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From the Editor by Val Liveoak I wear at least three hats for FPTP: I’m the editor of this newsletter, I am Co-Clerk, and I staff the office. As editor, I want to announce our plan to focus in this issue on Peace Team training and preparation.The summer issue, out in June (I hope!), will be on ongoing projects in the Peace Team field, especially those with which we are partnered: Christian Peacemaker Teams and Peace Brigades International. In the Fall (September), I hope to have reports from the work we have done and the contacts we’ve made during the year—I suspect that much of that will be regarding work in Africa (see below). I am always delighted to get word of peace team activities from others—if you know of a project, especially one in which Quakers are involved, please let me know. (In true Quaker fashion, I’ll probably ask you to write something about it.) We also need a few more people—with e-mail access, please—to serve on the editorial board. They will sometimes be asked to edit articles, help solicit them, and, if we get to the enviable point of having more than we can print, decide which to accept. Please let me know if you are able to do this by contacting me at the address below. Putting on my Co-Clerk hat, I want to report on some of the decisions we made in October at our meeting in Richmond IN, and subsequently. We sent a delegation of 7 to the African Great Lakes Region—Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya—to explore opportunities to work with Friends and others in that region. They laid the groundwork for further work. To keep abreast of developments, check the website at http://www.quaker.org/fptp/agli. We are considering a summer work project in Burundi, and updates will be posted on the website as soon as possible. Longer term projects will also be considered, but may take longer to be finalized. We are also working on updating our outreach materials to reflect the fact that we are on the verge of undertaking our own projects—our Coordinating Committee is shifting its focus beyond organizational outreach to working directly with volunteers, and administering at least one project, as well as continuing to offer resources to Meetings and Friends Churches to become peace resource and training centers and to develop their own peace team projects. In our next issue I expect us to have a new logo, and there will be redesigned outreach materials available. We still hope to be endorsed by Yearly Meetings which have not yet done so—and we plan to update the Mission Statement with which we ask Yearly Meetings to unite. We plan to meet in Philadelphia April 15-18, and will hold a public presentation about FPTP on Friday, April 16 at 7:00 pm at the Meeting House of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting at Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street. Parking can be arranged at the nearby Arch Street Meeting by calling Mary Arnett at 215-474-2171. Please come if you are in the area. Several members of our Coordinating Committee will be available to speak at local Meetings, classes, etc., during the weeks before and after this meeting. If you would like to invite one of us, please let me know at e-mail: [email protected]; tel: 210-532-8762; or by mail at PO Box 10372, San Antonio TX 78210. Finally,
as staffer, a request: A donation of a laptop computer (pc compatible,
486 or higher, and 75mh or faster) would be very useful. Another
one, with a modem, may be needed by the teams that go to Africa
in the future. The donation can be tax-deductible if desired. Please
contact me at the addresses above. TOP
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