Saturday, September 22, 2007

The Salvation Army Housing Workshop Brochure: 9-22-2007


Contacts, Resources & Websites: Update: Saturday, September 22, 2007
The Salvation Army {TSA} 'Center of Hope' in Downtown Sacramento is a Temporary Emergency Shelter Program for homeless people 18-years old and over. By actively working their program, complying with shelter rules and getting along with others, shelter residents can stay here at least one month, with weekly extensions possible based upon their progress in working their program. All clients should develop a Basic PLAN OF ACTION with a central focus on obtaining SECURE STABLE HOUSING while working on the root reasons and related issues that resulted in their becoming homeless.
Housing Workshops are held in the Shelter Dining Room on Saturday Mornings at 11 AM and Tuesday Evenings at 6 PM and are designed to provide basic information on transitional housing programs, other low-income housing programs and help clients develop a solid housing strategy. After attending the Housing Workshop residents can sign up to be put on the Mather Community Campus Housing List after a two-week waiting period; called in and placed on the Readiness Housing List; and can receive a Tour Voucher for Quinn Cottages from Case Management.
Warrant Check: Mandatory in First Three Days
The warrant check is mandatory for all clients and can be obtained at two locations!
¨ Sheriff's Department @711 'G' Street
¨ Tommy Clinkenbeard Legal Clinic @ Delaney Center ~ Phone: 916/446-0368
Enter at 1321 North 'C' Street at Loaves & Fishes

Mental Health Evaluations: Mandatory First Week

All clients must have a mental assessment done the first week at the shelter!

¨ Guest House @ 1400 North 'A' Street by Quinn Cottages ~ 916/440-1500
¨ Genesis @ 1321 North 'C' Street at Loaves & Fishes ~ 916/669-1536

Free AIDS Testing recommended for all clients! Tuesday @1 PM and Fridays@10 AM
¨ Guest House @ 1400 North 'A' Street by Quinn Cottages ~ 916/440-1500

Pathways Intensive Treatment Group:
¨ 1590 'A" Street + Contact: 916/442-5281 ~ FAX: 916/443-6361

Pathways Meetings are @2 PM and @6 PM Monday through Friday and open to shelter residents. Orientation for the free eight-week intensive alcohol & drug treatment program of Group therapy and one-on-one counseling are Fridays @3:00 PM. Graduates receive a Completion Certificate MANDATORY for transitional housing candidates with an AoD {Alcohol-Or-Drug} history.

'A' Street Employment Services:

