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Friends United Meeting |
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Friends United Meeting News - March 2005
FUM Representative Named for Africa Ministries
IRS Levy on War Taxes Refused by FUM
2005 VBS Mission Project
Belize: A Young Man’s Story
Ramallah Students Attend Model U.N.
AFSC Sends Funds to Alleviate Famine in Turkana, Kenya
FUM Representative Named for Africa Ministries
By Colin South, Director of FUM Global Ministries
Following a rigorous and searching selection process, John Afanda Muhanji has been appointed to the post of FUM Representative (Africa Ministries) from February 1, 2005. John Muhanji is married to Rose Afanda and they have three children, Kevin, Audrey and Allan. John’s previous employment has been with the Central Bank of Kenya in Nairobi where he has been a valued manager in the Personnel Department. John is a member and church secretary of Friends International Centre, Ngong Road, Nairobi, a large, lively and still growing Friends Church. John has been commissioned as an evangelist following in his father’s footsteps.
John is an active member of Africa Quaker Vision (AQUAVIS), which among other things is the main agent for the work of the Right Sharing of World Resources in Kenya. John has been concerned to help support leadership training and renewal in the Friends Church, Kenya and has been instrumental in establishing the Kenyan Pastors Conference and Annual Retreat that brings together pastors from all over Kenya for spiritual nourishment and reflection. Rose works for United Bible Societies Africa Region based in Nairobi. FUM is delighted to have John on its staff in Kenya. John will work with Eden and James Grace in establishing the Africa Ministries Office in Kisumu. The office will help FUM’s Africa Yearly Meetings implement the four priorities for FUM’s work in Africa: evangelism, leadership training, global partnership and effective communication.
This is an opportunity John has been waiting for. He has known for some time that he would be called to full time Friends work and this, he hopes, will be the fulfillment of that vision. We thank God for him and his family. Please continue to pray for guidance and support for the work of the Africa Ministries office and John’s contribution to it.
IRS Levy on War Taxes Refused by FUM
On January 7, 2005, Friends United Meeting refused to honor an IRS Notice of Levy on Wages on FUM staff member, Ben Richmond, a long-time conscientious objector to the payment of military taxes.
The Friends United Meeting policy, approved in 1988, states if a “levy results from the employee’s conscientious objections to paying taxes for military purposes and if the employee requests FUM not to honor the levy, the General Secretary will inform IRS that, believing it wrong to force an employee to violate his or her conscience, FUM will not pay the levy.” In what Richmond called a “delicious twist,” he is acting as general secretary during Retha McCutchen’s sabbatical leave, and therefore signed the letter of non-compliance in his own case on behalf of the organization.
The IRS levy notice claims a total of $10,605.50 in unpaid taxes and “statutory additions” for three tax years. Richmond said, “Back in the 1973, I felt that God told me not to pay war taxes, and I’ve never heard God change his mind since. How can I pay others to fight on my behalf when Jesus so clearly commands his followers to show love to our enemies?” Richmond says he pays the percentage of taxes which the Friends Committee on National Legislation determines each year goes for non-military purposes. “I put the military portion into a Peace Tax Fund held by FUM, which has funded things like hospital beds in Kenya and a peace consultation sponsored by FUM.”
According to Richmond, IRS usually seizes the owed taxes from his personal bank account. He said, “The issue isn’t whether or not they get the money. This is my way of saying that it is against my will to participate in the cycle of violence.”
In addition to the policy of not honoring levies, Friends United Meeting also has a policy of not withholding the federal taxes of conscientious objectors who request this. The policy statement is available by request.
Friends United Meeting’s 2005 VBS Mission project will focus on equipment needs at Friends Boys School in Belize City, Belize.
The 2005 VBS curriculum will be mailed to meetings in late March. It includes five daily sessions with visuals and activity sheets for use in summer Vacation Bible School programs or anytime as a Quaker elective. Last year, contributions exceeded the $8,000 VBS Mission Project goal for the Kibera Friends School in Nairobi, Kenya.
Belize: A Young Man’s Story
by
Kathy A. Sawyer
As I stepped off the plane, I knew this was going to be a defi ning moment for me as the new Development Offi cer of Friends United Meeting. I was in Belize City to explore a fi eld site I heard much about but now was going to experience directly. I was going to hear the stories of these young boys, almost young men, who comprised the students at Friends Boys School, Belize. I was to be able to spend quality time with Mike and Kay Cain, co-Directors, and with Miss Candy and Mr. Augustine, the two teachers assisting with the work of the school.
