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Friends United
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July/August 2008
Sacred Moments by Sylvia Graves, FUM General Secretary
Summer Mission Project: Pennies for Postage
Kenya Relief Update
Open Day at Belize Friends Boys School
Diary of Anne Frank Introduced to Ramallah Students
Peace Team Ministers to Receiving Communities in Kenya
Correction
Sacred
Moments
By Sylvia Graves, General Secretary
Prior to the 2002 FUM Triennial in Nairobi, 16 of us enjoyed a 10-day “Quaker safari,” during which we visited several FUM work sites, ate lunch at Edith Ratcliff’s home and toured some favorite animal parks. During the trip, we grew in our appreciation for the breadth and depth of knowledge of our four Kenyan tour guides. One evening, at our invitation, they sat with us to share their views on politics, education and the economics of Kenya. It was better than any public television program we had seen. Discovering our special interest in education, one of the guides, Peter, invited four of us to stay at his home overnight and visit his village school on our spare day after the Triennial sessions were over. He drove two hours to Nairobi to pick us up. On our way back to his home, we stopped and got out of the vehicle at a scenic overlook of the Naivasha landscape.
As Peter pointed out the wildlife refuge and other places we had been, we noticed a dejected little girl walking by. The following conversation, in their native language, was later relayed to us in English.
“Why aren’t you in school?” asked Peter.
“Because I have used up my writing tablet and I cannot do my work. So the teacher sent me home, for I don’t have the money to buy another one.”
“How much money do you need?” he asked.
“Ten shillings,” she answered. (That’s about 16 cents in the U.S.)
Peter returned to the car to rummage through some change in the ash tray. When he handed her the appropriate coin, her eyes immediately flashed with delight. She shouted, “Thank you much!” and took off sprinting back to her school. Peter said there probably wasn’t 10 shillings to be found in her home.
We had witnessed a glimpse of the value of education, the sense of privilege and the eagerness for learning that is pervasive among the Kenyan people. We had also witnessed how small a gift it takes to make a difference in someone’s life if they come from extreme poverty. Oh, for that sense of eagerness and appreciation for learning amongst our youngsters!
The next day we walked to Peter’s village school, which shared commonalities with most other primary schools in Kenya. There were about 350 students and only seven teachers in grades k–8. The second grade classroom had over 50 children in it, and three or four children sitting body-to-body on one bench at the same desk, but there was not even a rustle caused by silliness or mischief. There were no books or bulletin boards. Students copied all content from the chalkboard into their tablets, yet the curriculum looked familiar and age appropriate according to my education background. We learned that children are instructed in English, but they generally know two other languages: their ethnic language and Swahili, the universal Kenyan language. And can they ever sing!
I was eager to share this sacred moment with the American children I
know. We need to remind them to thank God for their privileges, to make
the best use of them and to do what we can to share with those in need.
Summer
Mission Project: Pennies for Postage
Break open your piggy banks, dig deep in your couch cushions, empty out your pockets and pick up those pennies on the sidewalk because we need your change!
FUM challenges you to help us raise $5,000 to send much-needed books and supplies to Kenya, Cuba, Jamaica, Belize and Ramallah. We already have the supplies (1,200 pounds worth!) but you’ve got our pennies for postage!
Our challenge to you is to collect as many pennies (dimes, dollars, any amount will do!) as you can over the summer. In Indiana there are already kids just like you collecting pennies to help people in Kenya — if they can do it, so can you! They collect their pennies in 2-liter bottles, but you can use any container you want. At the end of the summer, cash in coins at your local bank, send us a check for the amount you collected and we will send out our global supplies!
Get your friends together and collect those pennies — Pennies for Postage!
From December 2007 to June 9, 2008, $132,983.49 has been donated through Friends United Meeting to assist the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kenya who were forced out of their villages due to the violence from the presidential elections. Donations have provided food, blankets and other supplies to thousands of Kenyans.
Recently government officials have asked our Peace Team to prepare villages (receiving communities) to receive the IDPs back into their communities. This honor is a great recognition of the effectiveness of the Friends Church Peace Team (FCPT).
FCPT has visited the receiving communities and listened to the hurts and concerns of those within the village. They have done counseling and developed a plan to aid reconciliation between the tribes in the villages. Peace seminars, dialogue between the communities and their governments and Bible sessions and sports activities to foster goodwill will be planned, among other efforts.
The work will continue long into the future. Thank you for your continued support of the peace and reconciliation efforts of the Peace Team.
Read Kenya's post-election crisis and relief work stories.
Open
Day at Belize Friends Boys School
By Mike Cain
On Thursday, May 22, Belize Friends Boys School held our first open day. Open day is where the standard six (Belizian grade level) students from all the schools in the city are invited to visit Friends Boys School (FBS) and see what we have to offer students. We held opening ceremonies by presenting three of our students with scholarships to high school worth over $2,400. The scholarships were made possible by the folks at Friends Memorial Meeting in Muncie, Indiana. As long as these young men maintain good grades and attendance in high school, their scholarships will cover four years of schooling.
