Author: Dawn Rubbert

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The Forgiveness Project: “The Line Dividing Good and Evil”

The Forgiveness Project is a UK based charity that uses storytelling to explore how ideas around forgiveness, reconciliation and conflict resolution can be used to impact positively on people’s lives, through the personal testimonies of both victims and perpetrators of crime and violence.

Dr. Gwen Adshead, forensic psychotherapist at Broadmoor High Security Hospital, delivered the keynote speech at the Third Annual Lecture in front of a sell-out audience at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Click here to view the address & explore The Forgiveness Project website.

Dr. Adshead was supported on stage by three contributors who shared some of their own personal narratives: Marian Partington whose sister was murdered by Fred and Rosemary West; Erwin James, the Guardian columnist who served 20 years of a life sentence in prison; and Kemal Pervanic, survivor of the notorious Omarska concentration camp in Bosnia. The address was given July 3, 2012.

 

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Travel to Colombia with Fellowship of Reconciliation

From Fellowship of Reconciliation –

For almost a century, the Fellowship of Reconciliation has worked creatively and courageously around the world to strengthen nonviolent resistance to militarism and oppression. Continuing this legacy, for the past decade FOR has sponsored a human rights accompaniment program in Colombia.

Using a dynamic combination of physical presence and political work, FOR’s peace team in Colombia protects Colombians committed to peace — often targeted in the 40-year-old armed conflict — who believe another world is possible and are building alternative economies, resisting forced displacement, and defending human rights.

Join us in Colombia!

You can be a part of our peace team. Joining our accompaniment team is an unique opportunity for people who care about peace and social justice and are interested in working abroad, but are seeking something beyond teaching English, doing mission work, or working on development projects like schools or medical clinics.

If you would like to become part of FOR’s team of accompaniers in Colombia, please apply by September 28. The next volunteer training will be held from December 14 to 19, 2012 in Nyack, New York, for service beginning as early as January 2013.

You can also read more about FOR’s work in Colombia and the role of volunteers, watch a short video of reflections from past FOR volunteers, or read blogs from current and past volunteers.

Please visit FOR’s Colombia Peace Accompaniment page to apply.

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2013 AGLI Workcamp Opportunity

Mutaho, Burundi
Saturday, June 22 to Saturday, July 26, 2013

Host Partner: REMA – is a group of about 50 women (Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa) from Mutaho Friends Church led by Pastor Sara Gakobwa. The name, REMA, means “be comforted, do not get discouraged.” To learn more, check out After the Guns Stopped (see page 23) published here.

Location: Mutaho, Burundi – Northeast of Bujumbura near Gitega – the second largest city in Burundi

Objective: The Workcamp Peace Team will build guest rooms for the Mutaho Women’s Group Center.

Housing: Workcampers will stay with local host families.

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A marvelous peaceworker: Canadian Friend Elaine Bishop

“To many of the people she helps and the people she works with, Elaine Bishop is a saint, but the woman who runs the North Point Douglas Women’s Centre and lives in the impoverished neighbourhood is just doing her part to make her little corner of the world a better place.”

Click here to read this wonderful story of peace, courtesy of Winnipeg Free Press print edition – June 9, 2012.

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Alternatives to Violence: When you hear the word VIOLENCE

[vimeo 37108812 w=500 h=281]

When you hear the word VIOLENCE from Blaze Nowara on Vimeo.

Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) is a nonprofit organization that creates peaceful solutions to potentially violent conflict. Beginning in an upstate New York prison in 1975, AVP has now spread to over 50 countries around the world.

This video focuses on AVP within the United States prison system. Experience an AVP workshop behind bars and listen to those whose lives have been transformed by AVP. (Length: 15:28)

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Kony 2012 Mirrors US Foreign Policy

David Zarembka (Coordinator for the African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams) has authored a report in response to the spotlight being shone on the head of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, thanks to a 30 minute video by the American advocacy group Invisible Children.

The video has now received more than 30 million views, and has sparked a debate about the West’s role in Africa. [You can listen to WBEZ’s Worldview program for recent analysis by clicking here, where you can also view the original video.]

Read Dave’s full report here. 

