New York Yearly Meeting
of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Volume 33
Number 1 		SPARK
15 Rutherford Place
New York, NY 10003		 January 2002
SPARK (ISSN 00240591)
New York Yearly Meeting News
Published five times a year: January,
March, May, September, November
By New York Yearly Meeting,
Religious Society of Friends,
15 Rutherford Place
New York, NY 10003
212-673-5750
office@nyym.org
   Editorial Board: Publications Committee
Editor: Helen Garay Toppins
SPARK deadlines are the first of the month preceding the publication month.
   Permission is granted to reprint
any article, provided Spark is acknowledged as the source.

New York
Yearly Meeting Staff
Paul Busby paul@nyym.org
Barbara Heizman
Helen Garay Toppins

Contents

Design by Melanie-Claire Mallison

Live from . . .

Pakistan

 On November 7, Leila Richards, AFSC's Central Asia field coordinator, flew from New York City to Pakistan with Sarah Zaidi, research director for the Center for Economic and Social Rights, to assess the situation at refugee camps on the Afghan border.
   After meeting with representatives of UN agencies and international organizations in Islamabad and Peshawar, they visited squatter settlements and refugee camps on the outskirts of Peshawar with Wasim Ahmad Shah, a Pakistani journalist, and Partawmina Hashimee, director of the Afghan Women's Resource Center. Today Pakistan has more than two million refugees.
   The U.S. bombing campaign created the newest flight of refugees. By mid-November, 135,000 more Afghans had fled to Pakistan. At that time, UNHCR officials estimated that as many as 1,000 were crossing the border every day. Unfortunately these newly arriving families were not eligible for humanitarian aid from UN agencies and international humanitarian organizations, since they entered the country illegally, across borders officially closed to all but widows, orphans under fourteen, the elderly, and the wounded.
   In Pakistan about one million refugees live in camps surrounding Peshawar and Quetta, close to the Afghan border. These refugees, like the Pakistanis who live in the region, are predominantly Pashtun, but Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbekis can also be found. However only half of the Afghans stay in camps. The remainder form a population of "invisible refugees" living in and around urban areas throughout the country.
   Leila and Sarah visited the Afghan Women's Council, a humanitarian agency that operates a clinic, a school, and educational and vocational training classes for women.
   On their first day in Peshawar Leila and Sarah drove through Nasr Bagh, a twenty-year-old refugee camp that had taken on the appearance of a village. It was in a hilly area near a canal where women were washing their clothes. Men farmed the land around the camp or worked at day jobs as laborers or cab drivers. Many, according to our guide, supported the Taliban. Donkey carts moved through the unpaved roads of the camp between fruit and vegetable stands. Small shops and houses were built of clay and mud mixed with straw. Many were linked to electricity through a tangle of wires atop a utility pole. The camp had a school and clinic.
   On the same day, Leila and Sarah visited a shantytown by the railroad tracks in the Tajabad neighborhood of Peshawar. They were greeted by a curious but friendly crowd. About one hundred Afghan families lived there in tents made from patches of old fabric. The children were barefoot, dirty, and dressed in rags. There was no source of water near their encampment and no services of any kind. Some of the men among the "old" refugee families carried chits from UNHCR, but were unsure what the chits were for. It appeared their families had been tallied as illegal refugees who would be eligible for humanitarian aid if they moved to one of the new camps in the north.
   A few days later Leila and Sarah were taken to the Akora Khattak refugee camp by Partawmina Hashimee, director of the Afghan Women's Resource Center (AWRC). The camp was situated on barren dry hills in an isolated area more than an hour's drive from Peshawar. About 15,000 refugees lived there. The AWRC operated a small center for women near the entrance to the camp. Women could gather there for meetings and workshops or to attend literacy classes. Akora Khattak camp had been built to accommodate refugees who fled Kabul in 1996 after Kabul was taken over by the Taliban. Subsequently, others came as a result of fighting elsewhere in the country or because of the two-year drought. Most refugees spoke Persian, but some spoke Pashtun. Many families in the camp earned some income through home-based projects such as embroidery and carpet weaving, but still had trouble making ends meet.
   During a tour of the camp, Leila and Sarah visited a school for girls and a center where women were awaiting distribution of shawls. Again they saw women with severely malnourished children. One mother said she'd be happy to work as a domestic but couldn't find a job. Leila and Sarah met a widow whose husband had been killed by the Taliban. After the woman's son was taken by Northern Alliance troops, she came to the camp to live with her father-in-law, five daughters, and young son. They made some money by spinning wool, they said, but their earnings barely paid for their food. In addition to the schools in the camp operated by international NGOs, Leila and Sarah saw a madrasa and orphanage that had been built three months earlier on "the Taliban side of the camp." About 200 boys attended the school. Classes were large, with sixty or more pupils. Perhaps because of a shortage of men at the time, the madrasa was hiring female teachers. The madrasa also provided food for the families of the pupils.
   About seventy families had arrived at the camp since the bombing began. According to Mrs. Hashimee, many could be seen begging for food from other refugee families. Four women in the camp served as community organizers for the AWRC. AFSC donated another $1,000 to the AWRC to distribute quilts to female-headed households and to newly arrived families in Akora Khattak camp. Another $1,000 was given to the Afghan Women's Educational Center for purchase of food, quilts, and plastic sheeting for unregistered refugee families living in Peshawar. With these funds it was possible to supply plastic sheeting for tents for ten families and provide 38 families with a quilt, 20 kilograms of rice, 2 kilograms of cooking oil, 30 kilograms of flour, and small quantities of tea and salt.
   The next day Leila and Sarah had lunch with nine members of the Afghan Women's Network. The network was established in 1996 to promote unity and cooperation among Afghan women and "build the capacity and ability of Afghan women to contribute towards peace-building and the reconstruction of Afghanistan." In addition to providing a forum for exchange of information about issues related to Afghan women, the network paid the tuition of a limited number of Afghan girls attending school in Pakistan. The Afghan Women's Network has over 500 members, with branches in Islamabad and inside Afghanistan.
   When members of the network were asked what women's groups in the United States could do to support them, they mentioned two things: offer training in management and leadership skills, and provide financial support for their humanitarian work.

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Afghanistan

 On October 22, Doug Hostetter, the former executive secretary of AFSC's New England region, flew from Frankfurt, Germany, to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, with Suraya Sadeed, director of Help the Afghan Children, Inc., to organize a convoy to deliver 239 tons of food and 1,000 blankets to Takhar Province in northeast Afghanistan. The mission was jointly sponsored by the AFSC and the Mennonite Central Committee. Help the Afghan Children, Inc., an NGO based in Virginia, has worked in Afghanistan for nine years. AFSC contributed $30,000 toward purchasing enough flour, sugar, and cooking oil for more than 3,000 families in the region who were displaced by a two-year drought and the recent conflict between the Northern Alliance and the Taliban. A contractor procured the supplies in Uzbekistan, and on October 31 the supplies were loaded into 23 trucks and driven through Tajikistan to the Afghan border. At the Amu Darya River, the trucks had to be ferried across one by one on a tractor-powered pontoon boat that offered the only crossing. The river crossing was only a few kilometers from the Taliban front lines. Massive U.S. bombing was taking place on a ridge just a few miles from the river.
   After a delay of four days, the Russian border guards ferried the last of the trucks across the river . The convoy proceeded to Kahwaja Bahawudin, an hour's drive from the crossing. The commodities bought by AFSC and Save the Afghan Children were divided into portions that would provide a displaced family of six with a month's supply of flour, sugar, and cooking oil. There were enough portions to feed 3,759 families.
   While he was in the region, Doug visited an independent school in Dushanbe with more than 200 refugee students and a grade school in the Afghan village of Lolaguzar. Families were eager to send their children to the school in Dushanbe, which was run by an Afghan medical student, but several hundred had to be turned away because of lack of space. At the Lolaguzar school, children begged Doug for pens and pencils. He gave the teachers some pictures drawn by U.S. schoolchildren, and took some of the Afghan students' drawings back to the United States.

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Europe

 Two months after the attacks of September 11, the AFSC sponsored a three-week delegation to six western European nations with a threefold goal: 1) to share the voice of those in the United States who seek a nonmilitary response; 2) to explore alternative, nonviolent actions including justice under an international tribunal; and 3) to articulate upon return the hesitation of European allies to the manifestations of the U.S. declared "war on terrorism."
   The delegation consisted of: Michael Simmons, director of the European Region; Kirsten Helin, associate director of the International Division, Judith McDaniel, director of the Peace Building Unit, and myself, Elizabeth Enloe, regional director of AFSC's New York Metropolitan Regional Office.
   In England, Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark our hosts were Quakers who opened their meetinghouses and homes to us. We met with elected and appointed officials, and with staff of the European Union and NATO, of peace organizations, development agencies, foundations, and ecumenical church councils. We were made to feel welcome.
   Our observations and revelations were among the following:
   1. Ambivalence toward the U.S.
Compassion for the suffering and horror was expressed, yet it was mitigated by the fact that terrorist acts are familiar to the European landscape and throughout the world and, by the disappointment and skepticism in U.S. actions. Fundamentally, the U.S. is not seen as a team player, but as a unilateral agent calling upon multilateral approaches for its own benefit. Our attention was called to multiple evidence of U.S. disregard for issues such as global warming (Kyoto), racism (World Conference on Racism), nuclear proliferation (Comprehensive Test Ban).
   2. European support for the U.S.
We asked any number of times why heads of state and nations, given this ambivalence, were willing and active participants in the U.S. "war on terrorism." Those persons willing to soul search articulated emotional and strategic rationale: 1) gratitude for past contributions to rid Europe from Nazism and support independence from the U.S.S.R.; 2) belief that it is better to agree and have some influence than disagree and have none; 3) reliance on U.S. to keep law and order; 4) upcoming elections and internal issues which create reluctance to give political opponents advantage; and 5) similar concerns for vulnerability. Yet, the level of support of the U.S. is more circumscribed than meets the eye: it is more rhetorical and political than substantive. What may seem to be widespread support within nations actually is a result of small margins within governments.
   3. Peace Movements
Representatives of peace organizations and movements shared the specifics of their activities the vigils, statements, intercultural dialogues, and increased network efforts. Some indicated that September 11 had revitalized the peace movement. Some spoke of how statements from the U.S. opposing violence and supporting alternatives reinforced the capacity and strength of the alternative vision in Europe.
   4. Search for alternatives to military action
Much of our interchange focused on alternative actions, knowing that "The minority opposition will be sidelined without an alternative." We found that the language and practice of conflict prevention and conflict resolution are assertively pursued by NGOs and multilateral organizations alike. Those knowledgeable of international covenants and treaties stipulated actions to be taken to hinder terrorist acts. Trying to prevent future wars is the focus of work for many. Issues of debt relief and development are high on people's minds. Others point to long-term, "more sincere promotion of democracy."
   We pursued interest in harnessing public support and energy around the creation of a UN Security Council sponsored international tribunal. Where there was awareness of the International Criminal Court, there was unqualified support for its existence.
   John Welton, our Friend with the Quaker Council in International Affairs in Brussels, said, "There is a huge international effort to respond to terrorism. There needs to be a huge response to act in a different way." Thus, we as a Friends' organization, in concert with Friends meetings and a wide gathering of peoples, continue in the midst of our grief, a growing and powerful voice and ability to call for a strategically new paradigm in response to brutal violence. Among its recommendations, the AFSC delegation to Europe supports:
  • international legal remedies such as international tribunals and UN treaties and conventions.
  • the repertoire of concerted initiatives in the field of conflict prevention, intervention, and resolution.