We had many prospective students visit, including many girls. Students came from all over the city, some out of curiosity, some just to get out of school, but many came to see what we were all about. Many were surprised at all we are doing and what our students know. We had several science projects set up for the visitors to try, and our students explained how they worked. Have you ever tried to blow up a balloon in a bottle? Not very easy unless you first put a hole in the bottom of the bottle. Once you get the balloon blown up, close the hole in the bottom of the bottle and the balloon will stay inflated. Or, did you ever wonder why a lime sinks in water and a lemon floats? These were just a couple of the experiments that the students tried. The computer lab was another big hit. We ran our middle school program which has lessons in science, language arts and math. One of the visiting teachers even asked if he could get a copy of the program!
A total of 258 students visited FBS. Of these, at least 40 were girls and 15 were teachers. Many of the teachers had thought that FBS was a school for troublemakers. They were surprised to see just what we are doing with the kids. They said they could not do so much. It’s too early to tell what effect our open day will have on our enrollment for this fall, but we are very much encouraged. There may also be enough girls interested to begin seriously considering the possibility of starting a program for them, too.
Diary
of Anne Frank Introduced to Ramallah Students
By Brian Phelps
I knew that reading the Diary of Anne Frank with Palestinian students would be interesting and difficult for both them and myself. While the story helps give a glimpse into the human condition and has applicable lessons no matter where it is read, the Diary of Anne Frank — its message, its plot and its characters — has a particular poignancy for Palestinian students. I asked my students to keep journals, not only to improve their writing skills, but also to help them process their feelings and thoughts while reading the story.
It was very difficult for many of my students to read Anne Frank — especially at the beginning of the story. They had a hard time differentiating between Jewish oppression in the 1940s and their current oppression under Israeli military occupation.
Nevertheless, many of my students empathized with Anne. They felt the expression of a shared human condition in her voice, and they came to appreciate her spirit. They admired and respected her optimism under such harsh and humiliating conditions. And many came to see Anne’s radiance as an inspiration. For a people who have been displaced, oppressed and who have lived under military occupation for over 40 years, Anne represented the possibility to remain optimistic and cheerful in a seemingly hopeless situation.
Few students in the United States would be able to fathom what it is like to have an armed soldier board their bus on the way back from a class trip. Few American students would be able to understand the feelings of having one’s dignity and land taken from them. And it would be difficult for American youth to comprehend what it is like to have their movement restricted under a military occupation. But this is the reality for our students here at the Ramallah Friends Schools.
However, instead of resigning to defeatism, our students exude the same resilience as Anne. They are intelligent, vibrant and optimistic. For many of them, the Diary of Anne Frank was a reminder of all that they can be, an affirmation that, despite all the atrocities happening in the world, a life driven by hope, morality and determination will provide more fulfillment than one of despair and fear.
Peace
Team Ministers to Receiving Communities in Kenya
By John Muhanji, FUM Africa Ministries Representative
Thank you for your prayers and encouragements. Today was a real test as we had our first meeting with the receiving community in Turbo. The meeting was crucial since the internally displaced persons (IDPs) are being forced to return to their homes. As a peace team from the Friends church, we felt that it was necessary to meet with the receiving communities first, before we could bring together both parties for reconciliation. No one has met with the receiving communities since the government ordered them to accept the IDPs back.
On May 15, I led a team of 15 members of the Friends Church Peace Team to Turbo for this meeting. We arrived at the venue on time and the meeting began with prayers. The members of the Kalenjin community came as chiefs, assistant chiefs, village elders, female leaders, elected councilors, pastors and other members of the community. It was hard to figure out what the outcome of the meeting would be. The district officer opened the meeting and asked me to explain the purpose of the day, and why we called the meeting. Many of the community leaders were suspicious about the meeting, and suspected we had come to convince them to accept the IDPs from the camps.
After I had explained who we were, what our mission was, what we wanted to be done and that our role would be to listen and find a way forward, they realized that the meeting was very important for them. At first they were not willing to open up at all, but I later proposed a query which opened up heavy discussions from them. The question was, “Were you equally affected by the post-election violence, or it was the IDPs only?”
The people talked as if they had never talked anywhere before and were very open with us. It was discovered that nobody had ever asked them such a question. They had the opportunity to express how they have been affected by the post-election violence. They described how the police killed their innocent sons and arrested innocent boys who were accused of fueling or aggravating the violence. They complained of some chiefs being fired for not stopping the youth.
The receiving community accused the Kikuyus of arrogance, pride, being disrespectful to their community leaders and using abusive language. You could read bitterness in their hearts. We listened keenly and concluded that we should go down into their local villages and meet with more of the youth who executed the acts of violence. Meetings were set in seven locations for the following week, one meeting per day per location.
Accepting our visits was a good sign of the potential willingness to let the IDPs return. After these meetings we will have a meeting between the receiving community and the IDPs to work on relationships. Then we will begin to steer the process of resettlement. There is need for more prayers during this exercise. It is a tough one and we hope that it succeeds so that it can be modeled to other receiving communities.
In the March/April 2008 issue, John Lomuria was listed in the insert “Friends Respond to Crisis in Kenya” as the head pastor of Turkana Friends Mission. John is actually the treasurer of Turkana Friends Mission. We apologize for this mistake. To read about John’s adventurous first trip to the United States, see pp. 27–28.