - Bernie

Gaza needs a humanitarian pause. Then we need a vision of where we go from here
One thing is clear: there cannot be a return to the status quo that existed in Gaza before the war

Bernie Sanders
Wed 1 November 2023

The situation in Gaza is a disaster. Congress must take action. The administration must take action. The world must take action.

Today, three weeks after Hamas’s barbaric attack against civilians in Israel, which began this war, many hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children in Gaza are facing catastrophe.

Over the past three weeks, it is estimated that some 8,000 people have been killed in bombings – including more than 3,000 children – and far more have been wounded. More than one million people in Gaza have been displaced from their homes and some 670,000 people are sheltering in UN installations, where they are down to one liter of water per person, per day. These people lack sufficient food, water, medical supplies and fuel. The hospitals and medical facilities are in nightmarish conditions, with hundreds of babies in incubators and patients on life support at risk of death, should the generators that sustain them run out of fuel. Corridors are lined with injured and displaced people, and overwhelmed doctors must turn patients away or operate without anesthesia or antibiotics.

The humanitarian crisis is dire and getting worse by the minute. The US Congress must join many in the international community in demanding a humanitarian pause, now, so that sufficient supplies – food, water, medicine, fuel – can reach the people of Gaza. If not, thousands more will die needlessly. A stop to the bombing is critical to save innocent lives and secure the safe return of the hostages.

Let us never forget: the lives of all children are sacred, whether they are Palestinian children, Israeli children, or American children, and we must do everything we can to protect them.

But if we’re going to make any real progress in addressing this never-ending conflict between Israel and Hamas – there have been five wars in the last 15 years – we need to understand the current political realities in the region. If peace is ever to come to the Middle East, and if the Palestinian people are going to be able to enjoy lives of security and dignity, we will also need a vision of where we go from here.

And one thing is clear. There cannot be a return to the status quo that existed in Gaza before the war. Let us never forget that the living conditions there were horrific and inhumane. Before this present war began, nearly 80% of people in Gaza lived in poverty, and two-thirds were reliant on humanitarian assistance. Almost half the population, and 70% of young people, were unemployed. Electricity was intermittent, with 11- to 12-hour blackouts every day. Water and sanitation systems were inadequate, and there were constant shortages of all sorts of essential goods. Gaza was mostly cut off from the world, with Israel and Egypt severely limiting the number of people and the types of goods that could go in or out. In fact, many observers described Gaza as “an open-air prison”. That was the situation before October 7, and if we are serious about bringing freedom and dignity to the Palestinian people, that is the situation that cannot be returned to. The Palestinian people are entitled to much more than that.

In Gaza, Hamas, an authoritarian terrorist organization, has ruled by force, stockpiling arms and war material, taxing the desperately poor population and stealing resources to build tunnels and rockets. Hamas was elected with a minority vote in 2006 – when most of the people alive in Gaza today were not even born or were children and could not vote. Hamas has not allowed for elections since. Several months before the war, thousands of Palestinians in Gaza courageously took to the streets to protest Hamas rule before they were dispersed by force. Further, there should be no mistaking the reality that Hamas is single-mindedly devoted to destroying the state of Israel and killing Jews. They also advance a fundamentalist ideology which treats women as second-class citizens and threatens to kill people who are gay. Hamas is an authoritarian nightmare, repressing dissent and stealing from Gazans not just the basic materials of life they need, but the dream of a better future.

That was the situation in Gaza before October 7.

And what was the political situation in Israel before Hamas’s terrorist attack? That country had the most rightwing government in its history, a cabinet that included outright racist ministers who consistently dehumanized the Palestinian population. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has been under indictment for a litany of corruption charges, and many believe Israel’s intelligence failures on October 7 had much to do with his government’s preoccupation with his political problems.

Before the war, this rightwing governing coalition had systematically undermined the prospects of peace. Netanyahu and his extremist partners had worked to marginalize Palestinian voices committed to peace, pursued settlement policies designed to foreclose the possibility of a two-state solution, stymied economic development in Palestinian areas, and passed laws that entrench systemic inequality between the Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

This year saw record Israeli settlement growth in the West Bank, where more than 700,000 Israelis now live in areas the UN and US agree are occupied territories. Despite that, the Israeli government authorized thousands of new homes for settlers and opened up new areas to construction, while bulldozing thousands of Palestinian homes and schools and further restricting Palestinian movement. Legal experts agree these policies constituted illegal annexation.

