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Friends United Meeting |
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December 1999
News from Friends United Meeting
Nancy Maeder Rejoins Staff
Nancy Maeder rejoined the FUM World Ministries office staff in September on a part-time basis. She will be focusing on the areas of work camp coordination, arranging field staff deputation schedules, serving on the steering committee of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, and assisting with various other projects.
After having been in Ramallah for two years, and previously serving in the World Ministries office for the years 1989-1992, Nancy has this to say. "I'm excited to be back at FUM and am thankful for the opportunity to continue involvement with the World Ministries programs. I believe in the work that we do and the witness for Christ that our programs represent. Being with some old friends from the office and getting to know several new ones is an added benefit and blessing!"
Between 1992 and her time in Ramallah, Nancy spent one year as an intern with Sojourners Community in Washington, DC, and then returned to live and work near her home town in Iowa. In addition to working part-time at FUM, Nancy is a full-time student at the Earlham School of Religion. She is especially interested in rural life and ministry, social justice, and building and encouraging community in small towns.
Lighting Candles in Russia
A new bilingual resource for both peace education and English language instruction has just been published in Moscow. Friends General Conference's collection of stories of nonviolent victories in many cultures, times and situations, Lighting Candles in the Dark, has been translated into Russian and published in Moscow by Astreya Press in collaboration with Friends General Conference, Friends United Meeting, and the Quaker FSU (Former Soviet Union) Committee.
In addition to the original collection, two stories were added to reflect the Russian market: one by popular Russian poet Yevgeni Yevtu-shenko, and one on humanitarian work in Chechnya. The stories are illustrated by children's art from Russia, the USA, and Cuba. Russian Friend Tatiana Pav-lova edited the contents and provided a new preface "for the Russian reader," explaining the Quaker movement and its Christian basis. Her sensitive explanation invites every reader to understand Christ's work in himself or herself.
Copies of the General Conference edition are still on the USA market, and the new bilingual edition is presently available only in the former Soviet Union. A limited number of copies are available on loan from FUM for exhibition purposes.
Sadie Vernon High School
Sadie Vernon began the Girls Continuation School in Belize 36 years ago while working for the Belize Christian Council. It operates under a board responsible to the Council. Since Sadie's retirement, they have looked for a way to honor her, finally deciding to change the name of the school to the Sadie Vernon High School. They held an appropriate Belizean ceremony in September officially making this change.
The Minister of Education was the speaker as other dignitaries, friends, family and students gathered under or around a tent across the street from the old factory building used as their school for the past several years. At the ceremony, the government promised to build a new home for the school and a new school sign was unveiled. This public promise will surely help make the new school a reality after many years of delays and false promises.
Sadie looked radiant and gave a short speech she had prepared as a response. A student read a poem of tribute he had composed, the School Board and Council president spoke, and flowers were presented by a student. All this was recorded on tape by the local TV station and aired that evening as well as the newspaper covering it.
Although Sadie spoke before the ceremony of not wanting to have all the fuss made, she really enjoyed the accolades. It was a fitting tribute long overdue and, happily, done while she could enjoy it.
Florence Emma Peery
Copyright (c) 1999 Friends United Meeting
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