[YAF-announce] Q Peacebuilder Camp

[Holly Baldwin]

From: jhumphries at igc.org <jhumphries at igc.org>
Date: Nov 15, 2006 6:11 PM
Subject: for YAF list
To: baldwin.holly at gmail.com

Dear YAFs,

For the last couple of months, Fedelma McKenna has served as a YAF member of
the Advisory Committee for the Quaker Peacebuilder Camp.  As most of you
know, she's soon going to Colombia to do accompaniment work with a
Fellowship of Reconciliation project.  We are in the process of developing
new programs, and having YAF input is critical.  I am planning to come for
part of the YAF Midwinter to talk with you about our work, but in the
meantime, I'm looking for someone willing to participate in planning for a
February retreat/workshop for teens and adults, as well as a year-round
program of study and action that will begin next fall.  Our primary goal is
to help Friends develop the skills and spiritual grounding for faithful and
effective public witness that moves beyond the weekly peace vigil.

I'm including some more details below, but if you're interested, please
contact me: jhumphries at igc.org; 860/236-5175.

Peace and Resistance,

John Humphries
Hartford Monthly Meeting

Summary

The Quaker Peacebuilder Camp, which grew out of an interest group discussion
at the Young Friends Midwinter retreat in January 2003, is an educational
program of The Meeting School.  We seek to teach fundamental skills of
peacebuilding through gatherings of youth and adults that provide an
experience of community-building, participatory learning, and faith-based
public witness and social action.  In this way, we hope to nurture a new
generation of peacebuilders of all ages, rooted in Quaker practice,
experienced in direct action, and ready to answer their own callings.  After
three successful summer youth camps, we are now launching an initiative to
implement the broader vision of the project by developing new programs that
will draw adults into the work.  This effort responds, in part, to the deep
yearning for a more visible and 'muscular' Quaker witness in this time war
that Friends expressed during NEYM sessions in 2005.

The Summer Youth Camp

Established in 2004, the Quaker Peacebuilder Camp has provided an
intentionally diverse group of high school youth with an opportunity to
develop the skills, understanding and relationships that will help them
become better organizers of nonviolent action. We seek to provide an
experience of community that breaks down barriers of class and ethnicity
while fostering spiritual practice and reflection as the foundation for
faithful action. The curriculum includes the theory and practice of
community organizing and nonviolent action, skills in group decision-making
and discernment, outdoor recreation and physical labor, and hands-on
experience in planning and implementing a public action and/or a group
service project.

The camp involves activities at two locations.  The rural segment takes
place at The Meeting School in southern New Hampshire and focuses on
community-building, basic principles of nonviolence, and organizing theory,
combined with physical labor and some skills building.    The urban segments
have been housed on the campus of Trinity College in Hartford, working in
partnership with existing community organizations with ongoing social
justice activities.  The urban portion has a definite "in-the-streets"
quality to it, with our participants making a tangible contribution to an
ongoing peace/justice campaign.  We've tackled a different issue each year:
urban slumlords, military recruitment, and improving immigrant services.

We are not organizing a summer camp in 2007 because we want to focus on
building the other aspects of the project this year.  We will offer the
summer camp every other year, resuming in 2008.

Activities Planned for 2007

February Gathering: We are organizing a workshop for teens and adults at The
Meeting School (TMS) during the weekend of February 16-18.  The workshop
will draw upon the curriculum of the summer camp and the workshop offered at
NEYM sessions.  We will explore opportunities for regional collaboration in
developing a more visible Quaker witness in New England.  At this gathering,
we will also be piloting some materials for the year-round program described
below, seeking input from participants in finalizing those plans.

Local Workshops: We are also seeking opportunities to provide workshops for
monthly meetings or clusters of meetings (e.g. those within a quarter).  We
are scheduled to present a program for Dover Quarter in April.  Several
participants in the NEYM workshop were from Salem Quarter and expressed
interest in organizing something locally.

Camp Alumni Reunion: We want to take time this year to reconnect with
graduates of the three summer youth camps.  We want to find out how they
have used the things they learned and explore ways that we might provide
more follow-up and support to youth who want to be active in their local
communities and on college campuses.  We anticipate having a 2- or 3-day
reunion for alumni at The Meeting School during the school's annual Summer
Getaway, a two-week period of volunteer work and recreation.

Quaker Faith into Action: We have initiated discussions with the members of
NEYM Ministry and Counsel committee who have had oversight of the Spiritual
Formation program about creating a follow-up program organized by the Quaker
Peacebuilder Camp that would begin in September 2007.  We envision drawing
upon the program model of monthly gatherings of local Friends for study and
reflection, with weekend regional retreats at the beginning and end of the
year.  We seek to build on the grounding in Friends' literature and
spiritual practice provided by the Spiritual Formation program to create a
curriculum of study and practical experience that educates Friends about the
rich history of nonviolent action (among Quakers and non-Quakers),
encourages personal and corporate discernment of leadings, and provides
support for hands-on experience with local public witness.  One way we have
thought about this program in our own minds is establishing a structure for
building and nurturing Quaker affinity groups throughout New England.
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