¨ 1590 North 'A' Street + Contact: 916/ 874-4301

Offer helps with job search, resumes and related services for employables seeking work. Job related resources, telephones, online computers and a fax machine are available. Clients must first attend an orientation for the facility.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Contact: Peter S. Lopez, Housing Coordinator
Office: 916/442-0331 x3051 ~ FAX: 916/442-7592 ~ Cell: 916/968-1023
Salvation Army 'Center of Hope' Homeless Shelter
1200 North 'B' Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
Sacramento Self-Help Housing ~ Website: http://www.sacselfhelp.org
Website has an Internet search engine with information and housing resources on current vacancies in all areas for apartments, motels and emergency shelters.
Offers low-cost shared rooms in the Friendship Housing program for single men, women and women with an infant.
Contact: 916/341-0593 ~ FAX: 916/341-0598 Joe Marrs Cell: 916/912-0603
Email: sacselfhelp@calweb.com
Mail: P.O. Box 188445 ~ Sacramento, CA (95818)
Adelante Transitional Home ~ Mexican American Alcoholism Program ~ MAPP
Screening a total of four Sacramento area transitional residence homes for men and women coming out of recovery or a treatment program for alcohol and/or drug dependency. Maximum stay of six months enables recovering individuals time to get a job and save money in a clean and sober environment. Residents responsible for buying their own food and doing their own cooking. One live-in staff member.
Hours: Monday ® Friday 8: 30 am - 5 p.m.
Contact: 916/394-2320 ~ 4241 Florin Road, Suite 110, Sacramento, CA (95823)
Adolfo Housing Service for Former Foster Youth ~ Volunteers of America
Transitional housing that offers a safe, supportive and nurturing environment for up to 24 months for legally emancipated youth no older than 25 years who have been in out-of-home care that was publicly funded.
Contact: 916/874-1370 Email:
jonester@saccounty.net
Aids & Related Disorders Clinic ~
Contact: 916/734-3282 ~ 2221 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA (95817)
Alcoholics Anonymous~ Website: http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org
Contact: 916/454-1100 (24 hrs)
Alcohol & Drug Bureau ~ Assessments, screening and service referrals. Clients will be seen on a drop-in, first come-first serve basis. Hours: 9 AM ® 11 AM & 1 PM ® 4 PM
Contact: 916/874-9754 ~ 4875 Broadway, Sacramento, CA
For help you must live within the Greater Sacramento Metropolitan Area and meet one or both of the following conditions: a person living with HIV or living with Breast Cancer.
Contact: 916/447-2437 ~ 2020 'V' Street, Sacramento, CA (95818)
Carols Place ~ TLCS ~ Website: http://www.tlcssac.org/housing_carols.html
An 18-bed emergency housing and supportive services program designed for residents over the age of 18 with a targeted psychiatric disability who are homeless or are at risk of being homeless. Length of stay is up to thirty days with 24 hour staffing to assist residents with many issues.
Contact: Phone: 916/448-7391 ~ FAX: 441-1600
Mark Tavares, Program Manager ~ 2230 9th Street, Sacramento, CA (95818)
SHEP Guest House: 916/ 440-1500 ~ 1400 North 'A' Street, Sacramento, CA
Casa de Esperanza ~ Offers permanent supportive housing opportunities for chronically homeless individuals with HIV.
Contact: Nataliya Kosachenuich, MSW, Case Manager Cell: 916/230-3257
FAX: 916/564-6097 ~ 2732 Rio Linda Blvd. #1, Sacramento, CA (95815)
Centro Guadalupe / Catholic Charities ~ Monday-Thursday 9®12 NOON & 1:30®4 PM
Contact: 916/443-5367 ~ FAX: 916/443-5845 ~ 730 'S' Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
CLEAN & SOBER Housing Program~ Website: http://www.clean-and-sober.org/
For Appointment Contact Office Manager: Tina Crosby ~ 916/ 498-0331
1321 North 'C' Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
Self-help recovery program for cocaine users. Call: 927-5740
Comprehensive Alcohol Treatment Center (CATC) ~
A positive alternative for those charged with public inebriation, providing 72 hours of observation and treatment in lieu of incarceration. The 80-bed facility also features an additional 32 beds reserved for Volunteers of America's 30- to 60-day Genesis residential recovery program.
Contact: 916/448-1236 ~ FAX: 916/448-6722
El Hogar: Guest House Homeless Program ~
Provides services for homeless adults with a Psychiatric Disability. Hours: Monday
® Friday ~ 8 AM® 5 PM and by appointment.
Contact: 916/440-1500 ~ FAX: 916/440-1514 ~
1400 North 'A' Street, Bldg. A, Sacramento, CA (95814)
Francis House ~ Website: http://www.francishouse.info/
A counseling and resource center for poor individuals and families, providing a link with caring volunteers and help with bus passes, gas and referrals.
Contact: 916/443-2646 ~ FAX: 916/554-7566 ~
1422 C Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
Fremont School for Adults ~ Website: http://www.scusd.edu/

Free Classes FOR GED ~ $120.00 COST FOR five-part test

Contact: 916/277-6620 ~ 2420 N Street, Sacramento, CA

Gateway Recovery House for Women ~ Website: http://www.gatewayforwomen.org
Residential program for alcoholic and drug-abusing women.
Hours: Monday®Friday, 9:00 am®5 pm 3
Contact: Office: 916/451-9312 (24 hrs) ~ 4049 Miller Way, Sacramento, CA (95817)
Human Rights/Fair Housing Commission ~ Website: http://www.hrfh.org/
Contact: 916/444-6903 + Tenant/Landlord Hotline: 916/444-0178 ~
1112 'I' Street, Suite 250, Sacramento, CA (95814)
La Familia Counseling Center ~ Website: http://www.lafcc.com/index.html
Helps at-risk youth and families of diverse backgrounds by offering multi-cultural counseling, support outreach services and programs.
Contact: 916/452-3601 + TDD 800/ 735-2929 or 711 +
5523 34th Street, Sacramento, CA (95820) + Email:
anitab@lafcc.com
Lutheran Social Services ~ Transitional Housing Program for Families (THPF)
A 2 year program and Saybrook housing for families is permanent housing. Provides Case Management, crisis intervention and supportive services.
Contact: 916/453-2900 + 2980 35th St., Sacramento, CA. (95817)
Maryhouse @ Loaves and Fishes ~
Offers a daytime drop-in hospitality center for homeless women and families. Includes breakfast Monday through Friday from 8-9 AM, laundry, showers, counseling and self-help classes.
Contact: 916/ 446-4961 + 1321 North 'C' Street, Suite 32, Sacramento, CA (95814)

