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The Charlotte Jewish News -August 2011 - Page 26 Brave Sikh Protester Finds Refuge in North Carolina By Karen Brodsky In August of 2009, Carolina Refugee Resettlement Ageney resettled an interesting refugee in Charlotte. Hailing from Burma, many of his family reside in Rangoon. He has never eut his hair and has kept it eovered throughout his life. Pan Cha is a Sikh. He and his family are the only Sikhs CRRA has settled in Charlotte. Tall, dark, soft-spoken and wearing a turban, he euts a striking figure. His father is Punjabi, from northwest India, where Sikhs are in the majority. His father left India after WWII to live in Burma and married a Burmese woman. They had eleven ehildren, among them Pan Cha. Sikhism is a monotheistie reli gion founded in northern India in the 16th eentury by the guru Nanak. Sikhism preaehes a mes sage of devotion and remem- branee of God at all times, truthful living, equality of mankind, soeial justiee and denounees supersti tions and blind rituals. Among Sikhism’s values: * to see God in everyone; understand and praetiee equality among all raees irrespeetive of easte, religion, eolor, status, age, gender, ete; * to engage in selfless serviee and help build a loving eommuni- ty life; to be a eontributor to soei- ety whenever possible; * to be ready to proteet and stand for the rights of the weak among us; to fight for justiee and fairness for all. Currently, there are about 23 Scouting for Boys and Girls at Shalom Park If you have a son or daughter and are interested in partieipating in Daisies, Brownies, Girl Seouts, Cubs, or Boy Seouts at Shalom Park, mark Thursday, September 1, at 7 PM on your ealendar. We will have sign up informational meetings at Camp Mindy for those interested in partieipating during the 2011-12 sehool year. Meetings are gener ally Sunday afternoons, but that eould vary depending on the needs of the individual groups whieh are divided by age/grade. Girls may start in Kindergarten (5 years old) and boys may start Cub Seouts in First Grade. These are fun, values based programs whieh strongly eneour- age parent and family involve ment. Leadership is generally pro vided by parents of ehildren in the group with ample training and support provided by the loeal and national eouneils of both organiza tions. For more informa tion please email dlintzs- eout@AOL.eom or phone 704-364-0227.^ million Sikhs in the world. Nineteen million Sikhs live in the state of Punjab in India. Large populations of Sikhs ean be found in the UK, Canada, and the U.S. They also eomprise a signifieant minority in Malaysia and Singapore, where they are some times made fun of for their dis- tinetive appearanee, but are respeeted for their drive and high edueation standards, as they dom inate the legal profession. In Burma, Pan Cha performed the Sikh version of tikkun olam, repair of the world. In 2007 there was a series of Burmese anti-gov ernment protests. Among the eauses was the unannouneed deei- sion of the ruling junta to remove fuel subsidies that eaused the priee of diesel and petrol to skyroeket. This inerease in fuel priees led to an inerease in food priees. Pan Cha, a veteran of similar mass protests earlier in 1988, was among the Burmese who organ ized eivilian proteetion eireles that ringed Buddhist monks as they marehed through the streets of Rangoon for eight days demon strating against the military junta. “I took up the protest again beeause priees were rising and people were starving around me.” The protest began without vio- lenee, until the army surrounded both eivilians and monks. When three monks went to beg them not to use violenee, they started beat ing the monks and shooting. Pan Cha said that originally, 100.000 eivilians marehed with 5.000 to 6,000 monks. “I thought we were winning; in the midst of flying bullets we were able to mareh. We had people in the side streets, with stones and roeks ready to give proteetion to the pro testers.” But on the seeond to last day of the protest, the monks were gone, and the erowd dwindled. “Many people were seared,” Pan Cha said. “When the Japanese [pho tographer Kenji Nagai] was shot, they [knew] the government would shoot even foreigners.” By the last day, the movement had all but disintegrated. Pan Cha fled to the Mae Sot refugee eamp in Thailand, where many Burmese opposition groups are based. There he applied for refugee status for his family — a wife and two young sons. After the protests, other Sikhs lauded Pan Cha’s efforts: From England, “How ineredibly brave this man is and an inspiration to Sikhs outside India. ... He is also so humble and devoted to justiee for the people of Burma. [It is] a ... a shining example to us all.” Pan Cha lives in apartment in Charlotte, where CRRA resettled him. He and his wife weleomed a third son here. He has just reeeived a promotion within Dole Foods — to be the manager of the night shift. It is a simple and quiet life — and mueh safer. Eaeh refugee settled by CRRA has a unique, often harrowing, story of life before Charlotte. Please help us to provide safety, seeurity and self-suffieieney to these new eommunity members. Cash donations may be sent to CRRA, 5007 Monroe Rd., Charlotte, NC 28205 or may be made on the website www.ear- olinarefugee.org. Currently the need is great for beds for our new arrivals. Please eall 704-535-8803 if you ean donate mattresses, box springs or bedframes and other furniture. ^ Book of Life (Continued from page 24) we eould raise ehildren (not that we had any yet!) in