Dear All -

Finally there's something worth writing about! Here is a write-up I did for the Taste for Justice event I hosted as a fundraiser for Amnesty International - Canada. And, in the meantime, I'm still slogging away writing the website for Share and Care, which will hopefully be up in July. That'll be a party!

Taste for Justice Dinner, 17 June, 2006

I looked forward to once again hosting a Taste for Justice Dinner when I returned from India two months ago. Eager to tell Amnesty International's story to people from different areas of my life, I sent out invitations a month before the event. People started to respond right away, and although many couldn't attend, an eclectic group of 14 gathered on Saturday to eat and hear more about AI.

Because my area of expertise is India and human rights violations there, my short presentation included an outline of Amnesty's mission and work, and then focused on the Bhopal disaster. I chose to talk about that mostly because there has been a bit of good news lately—in April Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with a delegation of Bhopal survivors who had marched 800 km to Delhi. He agreed to 4 of their 6 demands, and created a committee to plan and implement medical, social and economic rehabilitation, perhaps the foremost being the provision of clean drinking water. I showed a 10-minute segment of the NFB film, 'Bhopal: The Search for Justice' by Peter Raymont, and gave out an action for people to do at home.

I owe many thanks to many people:
• to my family for donating their home, which is much bigger than mine, for the event
• to my friend Smadar who helped me organize in the last throes of Saturday afternoon, made a beautiful donation box, and washed all the dishes afterwards
• to three Gerrard Street restaurants for their generous donations of food for the event: Mahar for delicious samosas, Moti Mahal for a huge tray of channa (chickpeas) – the small brown kind and wonderfully spicy, and to Regency for rice and another dish of channa – the regular kind and gentler on unwary taste buds
• to everyone who came to eat and learn, and for their generous donations
• to a few who couldn’t attend, but who sent donations anyway

Many of my guests traveled quite far, coming from Etobicoke, Oakville, and North York, and I appreciate all their effort. At the end of the evening it was obvious that the restaurants had been so generous that we had a lot of food left over, and I made a quick trip to the local Salvation Army shelter, where it was gratefully received.

I look forward to hosting a Taste for Justice event next year, and I hope to be able to report good news from Bhopal and other areas of India.

Take care Everyone -

Ellen