Mather Community Campus (MCC) ~

Website: http://www.dhaweb.saccounty.net/Homeless/MCC.htm

Located in the Rancho Cordova area, MCC is a two-year residential transitional housing program for homeless families and single adults who are employable.

Provides Case Management, Life Skills classes, job training and employment services. Support Staff is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
All Students enjoy a private, air-conditioned and fully furnished studio unit with bath/shower. Students pay affordable rent and program fees for their housing, utilities and numerous services.
Applicants must be referred to MCC by Case Management, stay within the shelter system and be drug and alcohol free ~ applicants with AoD Issues must have a Pathways Completion Certificate.
After being on the Waiting List, MCC notifies Case Management for applicants for a tour, interviewed and drug tested in order to qualify for entry.
Contact: 916/228-3100 ~ Singles Site Phone: 916/228-3107 ~
Families Site Phone: 916/455-2194 ~ Address: 10626 Schirra Avenue, Mather, CA (95655)
Mi Casa Recovery Home ~ Website: www.maap.org/programs/programs.cfm?id=8/
The Mi Casa Residential Program is a 20 bed licensed and certified residential program offering 30, 60, and 90-day alcohol and drug treatment programs. The program is open to men age 18 years of age and older at the Mi Casa Recovery Home. The Mi Casa Outpatient Program offers the following 12 week outpatient counseling programs: 1) Individuals in early recovery; and 2) Family Counseling. Mi Casa Treatment Services also manages transitional recovery homes for individuals as well as families in recovery.
Contact: 916/394-2328 ~ FAX: 916/394-2457
~ 2515 48th Avenue, Sacramento, CA. 95822 ~ Email: remartinez.micasa@maap.org
NAMI-Sacramento Chapter ~ National Alliance on Mental Illness
Helps the mentally ill, their family members, and the broader community through a comprehensive set of activities, including: advocating for affordable, supportive housing for people with brain disorders.
Contact: 916/874-9416 ~ 3331 Power Inn Road, Suite 140, Sacramento. CA (95826)
Narcotics Anonymous ~ Phone: 732-2299 (24 hrs) Website: http://na.org/

Palmer Program ~ Website: http://www.tlcssac.org/housing_palmer.html

Provides housing in shared two-bedroom apartments for up to one year and is designed for adults with a targeted psychiatric disability who are homeless. Services include: 24 hour support staff, Case Management services, Life Skills training, long-range goal planning and help with developing a positive support system.
Contact: 916/ 440-1500
Primary Care Center ~ Sacramento County Health Department
Provides health care for thousands of low-income and uninsured area residents.
Contact Phone: 916/874-9670 ~4600 Broadway # 1100, Sacramento, CA (95820)

