Every winter members, friends and visitors at the Elora and Fergus Unitarian Universalist congregation dedicate a Sunday Service to participate in the Amnesty International “Write for Rights” letter-writing campaign. This year, the congretion’s will be particpatinug on Dec. 2.
“Everyone is welcome, the more the merrier to make sure that prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders, individuals and communities at risk are not forgotten,” organizers state. The campaign aims to apply pressure on governments and institutions with the goal advocating the release of people held in custody, who are “often tortured for just speaking out against injustice and standing up for human rights in their countries.”
Organizers note being part of this action can be “a very powerful, spiritual and moving experience.” Over one million letters were written in 2011 by Amnesty International supporters. The campaign helps people connect with with those who might have lost hope and “to give that person a little spark in the darkness to hold on to.”
This Sunday, the focus is on three cases:
– youth group members held in Sudan who are raped and tortured in prison for speaking up;
– efforts to free human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, a women’s rights activist sentenced to six years in prisonin Iran for “propagating” against the nation’s Islamic system;
– in Nigeria, oil spills from a Shell pipeline are destroying lives, land and water, without proper clean-up by the oil company.
A signature is worth much more than expected, as this quote, from Garbiel Shumba, a tortute survivor from Zimbabwe indicates, “Without Amnesty I might not be here today,”
Thirty thousand letters have pledged so far in Canada by over 16,000 individuals. Supports can add to that total by joining the campaign on Dec. 2 at the Victoria Park Centre, 150 Albert Street West in Fergus. Coffee and refreshments will be available.
More information can be found at www.amnesty.ca/writeathon/ and www.efuuc.org or by calling 1 800 565 2353.
