We have great news! You've not only met our goal for the Coley family, but have exceeded it! The funds raised from the Coley family shirts have exceeded due to a shirts that were sold separately to the Buffalo Exchange, and because of individuals' donations made for the family. Our original goal of $5,000.00 to be used for the rebuilding of the Coley's home, has been exceeded by 795.43. After consulting with our contact person to the family, Stephen Cobb, he suggested that we use the remaining amount to be used for much needed repairs Ms. Helen needed for her car. The repair funds were delivered to Helen last week, and a check for $ 5,000.00 is in route to be deposited in an existing account with other donated funds waiting to be used for home reconstruction.

Helen is currently living in an apartment, which in some ways is much more comfortable than her original home, which did not have air conditioning. There have been talks of perhaps working with Habitat for Humanity and other low income housing builders to get the family set up in a new home on their old piece of property. We'll keep you posted on the progress.

Other exciting news: we were able to send roughly $4,500 to Mexico for the Armonia student scholarship! We're over halfway to our goal, and these funds will be making a significant impact on the lives of the students and the lives they will impact in their hometowns. Here's a comprehensive update on the work of Armonia including some photos.

Thank you to everyone for your support of these projects. We'll be releasing new tees very soon, so please make sure and return soon to check them out.

If you have been trying to connect to Guy Martorana's Letter to the Editor from our last post on the Sharkar Family, it seems as if the link has been removed off the Monroe Journal's website. We've pasted the original letter below, if you didn't get a chance to read it.

Hope this finds all of you well, and thank you so much for your support.

Love
The ROSA Crew

Guy Martorana's Letter to the Editor
Lalmatia, Dhaka, Bangladesh
September 20, 2008

From my apartment building in Lalmatia, a middle class district in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the cacophony of bells, horns and shouting echoes endlessly against the concrete walls of my flat. This time of the year presents an escape from the outside racket. It is the holy month of Ramadan, and as the sun sets the local Imam leads the call to prayer. Muslims across Dhaka are breaking the fast, leaving the narrow streets of Lalmatia empty. Alas, a vestige of visible and audible peace in one of the most populated cities in the world.

Bangladesh is an overwhelmingly complex, yet intriguing country. One can feel the pulse of this nation simply by riding a rickshaw or visiting a nearby tea stall. The renowned cultural trait of Bengali hospitality is wonderful and ubiquitous, though the constant staring and lack of privacy leaves a foreigner, like myself, tense and, at times, fighting for clarity of mind. I have come to this country to learn poverty eradication methodologies from a development organization based in Dhaka. I will not go into a barrage of statistical data validating the extreme level of poverty that exists here. You can look up that information yourself. What I will explain is some of what I have seen, lived and learned from this country and its proud citizenry.

The great Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore, once stated, “I asked a tree. Speak to me about God. And [so] it blossomed.” My time in Bangladesh, as with many sojourns in foreign countries, has compelled me to reflect on the Divine, one’s purpose in life and humanity. Each day, I am reminded of how the majority of humanity lives and life’s incessant cruelties. These cruelties manifest frequently and in various forms.

Poverty and injustice robs many here of their dignity, happiness as well as the basic necessities required to survive. Simply walking to the corner store brings one’s eyes upon street children walking barefoot sifting through raw sewage or emaciated beggars evoking the Divine for alms. At times, it is easy to become immune to the dark reality that envelops this city only to be reminded that there are no guarantees to life for anyone. My first of multiple experiences with this cruel reality came from a little mosquito.

This year’s monsoon season created a perfect environment for mosquito spawning in Dhaka. The presence of stagnant water and raw sewage in the streets helped introduce me to a severe bout of dengue fever. As life would have it, I was able to buy adequate medical care. During this entire episode, my mind, when coherent, would drift upon how these circumstances would have a mortally different outcome if I had not been privy to this level of medical treatment. Who decided that I deserved to live; while so many suffer and perish just for being born into the wrong family? Why do innocents suffer, as they do, never knowing life without hunger or security? These existential questions will continue to haunt me as I go through the rest of my life.

Injustice in its many forms abounds, though in Dhaka it is a bit starker and often violent. People suffer from maladies that are perpetuated by unjust social and economic structures not only here, but also in the U.S. We should begin to move past simply seeing ourselves as a “city on a hill”, while we apathetically ignore what is occurring on the other side of the world, as well as forgoing any critical examination of our own domestic policies and social structures. The recent financial crisis and U.S. led wars against terrorism demonstrates that our world is intrinsically interconnected. Each of us bears a responsibility for all our brothers and sisters in every corner of the world, including the responsibility for future generations. This global responsibility cannot be achieved through coercion, but through mutual understanding, social engagement and the practice of compassion.

Day has become night here in Dhaka. Iftar has been eaten. Life marches onward. And, hope lies within us all.

Guy Martorana