Calendar, June 2007

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE SENDS NEEDS ASSESSMENT TEAM TO THE HORN OF AFRICA

The UN has reports about one million people have been displaced in Somalia because of violence, hunger and floods. In the first quarter of 2007, an estimated 400,000 people have been displaced by armed conflict in the capital city, Mogadishu.

“The root causes of the crisis are very complex,” says Dereje Wordofa, AFSC regional director for Africa. “The deep-rooted splits among various ‘clans’ combined with external political interventions have exacerbated the conflict situation in the entire region. These rifts will remain the major obstacle for creating a peaceful and united Horn of Africa.”

Cycles of war and humanitarian crises have plagued Somalia for over 30 years. Somalia was one of the countries affected by the 2004 tsunami that struck following an earthquake in the Indian Ocean. Entire villages were destroyed, killing an estimated 300 people.

“We are witnessing another wave of deaths and displacement of civilians including women and children,” he adds.

Geri Sicola, AFSC associate general secretary for International Programs said, “Our team will examine the various factors fueling the conflict at the local and regional level. The mission is also expected to identify areas of short- or medium- term work and lay the foundation for a long-term strategy.”

AFSC’s work in the horn of Africa began in 1982 with a relief program servicing refugees in war-torn Somalia. For nineteen years a variety of programs followed that included relief assistance, support to orphans and rural community development.

The mission will wrap up at the end of May. A preliminary report is expected to be released in later this year.

Meeting for Business, May

Janet Southwood spoke for M&O .She explained that committee members will continue to act as clerk during Val Liveoak’s periodic absences. M&O is pleased to encourage Erin Sahin to convene a Bible Study group; interested Friends should contact Erin.

The committee will be more proactive in encouraging use of its Travel Fund, noting the Friends Women’s Conference in October, the annual Youth Seminar and Workcamp for highschoolers in Washington DC,, and the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage to England and Ireland next year. Acting on a request, it also approved donation of $100 to a FWCC travel fund to permit Friends to attend who have few local resources for travel.

The decision of the Clerk to discontinue worship sharing before business meeting resulted from a concern raised in M&O. One Friend spoke of her appreciation of this sharing.

The treasurer’s report indicated that little notable had happened in April. Contributions continue to cover expenses and unusually high Grounds expenses were covered by a special donation. For Social Concerns Committee, Carol Redfield brought the “tree” approved last month. This is a three-ring folder with daisyshaped stickums. On these may be written any object Friends may be able to donate to anyone, or any object needed by or for any person in need. It is hoped that these will cancel each other out, stickums being removed appropriately as objects are exchanged.

Outreach brought a proposal for erecting the sign at the Eisenhauer/Vandiver corner, which was approved. It will now have to be in two parts facing the two streets due to the curved boundary at the corner and the city code, which requires new signs to be two feet inside the boundary. An additional small sign giving the street number will be placed at the entrance to the parking lot. Before final placement the wording, color, and placement of the designs will be submitted for approval by Meeting.

Meeting approved a minute brought forward from the April meeting for business which charged Adult Education and Peace and Social Concerns with establishing forums to state the Meeting’s beliefs about explicit social concerns for publication, probably on our website.

There will be a book exchange on June 3 – bring books, tapes, and disks and take others home. The Meeting telephone is very unclear and some messages cannot be understood. Bill Wilkinson will inquire about the cost of the AT&T Call Notes system and Outreach will have the system made usable.

Neil Redfield described High School Young Friends’ decision at SCYM to try to meet more frequently during the year. This they name the Yo Fun program. They formed a committee representing each meeting, of which Neil is co-clerk. Organization is at present informal and plans hopeful. A Friend expressed support.

Sharon Shen said she had a sleeper-sofa which she would donate to the Meeting if desired. She will speak to the ad hoc committee for furnishing.

