AF SC Non-Profit U.S. POSTAGE PAID B u l l E T I N American Friends Service Committee VOL. 76 NO. 1 A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE SPRING 1995 JAN PHILLIPS How do we build peace? We start by rekindling our hope. JAN PHILLIPS H.I.P.P. was designed for students age 13 and older, but now is offered to children in middle school, as well. Started in 1990, it now has graduates who assist with training sessions in Lexington, Kentucky; Conscience Bay, by Melissa Kay Elliott Long Island; and Huntington, West Virginia; as w Il as yracuse. T achers N TODAY 'S political climate, many and administrators also participate in of us feel we are watching die dis­ the workshops, building a climate of manding of a lifetime of hard work support for the students' new skills. for a just and humane society. R quests for workshops and facilita­ I tors' training have come in from all At diis troubled time in our coun­ try, let us r member die many mirncles over the count,y. Recently, Erik and that have taken place sin e die AFSC Lisa helped start a H.I.P. Program in was founded-die lives changed, th Tallahassee, Fl rid a. people who dis overed hope where The workshops consist of ex rcis­ es and games that give students first­ hope was n t a logical re ponse. If we forget d1e mi.rad sin our past hand exp rienc s in affirmation, co­ op ration, ommuni aLi n , and con­ that happened b cause of our faith an I flict 1· solution. In one exer i e u ·ed convi tion-not I aus of logic or an by H.I.P.P., students line up in two amenabl political climate--we may rob columns, face-to-face, and rol -play ourselves of die miracl s y t to come. 'Teach your children well... ' seen s of family conflict. Let's ·ay your The AFSC's task is die same today younger brother comes into the room as 78 years ago: to build peace widi jus­ ODAY 'S YOUNG PEOPLE are lence Program used in prisons. Erik where you ' re watching televi- tice. The reason is still diat we believe more than ready-they're suggests that maybe this younger gen­ Continued on page 8 in the dignity and wo1th of ach indi­ ripe-for learning skills in eration will insist on nonviolence as vidual and die spark of the Divine in nonviolent conflict resolution, the better way of approaching life. T Does that sound like The Impos­ each human spirit. say train rs in AFSC's Help-Increase­ [n d1is i ·sue of die Quaker Service the-Peace Project (11.1.P.P.). In fact, sible Dream? Not if you talk to Erik Bulletin, we at the AFSC want to share there are more requests coming in and others involved in the program. widi you some of die ways we work to from teachers and school administra­ They've seen miracles happen, kid ' build p ace and die places wher w tors than trainers can fill. lives turned around, explosive racial prepare die soil for miracles to grow. "One thing I'll say about violence tensions defused. They know this stuff We give you a glance at our past, a sam­ in the schools: the kids are tired of it," works. pling of our current work and die prin­ says Erik Wissa, the AFSC staff mem­ "Now people seem to be saying, ciples behind it, and a vision of die fu­ ber in Syracuse, N w York, who cre­ 'Violence hasn't worked, so l t's try ture, as contained in di lives of the ated H.I.P.P. to be used in schools, pat­ nonviolence,"' says Lisa Mundy, Erik's young pe pie we teach and nurture. terning it after the Alternatives to Vio- colleague in Syracuse. Haiti School Supplies Campaign Takes Wing HE SCHOOL in Haiti are schools in the far southwest corner of are to be shipped to AFSC headquar­ crowded with students eager the count1y, a region called the Grand ters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from to I arn. How v r, a Haitian Anse, where th AFSC bas worked where they will be sent to Haiti to b teacher r cently remarked, since 1989. deliver d by AFSC staff members. T Tet An­ The history of education in Haiti "How can we ask for homework The campaign is called from children wh have no note­ sanm, a Creole phrase meaning "all is a histo1y of struggle. Haitians work­ books or school supplie of any together," which embodies the spirit of ing for democracy hav always val­ kind?" reconciliation and r onstruction in ued building a good education sys­ In No1th America, su hit ms as Haiti. tem. ln 1991, plan for a countty­ pens, pencils, notebooks, and note­ Collecting s hool supplie for Haiti