USA Chapter

It wasn't too long ago that our delegation was in Singapore celebrating the 75th anniversary of PPSEAWA and enjoying a very special and stimulating 22nd PPSEAWA International Conference. The theme of the conference, "Sharing a Culture of Peace" gave us guidelines - concrete plans and strategies for the achievement of a peace that will last. By the sharing of success stories, best practices and experiences as well as potential pitfalls, we were challenged to a greater passion in the pursuit of peace.

The Chicago chapter has 42 members. Our first program was "Bridging the American and Sikh Cultures." Sikhism was founded in the 15th century and today there are 20 million followers in the world, with 80% living in Punjab, India. The word "Sikh" means disciple and they believe that everyone is equal in God's eyes; therefore, they reject the caste system.

Our chapter now has 16 members. We started our year by touring the exhibit, "Appreciating China: Gifts from Bruce and Ruth Dayton," an extraordinary exhibit given to the Minneapolis Art Institute. After the tour, we gathered at the Rainbow Chinese Restaurant for dinner and discussion.

An added bonus was the presence of Judy Grodin, our PPSEAWA international representative to the UN. She shared with us information about our association with the UN and her role there.

The Toledo chapter celebrated our 45-year anniversary in 2002. Our October's meeting was held in the home of Joe Ann Cousino. Joe Ann, a talented artist, gave us a wonderful presentation called Artifacts in Asia. She exhibited gorgeous pieces of handmade artifacts which were collected in the past century. Nearly 30 of our members attended.

It has been a great pleasure to serve as President of the NY Chapter for the last year. We are blessed with a talented and dedicated board. Our speakers and guests have been from Indonesia, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Samoa, Singapore, Tonga, Fiji, Marshal Islands, Nauru, and Micronesia.

Our membership has grown with 22 new members since June 2002. We now have a total of 141 members!!

The Los Angeles chapter has focused on one project for the last few years. We are sponsoring three "Scholarship Girls" in Litang, Tibet. The Middle School girls are aided by our financial contributions which help pay for their tuition, room, and board. Our meetings include updates on the girls with photographs, videos and letters brought back from Tibet by Kham Aid Foundation coordinator, Dr. Pamela Logan. Most of our meetings are also fundraisers and some include guests.

The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter with ten members is happy to report that we have met our goals for 2002-03.

PPSEAWA-Hawaii will be celebrating PPSEAWA's 75th Anniversary on October 24, 2003. The Princess and members of the Council are expected to attend. The new email address of the Princess is nanasi [at] aol [dot] com. The Princess informed us of 3 international days: Nov. 2nd- World Day for Circle of Compassion, Nov. 10th-World Science Day for Peace and Development, and Nov. 19th-World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse.

Greetings! This is an exciting time for the organization as we look forward to our 22nd International Conference and 75th Anniversary of Pan Pacific Southeast Asia Women's Association. In less than two months, our delegation will be leaving for Singapore to participate and enjoy what surely is going to be a stimulating and inspiring conference, "Sharing a Culture of Peace."

The chapter has participated in E-Script as a fund raiser. We continue to support our Tibetan student through Kham Aid Foundation. We correspond directly with Liu Doncheen who attends Kinlong Junior Middle School. The letters are translated by our member, Jenny Guo. We pay $275 per year to sponsor Liu. We also support a deaf student, Jyoti Bal Vikas Sanstha in India. We correspond with her in English. A delegation from our chapter visited an organization called Books for the Barrios and we have donated items to send to Philippines.