   For a complete report, please call AFSC at 212-598-0950

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Ramallah Friends Schools

 On Thursday 13 December at 7:15 P.M., a building on the Ramallah Friends Schools upper campus was hit by rockets fired by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) helicopters. No one was in the building at the time of the strike, so there were no injuries. Thanks to all of you who have written to express your concern about the missile attack in Ramallah/El-Bireh that left a trail of destruction at Friends Boys School.
   No one was killed or injured in the school or in the police station that was the target of that particular attack. The twin towns were heavily bombarded on Thursday morning, December 13, from 1:30 A.M. until 5:30 A.M. and then again that same day from 7:00 P.M. until about 8:15 P.M. An attack was made on a temporary police building next to the Friends Boys School on Thursday night. As far as we could see this building is used only by the police whose function is maintaining law and order like any other police force in the world. On the Thursday night the IDF attack helicopters launched five missiles into the temporary building which is the size of a standard-sized kitchen. One missile fragment passed through the police station and entered the basement window of the Friends Boys School chapel building, through the door to the corridor, and lodged itself two meters down into the foundations of the building. This was the result presumably of a detonation occurring in the police station. A second missile missed the police station, it seems, and entered a first floor classroom of the building connecting the chapel to the main administration building that had been funded, in its renovation and extension, by U.S. Aid. The classroom served as a departmental faculty office. The casements and windows of the classroom were blasted from the wall, the radiators ripped from the wall, too, and the inner 'breeze block' lining of the wall damaged beyond repair. The outer structural wall had a 150 cm diameter hole, of course, but fortunately the destructive force of the explosion did its damage inside the building and not in the outer wall. Furniture and fittings were largely destroyed, the inner door was damaged and papers and books were everywhere. The casement windows and glass were also thrown from two other classrooms by the blast, the windows in a further three classrooms were completely smashed, the windows in the chapel were broken and three steel doors leading to maintenance facilities were twisted beyond repair. The boiler suffered blast damage, too. The cost of the damage by U.S. manufactured and funded missiles to the U.S. funded building was approximately 30,000 U.S. dollars, I imagine.
   A detailed report with technical photographs has been produced by an internationally recognized engineering firm, although I have not yet seen it. This report will form part of a claim for reparations to the Israeli government that we will try to submit through the U.S. State Department in Washington. Meanwhile the repairs will be done by the Ministry of Labour courtesy of the Palestinian authorities who were the first to express their sympathy and concern by personal visits to the site and many phone calls.
   May we take this opportunity to thank personally FUM, AFSC, and John Salzberg for their rapid responses to the damage and their advocacy for the Schools to Friends in the U.S. and to the U.S. State Department in Washington. It is important that the U.S. State Department know that nonmilitary targets are being hit and understand the futility and senseless destruction of much of the action that is being taken by Israel on communities in the West Bank.
   One Friend asked me why we seem to support the Palestinian argument so forcefully but hardly mention the senseless acts of terrorism resulting in the deaths of Israeli citizens. If we have hardly mentioned them, I apologize, but we are living in Ramallah/El-Bireh and can only report accurately what we see and hear from where we live and have our being. I want to make it clear, however, that we wholeheartedly condemn any violent acts, any acts of maiming or killing, any acts of torture and any acts of destruction of property and repudiate any justification by Palestinians or Israelis of such acts for whatever reason. There is only one permanent solution that both sides must recognize if peace is to be achieved and that is an acknowledgment of injustices present and wrongs perpetrated by both sides to find an acceptable solution which protects the security and integrity of both peoples. We are clear that much has already been given by and taken from the Palestinian people, that promises made to them have not been kept for over fifty years by a succession of nations and governments and that their suffering has been continuous, significant and humiliating. We are also clear that the Israeli government is not yet ready to acknowledge the extent or weight of these facts, they are not yet willing or able to give proper weight to the concern of people in Palestine for a viable independent self-governing state and seem not to be willing to respect the integrity of the Palestinian communities in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza over which they exercise superior military domination.
   I hope those of you who have helped us with scholarships or made personal gifts to the Schools over the last year have received your cards in time for Christmas. Jesus is an important prophet and Mary, the mother of Jesus, an important woman in Islam. Although Christianity, as it is commonly understood, does not agree with Islam on the relative weight to be given Jesus Christ in our religious journeys, there is mutual respect and mutual appreciation of his religious and social teaching. It is perhaps not therefore surprising that we share many positive values in our two religions, for example, love, compassion, justice, integrity, and peace.
   Enough. God Bless us all over this Christmas period.
   Much love,

Colin and Kathy

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NYYM Representative Meeting Minutes

 Raritan Valley Community College, New Jersey
December 8-9, 2001
  1. Friends settled into a deep silence in which the presence near at hand of the Spirit of God was felt.
  2. Barbara Roe welcomed Friends to Raritan Valley Community College on behalf of Shrewsbury and Plainfield Half-Yearly Meeting.
  3. The reading clerk read the roll of the Yearly Meeting and Friends rose in response as their meetings were called. 133 Friends including 57 named Representatives were in attendance.
  4. Anita Paul, member of Schenectady Monthly Meeting and clerk of Witness Coordinating Committee, introduced the business of the Witness Section.
  5. Rosa Packard of Purchase meeting introuduced Mary Lord, who is a member of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and is currently coordinator of the American Friends Service Committee's No More Victims Campaign. Mary Lord spoke to Friends, out of the silence, about the spiritual basis of Friends' Peace Testimony.
  6. Carolyn Keys of Montclair Monthly Meeting spoke to Friends about her work and her experiences in Burundi, where she has been working with the Friends Peace Teams African Great Lakes Initiative to establish a trauma, healing, and reconciliation center. (See related article, Work in Burundi . . .)
  7. Anita Paul announced that Friends who wish to contribute in support of gasoline expenses for the work in Burundi can send those contributions to Montclair Monthly Meeting.
  8. Ernestine Buscemi of Morningside Monthly Meeting spoke to Friends about her experiences in South Africa. She visited Friends' meetings in Johannesburg, Durban, and Capetown, and attended both the NGO forum and the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa, August 26 through September 7, 2001. (See related article, The World Had a Conversation . . .)
  9. Anita Paul presented a request from the Witness Coordinating Committee that a second representative be named to Friends' Peace Teams Coordinating Committee. Friends approved. The Nominating Committee will nominate a Friend for this service.
  10. Stanley Zarowin, member of Brooklyn Meeting and clerk of the Financial Services Committee, presented the New York Yearly Meeting proposed 2002 operating budget. The budget total is $431,474 up by 7.1% from the 2001 budget. After some discussion, further consideration of the budget was held over for the Sunday session of Representative Meeting.
  11. The recording clerk read the minutes of today's session and Friends approved.
  12. The meeting closed with a period of silent worship.
  13. Rima Segal, Reading Clerk, read the Epistle from Britain Yearly Meeting (28 July-4 August 2001). Britain Friends have been challenged to respond to a sense of urgency among young Friends, a need to help attenders come into membership, and issues of racism and environmental exploitation. The epistle reminded all Friends, "God has no hands but ours; let us not sit on them."
  14. The following nominations from the Nominating Committee were approved. NYYM Nominating Committee Ad Hoc Committee on Staffing and Yearly Meeting Structure convener: Jeffrey Aaron, New Brunswick; Miriam Brush, New Brunswick; Dale Jacobs, Orchard Park; Joanna Komoska, Peconic Bay; Kathleen Lawson, New Brunswick; Milford Lester, Saratoga; James O'Barr, Cornwall; Thor Rhodin, Ithaca; George Rubin, Manhasset; Deborah Wood, Purchase.
       Ad Hoc Committee on Committee Structure convener: Margallen Fichter, Albany; Herbert Lape, Westbury; Melanie-Claire Mallison, Ithaca; Thomas Martin, Wilton; Anne Wright, Scarsdale; Stanley Zarowin, Brooklyn.
       Friends Peace Teams Coordinating Committee: Frederick Dettmer, Purchase.
       At their request the following Friends were released from the services indicated.
      Junior Yearly Meeting Committee Class 2003 John Cooley, Central Finger Lakes.
      NYYM Board of Trustees Class 2004 Alan Pike, Syracuse.
      Friends Committee on National Legislation Class 2003 Ann Schillinger, Housatonic.
      Right Sharing of the World's Resources Committee Class 2002 Alan Pike, Syracuse.
  15. Harold Risler presented the report of Treasurer Mary Williams, and copies were distributed. He pointed out that each month, current receipts and charges are posted on the Yearly Meeting Web site for the use of committees. After some questions were answered, Friends received the report.
  16. For the Nurture Section, Sarah Faith Dickinson requested $10,000 over the next three years which would be conveyed to Friends General Conference for its capital campaign Nurturing Quakerism. Friends in discussion raised several budgeting issues. The request was not approved in this form. Friends will consider, through the Nurture Section and Financial Services Committee, how New York Yearly Meeting could support campaigns of this kind.
  17. Stanley Zarowin, clerk of the Financial Services Committee, reopened discussion of the budget for 2002, answering several questions raised yesterday. Recognizing that it may not be perfect, Friends approved the budget for 2002 totaling $429,474. Friends approve the proportional shares.
  18. Helen Garay Toppins, administrative secretary of the Yearly Meeting, reported on the difficulties caused at the Yearly Meeting office by the events of September 11. Staff were completely dedicated to their work during this tormented time and are now getting it back on track. She asked for Friends to continue their support of the staff.
  19. Anita Paul brought forward the Sharing Fund goals for 2002. Friends received the goals as presented.
  20. Jane Berger, clerk of the Advancement Committee, reported that on September 20, representatives of three New York-based Quaker organizations the Quaker United Nations Office, American Friends Service Committee, and New York Yearly Meeting met at Fifteenth Street to discuss a joint response to the events of September 11 and their aftermath. Among the more than twenty persons in attendance were the clerks of several Yearly Meeting committees and the clerk of the Yearly Meeting. One outcome of the meeting was the decision to establish a joint Web site to respond to the needs of people who had been looking to Quakers for a response to September 11. The site www.quakerresponse.org is both a source of information for Friends and an outreach tool.
       She also reported a request from Hudson Monthly Meeting for funds to repair a leaking roof. Friends approved allocating $1,200 from the Lockport-Brinkerhoff Funds to Hudson Friends. (See related article this page.)
  21. Kathleen Lawson announced that proposals for study groups and interest groups at Yearly Meeting must be given to the Coordinating Committees by January 30. (See related article p. 8, note deadline has been extended.)
  22. The recording clerk read back the minutes of the session, and they were approved with corrections.
  23. The Clerk expressed the gratitude of Friends for the arrangements and hospitality extended to them for this Representative Meeting.
  24. The meeting closed with a period of silent worship.
Editor's Note: FUM has established a relief fund to help with repairs. For more information contact http://www.fum.org/contributions or RFS Damage Relief Fund, Friends United Meeting, 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond IN 47374; 765-962-7573.

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Money for Outreach

 Are you a small meeting whose budget is stretched thin? The Yearly Meeting Advancement Committee provides modest grants so that meetings like yours can still do outreach in spite of a lack of funds. In the past the committee has helped pay for meeting signs and newspaper ads, but other ideas may also find support. To apply, contact Jane Berger, care of the NYYM office, describing your project and the estimated cost.

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State of Meeting Reports

 This is the time of year when CC M&C begins the process of preparing the State of Society report. It's been our practice to offer queries to the monthly meetings to assist in this work. We have decided not to offer queries for your consideration. We want to know how you are doing. Let us hear from you.
   Please return your state of meeting report to the yearly meeting office no later than 15 February 2002. "The state of the meeting report should be a searching self-examination by the meeting and its members of their spiritual strengths and weaknesses and of the efforts made to foster growth in the spiritual life. Reports may cover the full range of interests and concerns but should emphasize those indicative of the spiritual health of the meeting." NYYM Faith & Practice.