From Dave’s report:

To be sure, there is a lot to be done in Africa. And Americans can help. But we must help by standing with Africans. Not over them. Not by imposing our will and believing we have all the answers. But by really engaging with people on the ground, listening to their stories, understanding their wants, needs and desires and helping them achieve those goals. The African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams has just released an eleven-minute video, “A Story of Healing” which examines what HIV+ women in Burundi are doing to support one another in difficult times. No Americans appear in the video. It was made with the involvement of Burundians who have seen and critiqued the draft of the video. This, to me, is the way to work with and for Africa.

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Report from Kenya: The International Criminal Court Indictments

January 24, 2012

Yesterday at 1:30 pm local time, the International Criminal Court (ICC) read their indictments for trial of six prominent Kenyans including two, William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta, who are planning to run for president this year. In essence the charges against them were that they organized the post-election violence after the disputed 2007 election. A withdrawal of charges against all six would have been a major blow to the ICC. With one of the three judges dissenting, the court upheld the charges against four of the defendants – including the two presidential aspirants. Charges against the two others, Francis Muthaura, the head of Kenya’s civil service, and Joshua Sang, a radio announcer were dropped. While Joshua Sang is not in the same category of prominence as others, I think he was indicted because of the effectiveness of the hate radio station in the Rwandan genocide and the fact that there are recordings of what he said.

In opposition to civil society cries that the defendants should withdraw from government until their cases are decided and contrary to the article on accountability in the new Kenyan constitution, the Kenyan Government has declared that the officials can remain in office until (and if) they are convicted and that they can run for president. Ruto and Kenyatta have carefully played the gullible Kenyan electorate so that they, rather than those killed and displaced, are seen as the “victims.” As such, at least in their ethnic strongholds, these two have major support in their presidentials bid. Until the election is held – and its date is still in dispute – I will be sending out updates as significant issues arise.

The Friends Church Peace Teams (FPCT) set up a Call-in Center to monitor the situation during the announcement because many people feared that there could be violence if, in the case near where we live, William Ruto was held for trial. I set up a system with a program called FrontlineSMS which allows people, whom we are calling “citizen reporters,” to send in text messages about the situation in their community.

The FCPT Call-in Center worked nicely. Forty-five people signed up. Many were from the Turbo/Eldoret/Lugari area near us but others were from various places in western Kenya, giving us a broad representation. The Call-in Center received 29 messages before and after the announcement. There were no reports of violence. Unlike after the 2007 election, security personnel were frequently noted as being active in the communities. People were cautious, though. For example, Jua Kali market, about 15 miles towards Eldoret from our house, would normally be open on Monday, but few merchants showed up so there was no market day. Two citizen reporters in pro-Ruto areas reported that people were unhappy with the ruling, but were not violent.

I thought that the Call-in Center was effective in receiving good information from a large variety of sources in numerous places. There was no training in citizen reporting, but except for one or two, which were personal opinions, the rest were reports on the situation in the community. Perhaps most impressive was the fact that these reports frequently came from places where the mainstream media, both Kenyan and foreign, would never cover.

While I had no problem keeping up with this load of material, it might have been another case if there had been reports of violence. During the up-coming election cycle this year, I am hoping to have one thousand trained citizen reporters. To keep up with this amount of information will require considerable planning and personnel at the Call-in Center. We will also have to work out how the Call-in Center will react to negative information.

The system I used, FrontlineSMS, worked satisfactorily, but there were some quirks that I will ask them about. One problem I see is that when I sent out an email to everyone who had signed up the system only sent out about 2 SMSs per minute. With 45 names this was not much of a problem, but, if the system had 1000 names on it, it would take more than eight hours to send out the message!

Peace,
Dave
David Zarembka, Coordinator
African Great Lakes Initiative of the Friends Peace Teams

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Interview with Val Liveoak co-founder of Peacebuilding en Las Américas

Val Liveoak is the coordinator and co-founder of Peacebuilding en Las Américas (PLA) with the Friends Peace Teams (FPT). The program promotes peace and healing in countries where the violent legacy of civil war has added to the continued poverty and injustice that sparked the conflicts. FPT’s programs build on the Quaker experience, combining practical and spiritual aspects of conflict resolution. PLA currently works in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Colombia. Val has also done volunteer work with the Alternatives to Violence Project in Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Burundi, Rwanda, Canada, and Kenya.