wide literacy campaign were ut b ok paper ar considerably less dif­ is simple. The AFSC has packets avail­ short by the September military coup. 8 News in brief fi ult to ome by. Therefore, the abl with instructions, information To order a T t An anm packet, American Friend ervice Committ e about Haiti, and a list of needed hool write to Angela Berryman, Haiti 9 At the turning point: El Salvador has launched a campaign to coll ct supplies. Project director · ask iliat peo­ School Suppli Ca!'npaign, AFSC, school supplies for Haitian students. ple end new or good-as-n w materi­ 1501 Cheny t., Phila., PA 19102, or 10 Resources and book reviews The supplies will be distribut d to als. After coll ction, boxes of supplie tel phone (215) 241-7180. 12 Loaves and fishes: Frances Crowe CALL TO AFSC FOR AOION ON THE RIGHT WING AGENDA DONALD STUART GANN is the new chairman of the AFSC's Board of Directors, succeeding Dulany Bennett as of November 1994. Don, a physician, is a member of the Standing by our vision, Baltimore Monthly Meeting of Friends, Stony Run. His involvement with AFSC dates back to the early 1970s, when we will not stand alone. he was on the Board of Directors. He has served on numerous board commit­ tees. Statement adopted by the National Community Relations Committee, March 5, 1995 Don helped found the AFSC Cleveland Area Committee, which started an interracial reconciliation HE CURRENT RIGHT WING agenda to im­ we must share information with our allies and among project for city residents and law enforcement officials plement the so-called "Contract with Amer­ ourselves about the morally repugnant nature of the and an interracial draft counseling project. Most ica" and initiatives at local, tate, and na­ ontract w ith America and the far-r aching damage recently, Don headed the AFSC's Middle Atlantic tional levels is not n w. Rather, it is a re­ it w ill do to the quality of life for all people in the Regional Office Executive Committee. T surgence of the age-old politics of class warfare, United States. At the same time, we must do what Professionally, Don is executive vice-chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of bigot1y, and racial division that the American Friends we can to assist in the long-term process of devel­ Maryland, where he is also professor of physiology. Service ommittee has historically worked to over­ oping a cohesive voice with those who are the im­ come. mediate targets of thes polici s, the first of many to BARBARA WHITNEY MOFFETT, director of AFSC 's The underlying values of the contract stand in pay the price fo r the shortsighted selfishness of those national Community Relations virtually direct opposition to each of the principles in powe r. Division, died on October 8, and values that have been articu lated in the AFSC More specifically, the National Community Re­ 1994, after a long bout with Missi n Stat ment and have characterized our orga­ lations Committee supports the id ea of a gathering cancer. Her creativity and ni zational work. Yet, in spit of our familiarity with of the AFSC community to conside r proacti ve re­ clarity of purpose are reflected the destructive and m an-spirit­ sponses to the ri ght wing agen­ in CRD's work with disenfran­ ed agenda the contract repr - da in April l 995. IThi s gathering chised people-immigrants, Our understanding Native peoples, women sents, w are alarmed and dis­ is being organized as this issue workers, prisoners, and mayed by th broadly sweeping of history and the of QSTI go 'S to press.] We sup­ young people. Hayes Mizell, who was on staff of the momentum of its legislativ ini­ port staff and committee mem­ Southeastern Public Education Program, notes: tiatives and depl re the terrible rightness of our be rs' e fforts to I velop and dis­ "Barbara really does live on in all the people she found human suffering that will result. seminate informatio n to AFSC before they found themselves ." The contract's agenda is a work leaves us constituencies; to strategize lo­ A former newspaperwoman, Barbara came to wedge to polarize racial groups cal, state, and national mo biliza­ AFSC for a temporary, three-week writing assig nment and poor and working-class .S. challenged but not tion efforts; and to create pro­ in 1947 during a strike against the old Philadelphia citi zens with selfishness and gram initiatives that will address Record.