Ann Davidson, clerk, CCM&C

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Operating Budget on Web

 The 2002 Operating Budget is now on the NYYM Web site at http://www.nyym.org/committees/treasurer, in both HTML and PDF formats.

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Design by Melanie-Claire Mallison

Around Our Monthly Meetings

Fredonia Responds to September 11

 The Fredonia Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) abhors the horrendous action planned and executed against innocent people in the September 11, 2001 disasters at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. We pray and vigil for the loved ones of the victims. Their pain is unimaginable. We hold them in the Light of love and healing. The tragic situation presents a tremendous challenge to those who have a witness for peace and are committed to it. However, we hold steadfast to our beliefs that the path of active nonviolence is the only worthy course.
   As many in our country turn to the Spirit for guidance, let us pray for our leaders that they may act with wisdom and care. Vengeance is nowhere to be found in the teachings of Jesus. Rhetoric and preparation for war is inappropriate in this time of grieving, introspection, and seeking answers. War actions encourage anger and hate tools of the terrorists we oppose. Already, because of our attacks, there is a huge refugee crisis.
   We support the capture and trying of terrorists in accordance with the world's systems of international law. They must be held accountable for their actions. Yet, we oppose any form of war as our nation's response, because of the loss of innocent lives, destruction of the environment and economic waste. "We repudiate war because it violates the primacy of love, destroys life that God has given, and tears the fabric of society. War is a test of power, not a search for truth or justice." (Faith and Practice, page 38). Mass retaliation can only compound the conflict before us. Having seen atrocities close up on September 11 and feeling deep sorrow from the loss of fellow citizens, it seems unjustifiably cruel to inflict similar violence on the innocent people of other nations.
   What is needed now is an understanding of the root causes of terrorism, recognition of our own country's history of mistakes in violence and an absolute end to the propagation of rage. "We thus urge the use of peaceful methods, consistent with the ends we seek, which may heal the hates and hurts of individual nations. . . . We ask now, 'Can any war truly be the will of God?'" (Faith and Practice, page 38).

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Buffalo Minute

 This is a copy of the letter which Buffalo Monthly Meeting sent to Buffalo News, President Bush and Senators Schumer and Clinton:

       As members of the Religious Society of Friends, we renounce the use of violence for ourselves and deplore its use by political factions. We concur with the ancient wisdom that the best way to get rid of enemies is to turn them into friends. Such a strategy leads to a stable and mutually satisfying future.
       The Friends School in Ramallah, on the West Bank, operated for over 100 years by the Friends United Meeting (of which we are members), is an example of practical Quaker efforts toward fomenting peace. It is also a symbol of peace and a site for interfaith and interethnic dialogue.
       Israeli bombs damaged it the second week of December, bombs delivered by planes supplied by the U.S. and with the tacit approval of the U.S. government.
       It is appropriate for us Friends to suffer along with others. Every violent act is an occasion for another call for peace. The bombing of the Quaker school, this symbol of long-standing efforts toward peaceful alternatives, is one more reason to seek to rein in the forces of violence and war. We call on the President and our Senators, as well as Palestinians and Israelis, to cease military and other terrorist activity and to re-establish mutually respectful dialogue.

    Buffalo Monthly Meeting
    Religious Society of Friends
    Thadeus Dziekonski, clerk

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Rochester Couple Enrichment Retreat

 Rochester Meeting House will be holding a couple enrichment retreat on February 15-16, 2002.
   This weekend will be devoted to couples in healthy, caring relationships who want to grow in their love for one another. In a loving, safe environment, you will have the chance to learn new ways of communicating and to reaffirm your commitment to each other. You will have the chance to build on your strengths as a couple, improve your communication skills, connect more deeply with each other and learn how to deal creatively with conflict.
   Mark Moss and Mary Kay Glazer live and love in Rochester, New York. They have been certified by the Association for Couples in Marriage Enrichment and are provisional leaders with the Couple Enrichment program of Friends General Conference.
   Overnight hospitality may be available, please ask. To register or for more information call Mark and Mary Kay.

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Croton Valley Food Pantry

 Croton Valley Meeting is one of nine local congregations that participate in the Mt. Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry. The pantry is currently located at 49 Moore Ave. Food is distributed on Friday mornings from 10:00 A.M. until noon. Most of the food is donated by area residents, and we supplement the supply by purchasing food from our regional food warehouse and distribution center, known as Food PATCH. If you would like to donate dried or canned goods, or if you would like to sponsor a food drive to benefit the pantry, please contact Jennifer Johnson or Jim Wood. Monetary donations may be sent to the Treasurer, Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry, PO Box 834, Mount Kisco NY 10549.
   The Board of Directors has been searching for another space in which to house the pantry. If you know of a centrally located space in Mt. Kisco, that might serve well as a once-a-week distribution site, please let either Jim or Jennifer know. As you might anticipate, we are looking for donated or low-rent space that provides for easy and private, confidential accessibility.

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MLK Weekend

 Come to NYC for MLK Jr. weekend January 19-22!
   From Chaos to Community: a weekend of educational, healing, and protest events focusing on the ongoing war against the people of Iraq and the bombing of Afghanistan
   The War Resisters League, Voices in the Wilderness, the New York Catholic Worker, and the Kairos Community will be holding an antiwar teach-in on the war in Afghanistan and the continuing war against Iraq in New York City on January 20, from 2 to 6 P.M. The list of speakers includes: Amy Goodman, Father Dan Berrigan, Kathy Kelly, Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck.
   For further information, contact War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012; 212-228-0450 (ph.); 212-228-6193 (fax); 1-800-975-9688 (YouthPeace and A Day Without the Pentagon); wrl@igc.org; www.warresisters.org
   Move with us from the chaos of war to the community of active nonviolence.
   
The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the abyss of annihilation.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Strength to Love

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Nine Partners Fun Day

 About forty Friends and friends of Friends played, ate, and made music at Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting's fifth annual intergenerational fun day on November 3. This year's event was held in the dining room of the Poughkeepsie Meeting House.
   To make the day even more intergenerational than it had been in the past, four teenaged Friends, Jerry Hrechka of Catskill, Nate Gorgen of Poughkeepsie, Ginny Prenot of Bulls Head-Oswego, and Asa Abbott of New Paltz, led games. All are Powell House attenders. Two adult Friends, Marguerite Matthews of Catskill and Karen Snare of Bulls Head-Oswego, were also game leaders.
   The music was a drum jam followed by singing. The drumming was led by Tom Houghton of Cornwall. Jean Doneit of Poughkeepsie played guitar and led singing.
   The committee that planned this was made up of Friends from five of the six meetings in the Quarter. They were Leaza Hrechka of Catskill, Orelle Feher of New Paltz, Tom Houghton of Cornwall, Karen Snare of Bulls Head-Oswego, and Viola Hathaway of Poughkeepsie.

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Purchase Quarter Peace Tax Escrow

 If someone were to knock on your door and tell you that you were required to provide room and board for soldiers, what should you do?
   If someone were to reach a hand into your purse and extract money, telling you that you must pay for guns for the soldiers to use, what should you do?
   If money were taken from your bank account, with no explanation, and used to support the killing of other people, what should you do?
   Some people who cannot in good conscience pay for the killing of others bear witness to their concern by paying taxes into the Purchase Quarter Peace Tax Escrow Account until such time as our government recognizes their human right of conscientious objection to the payment of war taxes.
   More information about the escrow account is available from John Randall, care of the NYYM office.
   
There is no way to peace; peace is the way.

A. J. Muste

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Design by Melanie-Claire Mallison

Witness Works with Sharing Fund Dollars

Witness Coordinating Committee

 The Witness Coordinating Committee (WCC) is the action arm of New York Yearly Meeting. It is composed of the committees involved in the peace-and-justice work of NYYM, including Peace Concerns, AFSC, Friends Peace Teams, FCNL, Peace Tax Fund, as well as Prisons, Black Concerns, Latin American Concerns, Indian Affairs, and Right Sharing of World Resources, among others. It has been a busy and intense year.
   WCC continued to fund the cost of a computer connection and e-mail access for Carolyn Keys while her work with Friends Peace Teams in Burundi continues. WCC provided financial assistance for two NYYM Friends to attend the UN Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, in August. NYYM has joined the Rural and Migrant Ministries, has a delegate to the Faith Communities Call for Reform of the Criminal Justice System, and sent a minute calling for revision of the current drug laws to Governor Pataki, as well as each meeting. WCC also supplied each meeting with a packet of material concerning Indian land claims.
   In a new initiative in 2001, WCC made several thousand dollars available to monthly meetings to support the monthly meetings' work for justice and peace. The money was used to help establish a restorative justice center in Rochester, to provide publicity for activities to end the death penalty, to run a peace camp, for public information of the New York State drug laws, and for a program to reunite women recently released from prison with their children, among others. WCC hopes to be able to make more money available in 2002.
   While WCC is the action arm of NYYM, yours is the hand it extends. When you dig deep into your pockets and donate to the Sharing Fund you are making all this work possible: Nearly all the funding that makes these and the other activities of WCC possible comes from the Sharing Fund, from your donations. If you agree that the prison meetings ought to be supported and visited, if you believe that helping to make peace possible in one beleaguered country in Africa makes for a safer, better world, if you feel that any of the work of the committees of Witness is essential, please donate to the Sharing Fund. In a typical year about 200 households donate to the Sharing Fund. Please, this year make sure that one of the hands being extended in peace is yours.

Anita Paul, clerk

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Honduras Community Libraries Project

 Background--Honduras is a Central American country considered one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere. The Christian Commission for Development (CCD) is a private development agency in Honduras working with rural communities. The focus of their work is agriculture, health, community credit, education, gender equity, and community organization. CCD is the agency chosen to administer the Heifer Project in Honduras. They are also one of 80 agencies worldwide that receive support from the U.S. Crop Walk. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) works with some of the communities supported by CCD.
   Rural community schools are common in most villages in Honduras. While the government is responsible for providing the schoolteacher, the schools do not have many teaching supplies, including books. Each family buys curriculum books, and additional books for reading are almost nonexistent. To address this need, CCD is sponsoring community libraries in remote rural communities. There are five libraries already built and two in plan for next year. Construction of the library building is done jointly by the community and CCD. The communities provide local construction materials and some of the labor. CCD provides the purchased construction materials and pays for specialized labor. CCD also provides training for the librarian in the community. Books for the libraries will come from donations. Since there are limited books available for purchase in Honduras, CCD asks that the books be purchased in the U.S. and brought to Honduras.
   Bulls Head Participation--Bulls Head chose to participate in the community library project by donating books to community libraries. We used approximately $1500 of the proceeds of the 2000 Barn Sale to purchase children's books in Spanish. We purchased about 140 books, 70 for each of two libraries. We selected books that reflected Quaker values and that were topically relevant to the lives of the people in the remote communities. Inside the cover of each book, we pasted a message saying the book was a gift from the Society of Friends, Bulls Head Meeting. Anyone interested in a copy of the book list should contact Mary Williams.
   Denise Sherman and Mary Williams traveled to Honduras the end of October and brought the books with them. They stayed at Monte Carmelo, the CCD conference center near Tegucigalpa. They traveled with CCD staff to two communities with libraries to deliver the books and to meet with the librarian. In one community, the library was next to the school so they also met with the school children. While in Honduras, they purchased reference books for each of the five existing community libraries: a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a medical reference, and a book about educational initiatives in Honduras that included a chapter on the community library project.
   In addition to working with the community libraries, Denise and Mary participated in a construction work project at a shelter for victims of domestic violence. They also attended the Friends meeting in Tegucigalpa and spent time with an elder of the meeting who had been a guest at Silver Bay in 1988.
   What's Next?--Funds from the 2001 Barn Sale and from the Central American Relief Fund will be used to purchase books for more libraries. Denise and Mary hope to organize a group work/study trip for late August.

