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Dear Reader In the last week, two things have saddened me. One was the bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO forces. The other was the death of my father. My father and I were not particularly close, and his passing was expected for several months; nevertheless, I experience his death as loss and diminishment. I'm glad that I was able to visit him the week before he died, and am grateful for the warm smile with which he greeted me. Although he was not a religious man, he also smiled when I prayed God's blessing on him, and I am grateful for that as well. Our news pages show that Friends have been speaking out against the bombing. Many analysts believe that when NATO withdrew observers and began the bombing campaign, they removed the restraints that were holding Milosevic back from unleashing his genocidal campaign against the Kosovar Albanians. This is a great grief. All this underlines for me the importance of the Turkanan proverb told by John Moru (p. 4) that gave us our cover words, "becoming alive." Aliveness is the result of personal contact and sharing. We are not truly alive so long as our contacts are impersonal or ideological. We need to know one another from the inside out. We hope that our articles from Kenya (p. 4-8, 19), Russia (p. 9-11), and Cuba (p. 13) will help us move toward the goal of "coming alive" to one another. Bill Edgerton's memoir of encounters with the CIA and KGB (p. 20-23) is a reminder of the struggle we have to remain "human" in the face of suspicion. The goal? Life abundant! as Jesus promised. Ben Richmond

3 Viewpoints 4 One Life at a Time: Indiana Yearly Meeting Responds to the Call David Brock 7 One Who Served: Ruth Baker Kellum, Missionary Nurse Beatrice Kimball and Gladys Kellum Kimball 8 Africa Quaker Vision John A. Muhanji 9 How Quaker Faith Came to Russia: an Interview with Tatiana Pavlova Johan Maurer, translated by Tom Anthony 11 What I Love About Russia Maxim Nilov 12 Salt and Light: Connecting: Christ in Me, Christ in Others Bruce Bishop 13 Commitments 14 News 16 News from Friends United Meeting 18 Bible Study Anne Thomas 19 Turning Points: Nairobi Bombing Namachanja Wabuyele 20 Reader's Essay: Adventures of an Innocent American Professor with the CIA and the KGB William Edgerton 23 Passages 24 Meeting Directory 28 Classifieds 30 Reviews and Releases 31 Book Excerpt from John Woolman: Quintessential Quaker David Sox 35 The Back Bench Stan Banker

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