a supportive Jewish environment. We found that eommunity in Temple Beth Shalom, whieh then merged into Temple Beth El. And when we were blessed with Joanne, and later, with Jonathan, they were reeeived with love into the temple family. Through religious sehool. Bat and Bar Mitzvah, and eonfir- mation, our ehildren grew in their Jewish learning. Their trips to Israel with Rabbi Barras, Susan Jaeobs, and their Temple friends further eemented their Jewish identities. In gratitude for the impaet that Temple Beth El has had on our family, Bruee and I have support ed the Temple eaeh year, and pro vided for the Temple in our wills. It is our hope that it will always weleome eaeh individual and every family who honors the Jewish people, and who seeks to observe our mitzvot, and to pass along our rieh heritage. ^ “Not-My-Kid”Battling Substance Abuse in a Jewish Setting By Shelley Friedman On May 21, The Charlotte Meeklenburg Drug Free Coalition (CMDFC) presented a panel of experts to diseuss the topie Not My Kid: Dispelling the Myth that Alcohol and Drng Issnes Do Not Exist in Jewish Adolescents and Yonng Adnlts on Shalom Park. The CMDFC eoordinated a panel of experts with experienee in the field of substanee abuse, aleoholism and other addietions. The distinguished panel eon- sisted of Darey Alban, Case Manager with Jewish Family Serviees, Devorah Werner, a Physieian’s Assistant with CMC Merey Horizons Detox unit, Andrew London, a 2011 graduate from the College of Charleston and eurrently a eounselor at Hope Homes Ine., a non-profit residenee that offers eounseling serviees to addiets and aleoholies in reeovery, Jane Goble-Clark, the new Exeeutive Direetor of Substanee Abuse Prevention Serviees whieh provides prevention serviees to organizations and individuals in Charlotte Meeklenburg and helps to strengthen youth, families and eommunities, Elda-Rosa Coulthrust, Clinieal Supervisor for adoleseent treatment serviees at the Anuvia Prevention and Reeovery Center, Offieer Tommy Shankle, of the Law Enforeement Division of the Meeklenburg County ABC Board, and Speeial Agent Jeff Ferris of the U.S. Drug Enforeement Administration (DEA). Shelley Friedman, a eom munity organizer with the CMDFC and a member of Temple Beth El and the temple’s Soeial Justiee Committee, organized the event and the panel with Steve Newman of the Meeklenburg County Health Department and also a member of Temple Beth El moderated. Darey Alban said that Jewish Family Serviees treats Jewish teenagers and families that have substanee abuse issues. All of the panelists agreed that substanee abuse erosses all religious, ethnie and eeonomie boundaries. In faet some upper eeonomie neighbor hoods in Charlotte Meeklenburg have more substanee abuse issues than some poorer eommunities do. The adoleseent brain does not fully develop until the early to mid-twenties and aleohol and other drugs ean affeet the develop ment of the brain. Adoleseents who drink do not typieally drink like responsible adults drink and some binge drink. It is eritieal to talk to ehildren from a young age about important issues and talk often about not drinking aleohol until 21 and not using other drugs. Kids have a lot of outside influenees through tele vision, aleohol advertisements, musie and the Internet that glam orize youth drinking and using drugs. Parents and other earing adults ean have more influenee than all of the other outside infiu- enees but they must speak up. Talk to your kids about the nature of some youth to be impulsive. Aleohol and other drugs ean add to the impulsivity whieh ean lead to eriminal aetivity, pregnaneies, and, in the worst of all eases, pos sibly even death. The ABC offieer and the DEA speeial agent both agreed that hanging out at the Arboretum Shopping Center or other shop ping eenters is bad news for youth. The shopping eenters are where drug deals eommonly happen. A question was raised by a Temple Beth El eongregant whether there are eolleges that enforee no drinking and drugs rules. The question was asked beeause one of the panelists stated that there is a eollege in Charlotte that drops bus loads of kids off at a elub and pieks them up so they do not drive under the influenee. While this keeps the kids safe from drinking and driving it does n’t promote health of mind and body through abstinenee. ^ There are many loeal and national resourees that are dedieated to pre venting underage drinking and substanee abuse. * Charlotte Mecklenburg Drug Free Coalition: Prevent Underage Drinking Initiative, 704 375-3784 (Ext. 24), www.drugfreecharlotte.org * Anuvia Prevention and Recovery Center, 704 376-7447, www.anuvia.org * Substance Abuse Prevention Services, 704-375-DRUG www.preventionservices.org * Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, www.samhsa.gov * National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, www.niaaa.nih.gov * Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, www.cadca.org * Mothers Against Drunk Driving, www.madd.org * Mecklenburg County Health Department, www.meckhealth.org * Dilworth Center for Chemical Dependency Published by the Charlotte Meeklenburg Drug Free Coalition, Mareh 2011 If you have questions or would like a panel for a diseussion with youth, parents, eongregations, or students please eontaet Shelley Friedman, Community Organizer, Charlotte Meeklenburg Drug Free Coalition, Friedmans@preventionserviees.org, 1117 E. Morehead St., Suite 101, Charlotte, NC 28204, www.drugfreeeharlotte.org, 704 375-3784 ext. 24.
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