Mary Williams, Bulls Head Meeting

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Inside/Outside

 The Prisons Committee is involved in many areas having to do with prisons. In addition to the prison meetings within NYYM, we minister to prisoners in other ways, work for prison reform, and seek to change various aspects of the law.
   January through April 2002 will be decisive months for criminal-justice reform. The Prisons Committee is working with other organizations and individuals on major events that are planned to ensure progressive action.
   1. January 21: MLK Day (assembly and march) in Albany. Among other activities, The Statewide Coalition of Prisoner Families, a project of the Center for Law and Justice, will present the first annual Martin Luther King Drum Major for Justice Award to Senator Thomas Duane, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Assemblymember Jeffrion Aubry, and Claudette Spencer of the Coalition for Parole Restoration. Contact the Center for Law and Justice, Inc., Pine West Plaza, Bldg. 2, Washington Av. Extension, Albany NY 12205; 518-427-8361; cflj@crisny.org; www.timesunion.com/communities/cflj. The center publishes the Advocate, a quarterly newsletter with valuable information.
   2. Mid-March: Ecumenical dedication (in NYC) of Faith Communities Call for Justice, an interfaith movement for criminal justice reform in New York State. Further information can be found at CURE NY's Web site at http://users.bestweb.net/~cureny/call.htm.
   3. March 26: Drop the Rock Day in Albany. Drop the Rock refers to repealing the Rockefeller drug laws. You can get information from the Correctional Association of NY, 135 E. 15th St., New York NY 10003; 212-254-7400; www.droptherock.org.
   The Prisons Committee encourages Friends to get involved in these events.
   In addition, the Prisons Committee will be discussing how to coordinate efforts to restore the right to vote for all ex-offenders who have served their time.

Vicki Cooley, clerk
Prisons Committee

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Blossom Garden Friends School

 Blossom Garden Friends School sent more than Christmas greetings this season and has for a number of years. The school has been sending books (texts, reference, literature, etc.) to Friends' and other schools throughout the world, including several Native American schools in the southwestern U.S., in Ecuador, a school for the deaf in India, an orphanage in Eritrea, and Friends' schools in Kenya, Belize, Costa Rica, and Jamaica. We will also be sending books to the Friends Children's Home in Jamaica.
   The World Ministries Committee, through the Sharing Fund and its own funds, has kindly contributed financially toward this effort since 1988. Students here, including students working on a Youth Opportunity Grant during the summer for disadvantaged youth, Friends from Orchard Park Meeting, and young Friends at Farmington-Scipio Spring Gathering, have all helped with packing, weighing, addressing, and shipping. So it has truly been a community effort!
   We developed a close relationship with several schools and were asked early on to send a microscope to the Kikai Friends Secondary School in Kenya. Mail there is unreliable. Yet just last year we were able to send a microscope in the suitcase of a work team member from FUM!
   Encyclopedia sets have been requested by several schools (fairly new). Also, the headmaster of the Kikai Friends School mentioned great difficulties with electric utilities. If any Friends have any ideas regarding inexpensive ways the school might generate power, or have fairly modern encyclopedia, please contact me, Janice Ninan, principal, Blossom Garden Friends School, 13961 Sisson Highway, Collins NY 14034; 716-532-1004; BlossomGardenFr@aol.com.

Janice Ninan, principal

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FWCC Seeks Executive Secretary

 Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas seeks an executive secretary. The Section's executive secretary employs and supervises staff in the Philadelphia, PA office and elsewhere in the Americas to assist Friends in their worship and work together. The position requires onsiderable travel. Spanish-language skills desirable. Due date for applications 4/30/02. Job description and application form available from FWCC Section of the Americas, 1506 Race St., Philadelphia PA 19102; 215-241-7250; americas@fwcc.quaker.org; fax 215-241-7258.

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Freedom Peace Tax

 The National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund is joining emerging coalitions, has defined pacifism and formulated statements of response to terror, and is considering its role in a revitalized peace movement. Lobbying is more difficult due to reduced access to lawmakers in Washington and because the current White House has not yet named anyone to the White House Office of Public Liaison for Religious Affairs, a helpful and accessible office in previous administrations.
   A Congregational Contact program is being started. Such contacts will work within individual congregations and Meetings to offer information and support lobbying. A new Peace Tax Foundation video has recently been completed, and a booklet of personal examples of tax witness is being compiled.
   The Peace Tax Foundation is pursuing a program to solicit donations from major donors. I have sent to each meeting material of an informative nature. The address of the Web site is http://www.peacetaxfund.org/peace-tax-foundation/.
   Conscience and Peace Tax International (CPTI) is an organization with members from countries around the world where there are movements for the recognition of the human right to conscientious objection to military taxes (COMT).
   In June, as a side event of the Third Substantive Session of the Preparatory Committee for the UN Special Session on Children, CPTI presented a panel at the UN in New York, entitled Education of Youth about The Human Right of Conscientious Objection. The Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Peace Caucus were cosponsors.
   The Web site of CPTI is being expanded and will contain more materials for education and reference.
   I would be happy to visit with you, talk with you, arrange for a speaker or send you more information.

John Randall, NYYM Representative
Nat'l Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund

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Peace Papers on Web

 The Web site for the 2001 Quaker Peace Roundtable has been redesigned and has been stocked with reports, papers, and notes from the Roundtable sessions. See it at www.quaker.org/qpr.
   More than 120 people from seventeen states registered for the 2001 Quaker Peace Roundtable, held April 6-8 at the State College Friends School, State College, Pennsylvania.
   Sponsored and organized by the State College Friends Meeting, the Roundtable was meant to be a time for Friends to come together to share varied concerns and projects, seek mutual support and encouragement, and find new information and insight.
   Among the many topics which were the focus of workshops and plenaries were:
  • major conflicts in various parts of the world, including Africa, the Middle East, Colombia, and others
  • the status and prospects of international peacemaking missions
  • how to deal with war/peace issues facing the new administration in Washington

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Peace Concerns Committee

 During the past few months, the Peace Concerns Committee has discussed and worked on:
  • the spiritual basis of our peace testimony
  • the culture of peace and nonviolence
  • conflict transformation
  • the publication of Asa Watkins' journal and drawings from his alternative service in a mental institution as a conscientious objector during WW II
  • educating our children about their human right of conscientious objection
  • issues of racial peace and justice
  • the control of small arms
  • issues of indigenous culture, the concept of oases of peace and efforts at nonviolent peacekeeping in international crisis areas.
  • the Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation to Chiapas, Mexico, last summer
  • Burundi Yearly Meeting and the needs of the Great Lakes School of Theology
  • the Burundi Trauma, Healing and Reconciliation Project
  • work being done at AFSC and other wider Quaker organizations following the events of September 11, e.g., "Every Monthly Meeting a Peace Center"
  • Albany Meeting's summer Peace Camp
  • the Powell House series Peace in Our Time
  • study and interest groups at Silver Bay about: Islam and Nonviolence, Youth and Militarism, and The Middle East

   Perhaps you labor under the weight of these or another peace concern. If you feel led to join us, please do.

John Randall, clerk

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CPT Statement on War on Terrorism

 The following is the Christian Peacemaker Teams' (CPT) statement of conviction regarding "War on Terrorism."
   CPT commends this "Statement of Conviction" to churches for study, reflection, and action. CPT encourages congregations and groups to adapt this statement and publicize it through media outlets in your local communities:
    The deaths of four Afghan employees of the United Nations by a U.S. cruise missile on October 9 illustrates that war always kills civilians regardless of the stated aims of governments.
       The act of terror that killed thousands of people in New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, will not be set right by bombing Kabul or any other city. Bombings with the official authorization of western governments are also acts of terror.
       As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe that we must choose the nonviolent way of the cross in these dangerous times. If we or our loved ones are attacked, injured, or killed by acts of terror, we forbid our governments to retaliate in our names. We believe that our lives are no more important or valuable in God's eyes than the lives of Afghans, Arabs, Colombians, Sudanese, Mexicans, Angolans, East Timorese, Aboriginal peoples, and others. We maintain that those responsible for the September 11 attacks must be held accountable for their crimes through internationally recognized nonviolent means.
       We also maintain that other leaders who have used their positions of power to design, order, or commit acts of terror that have killed millions of civilians throughout the world must be held accountable for their crimes, including Henry Kissinger (Cambodia, Vietnam), Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon), former Indonesian President Suharto (East Timor), former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan (contra war against Nicaragua), and Bill Clinton (Iraq). The list goes on.
       We are praying for our leaders to show wisdom and compassion as they seek to respond to the calamities of September 11. We appreciate President Bush's assertions that our quarrel is not with the Arab world or with Islam, but we believe these assertions will ring hollow with Arabs or Muslims who will die or suffer the loss of their human rights as a result of our current foreign policy.
       We intend to continue resisting any foreign policy that results in the death or exploitation of human beings, whatever their nationality. Again, we are putting our country on notice today that it does not have our permission to go to war in our names.
       Suggestions for Action
       CPT invites local churches to:
    1. Extend friendship to Muslim neighbors and offer accompaniment and partnership to those who may bear the brunt of collective blame or be vulnerable to attack.
    2. Carry out international, persistent witness that gets in the way of more war-making and calls people into Jesus' way, engaging neighbors, family members, classmates, coworkers, and friends about our convictions.
    3. Organize a weekly community "Truth Forum" from now until Christmas. The first casualty in war is truth. Let's rush to the aid of this casualty by opening our churches to host weekly ecumenical discussion forums for people to come with their questions, fears, hopes, and prayers. Create an atmosphere where all can feel welcome to speak the truth as they see it and seek creative nonviolent alternatives to war.
    4. Resist all government attempts to conscript our bodies and our tax dollars for war-making.
    5. Call on church relief agencies to find bold ways to deliver humanitarian aid directly to victims of violent retaliation.

   According to an October 8 report in London's The Guardian, senior international aid workers say air drops are "virtually useless" as an aid strategy. They lament that launching air strikes while the borders to Afghanistan were still closed has left many starving people stranded without access to aid. They also remind the international community that international humanitarian law obliges those who take armed action to make sure that civilians have access to humanitarian aid. They want to see humanitarian aid separated from the military, arguing that provision of aid is not a job for armed forces during a conflict.

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Meaning of the Peace Testimony Today
   Over a year ago, Friends World Committee for Consultation Section of the Americas (FWCC SOA) chose as the theme for its 2002 Annual Meeting, The Meaning of the Peace Testimony for Quakers Today. There was no way of predicting how timely that topic would be. FWCC SOA's 2002 Annual Meeting will be held in downtown Philadelphia March 14-17. All Friends are welcome.
   The program includes a keynote address Friday evening by Mary Lord, a member of Baltimore Yearly Meeting who is currently heading up AFSC's No More Victims campaign. There will also be opportunities to participate in small discussion groups focused on the peace testimony and numerous opportunities to worship with others.
   For more information, contact the FWCC Office at 215-241-7250 or by e-mail at americas@fwcc.quaker.org.

