Pillars of Project CURA

Simple Living, Cultural Sensitivity, Service and Community

Simple Living

Simple living is about making choices. They become aware of the choices that the poor are forced to make as they consciously journey with them.

Doing with less becomes an eye opener and a challenge that leads to a conscious understanding of how easy it is to be materialistic in our consumer society.

"'Living simply' is a statement that there is another way to live other than the type of lifestyle promoted by the greater society. I think that simple living shows that poverty is not a mark of shame, but that there is more dignity in a simple life, so long as it is rich in love and spirituality. By consciously & actively living simply, I hope that my life can say that everyone has choices as to how to live their life, maybe not so much in wealth and riches, but a choice in attitude and responsible decision making." —Eleanor Han

Cultural Sensitivity

The service component of volunteer work abroad is much more than just working. It also involves cultural exchange. Cultural exchange is an important component of a successful volunteer placement because you are traveling internationally and immersing yourself in a country with a set of cultural norms different from those back home. Working abroad you  will be exposed to new ways of accomplishing day-to-day tasks by working side-by-side with local people. Cultural exchange is also a service in and of itself. By volunteering, you are providing a unique opportunity for a local person to learn about your culture and share perspectives and ideas with you, face to face.

a) Let the local people decide, what is best for them and b) the ultimate goal is "empowerment" and not "pitiful charity".

"We believe the people of each culture know and understand what is appropriate for their community. Because local people are the experts, we assist them in carrying out the objectives they deem important, rather than impose Western ways."

Threatened by homogenistic tendencies of an American dominated global culture, sensitive volunteering is also helping traditional cultures and societies to survive. Only with this kind of sensitivity can cultures interact as equals and our world's rich diversity be sustained.

Community

This applies to the community within our group as we live and learn together throughout the project and also to the community that we will be living and working within. This part embodies the importance of cultural sensitivity listed above.

Service

On Work

And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn
from your own heart,
even as if your beloved
were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved
were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and
reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved
were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion
with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead
are standing about you and watching.

Work is love made visible
And if you cannot work with love but only
with distaste, it is better that you should
leave your work and sit at the gate of the
temple and take alms of those who work with joy..

(An excerpt from "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran)

How do these tie together?

It comes down to Empathy. One doesn’t serve others through sympathy, rather it is through empathy that one truly gives

Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone. Empathy is being able to relate to someone.

Empathy is the natural chemical secreted by the pineal gland to cause appreciation for the feelings of other beings. Sympathy is a man-made equivalent made by Bristol-Myers. It is used to facilitate the artificial stimulation of such responses, usually beamed through microwave transmissions to assist in the jerking of tears in special episodes of "Webster" and the like.