The most surprising and revealing part of my visit was hearing the stories of these boys and of the lives they led which brought them to this school in the fi rst place. I would like to share all these stories with you so that you could understand the diffi culties they face, but I can’t reveal the intimate personal lives of individual students. In its place I have created a short generic story about Pépé that captures some of the stories of their collective lives.
Pépé has grown up in a family where no one has any formal work. He comes from a large family and has three other siblings, one just a baby, the others older. His Dad left them some time ago and in order for the family to generate income, Mom has become something of an entrepreneur. She sells confectionery on the street that she makes in her kitchen the night before. It is not very lucrative but it brings some money into the family. The children all leave early in the morning so that Mom can set up on the street early; the younger family members stay with Grandma while Mom works.
Pépé has not had it easy in school. He was bullied for a long time and his Mom was not able to solve the problem with the school. He was out of class too much as the teachers tried to fi nd something else for him to do to keep him out of harm’s way; there was also the diffi culty the school had in controlling the situation. The consequence was that Pépé became so disillusioned and unhappy with his circumstance that he dropped out.
However, following a visit from a truancy offi cer where Mom heard of this wonderful school called Friends Boys School, Pépé decided to give it a try. To his delight he was accepted! Because Friends Boys School is smaller, he can thrive more easily. Pépé says he has learned far more at Friends Boys School than he did at his other school.
He wants to be a lawyer, completing his college degree in Belize and getting his doctorate in Jamaica. Pépé has not taken his high school entrance test yet, but feels confi dent that with this new start he can make it.
This is a typical, but not actual story. I left Belize with these tales of poverty and distress in the young men’s environment and the hope that the School creates written deeply on my heart.
Ramallah Students Attend Model U.N.
John Hishmeh
Last year, Osama Sabbah and Rasha Ali, 12th grade students from the Ramallah Friends School, proposed to the school administration that they be sent to Amman, Jordan as school representatives at the yearly Model United Nations (MUN) conference. It was approved as a pilot project with the understanding that if the trip proved beneficial, the school would opt to participate each semester.
Osama and Rasha were the only students from Palestine at a conference of more than 300 students. Osama represented Australia in Economic and Social Council and Rasha represented the United Kingdom in General Assembly B.
Since the pilot project was deemed a success, the Ramallah Friends School principal has approved students to participate in both MUN conferences. Every semester a group from the school will attend a MUN conference either in Cairo or Amman. The Cairo MUN will be held next in April.
The conference models the actual United Nations very closely, with different general assemblies, an economic and social assembly, a Security Council and an International Court of Justice. In each, the students adopt a country to represent in their respective forums. They make speeches and debate resolutions on the topics designated for their particular assembly. The issues include discussions about underdeveloped countries, child labor, procedures for dealing with countries who violate POW rights, arms trade, oil crisis, international banking regulations, espionage, the AIDS epidemic, the Israeli security fence and much more.
Participants not only learned about the function and nature of the U.N., but also about the various world issues at hand. Students typically spend two months researching and preparing for the conference and need to know in detail every aspect of the country they represent.
AFSC Sends Funds to Alleviate Famine in Turkana, Kenya
The American Friends Service Committee announced December 13 that $5,000 is being sent to Kenya to alleviate suffering from a drought described as a national emergency by the government of Kenya. John Moru, pastor of the Turkana Friends Mission, traveled in the U.S. in November, telling Friends about the effect of the drought on the nomadic Turkanan people.
Ben Richmond, acting General Secretary of Friends United Meeting, described the grant as “a welcome Christmas present” for people “suffering in disastrous circumstances.” Ben Richmond initiated the request for funds after attending a conference in Nairobi this past August. In visits following the conference, he observed that Friends churches in the Nairobi area were giving to the point of sacrifice to help the drought victims in the Turkana region. Urged by African Friends, he requested assistance from AFSC upon his return.
Mary Ellen McNish, Executive Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, facilitated the emergency grant. The funds will be managed by Africa Quaker Vision (AQUAVIS), an agency based in Nairobi, Kenya, and will be disbursed by the Turkana Friends Mission and the Samburu Friends Mission. The Global Ministries department of FUM will oversee the funds through AQUAVIS, who will report on the disbursement at regular intervals.
“The purpose of the funds to be received from AFSC will be to help alleviate the worst effects of the drought in the Samburu and Turkana areas where people’s livestock has been dying and where people have few resources,” McNish said.