Allen Reeder, Philadelphia YM

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Friends Peace Teams Work Evolves:

 Colombia and the Middle East as well as the Great Lakes Region of Africa
   Friends Peace Teams Coordinating Committee met at Milwaukee Friends Meeting's new building, October 11 through 14, for its fall semiannual meeting. We had met at St. Petersburg Friends Meeting in February. Our meeting was productive and we were tendered by the Spirit to understand better how God was working through us. On Sunday morning at Milwaukee's meeting for business the Meeting asked three of their members to write a letter to each of the monthly meetings in the two yearly meetings to which they belong: They will speak of our visit with them as a ministry to them and ask monthly meetings to support the work of Friends Peace Teams with a regular line item in their budget. We were deeply grateful for this affirmation of our work and for the support of our committee member Julia Pantoga, Milwaukee Meeting.
   We enjoyed a potluck dinner Friday night provided by our hosting meeting and met with them to discuss our work.
   Each of us present gave a report on one aspect of our work before responding to their questions. Cecelia Yokum, SouthEastern Yearly Meeting, spoke of our history, the organizational pattern, and the spiritual basis of our work. Rosa Packard, New York Yearly Meeting, spoke of our vision of every monthly meeting becoming a peace center. She explained our focus on carrying out our work after the manner of Friends, encouraging clearness, oversight, and support from monthly meetings. We encourage attention to the spiritual practices discovered by Friends as they traveled in the ministry. To travel with a spiritual companion, to keep a journal, to be accountable to their meeting, to proceed as way opens.
   David Zarembka, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, spoke of our several projects in the African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI) Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda. A foundation has made a donation toward the continuation of Alternatives to Violence Project workshops in Rwanda and Burundi. The U.S. Embassy has supported the trauma healing workshops with a $10,000 grant. David visited Burundi in June. He and our coclerk, Val Liveoak, plan to attend the Friends United Meeting next year in Kenya.
   Rachel Fretz, Pacific Yearly Meeting, spoke of her recent month-long visit to Burundi, as clerk of the oversight committee of Burundi Yearly Meeting's Trauma, Healing and Reconciliation Service. Her monthly meeting has provided clearness, support, and oversight for her visit and work for a three-year period and is considering hosting a reciprocal ministry visit from the supervisor of the Burundi Service.
   Bill and Genie Durland, Intermountain Yearly Meeting, spoke of their experience with our partner Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation to Hebron. They hope to arrange a Friends delegation to Ramallah under Christian Peacemaker Teams auspices and with Friends Peace Teams help.
   Val Liveoak, of South Central Yearly Meeting, spoke of Friends Peace Teams plans to send a delegation this spring to Colombia to explore possible service in that country in affiliation with other Friends Meetings and Mennonites, Peace Brigades International, Witness for Peace, and the AFSC presence. Val Liveoak attended our Yearly Meeting sessions summer and offered a three-day study group on Colombia.
   Jim Glading, New England Yearly Meeting, explained the opportunities provided by our publication, Peace Team News and the Elise Boulding Fund.
   Kathleen Hardie, Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting, facilitated the question and discussion period.
   In a separate article for this issue of Spark, Carolyn Keys, Montclair Meeting, has written of her work at Burundi Yearly Meeting's Trauma, Healing and Reconciliation Service under a minute of travel endorsed by New York Yearly Meeting. Friends attending Representative Meeting in December heard her speak to the business session. She and others of the Burundi team will meet in the Baltimore area with the African Great Lakes Initiative working group and with the Friends Peace Teams Coordinating Committee to assess the project and plan its future.
   As your New York Yearly Meeting representative, I serve on the nominating committee, on a support committee for our administrative clerk, and on a committee to study appropriate support for Friends who return from Friends Peace Teams work abroad. I helped with hospitality for the oversight committee of the AGLI project when it met in May at QUNO in New York city, at Montclair Meeting, and at Purchase Meeting. New York Yearly Meeting Friends will be pleased to know that Fred Dettmer, Purchase Meeting, was appointed treasurer of Friends Peace Teams for a three-year term. I am grateful to have his spiritual companionship for this work and for the support of the Yearly Meeting and the Sharing Fund that enables us to do it.

Rosa Covington Packard, NYYM rep. Friends Peace Teams

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Work in Burundi Is Moving Forward

 Burundi culture today expects the silent acceptance of suffering, even death. The repeated interethnic conflicts in Burundi and the region show us that the silence about earlier wounds and losses doesn't prevent the violent cycle from continuing. Instead, the silence nourishes the hatred and anger. Trauma work in Burundi includes helping people to understand the very concepts of trauma. The focus in the work is training church leaders and others who will support and expand the work in the communities in the interior of the country. The team of four has been providing workshops and seminars on trauma and symptoms, developing appropriate language for the trauma work, translating materials, and counseling some who are suffering from their many experiences suffered in the past eight years.
   Burundi, about the size of Maryland, is a landlocked, basically agricultural country of beautiful rolling hills and mountains. The population is about 6.8 million, making it one of the most densely populated countries of the world. The killing of the first democratically elected president and many of his staff in October 1993 has resulted in much bloodshed. An ongoing civil war has taken the lives of more than 250,000 people from both of the major ethnic groups. Another million or so have become either internally displaced persons (IDPs) or refugees, mostly in Tanzania. The fighting has been with two Hutu rebel groups pitted against the primarily Tutsi army, but the civilians have suffered most. Economic problems and food shortages have seriously affected the population. United Nations and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) continue to provide assistance through food relief (to some 700,000 people), medical care, and some housing and school construction to replace some of the many buildings that have been destroyed.
   The war persists near the Tanzanian border and the refugee camps, and also in Bujumbura Rural, the area surrounding the capital, Bujumbura. There are periodic clashes, occasional hijackings and ambushes, killing, road closings, and people fleeing their homes. However, within the capital of Bujumbura and in several of the provinces things are relatively calm.
   Friends in Burundi, who number 11,500 official adult members, have been greatly affected by this conflict and those in earlier years. In the past few months, one active Friend from the Kwibuka church was killed with his companions when the pickup truck in which he was riding was ambushed. He is the nephew of the executive secretary (legal representative) of the Burundi YM, David Niyonzima. His brother was killed in the 1972 crisis. His wife lost her father and a sister. Another five Friends were killed in February of 2001. In November, Friends in the Ruyigi area had to flee their homes due to rebel activity there. Other Friends live in the Tanzanian refugee camps and in IDP camps. Everyone in the yearly meeting has suffered some loss and witnessed horrible events.
   In spite of all the bad things they have had to come over (a Burundi expression), Friends and other groups have been actively involved in peacemaking and conflict-resolution efforts since 1993. Though 12 of the 13 students at a pastor's Bible training school were killed, the yearly meeting has responded to the need for trained pastors and church workers. They have established the Great Lakes School of Theology for church leaders of Burundi, Rwanda, and eastern Congo (DRC, formerly Zaire). Visiting professors are recruited from among Friends, Mennonites, and other Christians in the U.S. and Canada. Another important peace effort is the Ministry for Peace and Reconciliation under the Cross (MiPAREC), a conflict-resolution program of Friends and the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). MiPAREC has a peace center with library, guesthouse, and restaurant.
   Other smaller programs provided by the Burundi YM include one for widows (52 in one Friends church) to learn tie-dyeing of fabrics, which are then sold to raise more money for the program, and a women's project weaving straw mats, which are then purchased by Christian Aid and provided to the IDPs. Some of the money goes back to the program to sustain it and some goes to the women. Friends run a 50-bed hospital and outpatient services in the Gitega Province in the center of the country. The hospital, though terribly understaffed and equipped, provides services to hundreds each week, including all three ethnic groups in the area of Kibimba. On a visit to the Kibimba Hospital the sign-in book showed that 300 children had been seen that morning for either immunizations or malaria treatment. The one doctor has since left and no replacement has been found. The dedicated male and female nursing staff provide a kind of care that has drawn patients from many kilometers away.
   A Friends National Peace Committee was established, and peace committees have been established in many communities among Friends. Friends' schools have reopened and new ones established. Peace education with involvement of the parents has been heavily stressed. A small orphanage is provided for some of the many children orphaned by AIDS, malaria or other illness, or the war. Services are given by church members to youth and women's groups. Adult literacy programs, agriculture training, and scholarships for Friends schools have been provided to Batwa (Pigmy), the third ethnic group, who are at the bottom of the economic ladder and have suffered greatly during the war as their former forested areas have been destroyed.
   The Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Service was at first staffed by two internationals, Carolyn Keys and Brad Allen, a Christian Reformed Church member from Michigan, with two Burundi, Charles Berahino and Adrien Niyongabo. The team is assisted by a part-time coordinator and liaison with the Burundi YM, Cassilde Ntamamiro, who is a nurse and student at the Great Lakes School of Theology. The Service has provided seminars on trauma for teachers in Friends schools and workshops for 495 Friends church leaders in trauma, stress-coping skills, grief and loss, and in listening and other basic counseling skills.
   The team members attended the Central and Southern African YM in Modderpoort, South Africa, and studied at the Quaker Peace Center in Cape Town for three months. The team also participated in training in restorative justice, mediation, healing of memories, empowerment, and diversity issues. They attended three international conferences: Genocide: A Rwanda and South African Dialogue; the World Court for Women Against War, for Peace; and Post War Reconstruction: Trauma and Crime Prevention. They visited and met with staff from trauma centers, a rape crisis center, the Refugee Forum, the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, and the Center for Conflict Resolution.
   I wish to express my thanks to NYYM. Donations from Friends and the Montclair Monthly Meeting made possible the purchase of a laptop computer and portable printer. The monthly cost of Internet connections are partly covered by the Witness Coordinating Committee through the Witness Activity Fund. Much encouragement and support have come from holding my work in the Light, particularly the prayers by Montclair Friends daily at 11 A.M. Art supplies sent by First Day children have been useful in the art experiences with children and adults in Burundi. Knowing about the lemonade sale by the children of Sidney Young to raise money for Burundi has been a joy. The small knitted teddy bears dressed so delightfully have brought much delight in an area where most children have never even seen a toy (except those wonderful cars they make from wire and paper and the balls from straw twine around crunched-up paper or plastic bags).
   For further information contact Rosa Packard, the NYYM representative to the Friends Peace Teams, or David Zarembka, coordinator of the African Great Lakes Initiative of FPTI. Communication can be directed to Carolyn or to Eglise Evangelique des Amis du Burundi, B.P. 1198, Bujumbura, Burundi, Africa.

Carolyn Keys, Montclair Meeting

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Native American Guests at Silver Bay
for Land Claims Spiritual Study Group

 We were fortunate to have four Native American guests with us at Yearly Meeting Sessions, 2001. They were Darren Bonaparte, Mohawk, elected chief at Akwesasne (Canadian side); Wendy Gonyea, Onondaga, who works at the Onondaga Nation Communications office and is a language teacher; Sharon LeRoy, Cayuga, office secretary at the Cayuga Nation office; and Christine Abrams, Tonowanda Seneca, staff at Haudenosaunee Runner and specialist in grave repatriation.
   There were around 30 interested participants in our Land Claims Spiritual Study Group each of the three days.
   Darren Bonaparte discussed a good deal of the history of land claims, pointing out how fake treaties were signed long ago giving away large amounts of Mohawk lands in what is now New York. He believes that the money from casinos robs one of one's spirit. Barnhart Island is documented as belonging to Native Americans, who would like it back or else to reach a settlement that would give them new land that is unpolluted. Even the turtles there, which are sacred and represent nature and Mother Earth, are dying. They are looking for agricultural land.
   Christine Abrams said they have kept their traditional government. Through the treaties they have put in a claim for Grand Island. They feel they cannot give up their land. You cannot sell Mother Earth. Negotiations are necessary. They prefer land to money. They are worried about the Upstate Citizens for Equality UCE, who distrust Indian sovereignty.
   Sharon LeRoy says the Cayugas have no land of their own at all. They either live with other nations on reservations or those that live off the reservations already pay taxes like everyone. (Note: Many religious groups are off the tax rolls.) Judge McCurn is working on their claim. They are waiting for a monetary settlement. They feel they have to buy land and will certainly not evict anyone. The SHARE farm is a 70-acre organic farm in the 64,000-acre Cayuga land claim.
   Wendy Gonyea said they have not filed a land claim yet. They are trying to search for peaceful negotiations. Eventually they intend to claim the entire city of Syracuse, including Onondaga Lake, which after 200 years of non-Indian possession is possibly the most polluted lake in the U.S. In Syracuse NOON (Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation) get together at school or the lake.
   Native spiritual relations to the lands in question include the fact that the hills and land are "part of us." Ceremonies are never filmed because they are sacred. They feel great ties to the lands of their ancestors. Someone asked, "Are Quakers willing to let place dictate their religion?"
   What can we as Friends do? Judges read newspapers. Write letters to the editor, especially the Auburn and Syracuse papers, and Buffalo Evening News. Write the governor to honor the treaties. Write the president. Write the attorney general or one of his deputies. There is a Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Which committees have influence on the environment? The Department of Justice?
   The UCE did not want land taken off the tax rolls. The county is responsible to bear the burden. The UCE talks about "creating a rez," but rez means "held back."