Quinn Cottages Website: http://www.cottagehousing.org/

A model clean and sober community of 60 Units {6 handicap accessible} that provides affordable transitional housing for homeless adults and two-person families in a secure gated community, case management support, vocational skills training and other opportunities. Obtain voucher from Case Management for Quinn Tour, then, get application from Case Management after Tour.
Contact: Phone: 916/492-9065 ~ 1500 North 'A' Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
Readiness Program (ILRP) ~ The two-year Readiness Program (ILRP) offers two bedroom apartments at two locations in North Sacramento and 24-hour case-management services to help homeless men and women work towards self-sufficiency, including job-readiness training, substance abuse treatment options and life-skills education.
Applicants with AoD (Alcohol or Drug) issues must have a Pathways Certificate to be accepted into the program and referred by TSA Case Management.
Contact: 916/446-3722 ~ FAX: 916/228-3148
Resources for Independent Living (RIL)~ Website: http://www.ril-sacramento.org/
RIL is a cross disability organization serving Sacramento and Yolo Counties and provides assistance in finding accessible and affordable housing.
Intakes Wednesdays @ 11 AM- 1:30 PM or be on standby.
Contact: 916/446-3074 ~ FAX: 916/446-2443 ~ 420 'I' Street, Suite 3, Sacramento, CA
Regional Transit ~ Website: http://www.sacrt.com
Contact: 916/321-2800 ~ 1400 29th Street, Sacramento, CA (95815)
Rio Consumnes Correctional Center ~
Contact: 916/874-1927 ~ 12500 Bruceville Road, Elk Grove, CA
SETA's ONE STOP CAREER CENTER SYSTEM ~ Website: http://www.seta.net/
Designed to offer universal access to customers through a system of Sacramento Works One Stop Career Centers. The Centers integrate employment, education, and training resources from over 17 federally funded, employment and training-related programs, and offer an array of services designed to enhance the effectiveness and coordination of employers and job seekers.
Contact: 916/263-3800 ~ 925 Del Paso Blvd., Sacramento, CA (95815)
SAEHC ~ Sacramento Area Emergency Housing Center ~
Offers the following services: family shelter, women's refuge, extended shelter program for women, children's protective services, transitional housing for families, family resource center, children's services, housing location services and more.
Contact: 916/ 454-2120 ~ 2988 35th Street, Sacramento, CA (95817)
Sacramento B Street Health Center Website: http://plannedparenthood.org/
Contact: 916-446-6921 ~ 201 29th Street, Suite B, Sacramento, CA (95816)
Sacramento Community Resources ~ A GREAT LINK for many different kinds of resources online. Website: http://www.seta.net/resources.htm#housing
Sacramento County Public Law Library ~ Website: http://www.saclaw.lib.ca.us
Use of the library's collection is free to all who enter the library. A team of highly skilled professional, technical, and clerical staff works together to provide appropriate resources to meet the legal research and information needs of library patrons.
Location: 813 Sixth Street, First Floor, Sacramento, CA (95814)
Library Hours: Mon-Thus 8AM®8PM ~ Friday 8AM®5PM ~ Saturday 9AM®4PM
Phone: 916/874-6012 ~ FAX: 916/874-7050
Sacramento County Veteran's Service Office ~ Website: http://www.va.gov
Benefit Information ~ VA Disability and Related Claims ~ 2007 19th Street, Sacra, CA (95818) ~ 916/874-6811 For more information Call Toll Free: 1-500-827-1000
Sacramento HUD Office ~ Website: http://www.hud.gov/
John E. Moss Federal Building, Room 4-200v, 650 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA (95814)
Contact: 916/498-5220 ~ FAX: 916/498-5262 ~ TTY: 916/498-5959
Sacramento Loaves & Fishes~ Website: http://www.sacramentoloavesandfishes.org/
Contact: Sister Libby Fernandez, Executive Director at: 916/446-0874. ~
1321 North C. St. Mailing address is: P.O. Box 2161, Sacramento, CA (95812)
Email:
info@SacLoaves.org
Sacramento Veterans Resource Center~ http://www.vetswork.org/sacramento.htm
Provides outreach, counseling, employment and training services to homeless Veterans.
It is a 32-bed employment based housing program.
Contact: 916/393-8387 FAX: 916/ 393-8389 Email: vvcsac@aol.com
7270 East Southgate Drive, Sacramento, CA, (95823)
Sacramento Housing & Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) ~ Online Listing
Owns and maintains about 3,600 housing units of conventional public housing and is currently accepting applications for involuntarily displaced families only.
Contact Hotline: 916/440-1300 ~ 916/440-1390
Applications: 916/492-2244 ~
701 12th Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
Sacramento Housing Alliance Online ~
LIST OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROPERTIES IN SACRAMENTO AREA
A housing subsidy program of the County of Sacramento's Homeless Program, providing supportive housing for homeless disabled individuals and families and requires case management of all SPC participants and a sponsoring agency or advocate.