Not Our Problem

“Ruth Rymer Roberts reported [at the Meeting for Sufferings] on the presentation of the Address to the King, and arising out of this there was some discussion as to whether Friends should, after all, be represented at the Coronation Service to which they have been invited. The matter came up again from uncertainty as to what dress should be worn. Clothes for this occasion are a particularly expensive matter. I have before me a cutting which states that a velvet court dress costs ^55, and civil uniforms even run into a higher figure, which varies from something like ^84, if you go in a levee coat, to ^142 if a full State coat is worn. If you are a peer and go in ermine with coronet, ‘best silver gilt,’ you will have to pay about ^95, but with a second quality coronet and mock ermine, you can do it for less than half. But to guests who are worried about such things there is a very present help in time of trouble. This is usually referred to, or rather pronounced ‘Moss Bross,’ and it stands for the facilities offered by a well-known firm of Moss Brothers whose speciality is the hiring out of uniforms of all kinds!

It is not suggested that Wilfrid Littleboy, the Clerk of London Yearly Meeting, is really worried about ermine and coronets, or even about ‘Moss Bross.’ It is the principle of simple clothing which has arisen. It was understood when the invitation was accepted last month that he would be allowed into the Abbey even if he is only wearing ‘ordinary’ clothes, or possibly evening dress (though one member of the Meeting for Sufferings queried whether this was a uniform compatible with Quaker simplicity). But the Earl Marshall’s office seems to think that he should wear ‘half Court dress’ and implied that Friends were being discourteous when it was suggested that more freedom should be given, such as is allowed to Labour members of Parliament.

Probably the whole problem has arisen due to some misunderstanding but I think I am right in saying that there is a growing uneasiness among Friends as to whether the invitation should be accepted at all. Another point which is being raised concerns the participating by one’s presence in a ceremony in which a sword is solemnly blessed and handed to the King as a symbol that he may use it ‘for the terror and punishment of evildoers.’ The rights and wrongs of this, and the former sartorial matter are not altogether easy to decide.”

There is no mention of the possibility of wearing a second quality bow tie and a mock tux. Things were really much simpler when the only clothing qualifications for Quakers were for being thrown into jail. We have no knowledge of how the problem was solved, but Hubert Peet clearly spoke with tongue in cheek.. A pound at that time would have been worth about $5-$8.

Hubert follows this information by informing American Friends that Elizabeth M. Cadbury, of Birmingham, had been made a “Dame of the British Empire.” Did this make Dame Elizabeth an imperialist? A speaker at the Women’s International Film Association had suggested that she would easily have won a competition for “Mother of Europe,” had this been held instead of the Miss England contest.

Meeting Programs

A Sunday forum for June will consist of a Fathers’ Day discussion on June 17. Come to tell of your fathers. Or your grandfathers. Or for you dads to tell of your experiences as fathers. On June 24 Ken Southwood will speak about Terrorism and Nonviolence. He was interviewed on the subject of religion and terrorism for a Seniors’ program on radio in May.

Grateful Users

Personal

Jim Jacobs says, “Gayle and I had a pair of interesting experiences today. The first was an African-American funeral, with a good amount of gospel music, swaying and hand waving, amen-ing and halleluia-ing. It was a warm, wonderful service. The second was a movie, showing at the Bijou, called "Into Great Silence," about the lives of the monks at the Grand Chartreuse Monastery in the French Alps -lives devoted absolutely to solitude and stillness. Almost completely opposite strategies in the search for Light and some sense in life living, one is ecstatic beyond my capacity, at least for now, and the other defines some pinnacle of ascetic discipline. Both were thrilling to us--fine and moving demonstrations by people who have mastered practices that clearly and reliably carry them into Light. We are sitting here enjoying the afterglow of our time in their company.”

We wrote last month that Charles Goebel knew old Singapore Quaker friends of the Southwoods, the Elliots. Tom Elliot taught Pharmacology at the university there in the 50's, becoming head of department and eventually Dean of the new School. His life’s goal, he said, was to raise the standard of pharmaceutical services for the people of Singapore, then a British colony. The Associated Press now reports that male life expectancy in Singapore in 2005 was 78, tied with European countries. The figure for the US is 75.

Carol Balliet is just going into her “last weekend blitz course for real estate broker's license.” Sal DiGiacomo, leaving successful but then frustrating computer work after 30 years, has not succeeded in finding more congenial work. But Michelle tells us he is enjoying reading and developing his own theories on art, particularly that of Picasso. Which she does not understand.