Sybil Perry, coclerk
Indian Affairs Committee

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Deep Roots Gatherings

 Last year at Friends General Conference, attenders interested in Indian affairs felt a need for a wider fellowship, support, and sharing on related topics. This was the origin of Deep Roots, a consortium of Indian Affairs Committees from Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and New England Yearly Meetings. Gatherings have been held at several times spaced throughout the year, featuring different topics. The plan is for the various Yearly Meetings to take turns hosting the gatherings.
   The Indian Affairs Committee has been actively participating in these gatherings from the beginning, sending at least one representative each time. Mac Larsen from Ithaca Meeting and Phil Hearndon from Syracuse Meeting presented at last spring's gathering, in Burlington, N.J., on the topic of land claims. The most recent gathering was held in Washington, D.C.
   On the weekend of May 3-5, 2002, it will be New York Yearly Meeting's turn to host the Deep Roots gathering. It will be held at Mount Manresa Retreat House on Staten Island. The topic for the weekend will be Indian Culture in the Urban Setting, and will feature an original film documentary by Leota Lone Dog, who will be on hand to present her film. In addition, we will have other representatives from the American Indian Community House in Manhattan to expand on the topic. We invite all interested to attend. More information will be forthcoming, or you can contact Susan Wolf.

Susan Wolf, coclerk
Indian Affairs Committee

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The Testimony of Simplicity (Part One)

 Simplicity, and sharing, are often equated with a degree of asceticism. All major religious traditions, including ours, teach that a preoccupation with the material and social aspects of life will detract from our spiritual growth. Still, asceticism has not been particularly appealing to the majority of people in any age, and in ours, it is thoroughly countercultural. We might, out of compassion, decide to live more simply and in this way to free our wealth to be shared with those "less fortunate" than ourselves. However, our present American culture absolutely denies that there could be anything positive about simplicity for its own sake or for the sake of spiritual growth. Our contacts with poor people in the Third World has led some Friends to believe that there could be ways in which those "less fortunate" people are actually better off than we are.
   For this article, several members of the Right Sharing of World Resources Committee agreed to share their thoughts on simplicity. In the following, contributions from people on the Right Sharing e-mail list are woven together in what we hope is an interesting conversation. Simplicity and Right Sharing
   The mission statement of Right Sharing of World Resources, Inc. is: "God calls us to the right sharing of world resources, from the burdens of materialism and poverty into the abundance of God's love, to work for equity through partnership with our sisters and brothers throughout the world." Most of us, when we think of Right Sharing, think of the development projects it supports. We find it very satisfying to be able to help some of the poorest people in the world release themselves from the burdens of poverty. However, our project partners also challenge us to release ourselves from the burdens of materialism. Several of the members of NYYM's Committee on Right Sharing of World Resources wrote about their efforts to free themselves from those burdens. All have struggled with the concept of simplicity, which is, after all, one of our Quaker testimonies. But what does it mean, in this day and age?
   Newton Garver wrote about the Gandhian illusion: "It was said of Gandhi that the steps upon which he insisted for simplifying his life and his diet led to frequent complications and extra effort. A kind of simplification I attempt is living off the land where I live, rather than from supermarkets and other large corporations. Part of this works well, such as gathering 20 or 30 varieties of mushrooms when (and if) they appear. If one disregards the time it takes to learn to distinguish different varieties, this activity is simple, efficient, and agreeable. Much the same can be said for many other wild edible foods. The wild nuts, however, belong in a different category, for hickory nuts and black walnuts require much time and effort to extract the meat from the shell. And when it comes to firewood, the collection of equipment as well as time and effort required to replace a bit of gas or oil makes this sort of rural life seem remote from true simplicity."
   Sue Tannehill responded: "I do think that one often needs to separate simplicity from time."
   For Gandhi, many things that he did took more time. You, in going out and picking and eating mushrooms, may actually take up more time than you would if you stopped at the local supermarket on your way home to pick up some Portobelos.
   "For me, hanging out the wash whenever I can takes much more time than throwing the wash from the washer to the dryer (which stands next to the washer, ever ready to devour clothes and natural gas). However, in terms of simplicity, I use less fossil fuel, spend some welcome time outdoors, use a Shaker invention (clothespins!), and can hang the clothes in such a way as to make it easy to sort and fold them by family members. Often the things which are simplest DO take more time, but that doesn't lessen their simplicity. When I spend time singing with my kids and playing the guitar, that takes up a lot more time than simply putting on a video or a tape cassette for them, but the trade-off in terms of valuing them and valuing human relationships over relationships with things is well worth it."
   Bowen Alpern laments: "Between work and family and meeting (and a very small handful of other, much more minor, distractions) it is hard for me to discern any real simplicity in my life. The plain truth is I spend an unconscionable fraction of my time and the planet's unrenewable resources in automobiles. My life is inexorably enmeshed in an economic system that chews up human beings and spits out the rinds. It seems I am always rushing (usually driving) from one thing to the next. What possible simplicity could there be in such a life?
   "Any apparent simplicity feels pretty hollow. The TV sets in my house have neither antenna nor cable, yet my children watch untold hours of trash video (and I avoid TV like a recovering alcoholic avoids rum). I dye my own socks, but wouldn't it be simpler (certainly plainer) to leave them undyed? So far, I own neither CD player nor digital camera, but for how long?"
   In her address to Yearly Meeting in 2000, Cheshire Frager defined simplicity as not allowing anything to come between us and God. If we think in these terms, instead of what Bob Bogen calls "the simplicity of Neo-Luddism," we may find our way in spite of what Richard J. Foster calls "the complexity of simplicity" in his book Freedom of Simplicity (Harper & Row). It will not be easy.

Mary Eagleson, clerk
Right Sharing of World Resources Committee
     
Part two of The Testimony of Simplicity will appear in the March issue of Spark

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Black Concerns

 As Spark goes to press the NYYM Black Concerns Committee is preparing for a working retreat to be held at Plainfield Meeting on Martin Luther King Day. We will reflect on our work in 2001 and try to be open to the Spirit leading us as we move forward with our work in 2002.
   We sponsored a Quakers & Racial Justice Weekend at Pendle Hill October 12-14, 2001. We thought that because of 9/11 attendance would be poor. To our surprise more than 50 Friends from a variety of yearly meetings attended. It seemed that the events of 9/11 made Friends even more determined to come together and work towards ending the violence of racism. As a follow-up Friends developed an anti-racism resource packet. The packet includes an annotated listing of books, videos, and Internet resources on African-American history, White privilege, and Quakers. There is also a listing of anti-racism workshops. We are considering planning another Pendle Hill Weekend for fall 2002.
   The Black Concerns Committee continues outreach to quarterly and monthly meetings. We gave a presentation at Poplar Ridge Meeting in the Farmington-Scipio Region on the World Conference Against Racism. The Reparations Study Group is developing a presentation for quarterly meetings, and we gave our pilot presentation to Long Island Quarterly Meeting Friends. They were very helpful and gave us some wonderful suggestions, which we plan to incorporate. We hope that other quarterly meetings send us invitations.

Helen Garay Toppins, clerk
Black Concerns Committee

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www.quakerresponse.org

 On September 20, representatives of QUNO, AFSC, and the Yearly Meeting, met in NYC to discuss a joint response to the events of September 11 and their aftermath. Over 20 people attended the meeting, including the clerks of several NYYM committees and the Yearly Meeting clerk.
   Helen Toppins, administrative secretary, reported that since September 11 the YM office had been flooded with calls from people looking to Quakers for worship and other ways to respond to September 11. Representatives of the three Quaker organizations agreed to set up a joint Web site with information to assist these seekers. A working group of Anne Wright from AFSC, Paul Busby of the NYYM office, and Jane Berger of the Advancement Committee was established to develop the site.
   The outcome of this effort, www.quakerresponse.org, is up and running. The site contains statements of Quaker organizations and a set of links to sources of help in the ongoing crisis, to conscientious objector sites, to information about Muslims and Muslim countries, and to Quaker materials on peace building. A section on youth and students includes resources for religious education. Another section lists Quaker events.
   Quakerresponse.org also lets visitors know where they can find a Quaker meeting for worship.
   Quakerresponse.org is still being enhanced. As the war on terrorism here and abroad continues, new information will be added.
   The working group has a request for Friends. If you know of a teach-in, a special worship service, or other peace-related event involving Quakers in your area, please let Paul Busby, the "Web weaver," know (paul@nyym.org) so he can post it.
   Quakerresponse.org is not only a source of information for Friends, but also an outreach tool. If an acquaintance or a seeker asks you about Quakers and September 11, the spiritual basis of the peace testimony, or conscientious objection, you might want to refer them to the site. Meetings can also include the web address in publicity, for example a flyer for a vigil or a letter to the editor.