Contact: 916/ 874-43041590 ~ North 'A' Street, Sacramento, Ca (95814)
Sister Nora's Shelter ~ Capacity of thirteen (13) beds for chronically homeless mentally ill women. Genesis must refer applicant and staff does an evaluation.
Contact: 916/669-7000 ~ Loaves & Fishes ~ 1321 North 'C' Street, Sacramento, CA (95814
)
Social Security Office ~ Contact: 916/381-9410 ~ National Line: 1-800-772-1213 ~
8351 Folsom Blvd., Sacramento, CA
The Effort Counseling Center ~ Website: http://www.theeffort.org/
Services to drug dependent persons; group and individual counseling and general medical clinic; well child-care and immunization; sliding scale.
Contact: 916/325-5556 ~ 1820 'J' Street, Sacramento, CA
The Salvation Army ~ Adult Rehabilitation Center {ARC} ~ Capacity for 85 men.
ARC offers a six-month program involving work therapy and rehabilitation from alcohol and drugs for qualified candidates. Those interested should contact the intake office Monday through Friday between 7:30 AM & 4 PM.
Contact: 916/441-5267 ~ 1615 D Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
The Salvation Army Emergency Shelter ~ Center of Hope ~ For adults 18-years and over for an initial 30 days. On weekdays sign up in the patio at 1 PM and check in!
Contact: 916/442-0331 ~ 1200 North 'B' Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
TLCS (Transitional Living & Community Support)~ Website: http://www.tlcssac.org/
A private, non-profit social rehabilitation agency that provides housing, living skills training, community support services, entitlement advocacy and outreach services for adults with psychiatric disabilities.
Contact: 916/440-1500 ~ FAX: 916/440-1512 ~
1400 North A Street, Bldg. A, Sacramento, CA
Turning Point Community Programs ~ Website: http://www.tpcp.org
A non-profit mental health agency providing psychiatric services, support, employment, housing and advocacy to people with disabilities and their families.
Contact: Michelle Sampson, Outreach Worker ~ Homeless Intervention Program ~ 916/922-2771 ~ Toll Free: 1-866-922-2771 ~ 601 W. North Market Blvd., Suite 350, Sacramento, CA (95834)
Union Gospel Mission ~ Website ~ http://www.ugmsac.com/
No Waiting List! For Single Males Only! Intakes begin at 5:30 pm Newcomers have priority. The shelter offers an Alcohol & Drugs rehabilitation program. Call to schedule assessment appointment. Chapel attendance is required each evening.
The Church Service with dinner following is open to all who arrive before 7:30 pm.
Contact: Rev Ken Lane Director or Steven Jariett ~ 400 Bannon St., Sacramento, CA (95814) ~ 916/447-3268 ~ FAX: 916/447-2921
Volunteers of America ~ Homeless Services Providers ~ Website: http://www.voa-sac.org/
Leave Message with Call Back Phone Number and Be Patient!
Outreach Phone: 916/736-3421
Volunteers of America – Aid-In-Kind Residence Program ~
A multi-service center providing lodging for men and women. Breakfast, lunch and dinner for all residents. Clothing, health, employment and housing referrals. residents. Laundry services. Maximum length of stay 120 days.
Get Referral from Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance General Assistance Program.
Contact: 443-4688 (24 hrs) ~ 470 Bannon Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
Voluntary Legal Services Program of Northern Calif. ~ Website: http://www.vlsp.org
A nonprofit agency that provides free civil legal assistance to low-income people. Offers free advice clinics, volunteers help you fill out legal forms, discuss legal procedures with you, and explain how you can deal with certain types of legal problems on your own.
Contact: Client Intake: 916/551-2102 ~ 517 12th Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
WEAVE {Women Escaping A Violence Environment}
Crisis Counseling 23-Hours Crisis Line: 916/920-2952 ~ Office: 916/448-2321
Wind Youth Center ~
For youth 13 to 18 years. Services: Counseling, case management, referral services, preparation for GED, employment, referrals for medical and dental and drug and alcohol counseling.
Contact: 916/443-8333 ~ FAX: 641-5571 ~ Admin: 916/561-2424 ~
701 Dixieanne Ave., Sacramento, CA (95815)
YWCA {Young Women's Christian Association}Website: http://www.ywcasacramento.org/
Women only transitional housing @ $271 a month
Hours: Monday through Friday 9 am - 5 pm
Contact: 916/264-8080 ~ 1122 17th St, Sacramento, CA 95814
Women's Empowerment ~ Website: http://www.womens-empowerment.org
Working with Homeless Women, we have learned about the causes, the challenges, and the issues that have brought, and in many cases kept, a woman homeless. In an effort to break the cycle of homelessness, we have created a safe, supportive and educational place called Women's Empowerment.
Contact Phone: 916/669-2307 ~ FAX: 916/341-0730 ~ 1400 North 'C' Street, Sacramento, CA (95814)
~ Map of The Salvation Army 'Center of Hope' Homeless Shelter Area ~
Map
Via MapQuest