Karl Frey says, “Hi Everyone,
We wanted to let you know that the children's book we have been working on is finally finished! You can view it at:
http://www.karlfrey.net/as-ill-gallery.htm.

We are hoping to place our first printing order on June 3rd and would appreciate an e-mail response if you are interested in having one ordered for you. The twenty-three page hardcover book can be ordered for $35 and the book with the accompanying music CD can be ordered for $40. Once we have your e-mail we will process your order and the books/CDs should be ready and mailed to you in about two weeks.

Please let us know in your e-mail if you would like the book signed by us (you never know) or left in pristine condition. We are very proud of this book and deeply appreciate the interest that so many of you have shown in our self-publishing process.”

Our concerns

What about Nicholas Kristof’s concern in the NYT of 5/21/07? He says:
“Americans with good jobs and complex needs receive superb medical care. But a child in Costa Rica born today is expected to live longer than an American child born today.

The U.S. now spends far more on medical care (more than $7,000 per person) than other nations, yet our infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate and longevity are among the worst in the industrialized world. If we had as good a child mortality rate as France, Germany, and Italy, we would save 12,000 children a year.

It is disgraceful that an American mother has almost three times the risk of losing a child as a mother in the Czech Republic. . . A woman is 50 percent more likely to die in childbirth in the U.S. than in Europe. . .”

Kristoff believes that “universal [medical insurance] coverage is an idea whose time came in the 1920s. We should insist we get it before the 2020s.”

Tom Elliot still speaks to us from Singapore.

Truth and Consequences

No-one answered.

The patriarch repeated the question and was again met with a guarded silence.

“All right,” he said, “did I ever tell you the story of George Washington and his father? George chopped down his father’s cherry tree, but he told the truth about it and wasn’t punished. And they weren’t even Friends.” Then he asked again, “Who pushed the privy over the cliff?”

To which the two youngest sons sheepishly admitted, “Father, we cannot tell a lie, we did it.”

Whereupon their father retrieved a short length of birch and administered them some physical eldering on the hinder parts. When he was done, the two boys, rubbing their sore posteriors, asked, “Father, thee said that when George Washington told the truth, he wasn’t punished. But we told the truth and we got punished. How come, Father?”

Their father replied, “There’s a difference, young men. George Washington’s father was not IN the cherry tree when he chopped it down.”

From Quaker House Newsletter

Consider the Elusive Resplendent Quetzal.

The Resplendent Quetzal is more than worthy of its name; its plumage glimmers and shines an iridescent green, blue and crimson, depending on the light. It's one of hundreds of birds with exotic names to be found in Costa Rica, among them the black-bellied whistling duck, the fascinated [sic] tiger-heron, the laughing falcon, the pale-vented pigeon and, of course, the vermiculated screech owl.

But for the average tourist, the Resplendent Quetzals -- male and female near the nest over our heads -- were the prize sighting of a guided tour through the cloud forest reserve led by a woman who offered rich detail about Costa Rica's history, culture, flora and fauna, and could also deliver a wide range of birdcalls. . . .

The non-profit Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve was part of that experience, and typical of the biological and human diversity in a poor, partly Third World country that still found a way to place almost 25 percent of its land into some sort of reserve or preserve.

The reserve was created in the 1970s to preserve some of the cloud forest, so named because clouds wrap its 4,600-foot-high mountaintop terrain in continual moisture and humidity. It became attached to another watershed reserve founded in the 1960s by a Quaker community, and later added a Tropical Science Center to facilitate education and protect the land. . . .

Along with many other tourist stops in the country, the Monteverde area also has a series of platforms, canopy walks and suspension bridges built into the tree lines that enable tourists to walk among the leaves. The more adventurous can travel on "zip lines," in which tourists are buckled onto a cable for a faster look -- provided you keep your eyes open.