Click here to hear the full interview.

Val Liveoak, who became a nonviolent activist in Austin in the early ’70s, has been named a “Woman of Peace” by Womens’ Peacepower Foundation (2009) and Peacemaker of the Year by the Austin Peace and Justice Center (1986). She has chosen to live below the poverty line and work as a volunteer since the early ’90s and currently lives in an “intentional neighborhood” in San Antonio, when she’s in the United States.

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FWCC Peace Pamphlets available online

Connecting friends, crossing cultures, changing lives

Through its programs Voices of Friends and The Wider Quaker Fellowship, Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) Section of the Americas works to express our common heritage and our Quaker message to the world. You’re invited to read the newest selection of contemporary Quaker writing on Voices of Friends:

   • An Ocean of Darkness, an Ocean of Light, y un Barquito Grande: Friends Ministry of Hope in a Troubled World. Bridget Moix’s message reflects on how peacemakers maintain a positive approach when facing a discouraging political scene.  Read the complete article.
   • The Transforming Power of the Psalms. Through her examination of the Psalms, author Elizabeth Meyer seeks to reassure us that although we may not be able to keep from feeling anger, we can turn that anger over to God, who understands it, and thus move toward loving our enemies. Read the complete article.

• Read the complete letter that introduces each of these articles from Judy Inskeep, Clerk of the Wider Quaker Fellowship.

Next April a  large ‘family reunion’ of Quakers from around the globe will meet in Kenya to consider questions that many in the Religious Society of Friends are asking: What is the Quaker response to global change? What are Friends called to do in a world that is broken? What is the relevant Quaker message for the 21st century?

FWCC invites you to join in learning what Quakers from Kenya, Russia, India, El Salvador, England,  Bolivia, Korea, the United States and more have to say about  these  issues.

Download the essays for personal use or purchase a hard copy of the Study Booklet for the Sixth World Conference of Friends. Learn more.

Voices of Friends aims to feed the souls of those who feel an affinity to the beliefs and  practices of Quakers and to provide an entry point to understanding Quakerism today in all its diversity.

The Wider Quaker Fellowship and Voices of Friends are programs of
Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas
1506 Race St.
Philadelphia, PA   19102
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FWCC Peace Pamphlets available online

Connecting friends, crossing cultures, changing lives

Through its programs Voices of Friends and The Wider Quaker Fellowship, Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) Section of the Americas works to express our common heritage and our Quaker message to the world. You’re invited to read the newest selection of contemporary Quaker writing on Voices of Friends:

   • An Ocean of Darkness, an Ocean of Light, y un Barquito Grande: Friends Ministry of Hope in a Troubled World. Bridget Moix’s message reflects on how peacemakers maintain a positive approach when facing a discouraging political scene.  Read the complete article.
   • The Transforming Power of the Psalms. Through her examination of the Psalms, author Elizabeth Meyer seeks to reassure us that although we may not be able to keep from feeling anger, we can turn that anger over to God, who understands it, and thus move toward loving our enemies. Read the complete article.

• Read the complete letter that introduces each of these articles from Judy Inskeep, Clerk of the Wider Quaker Fellowship.

Next April a  large ‘family reunion’ of Quakers from around the globe will meet in Kenya to consider questions that many in the Religious Society of Friends are asking: What is the Quaker response to global change? What are Friends called to do in a world that is broken? What is the relevant Quaker message for the 21st century?

FWCC invites you to join in learning what Quakers from Kenya, Russia, India, El Salvador, England,  Bolivia, Korea, the United States and more have to say about  these  issues.

Download the essays for personal use or purchase a hard copy of the Study Booklet for the Sixth World Conference of Friends. Learn more.

Voices of Friends aims to feed the souls of those who feel an affinity to the beliefs and  practices of Quakers and to provide an entry point to understanding Quakerism today in all its diversity.

The Wider Quaker Fellowship and Voices of Friends are programs of
Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas
1506 Race St.
Philadelphia, PA   19102