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Mar 15, 2023 Read in Browser

Karuna News

“The future is completely open, and we are writing it moment to moment.” -- Pema Chodron
 
Hello everyone! We live in an extraordinary world that is filled with imagining, dreaming, and creating. The future is not a place we’re going to but a place that we are creating -- first, in our mind; then, by engaging our will, and finally, through taking action. Our stories this week highlight how people around the world are planning for the future by offering new approaches to challenging problems. In Germany, schools are teaching children about ‘happiness’; while in El Salvador, youth are using their imaginations to rewrite stories and their futures; and in the US, an eight-year-old boy raises money for a restaurant waiter to live in a safe apartment with his family. As we go through our week, may we remember we are creators and find infinite possibilities within us! Wishing you well!

SCHOOLS

Alongside Math And Reading, Schools Are Now Teaching Happiness

Alongside Math And Reading, Schools Are Now Teaching Happiness

Technical University Braunschweig

In Brauncschweig, Germany, elementary students are planting a "garden of emotions" -- with paper flowers scrawled with vignettes of what made them joyful this morning: "I got to snuggle with my dog." "I found a coin on the street." "My dad cuddled with me this morning." Since November 16, 2022, elementary schools in this small town have been holding a happiness course once a week, taught by teacher trainees from the Technical University Braunschweig. It's one of a growing trend of socio-emotional curriculum burgeoning around the world. And for good reason. An international study found a drastic increase in depression, anxiety and persistent frustration among youth, compared to pre-pandemic 2019. In 2021, 44% of US students described themselves as persistently sad or hopeless. Today, millions of students in Delhi, India attend happiness classes, children engage wellbeing topics for two hours a week in Australia's Geelong Grammar School; Bavarian middle schools have experimented with happiness classes since 2013; and even Yale University's Happiness course became the university's most popular class in over 300 years. "If I may ask, what do children really need? Do they need algebra?" asked Tobias Rahm, who leads the elementary school happiness project at TU Braunschweig. "We want the best for our children, and for me, this means giving them the best resources to go through life happily." Read Full Story.

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ENVIRONMENT

Deforestation In Brazil's Amazon Falls In First Month Under Lula

Deforestation In Brazil's Amazon Falls In First Month Under Lula

Bruno Kelly, Amazônia Real | Wikimedia Commons

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest fell in January from a year earlier. Preliminary satellite data collected by the government's space research agency Inpe showed 167 square km (64 square miles) cleared last month, down 61% from January 2022, the worst for the month in the eight-year series. In mid-January, Brazilian environmental agents launched their first anti-logging raids under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Even with the positive start to the year, experts and staff at environmental agency Ibama warn it may take years for Lula to deliver on conservation targets after the former president Jair Bolsonaro cut funding and staff at key agencies. The Brazilian government is also fighting wildcat mining on Yanomami land in the Amazon, its largest indigenous reservation, amid a humanitarian crisis blamed on illegal gold miners. Read Full Story.

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NEWS

Third Patient Free Of HIV After Receiving Virus-resistant Cells

Third Patient Free Of HIV After Receiving Virus-resistant Cells

Anna Shvets | Pexels

A 53-year-old man in Germany has become at least the third person with HIV to be declared clear of the virus after his bone marrow cells were replaced with HIV-resistant stem cells from a donor with a genetic mutation that makes cells resistant to the virus. While antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been given to people with HIV for years, it does not eliminate the virus from the body. A true cure would eliminate this reservoir, and this is what seems to have happened for the 'Düsseldorf' patient, who stopped taking ART in 2018 and has remained HIV-free since. His cancerous bone marrow cells were replaced after he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 2013. Virologist Björn-Erik Jensen at Düsseldorf University Hospital says his team has done transplants for several other people affected by both HIV and cancer, using stem cells with the same mutation, but it is too early to say if those individuals are virus-free. Read Full Story.

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ARTS

Salvadoran Youths Rewrite Tales -- And Their Future

Salvadoran Youths Rewrite Tales -- And Their Future

Helena Lopes | Pexels

In a small town in northeastern El Salvador, teens are staging the story of Tarzan rewritten and adapted by the young actors. Tarzan, about to retire as protector of the jungle, proposes that his daughter replace him, but one animal objects. Where gender stereotypes, machismo, and gender-based violence run rampant, questioning norms based on gender is part of the Comprehensive Childhood Development Project. The kids "get into the characters by playing, and so they grasp things more easily," says librarian Carolina Cartagena, referring to themes like bullying, violence, and expressing emotions. But these programs can only go so far. Latin America has comprehensive legislation on violence against women, but its implementation is incomplete if the culture doesn't change. Read Full Story.

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EVERYDAY HEROES

Boy Raises Money For Waffle House Waiter

Boy Raises Money For Waffle House Waiter

Vittoria Hunter

Eight-year-old Kayzen Hunter is a little boy with a huge heart. He and his family have a regular ritual of breakfast at a local Waffle House restaurant and Kayzen has become friends with waiter Devonte Gardner. As the boy got to know Gardner better, he realized "he's just really a light in the world." He also learned that Gardner was married and had two young daughters, and that the family had been living in dangerous conditions. Gardner had moved his family out of an apartment that had rodent infestations and black mold issues and into a motel; he was also looking to buy a car as he was having to walk miles each way to work. After learning that, Hunter said, "Hey, Mom, Devonte walks or gets a ride to work and I'm gonna start a GoFundMe." Hunter had to ask his mom a few times before she agreed to take the plunge. The initial idea was to raise $5,000, enough for Gardner to get a car. Thus far, the GoFundMe has raised $100,000 for the family. Gardner and his family are about to move into a two-bedroom apartment, and he will be looking for a car. He plans to save the rest of the money for his young daughters. About Hunter, Gardner said, "He's a positive young kid. He has a very huge heart, and I'm thankful he came into my life." Read Full Story.

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