Extracted from Bob Hill, The Courier-Journal

You can visit cloud forest and the Quaker Meeting there, at the continental divide. Or, at least, the isthmian divide. See www.crstudytours.com, for the Stuckeys’ Quaker tours. They are wonderful. Or check the “Opportunities” ads in the Friends Journal. You may find out what the tiger-heron was fascinated by -- was it the blackbellied whistling duck?

Ask Janet Southwood about the quetzal. In a noisy group, she asked the guide what kind of tree it preferred. He pointed one out, she waited, alone, in silence. And it came.

Bric A Brac

So may we hope that Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary of AFSC, another recipient of the Peace Prize, becomes the next Secretary of State?

If you were not at the Festival of India at La Villita last month (and we didn’t see you there) you missed a cornucopia of music, costume, color, food, and dance.

AFSC - NEW IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION FENCES OFF THE AMERICAN DREAM

Based on 90 years of work with immigrants and refugees, the Service Committee supports substantive reform that includes a path to permanent residency for undocumented immigrants, family reunification, demilitarizing the border region, and halting worksite raids and detention.

“The proposed legislation will tear apart families and separate workers from their loved ones,”says Esther Nieves, director of AFSC’s Project Voice immigrants’ rights initiative, “It falls far short of what is needed to address the nation’s broken and out-of-date immigration system.”

Family unification, the cornerstone of U.S. immigration policy since 1965, will be more difficult under the proposed legislation.

“The proposed legislation does offer a limited path to citizenship, but unreasonable provisions, including lengthy waiting periods, fines, a new ‘merit-based’ system, and other punitive hurdles mean that undocumented workers would need to wait from eight to thirteen years to become citizens and pay the equivalent of up to six months wages,” says Nieves.

“The bill establishes a guest worker visa program, which . . . requires that they leave for at least one year between each term. These workers would be left without a direct path to permanent residency and vulnerable to unethical employers . . .”

The legalization program and the temporary worker programs would not start until the government has hired 18,000 additional Border Patrol agents and built 370 miles of fencing along the border with Mexico. “More deaths have occurred at the U.S.-Mexico border in the past decade than in the history of the Berlin Wall. . . ” says Nieves.

The bill also requires funding for 27,500 detention beds per day, annually. . . detentions, often coupled with home and worksite raids and deportation, creates so much pain for families that we must find a more humane and just way to handle alleged violations of immigration laws.

“We continue to believe that the U.S. has as much to gain from newly arrived immigrants as it did from those who came to this country in preceding centuries,” said Joyce Miller, assistant general secretary for justice and human rights.

For a more complete analysis of the proposed legislation, visit http://www.afsc.org/immigrants-rights/

News release, PHILADELPHIA MAY 19.

The Captain of the Catalpa

“Capt. George Anthony, master of the Catalpa, was a New Bedford Quaker. . . The call of the sea and his own sense of justice impelled him to throw in his lot with the Fenians.”

In the program, though, nothing was said about his Quakerism or sense of justice. In fact the monetary reward was described as important in his decision.

But relations between Quakers and Irish were good. Quakers performed humanitarian work in Ireland during the time of the potato famine in the 19th century, without proselytizing. More recently they [have been working] behind the scenes to cement the Northern Irish peace process.

A special Republic of Ireland 60c commemorative stamp was issued in Ireland in 2004 to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) coming to Ireland in 1654.. The pictures on the stamp are of George Fox and Ballitore Quaker Meeting House, built about 1708.

Another Irish stamp, issued in 2004, features Richard Roberts and the "Sirius", which in 1838 was the first steam powered ship to cross the Atlantic. It was owned by the St. George Shipping Company, of which the Quaker J R Pim was founder. The "Sirius" was chartered by James Beale, another Quaker, of R J Lecky & Co, shipbuilders, Cork, to take up the challenge of a Dr. Lardner who scorned the possibility of a steam crossing of the Atlantic in a speech to the British Association. Beale said he could find the ship to do it, and also the right man for master. Captain Roberts, his choice, was not a Quaker, though there were many Quakers of that name in Ireland. The "Sirius" only just made it in time because later the same day that she docked in New York, Brunel's much larger and faster "Great Western" also arrived - she too had made the crossing under steam.