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Experience of 9/11 from the QUNO

 There is no one "experience" of 9/11 that can adequately capture the sense of surprise, invasion, and vulnerability touched in all of us. Perhaps we were naive in believing we could forever dodge the bullet of "terrorism"— no stranger to the rest of the world. Indeed, in the moment, most of us forgot that the next worst disaster in the US —Oklahoma City—was homegrown, a product of our own American fanaticism and estrangement from society.
  • Through the media lens: In the days immediately following 9/11, most Americans asked "Why us? Why do they hate us?" A question arising for most out of honest bewilderment. For a decade all the major network managers discouraged international news, with only one network having an anchor with any real foreign journalistic experience. The result: a US public ignorant of the world in which they lived and ready to be led around by the nose by an administration controlling the news output and a compliant media anxious for ratings. "A zillion channels to tune out the world."
  • Through the lens of public opinion: The September/October issue of Foreign Policy had an article entitled "What do Americans Really Want: A Virtual Interview" by Steven Kull. Kull argues that the "average American" defies simple labels, largely because they refuse to submit to simplistic choices. Concern for problems at home did not diminish their sense that "withdrawal" from the world was possible or desirable. They were reluctant to cast the US in the role of "world leader" or "world policeman." They like the UN, though not perfect, and think the US government is probably even more wasteful and inefficient. Did that all change on 9/11? Probably not, but in the short run the combination of a wish for unity in the face of adversity, a White House propaganda machine emphasizing either/or choices in the fight against "evil," and media that have virtually buckled under the label of an "America United," have created a false sense of unanimity for administration policies that cannot last.
  • Through the lens of the White House: Bush said in his speech before Congress that his "War on Terrorism" would be a new kind of war like no other and lengthy in duration. Perhaps Bush, the Pentagon, and we ourselves were caught equally flatfooted by the speed with which the combination of bombing and special forces on the ground seemingly succeeded in routing the Taliban from Kabul and power. Old Afghanistan hands were less surprised, as much of their history has been one of transfers of power by "arrangements" rather than fighting. It's the Afghan way. Cokie Roberts on NPR expressed the behind the scenes disquiet in high places these days that while the Taliban, and by extension, al Qaeda, have been routed, they may simply have withdrawn to regroup and fight another day when the odds are more favorable.
  • Through the lens of shortsightedness: While the White House sought to project a sense it had a plan to pursue the perpetrators of the WTC attacks, there is much evidence behind the scenes that its first moves were taken in panic and that each step was taken in isolation from the next with little consideration of consequences in the short or the long run. To some extent this is understandable given our unpreparedness and the colossal intelligence blunders that preceded 9/11. But in a larger sense, it is a reflection and product of the lack of a coherent post-cold war foreign policy throughout the Bush/Clinton years: our collective failure to give shape to a new worldview that was inclusive of others in its scope and multilateral in its methods.
  • Through the lens of U.S. history: The price of unenlightened self-interest and expediency, historically, is that we later repeat the same behaviors that contributed to the crisis at hand — with the same or similar results. This is classically illustrated in US policy toward Afghanistan during the cold war, when the CIA recruited, trained, armed, and funded "mujahadin" fighters against the Soviet takeover of that country (including building the very fortified tunnels we are now destroying). The idea that shortsighted actions can have long-term unanticipated consequences is called "blowback," a CIA term for missions gone horribly awry. Another current example of blowback comes in the revelation that the anthrax linked to the recent deaths here in the US appears to be a strain initially developed by the US military during the cold war and shared with some allies.
  • Through the lens of the majority world: Not unlike the reaction to the verdict of the O. J. Simpson trial, one has only to travel abroad, as we did last weekend, to realize how profoundly different the rest of the world sees the U.S. and this conflict. For us it is "good guys and bad guys," while for most abroad, and certainly in the region of conflict, it is more like the Hatfields and McCoys. For much of the world the issue is not isolationism vs. internationalism, but rather multilateralism vs. unilateralism. After 9/11 and Bush's early caution, many hoped the US would see "light" and back-off its near universal hostility to multilateral concerns and negotiations. That has not happened; indeed the administration seems inclined even more than before to a modified "Fortress America" approach to world affairs.

US Focused Actions Recommended:

  • Encourage everyone you know to expand their information to include foreign sources on a regular basis. Read foreign papers, watch foreign TV news (BBC, ITN), use the Web to get Arab, Muslim, and other views: The Guardian, www.guardian.co.uk; The Financial Times, www.ft.com; The BBC, www.bbc.uk; Boston public radio station, www.wbur.org; Al-Ahram, www.ahram.org.eg/weekly; The Toronto Globe and Mail, www.globeandmail.ca.
  • Do everything FCNL asks you to do . . . and more! Congress is cowed, beaten, and with few exceptions have checked their backbones in the cloakroom. They need to hear from all of us --that is each one of us--YOU!--that current policies do nor represent us. Go to the FCNL Web site at www.fcnl.org for everything you need to know to make your voice heard.
  • Initiate dialogues in your communities to educate about U.S. policy, past and present, where people can feel safe raising questions and criticisms. Invite media and policymakers to join the conversations.

Jack Patterson, QUNO

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Visit us at www.quno.org

 The Quaker United Nations Office in New York has a newly desigtned Web site at www.quno.org. Visitors now have full access to QUNO New York's past and current publications. Also online are program updates, information on the International Summer Program, annual program assistant positions, and links to UN sites and other NGOs and Quaker agencies. In addition the site allows direct access to our sister office, QUNO Geneva.

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Study/Interest Groups

 Individuals and committees wishing to offer Interest Groups or Study Groups during YM Sessions 2002 must have their proposals completed and submitted to the clerks of the four coordinating committees or the YM office no later than February 22, 2002.
   The Sessions Committee has been encouraged to offer Interest/Study Groups during the 2002 YM Sessions. They will be offered in the afternoons to enable more YM attenders (JYM staff and Young Friends) to participate. The May Spark will include a listing and brief descriptions of the offerings so that F/friends may register for individual Study Groups or several Interest Groups when they complete their Yearly Meeting registrations.
   An Interest Group is a single educational opportunity to inform attenders about a topic or activity of importance to Friends. The time allotted is approximately one hour.
   A Study Group is an opportunity for corporate worship and exploration for spiritual growth. The time allotted will be a total of 5-6 hours spaced over a 3-4 days.
   What is the application process?
  1. Write a description, of any length, about the topic you wish to offer identifying whether you wish to offer an interest group or a study group. Anticipate that F/friends from age 10 years through adult will be encouraged to participate and plan accordingly.
  2. Provide an outline or lesson plan.
  3. Indicate if there is a maximum number of attenders.
  4. Name the facilitator(s) and contact persons who will be working with you.
  5. Write an additional 50 word description of the program suitable for reprinting in Spark. Do not exceed 50 words.
  6. Forward the proposal to the appropriate coordinating committee or K. Lawson no later than 2/22/02.
  7. If your proposal has been accepted you will be notified by the coordinating committee in April 2002.
  8. If you have any questions contact: Kathleen Lawson.

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Outreach a Moral Responsibility

 Friends have a "moral responsibility to share information about Quakerism with the public," according to Peggy Morscheck, director of the Philadelphia-based Quaker Information Center (QIC). "We reject proselytizing, with its suggestion that one religion is better than another." Instead, the Quaker message can be: "This is what we are; it has worked well for us; it might be helpful to you." Peggy presented her approach to Quaker outreach as facilitator of a September 14-16 Powell House weekend, Be Patterns, Be Examples - and Publicize as Well, cosponsored by the NYYM and FGC Advancement Committees.
   The spiritual and philosophical underpinnings of advancement work include the famous passage from Matthew 5, "Let your light so shine among people, that they may see your good works and give glory to God who is in heaven." Exhorting Friends in the ministry to spread the truth abroad, George Fox counseled: "Spare not the tongue nor pen." Peggy reminded Friends: "We are inheritors of a controversial movement, one that was vigorously pursued. God is not tame. Quakerism is not a tame animal."
   Motivation for advancement work is twofold. Clearly Friends want their meetings to remain viable; a critical mass of people is essential to allow us to work more effectively and pass our faith along. But moral obligation enters in as well. Love for the stranger should motivate us to share the riches of our faith.
   Quaker outreach takes place at several levels. At the yearly meeting level the message is: "Here we are; this is how you find us." "Yearly meetings have to help with outreach," insisted Peggy. "Resources need to be centrally available." She would also like to see quarters receive outreach assistance. At the local meeting level, the message should be: "We are living out our beliefs; come join us." At the individual level, a person modeling his or her faith can become a walking advertisement for Quakerism.
Visibility. Seekers usually look first to the phone book in their effort to find a Quaker meeting. If your meeting is listed in the white pages under its proper name, seekers, who will not necessarily know the name, are not likely to find it. Instead, try listing your number under Quaker Meeting, followed by the proper name. In the yellow pages, meetings should be listed under "Churches-Quaker"; seekers do not often look under "Friends." The Internet is also becoming an important resource for seekers. Friends need to take care that their meeting is represented there accurately and effectively.
Welcoming. Welcome visitors enthusiastically and spontaneously. Some meetings set up a table where visitors may come with questions. Assigning a single individual to talk to visitors and answer their questions works well in smaller meetings. Visitors often appreciate being invited to an upcoming meeting event. The need to be welcoming continues each time a newcomer returns.
Accessibility. Friends need to make it easy for visitors to learn what we are about. A literature rack with short, accessible pamphlets is an essential outreach tool. Newcomers also appreciate being handed a packet of information about Quakers. In conversation and writing, Friends should be aware that use of historic Quaker terms can be off-putting to visitors. The phrase monthly meeting, for example, is confusing to non-Friends. Because of the association in many people's minds of the word overseers with slavery, one thoughtful meeting changed the title of its Overseers Committee to Care and Nurture.
Nurture and Inspiration. A meeting is more likely to be successful in retaining visitors if it is Spirit filled. Seasoned Friends need to provide models of vocal ministry for newcomers. Friends must also offer training for newcomers, whether in the form of a full course in Quakerism 101 or single sessions designed to help newcomers understand silent worship or other basic aspects of Quaker practice.
Additional suggestions for nurturing newcomers. Organize dinners at private homes for everyone in the meeting, drawing names randomly to ensure that new attenders will be well mixed in with members; encourage young families to share a potluck supper together monthly in each other's homes; post photos of meeting members and attenders on a bulletin board to help everyone learn names; cooperate with other meetings in the quarter to help produce the critical mass of people necessary to making a program, event, or committee successful; pair each teen with someone in the meeting (not their parent) to work on a service project, again mixing new attenders in with old hands; provide mentors; invite isolated Friends to Quarterly Meeting or some other gathering. By investing time and energy in new attenders, meetings strengthen themselves.
   There was general agreement that children are also a key element in advancement. Adults often visit a Quaker meeting for the first time when their children are small. A meeting with a religious-education program in place, whether or not there are children, will be ready when new families arrive.

Quaker Information Center
In addition to answering questions and distributing Quaker literature, the QIC directs callers to Web sites of Quaker organizations. The QIC is a cooperative project of American Friends Service Committee, Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Friends Council on Education, Friends General Conference, Friends Journal, Friends World Committee for Consultation (Section of the Americas), Pendle Hill, and PYM.

Jane Berger, clerk
Advancement Committee

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Design by Melanie-Claire Mallison

