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March 2004
Growing Hope in Alabama
By Rebecca Godfrey
Eleven years ago, I left McIntosh, Alabama after teaching the MOWA Choctaw in the "Quaker School" (as the locals call it) and got on with my life. Yes, I left dear friends and students who still had much to learn, but I felt that five years given to God's service was doing pretty good. There would be others who would take my place. And there have been.
Except for an occasional newsletter from the Associated Friends Committee on Indian Affairs (AFCIA) and making sure our church had its annual Money Tree for the Indians, I lived the typical Ohio mother's life filled with work, church, soccer and so on, unaware of what was happening in southern Alabama.
However, that came to a halt for me because of a cloud of doom. Will the AFCIA have to close the doors to these Indian children of Sanktown because of a lack of funds? These children already have so many doors hidden from them because they come from a region most Americans ignore. My heart carries a heavy burden because a wonderful and mighty work has begun, but will we as Friends fumble and fail to complete the task given us by God? I have seen the need, and more importantly, I have seen the progress, but I am saddened beyond understanding by the possible future of Quakers in Sanktown.
When I arrived at the school in 1987, 16-year-old students could barely read. The following story of one family shows the progress.
One mother was encouraged to place her seven-year-old son who had never been to school in the "Quaker School" and he began to learn his letters and sounds. He didn't come to school regularly but came often enough to learn to read. He was in and out of the school many times over the years. He isn't what you would consider a great success story, but the story doesn't end there. This is what is so special about servicing educational and spiritual needs in a place like Sanktown. It isn't about helping one person, because this community is interwoven unlike any other community I know. People live in little clusters, often grouped together by the sisters of the family. The children grow up connected to a wider family, so touching the life of one means touching the life of many.
However, the second chapter of this story is more directly related because this young man had a daughter who was not seven when she first entered the Quaker School. Oh no, just as soon as she was old enough, she started school. And does she come to school now and then? Oh no, she is there unless she is too sick to attend. She is a beguiling little girl but does the story end with her? Oh, how I pray it doesn't, because while she is having a better chance than her father did, she still is a product of Sanktown. She most likely will continue the trend of girls in this area to have children very young without a husband and many more things will stand in her way. But she has it so much better than her dad did and if the school is there in 15 more years, her children will be able to go up one more step beyond her opportunities. That is why it is so important to continue our work in Alabama, Friends.
This second generation is going beyond what their parents did and their children need that same chance to continue to climb out of the hardship and despair of life in Sanktown.
While education is an important tool, it is just a tool. What Sanktown really needs is to be lifted spiritually out of the enemy's clutch. The combination of a quality education and the teachings of Christ is a must if Sanktown and its members of the MOWA Choctaw are to rise above their sad realities.
The field has been tilled, the harvest grows, but the workers at the Center need help to complete the harvest. Everywhere I went to visit in the community I was asked, "Are they going to take away the school?" This was asked with anxiety and fear. They want the school. They need the school. For more information, contact Keith Kendall, Clerk of ACFIA, at 1836 Gaar Road, Richmond, IN 47374, phone (765) 935-0801 or the author, Rebecca Godfrey at godfrey123@msn.com.
Rebecca Godfrey is a member of Chester Friends Church, Ohio.
Copyright (c) 2004 Friends United Meeting
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