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Friends United Meeting |
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July 2002
News from Friends United Meeting
Look for New Press Titles at Your Yearly Meeting
Two new Friends United Press titles will be available at yearly meetings this summer: Notes from Ramallah, 1939, by Nancy Parker McDowell and Go Into All the World: A Centennial Celebration of Friends in East Africa, edited by Beatrice and Herbert Kimball.
In Notes from Ramallah, 1939, letters, journal entries and pen and ink sketches capture Nancy Parker McDowell's year as a teacher at the Friends Girls School in occupied Ramallah (they were British, not Israeli, forces in 1938-39). There is also high adventure on side trips to Bethlehem, Pyramid-climbing in Egypt and travel through Europe under the shadow of an impending World War II. This memoir offers a helpful perspective for understanding Palestine today.
Go Into All the World highlights100 years of Friends work in East Africa through a collection of articles from Quaker archives and current writing. Most apparent is the deep faith of East African Friends — as well as that of the Friends from around the world who spread the Christian gospel in East Africa through schools, hospitals and mission churches. The book includes more than 100 photos and appendices with a list of Friends United Meeting missionaries to Kenya 1902-2002, a map of Friends in East Africa and an index.
Both books are available at www.quakerhillbooks.org or by calling 800-537-8838.
Building at Friends Theological College
By Rich and Sandy Davis
As the new academic year of 2002-2003 opened, the women moved into the new Women's Dorm at Friends Theological College, Kenya (FTC).ÊDedication ceremonies reflected upon Psalm 127 as prayer was offered for the women now and in the future. The dorm can house 24 women, with currently 12 women in residence.Ê The front section is a bright sitting and study room. An area at the back has three showers, a washroom and two toilets. As the women arrived, there was a lot of excitement about their new home with the built-in closets and desks in each room.
The dorm sits next to the dining hall and is protected within the campus grounds, giving the women better access to the library and dining hall at night. Their former dorm is now home to a tutor whose family desperately needed more than four rooms for their family of seven.
A new men's dorm is being built to the left of the administration building. The construction crew has worked hard during the heavy rains to pour the foundation. The men brought in wheelbarrows loaded with stone to mix with cement on the ground in order to pour the floor. Then banana leaves covered the concrete to shield it from the onslaught of rain until it could harden. Next, a tractor came many times to bring rickety wagonloads of homemade bricks. More concrete was mixed for the mortar. At times, 40 men were mixing, carrying bricks, measuring, shoveling stones and laying the bricks.
This dorm will house about 40 men. The rooms will accommodate six men each and the design is patterned after the dorm at the Kaimosi Teachers' College down the road.
It is an exciting time at Friends Theological College. The women are very pleased with their new dorm and the men look forward to a new dorm with more room and indoor bathroom facilities.
Thank you for all you have done to provide money for this and other projects needed at FTC. We encourage you to continue so there will be enough funds to finish and furnish this dorm for the men who are studying as pastors and Christian leaders.
What's New at www.fum.org?
"What's New" — that's what's new. Enter the www.fum.org home page and click on the red "What's New" burst to find our latest information on the situation in Ramallah, reports on consultations hosted by North American Ministries, hot-off-the-Press books or work team opportunities. In mid-July, look for coverage of the Triennial in Nairobi. And, don't forget to check www.quakerhillbooks.org for new and classic Quaker books.
A Joy Working Under the Spirit of Our Living God
By Ron Bryan
On February 18-27, my wife, Joyce, and I had the privilege of leading a work team to Jamaica. During a sabbatical three years ago, we spent 18 days in Jamaica working primarily at Happy Grove High School. We returned with a desire to go back and once again work with and enjoy the hospitality of the Jamaican Friends.
Beginning last summer, with the encouragement, advice and expertise of Nancy Maeder and FUM, the team was assembled. Originally Joyce and I had a dream of returning to Happy Grove to bring sewing machines to the Home Economics Department. Events took a different path, but eventually culminated in an even bigger dream coming true. With Nancy's help at FUM, we made initial contacts and began making our plans.