Looking Back at 2001

The World Had a Conversation about Race

 The whole world was talking about racism and intolerance at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) August 27 to September 7, 2001, in Durban, South Africa, This was a fitting venue for a global discussion of new and effective approaches to combating racism. The objectives of the conference included: reviewing progress made against racism and examining the obstacles to further progress and ways to overcome them; increasing the level of awareness about the scourges of intolerance; reviewing the political, historical, economic, social, cultural, and other factors leading to intolerance; and formulating concrete and action-oriented recommendations for national, regional, and international measures to combat all forms of racism.
   The WCAR was not only an important global event; it also motivated a critical process through which a global consensus can be built for effective approaches to eliminating racism. The WCAR provided an opportunity for the UN to define what racism means in the 21st century and new strategies to confront it.
   Participation by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) was critical to the success of the conference. NGOs' experience and expertise was important to: identify contemporary problems of racism; develop, implement, and monitor effective strategies and plans of action to combat racism and intolerance around the world; and articulate principles and standards to be affirmed in the final WCAR documents.
   The WCAR is part of an international process that civil rights and social-justice organizations can contribute to and benefit from in a number of ways. U.S. groups can contribute their expertise in such areas as civil rights advocacy and litigation; they can also bring international attention to problems we continue to face from hate crimes, racial bias in the criminal-justice system, and de facto segregation in public education and residential patterns, to environmental racism and xenophobia.
   The U.S. government's record on racism was held up to scrutiny, and U.S. policies on affirmative action, reparations, and hate speech were examined. Participating groups were able to monitor the commitments the U.S. government makes in international forums. They were able to form international, regional, and national networks with other groups involved in the fight against racism. The U.S. government attempted to downplay or ignore some "sensitive" topics, but many NGOs sought to place all relevant issues on the WCAR agenda.
   U.S. groups were allied with others in pushing for affirmative action, reparations, environmental justice, and criminal-justice reform. These are international issues and national priorities for the marginalized and disfranchised in such places as Brazil, India, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Indigenous people in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand put forward claims to cultural and land rights. Racial minorities in this country joined those in Spain and Sri Lanka in demanding equal access to education and employment. Racist immigration policies in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Asia were challenged, as were institutional racism in corporate America and the global economy.
   In addition, "invisible" groups such as the descendants of African slaves in Latin America, the Roma (Gypsies) in central and eastern Europe, and the Dalits ("untouchables") in India, groups whose suffering has been largely ignored, had a forum at WCAR.
   The WCAR challenged us to be both inward- and outward-looking, to be candid about our problems, to be willing to learn from the experiences and practices of other countries, and to be proactive in developing and implementing plans while coming to terms with our history.
   The first theme of WCAR was "sources, causes and contemporary manifestations of racism." The legacy of slavery and colonialism must be addressed by the U.S. and the global community. The issue of unequal economic development and the impact of economic globalization was prominent in the WCAR, as were other hot-button issues as discrimination on the basis of skin color, criminalizing hate speech, and criminal-justice issues such as racial profiling, sentencing disparities, and police brutality.
   The WCAR's second theme was "victims of racism." This theme provided an opportunity to consider the racial dimensions of problems usually analyzed within other paradigms, for example, ethnic conflicts in Bosnia or Rwanda, denial of the rights of indigenous populations, and the unique experiences of women suffering discrimination based on gender and race.
   The third theme, "measures of prevention and protection against future acts of racism and racial discrimination," asked how we could engineer a society that does not generate the conditions that foster racism. An important part of this discussion was addressing inequalities in economic rights, an issue the U.S. government fails to acknowledge.
   The fourth theme was "remedies, recourse, and redress for racial discrimination," which included reparations and affirmative action. Importantly, both reparations as a form of redress for gross violations of human rights and affirmative action as a "special measure to secure the adequate advancement of certain disadvantaged groups" are recognized tenets of international human-rights law. The WCAR challenged the U.S. to face these issues head-on.
   Finally, the fifth theme was "strategies to achieve full and effective equality," including strengthening the capacity of international organizations such as the UN and the Organization of American States to play a more active role in eliminating racism worldwide. The U.S. government needs to examine its past and current level of compliance with international human-rights standards against racism. This government has ratified only four of the major international human-rights treaties: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the Convention against Torture; the Convention against Genocide; and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
   Unfortunately, when the U.S. ratified this last-mentioned convention, it attached a number of reservations, understandings, and declarations to the treaty, in an effort to limit the extent to which the treaty might expand rights under existing U.S. law and to foreclose access to U.S. courts to enforce those rights.
   If the U.S. is to make substantial contributions to the global campaign against racism, and to expand its own repertoire of effective strategies, it must fully engage in the support of the WCAR. If the WCAR is taken seriously and pursued with commitment and a willingness to tackle important, if controversial issues, it can add new momentum to the movement for racial justice and equality throughout the world.

Ernestine Buscemi, Morningside

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Eldering and Ministry

 A deeply gathered group met for a conference at Powell House August 21 through 23, 2001. Friends discussed receiving eldering and ministry, administering it, and seeking its source and its recognition.
   Anne Thomas led the first session, an overview of the roots of eldering in the history of the Society. Early Quakers named elders, ministers, and overseers. The ministers' role contributed the charismatic teaching that attracted seekers, the overseers conducted the pastoral care necessary to meet the needs of the times, and the elders provided nurturing authority and stable leadership. These roles operated to focus Light-centered leadings.
   Nancy Middleton then led us in worship sharing and summed it up when she pointed out the deepest common connection that Friends shared. That connection is the pervading Truth that touches us all in our divine diversity. Although eldering, ministry, oversight, and counsel were essential elements to our Society, it seemed that those were not static talents but contributed spontaneously and sometimes from unexpected sources. In this session "being called out" for this kind of service seemed to indicate a talent and not a practiced or achieved skill measured by the length of time as a Quaker. Friends mentioned being "youngered" as well as "eldered" We have come to believe that what is required for us is now provided spontaneously without regard to the messenger. What remains is the question of how openly we listen. While we are democratic in attitude and nature, our society is not a democracy. Leadership and authority are absolutely necessary.
   Our sessions included hypothetical situations drawn from actual history. Some groups had no problem in realizing what was right and wrong, but struggled painfully to arrive at decisions for concrete action. Another fact that surfaced was that in every case where eldering was in order, it was essential that the community realize its own part in the problem and see every call to action as a blessing. We were also reminded that when Friends are selected to do service, their commitment should not be based on their own subjective evaluation of their skills and abilities. Growth comes with enough humility to realize that success cannot be guaranteed by our own unaided willpower. Progress requires assistance from the Divine an inner Resource available by request and focus.
   We concluded the retreat with readings from the privately published journals of an early American Friend by the name of Cadbury. She recorded the structure of meeting by seating placements determined by style of bonnet. Severely plain bonnets, "sugar-scooped" and the like, were worn in the front rows by the more weighty and serious members. While the more colorful, ornate, and ribboned bonnets seated themselves in the pews farther from the center, so as not to distract the worship from inward focus.
   After silent worship including vocal ministry, after our clasped-hands relaxed, we stood in the circle somewhat awed. It seemed difficult to depart from the profound depth we corporately experienced.
   Powell House continues to provide its serene setting along with delicious nourishment and just enough reminders of the old ways to center down amid the media-saturated and technologically frenzied world of today.

Edd Fenner, Fifteenth Street

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Earlham School of Religion
ESR Access: Long Distance Learning

 Earlham School of Religion successfully launched its new long distance learning program, ESR Access, this August. Applications for admission to the courses described below should be received ASAP! 1. Work of the Pastor I will be offered on-line in the Spring semester. Spring semester begins late January.
   This course emphasizes the personal side of pastoring. Topics will include maintaining one's spiritual focus, the pastor's family, building relationships within a congregation, and identifying one's philosophy of ministry. While designed for new pastors or those planning on becoming pastors, this course will also be helpful to students who have been working in congregations for some time.
   If you have a computer and Internet connection at home, this course will bring ESR to you how's that for service?!
   Persons not interested in pastoral studies but who are interested in a full semester research project may enroll in ESR's Peace Research Seminar. These persons will participate with the residential community through such media as conference calls and electronic discussions.
2. Finally, May 13-24, 2002 will offer Emergency Pastoral Care in Richmond, IN. This course does require a two-week stint in Richmond, but will be well worth the trip for those who find themselves called upon to be God's servants in times of crisis.
   This course examines common life events and precipitating factors that lead persons and families into crisis. Guidelines for identifying signs, causes, and stages of crisis and offering pastoral care to such persons are explored. Natural disasters, self-care, referral, and helpful responses of faith communities are also covered. Each student will choose one area in which to do further research.
   Each of these courses may be taken for 3 hours graduate credit. A limited number of persons may audit the class as well. Call Sue Axtell at (800) 432-1377 or visit esr.earlham.edu for more information.

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2002 FGC Gathering of Friends

Save the Date!
Nearly 350 years ago, George Fox had a vision of a great people to be gathered.This vision was the beginning of his ministry and the Society of Friends. Many people are still yearning for the peace and freedom found in God's love.We invite Friends near and far to come to the Gathering in 2002 to be held June 29-July 6 in Normal, Illinois, and experience a people gathered in the Divine embrace. Details will be in the March Spark.

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Powell House Ministry

 Part of the way Powell House is ministering to NYYM at this time is to offer weekends for healing of body, mind, and spirit. Linda Chidsey's weekend January 18-21, Extended Meeting for Worship, will allow the Spirit to respond to us corporately. There is also opportunity for Friends to have one-on-one time (spiritual reflection/direction). John Calvi's weekend in March, A Sense of Your Own Goodness, will help Friends work through the trauma of Sept. 11 and move into healing. It reaffirms the goodness of each person and validates wherever we happen to find ourselves on our spiritual journeys.
   Additionally, we have the Peace Labyrinth available 24 hours a day for Friends who wish to work with this spiritual tool. Arrangements can be made with Ann Davidson if Friends want to combine walking the labyrinth with spiritual reflection/conversation. Contact us at Elsie K. Powell House Inc., NYYM's Retreat and Conference Center; www.powellhouse.org; 518-794-8811, if you want more information.

Ann Davidson, Executive Director

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William Penn House

 William Penn House is a large four-storied row house in a historical residential section of Capitol Hill just five blocks from the nation's capitol. WPH offers programs for groups and hospitality for social/political activists. For a modest fee, visitors enjoy dormitory-style accommodation, a simple breakfast, morning meeting for worship, and the chance to meet Friends from around the country and around the world. Here's some WPH upcoming events:
   Quaker Educators Free Introductory weekend on MLK birthday weekend, January 18-21, 2002. Explore the potential of WPH for education and activism.
   Annual Quaker Youth Seminar on President's Day weekend , February 15-18, 2002, Equality testimony and community. Apply by 2/1/02.
   Internship opportunities, 9 or 12 months, for those with a Quaker background who would like to live in community and further Quaker values in the Capitol.
   Spring Lobbying Weekend for college students. Learn political activism with Friends Committee on National Legislation.
   For more information call 202-543-5560 or dirpennhouse@pennsnet.org.

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Notices

 NEW MEMBERS
Calvin, Jonah, Maya & Mark Alexander--Montclair
Sunday Blackmon--Albany
Alyce H. Brannum--Albany
Rebecca Boucher--Brooklyn
Nathaniel B. Chumley--15th Street
Isabella & Rebecca D'Esposito--Poughkeepsie
Terry Dix--Old Chatham
Emile Gay--Brooklyn
Joseph B. Garren--Brooklyn
Amrik & Baljeet Hira--Manhasset
Alice Houghtaling--Schenectady
Jan Jurchak--Old Chatham
Dan Michaud--Old Chatham
William A. Monteverdi Jr.--Rochester
Maria J. Moss--Rochester
Kyri Murdough--Ithaca
Leigh Strimbeck--Old Chatham
Charlotte Stimson--Fredonia
Susanna Thomas--Summit
Sallie Lynn Vandling--Rochester
Eli White--Purchase

TRANSFERS
Maureen Burns to Friendship Friends, Greensboro, NC from Brooklyn
Deborah Eisberg to Poughkeepsie from Brooklyn
Edith Rindon Holley to Dover (NH), from Brooklyn
Susan Slowinski to Putney (VT), from Alfred

MARRIAGES
Julianne Baker, member of Farmington, and Michael Milner, on August 18, 2001.
Wade Newton Black, member of Brooklyn, and Wendy Yee-Ling Wong, on September 1, 2001, under the care of Brooklyn.
Susan Bingham, member of Montclair, and Robert Widmer, on September 2, 2001, under the care of Montclair.
Elizabeth Carroll, member of Farmington, and Bill Campbell, on August 4, 2001.
Deborah Kirsch, member of Alfred, and J. Anthony Hilliard, on October 27, 2001, under the care of Alfred.
Alfred U'Ren-Cortez, member of Rochester, and Laura Flamand, on August 11, 2001, under the care of Rochester.

BIRTHS/ADOPTIONS
Lindsey Grace Voelker, June 2001, to Jordan Voelker, member of Farmington and Lorelei Voelker.

DEATHS
Al Kusler, member of Schenectady, November 2001
Leon A.J. Rushmore Jr. member of Westbury, on December 5, 2001
Edith N. DeMay, member of Farmington, on December 7, 2001
Alston Van Wagner, member of Bulls Head on December 15, 2001
Irene Van Wagner, member of Bulls Head on January 4, 2002

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