The Complete Serenity Prayer

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and the Wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it.
Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen!"

~ By Reinhold Neibuhr ~ Websource: http://www.aahistory.com/prayer.html
c/s


Friday, September 21, 2007

In Mideast, Web of Careful Phrases Can’t Match Pointed Words: By H. Cooper in New York Times


By HELENE COOPER
Published: September 21, 2007

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept. 20 — In the diplomatic world, words can mean everything — or nothing.

With two lines in an otherwise routine news conference, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, cut to the heart of the divide between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as the Bush administration struggled to come up with a plan for peace negotiations in the Middle East.

The big peace conference that President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are planning for mid-November, Mr. Abbas said, must tackle the politically sensitive "final status" issues that have bedeviled peace negotiators since 1979. Dispensing with all the diplomatic niceties that American officials have been using to try to calm the fears of skittish Israelis who are uneasy about tackling the big issues, Mr. Abbas spelled out the Palestinian, and in many ways American, aims for the meeting.

Mr. Abbas called for discussions on "borders, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, water and security." With Ms. Rice, her demeanor bland, standing next to him in a cavernous room in Yasir Arafat's old Muqata compound, Mr. Abbas said, "We believe that the time is ripe for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and for living side by side in security and tranquillity with the State of Israel."

He chided American officials for being too ambiguous, and explained that part of the reason that Arab countries had not rushed to endorse the conference — with the United States expected to be host at a site yet to be determined — was because no one had promised in plain English that the conference would tackle final status issues. "I believe there is a need for clarification," he said. "That's the duty of the inviting party to the conference."

His blunt words were a far cry from the purposely ambiguous diplo-speak that Ms. Rice has been engaging in as she has sought to drag Israel to the table for meaningful talks. She has discussed finding "a common set of principles" toward a "political horizon," to "support and advance the negotiations" along the "bilateral track."

"Because after all," she told reporters, in a phrase that left most scratching their heads, "the bilateral track has to be at the center of any resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

Israeli officials are wary of committing to negotiating final status issues before their security concerns are met. While Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has grown more comfortable in his talks with Mr. Abbas, the Israeli public remains highly skeptical that the Palestinians, who elected the rejectionist Hamas Party, are serious about coexistence.

Despite Israel's withdrawal of all its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, Qassam rockets are shot routinely into the country from Gaza. As a result, Israeli leaders are loath to discuss at the conference the removal of West Bank settlements. And forget about Jerusalem, which both sides seek as their capital; Israeli officials are not eager to put the status of Jerusalem on the table at a big conference attended by everybody from Saudi Arabia to Britain to Russia, either.

The closest the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, would come this week was to express the need for finding "commonalities" between Israelis and Palestinians. "Of course we would like to end the conflict right away," Ms. Livni said. But, she added, "It's important to find what is the common denominator."

After a meeting on Thursday with Ms. Rice in Tel Aviv, Mr. Olmert offered similar assurances. He told Ms. Rice that Israel "wanted to make a positive contribution to a successful meeting and was eager that the meeting be attended by many moderate Arab states," said a spokesman for Mr. Olmert, David Baker.

American officials say that it is not that the Israelis don't want to tackle the hard stuff. It's more that Israeli officials, in particular former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is now defense minister, remember President Clinton's push for a comprehensive peace accord in 2000 between Mr. Barak and Mr. Arafat. That push failed and led, many Israelis believe, to the second Palestinian intifada. Israelis now are reluctant to make another big peace push without the assurance that it will yield results.

Both sides are working on some kind of document to bridge the gap, and Ms. Rice said she would be heading back to the region in a few weeks to prod some more. And then probably again before the November conference.
Aboard her flight back to Washington, she reflected on the six visits she has made this year to Israel to get a peace plan going, including the evolution of the language she has used to describe what she is up to.

Back in February, she noted, she began using "the very carefully guided phrase 'political horizon.' "

"I know there was some skepticism about the term 'political horizon' and what it meant," she said. "But it gave an umbrella where they could discuss issues they hadn't discussed in six years."