These policies also greatly increased tension and violence in the West Bank. Before October 7, 179 Palestinians had been killed in 2023, which made it the deadliest year in two decades. Since October 7, 121 more Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, including some by settlers. These tensions were part of why so much of the IDF was deployed in the West Bank, rather than the border with Gaza.

Then came the October 7 Hamas atrocities that began this latest war.

The Hamas attack was unspeakable. Over 1,300 innocent men, women and children killed. About 240 Israelis and Americans taken hostage, including young children and grandparents. Hundreds of Israeli youth were gunned down in cold blood at a music festival, babies and older people were brutally murdered in their homes. And let’s remember that Hamas did not primarily target the military. They intentionally targeted innocent civilians. Their attack was designed to provoke a response. In that they succeeded.

The people of Israel were horrified and outraged by this attack. Understandably, many wanted to strike back forcefully. Rage and revenge, however, do not often make effective policy. The United States’s response to September 11, and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, offer a cautionary tale that all countries should learn well. Overreaction too often makes a bad situation even worse. Killing innocent Palestinian women and children in Gaza will not bring back to life the innocent Israeli women and children who were killed by Hamas.

Like any other country, Israel has the right to defend itself and destroy the Hamas terrorists who attacked them. But it does not have the right to kill thousands of innocent men, women and children in Gaza. It does not have the right to endanger the lives of millions of Palestinians – half of whom are children – by shutting off water, food, fuel and electricity. That type of action against a helpless and impoverished population is morally unacceptable and in violation of international law. Recently, Israel struck the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp and killed a Hamas commander. But they also killed some 50 other people and injured hundreds more. Alongside innocent Palestinian men, women and children, many aid workers are being killed. Up to this point, some 67 United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) workers have been killed and 44 facilities damaged.

An immediate humanitarian response is vitally important, but it is equally important for Israel to have a political strategy. It cannot bomb its way to a long-term solution. Such a strategy must include, as minimum first steps: a clear promise that Palestinians displaced in the fighting will have the absolute right to safely return to their homes; a commitment to broader peace talks to advance a two-state solution in the wake of this war; an abandonment of Israeli efforts to carve up and annex the West Bank; and a commitment to work with the international community to build genuine Palestinian governing capacity.

The United States, which provides $3.8 billion a year in military aid to Israel, should make it clear that these are the conditions of our solidarity. Just as we want Israel to be a vibrant democracy, safe from terrorist attacks, we also want justice and dignity for the Palestinian people. That’s not going to happen with Hamas running the Gaza Strip. It is also not going to happen with continued Israeli domination of Palestinian life.

Palestinians need a state of their own, contiguous, with the freedom of movement and access that can sustain a vibrant economy. Palestinians need a democratic society in which they can elect their leadership and express their views.

This will be a long and difficult road. It will take concerted US and international support, and a doubling down of our political commitment to a two-state solution. We must begin this work with a new sense of urgency, the horrific disaster that has taken place in Israel and Gaza over the last three weeks has shown that the status quo cannot continue. For the sake of the Palestinian people, and for the people of Israel, we must create a process which ends the hatred, the cycle of violence, and allows all to live in peace and security.

21/10/2023
Guess where I’m off to now? Leaving Dulles to…….
08/08/2023

Guess where I’m off to now? Leaving Dulles to…….

Bmore Broadway Live
25/01/2023

Bmore Broadway Live

Who is that guy?
17/08/2022

Who is that guy?

Very excited to announce Command has gotten into its first festival!!

Thank you to everyone over at

https://gofund.me/3b4d8bce
24/06/2022

https://gofund.me/3b4d8bce

Hi, my name is Moses West. I am raising funds for The Moses West Foundati… Moses West needs your support for Providing clean drinking water to people in need

24/02/2022

Peace!

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