4/12: Potluck / 4/22 Kenyan Friend on Nonviolence

[Judy Goldberger]

"We are called to an Abrahamic journey,
leaving the familiar to walk with God
as a stranger in a strange land,
always inviting and invoking
a commonwealth that is now and not yet,
about to become and already here."
-- Lloyd Lee Wilson, 1998

Join Jamaica Plain Quakers for our next monthly community potluck, Sunday, April 12! Yes, this is Easter Sunday! Bring your family and friends (and Easter leftovers) for a festive celebration! Potluck supper is at 5 p.m., followed by Quaker meeting for worship at 6 p.m. The trailer has microwaves but no conventional oven, so if you bring a potluck dish that needs reheating, please make sure it's in a microwave-safe container.

Then on Tuesday, April 21 (please note the date change) at 7:30 p.m. we have the honor of hosting Kenyan Friend and peace worker Getry Agizah Anguya, who will present on "Grassroots Reconciliation After Violence." Getry is Programmes Coordinator of Friends in Peace and Community Development (FPCD), based in Kenya's Western Province. At 27 years old, she has already witnessed violence tear community apart. And she has seen fear replaced with trust, retribution with cooperation, and the deep wounds of trauma begin to heal.

On December 27, 2007, Kenya held presidential elections. Three days later, Mwai Kabaki was finally announced as the victor. Concerns over the election results quickly reignited long-standing economic and political grievances, and horrific violence erupted in many parts of the country.
   
Quakers in western Kenya moved quickly, even as violent clashes continued. Within days, they provided food, blankets, counseling, and medical aid to persons who had been forced to flee their homes. More importantly, they listened without judgment to people from all sides of the conflict. As their work continued, they began to lay down the foundations for healing from trauma, reconciliation between communities, and durable peace. In the past year, they have conducted hundreds of listening sessions and Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) and Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC) workshops. These programs have brought together over 5,000 people across ethnic divisions to affirm themselves and others, recognize their trauma, begin to trust one another, and together build skills in communication, cooperation, and non-violent conflict resolution.
    
Greg Williams, who has been leading our fourth Sunday nonviolence discussion circles, comments: "There are links and lessons to be learned in moving beyond violence. The roots of  violence that  destroy so many lives in Boston and Kenya are not so different. The courageous work to root out the deep seeds of violence used by Getry and her coworkers in Kenya can be useful in our own community. I am looking forward to a discussion that focuses in part on the premises and principles for building true and lasting peace that we can apply in our own lives and communities here."
    
The event is free. Freewill donations will be accepted for Friends Peace Teams to support the continued peace-building work of Friends in Kenya. Please forward this announcement!

Jamaica Plain Quakers meets in the trailer that houses the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain at 633 Centre Street at Myrtle Street, across from the post office in JP Center. The trailer and bathroom are wheelchair accessible. If you can't make this meeting but would like to come in the future, we meet on the second and fourth Sundays of every month, so our next scheduled meetings are Sunday, April 26th and May 10th (Mother's Day), 2009.

May 10th is also the 13th annual Mother's Walk for Peace, a community gathering of awareness and hope and a fundraiser for Boston's Louis D. Brown Peace Institute. On December 20, 1993, on his way to the Christmas party of the group he'd just joined, Teens Against Gang Violence, Louis D. Brown was murdered. Joseph and Tina Chery established the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in 1994 to carry on the legacy of their son, working toward preventing violence in their community. Committed to restorative justice and building sustainable peace in our home communities, the Peace Institute assists and supports the families of homicide victims and works hand in hand with young men who have been defined as “the problem” to build peace block by block in the communities of Dorchester. For more information, go to http://peace123.bizland.com/peace_walk.html.

              
Blessings of peace and hope,
Judy

"Look among the nations and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told." (Habakkuk 1:5)