Dwaine and Becky Williams visited LeGrand Meeting following Iowa Yearly Meeting sessions in August 2001. We felt strongly that the time had come to be obedient and follow our leading. Eventually, we settled on a different primary job, with a day trip planned to Happy Grove. Our purpose became to tear down and rebuild a chicken coop at the Lyndale Girl's School. This may seem silly to some, but to the staff and students at Lyndale, it was an important help for their daily source of food.
God began to assemble the group. Charlie Hourihan from Salem Meeting was the first to commit, then Keith and Nancy Smith from Motor Friends, and Jennifer Stamm from College Avenue Friends. Soon Malia Senio from West Branch Friends, and Jerry Phillips and Charlie Sanders from Grace Community in Mt. Pleasant joined. Finally, after the cut off date had passed, another person who had intended to make the trip cancelled due to a job conflict. But within 48 hours, Jackie Omahen of West Branch Meeting felt led to come along. With Joyce and myself, the team was completed.
We traveled to Montego Bay, then on to Port Maria, the location of our home-away-from-home — the Valentine Villa, high on a hill overlooking the Caribbean Sea. The accommodations were excellent and we were able to retain our own cook, purchase food locally and dine almost completely on Jamaican cuisine.
With the skillful supervision and coordination of Dwaine and Becky Williams our transportation was acquired and the projects begun. We tore down the existing chicken structure, where termites had taken their toll. Some men worked on the new building the second day while the women traveled to neighboring schools to help Becky with reading and tutoring. On the third day, we drove to Swift-Purcell Boy's School to begin other tasks. Some built a table in the library, others inventoried and catalogued the entire library resources and others put two coats of paint on the newly remodeled infirmary. Another project was building a dividing wall in the larger chicken house so they could begin having laying hens and also raising chicks to poults for their own meat use. (They then send young poults to Lyndale to be fed out at their facility.)
The team also offered computer and data entry classes for the staff. Finally, we returned to clean and restore the woodworking shop. After four days of what were uncommonly warm temperatures in February for Iowans, we were tired and ready for a couple of hours on a local beach. This was wonderful in addition to being beautiful.
On Wednesday evening, Dwaine asked our entire team to make the return trip (30 minutes one way) back to Swift-Purcell to help him conduct the mid-week service for the boys. Friday evening, four members of our team drove to Highgate Friends and helped lead the Young Friends Meeting that was blessed in attendance by 28 youth. On Sunday, we all visited Quaker Hill Meeting at Sandside for worship, where we were ministered to by the message from Mrs. Willits and agreed to sing a special song accompanied by Dwaine Williams.
Monday morning saw the entire team embarking on an entirely new adventure. We drove to Port Antonio, which was two hours away, to meet members of the staff from Happy Grove School to acquire the sewing machines. USFW women from Le Grand, Motor and West Branch sent funds for this ministry. We negotiated the purchase of five new Singer sewing machines — three for Happy Grove High School, one for Swift-Purcell and one for Lyndale, along with a large quantity of sewing supplies and extra machine parts. Then we traveled to Happy Grove School to make a simple presentation and visited Seaside Friends Meeting. It was wonderful to renew acquaintances from three years ago and see some of the improvements to the offices at the school and the remodeling in the church. It was a rewarding day for our team.
Once again, it has been a joy to work under the Spirit of our Living God to help our brothers and sisters from other countries. We all benefit by being obedient and willing to serve. There is always a question of who benefits the most from a workteam — those who receive our help or the team members who learn and grow in the Spirit.
The need for future teams remains strong. Joyce and I pray for many others to be led and willing to respond to these kinds of ministry opportunities. Truly God is to be praised, for the wonder and beauty of His creation.
Copyright (c) 2002 Friends United Meeting
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