"Now," she said, the two sides are "openly saying they'll discuss 'core issues.' "

Israel Ends West Bank Operation

In Nablus, in the West Bank, Israeli forces yesterday concluded a three-day operation in a large refugee camp, Ein Beit Ilma, capturing three men who the Israeli Army said were "Hamas terrorists planning a suicide bombing."
The men were said to be part of a cell that also included members of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. An army spokesman, Capt. Benjamin Rutland, said the three men "admitted to planning a terrorist attack" and included a potential suicide bomber.

Since Tuesday, more than 35 Palestinians have been arrested and the camp has been under curfew.

In central Gaza, Israeli troops operating against rocket-launching teams killed a 17-year-old Palestinian, Mahmoud Kasasi, who was hit by shrapnel from a tank shell and then run over by an army bulldozer, according to the Gazan Health Ministry. Three other Palestinians were killed in the operation, Reuters reported.
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Steven Erlanger contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Voices Rise in Egypt to Shield Girls From an Old Tradition

Voices Rise in Egypt to Shield Girls From an Old Tradition
Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times
Egyptian health care workers and nursing students observe a minute of silence following the death of a 13 year-old girl during an operation to remove her clitoris.
Published: September 20, 2007
KAFR AL MANSHI ABOU HAMAR, Egypt — The men in this poor farming community were seething. A 13-year-old girl was brought to a doctor's office to have her clitoris removed, a surgery considered necessary here to preserve chastity and honor.
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Multimedia

Battling a Tradition
Photographs
Battling a Tradition

2005 Survey of Egyptian Women
World View With Michael Slackman (mp3)

Related

Interview With a Young Egyptian (September 20, 2007)

Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times
At a symposium on female circumcision in Tanta, Egypt, a poster reads, "The Beginning of the End, No to Female Circumcision."
The girl died, but that was not the source of the outrage. After her death, the government shut down the clinic, and that got everyone stirred up.
"They will not stop us," shouted Saad Yehia, a tea shop owner along the main street. "We support circumcision!" he shouted over and over.
"Even if the state doesn't like it, we will circumcise the girls," shouted Fahmy Ezzeddin Shaweesh, an elder in the village.
Circumcision, as supporters call it, or female genital mutilation, as opponents refer to it, was suddenly a ferocious focus of debate in Egypt this summer. A nationwide campaign to stop the practice has become one of the most powerful social movements in Egypt in decades, uniting an unlikely alliance of government forces, official religious leaders and street-level activists.
Though Egypt's Health Ministry ordered an end to the practice in 1996, it allowed exceptions in cases of emergency, a loophole critics describe as so wide that it effectively rendered the ban meaningless. But now the government is trying to force a comprehensive ban.
Not only was it unusual for the government to shut down the clinic, but the health minister has also issued a decree banning health care workers— or anyone — from conducting the procedure for any reason. Beyond that, the Ministry of Religious Affairs also issued a booklet explaining why the practice was not called for in Islam; Egypt's grand mufti, Ali Gomaa, declared it haram, or prohibited by Islam; Egypt's highest religious official, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, called it harmful; television advertisements have been shown on state channels to discourage it; and a national hot line was set up to answer the public's questions about genital cutting.
But as the men in this village demonstrated, widespread social change in Egypt comes slowly, very slowly. This country is conservative, religious and, for many, guided largely by traditions, even when those traditions do not adhere to the tenets of their faith, be it Christianity or Islam.
For centuries Egyptian girls, usually between the ages of 7 and 13, have been taken to have the procedure done, sometimes by a doctor, sometimes by a barber or whoever else in the village would do it. As recently as 2005, a government health survey showed that 96 percent of the thousands of married, divorced or widowed women interviewed said they had undergone the procedure — a figure that astounds even many Egyptians. In the language of the survey, "The practice of female circumcision is virtually universal among women of reproductive age in Egypt."
Though the practice is common and increasingly contentious throughout sub-Saharan Africa, among Arab states the only other place where this practice is customary is in southern Yemen, experts here said. In Saudi Arabia, where women cannot drive, cannot vote, cannot hold most jobs, the practice is viewed as abhorrent, a reflection of pre-Islamic traditions.
But now, quite suddenly, forces opposing genital cutting in Egypt are pressing back as never before. More than a century after the first efforts to curb this custom, the movement has broken through one of the main barriers to change: It is no longer considered taboo to discuss it in public.
That shift seems to have coincided with a small but growing acceptance of talking about human sexuality on television and radio.
For the first time, opponents said, television news shows and newspapers have aggressively reported details of botched operations. This summer two young girls died, and it was front-page news in Al Masry al Yom, an independent and popular daily. Activists highlighted the deaths with public demonstrations, which generated even more coverage.
The force behind this unlikely collaboration between government, nongovernment organizations, religious leaders and the news media is a no-nonsense 84-year-old anthropologist named Marie Assaad, who has been fighting against genital cutting since the 1950s.
"I never thought I would live to see this day," she said, reading about the subject in a widely circulated daily newspaper.
Dr. Nasr el-Sayyid, assistant to the minister of health, said there had already been a drop in urban areas, along with an aggressive effort in more than 100 villages, mostly in the south, to curb the practice. "Our plan and program over the next two years is aiming to take it down 20 percent nationwide," he said.
The challenge, however, rests in persuading people that their grandparents, parents and they themselves have harmed their daughters. Moreover, advocates must convince a skeptical public that men will marry a woman who has not undergone the procedure and that circumcision is not necessary to preserve family honor. It is a challenge to get men to give up some of their control over women.
And it will be a challenge to convince influential people like Osama Mohamed el-Moaseri, imam of a mosque in Basyoun, the city near where the 13-year-old girl lived, and died. "This practice has been passed down generation after generation, so it is natural that every person circumcises his daughter," he said. "When Ali Gomaa says it is haram, he is criticizing the practice of our fathers and forefathers."
But the movement against genital cutting has matured and is increasingly prepared for these arguments. At first, Ms. Assaad and a group of intellectuals who together created a task force simply lectured their neighbors, essentially calling the practice barbaric.
"At the beginning we preached and said this is wrong," she recalled. "It didn't work. They said, 'It was done to our mothers and grandmothers, and they are fine.' "
She and her colleagues sounded like out-of-touch urban intellectuals, she said. But over time, they enlisted the aid of Islamic scholars and health care workers, hoping to disperse misconceptions — like the idea that cutting off the clitoris prevents homosexuality — and relate to people's lives.
"Circumcision is a very old custom and has absolutely no benefits," Vivian Fouad, who helps staff the national hot line, said to a caller wondering what to do with her own daughter. She continued: "If you want to protect your daughter, then you have to raise her well. How you raise your child is the main factor in everything, not mutilating your daughter."
Egypt is a patriarchal society, but women can be a powerful force. So Ms. Assaad helped persuade two important women, elite and privileged, who like herself could not believe the practice was as widespread as it was, to join her battle.
The first was Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of President Hosni Mubarak and a political force in her own right. The second was an ally of Mrs. Mubarak, Mosheira Khattab, head of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, a government agency that helps set national health and social policies.
Mrs. Khattab has become a force in pressing the agenda. Her council now has a full-time staff working on the issue and runs the hot line. She toured the Nile Delta region, three cities in one day, promoting the message, blunt and outraged that genital cutting had not stopped.
"The Koran is a newcomer to tradition in this manner," she said. "As a male society, the men took parts of religion that satisfied men and inflated it. The parts of the Koran that helped women, they ignored."
It is an unusual swipe at the Islamists who have promoted the practice as in keeping with religion, especially since the government generally tries to avoid taking on conservative religious leaders. It tries to position itself as the guardian of Islamic values, aiming to enhance its own wilted legitimacy and undercut support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned but popular opposition movement.
But the religious discourse concerning genital cutting has changed, and that is credited to Ms. Assaad's strategy of reaching up to people like Mrs. Mubarak and out to young women like Fatma Ibrahim, 24. When Ms. Ibrahim was 11 years old, she said, her parents told her she was going for a blood test. The doctor, a relative, put her to sleep and when she woke, she said she could not walk.
The memory haunts her now, and though she says that her parents "will kill" her if they find out, she has become a volunteer in the movement against genital cutting, hoping to spare other women what she endured.
"I am looking to talk to the young, the ones who will be parents in 10 years," she said. "This is my target group. I talk to the young. When I get married, inshallah, I will never, ever circumcise my daughter."
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Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo.