April 2017
Quaker refugees in Dzaleka Camp in Malawi
appeal for $1,650 for additional tools
by David Millar
In their 2016 progress report, a community of Quaker refugees in Dzaleka
Camp in Malawi, east Africa, appealed for more funds for their organic gardening project, which has been supported in the past by Burlington Friends Meeting,
through a Friends Concern fund. Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi is the largest
in Africa; it was formerly a political prison, and conditions have not changed
much since then. Fleeing genocide and war in Burundi, Rwanda, and the DR
Congo, some 18,000 have been in limbo for the last 20 years. Malawi refuses
them citizenship, and they are forbidden to take paid work. One Congo refugee,
Daniel Mulenda, attended Friends World Congress in 2012 and contributed to
the Kabarak Call. He presides over a small Friends community in the camp.
“We are beginning our
new technical management
policy: zero use of chemical
fertilizers and phyto-pharmaceutical products. For example, the use of compost to
regenerate the soil, the practice of crop rotation and fallow, the exploitation of some
food crops (beans, soybeans,
etc.), the use of seeds of
crops that are very resistant
to diseases and crop-damaging insects. We are on the
way to being self-sustaining
in food.
“For this dream to be translated into reality, the project requires sufficient
work material to give us a successful start in 2017.
“Work was repeated regularly in 2016. We have plowed; composted; germinated and transplanted (eggplants, cabbage and tomatoes only); used starter pockets (Chinese cabbage); planted sun- and wind-breaks (Eucalyptus and Acacia));
and transported manure from neighboring villages (Note: Villagers are starting to
demand money for manure.) We also harvested, weeded, and hoed regularly in order to avoid any interruption in production. Attacks of insects and crop-damaging
diseases were reduced in some fields, and we held frequent meetings to discuss the
future of the project.
“The number of participants was around 81 people per day, with a number of
active members (2–4) per family. Some additional beneficiary families have been
receiving food from their Quaker neighbors.—We can call them ‘friends of Friends’
because they are not members of the Community of Friends (Quakers) refugees.
So far we barely have sufficient tools for the 24 Quaker families.”
Currently available materials
Hoes: 48
Spades: 5
Watering cans: 12
Seed bags: 78.5
Rakes: 0
Wheelbarrows: 5
Sprayers: 3
Further equipment needed
Spades: 19
Watering cans: 12
Rakes: 24
Seed bags: 72
Wheelbarrows: 7
Estimated cost about $1,649
Dzaleka, next page >>
Visit us at <www.burlingtonquakers.org>
>> Dzaleka, from page 1
Justification for the extra tools and materials
“We aim to become self-sustaining in 2017. Our abolition of the use of chemical fertilizers makes the work
more intensive and demanding although we are determined to adapt to it. So we thought that if each family had
its own two hoes a spade, a rake, a second watering can,
and two families shared a wheelbarrow that they can use
in rotation, our plan can easily be effective. Currently, 24
families sharing only five spades and five wheelbarrows
make the manure collection and compost production
very difficult.
‘Building a World Beyond War’
by Robin Lloyd
THIS EARTH DAY, April 22nd, Friends are invited
to take part in the “Building a World Beyond War: What
Will It Take?” conference on Saturday, April 22nd
from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Winooski High
School, 60 Normand St. (off Rte. 7) in Winooski. The
conference will feature keynote presentations by David
Swanson, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
The final session of the day will bring everyone together with Patricia Hynes, director of the Traprock
Center for Peace & Justice <http://traprock.org>, to
develop joint actions/activities that our coalition can engage in together after the conference is over. All coalition
members will have information and recruitment tables at
the conference.
Sponsored by a coalition of peace, social justice, and
environmental groups, this free conference will engage 300 to 400 or more Vermonters in a campaign and effort to revitalize the Vermont peace
movement by focusing on the intersectionality of the
many issues—the financial, racial, and environmental
costs of war and militarism—that can unite us and help
us work together on possible solutions.
The conference will bring together issues of militarization and climate change, as war is a primary cause of climate chaos. Twelve Vermont-focused workshops will
cover topics from nuclear weapons, activism 101, financing
a peace economy, militarism in our lives, Israel and
Palestine, the F35s, and the internal and external effects of
war on our lives. Those connected to BFM include:
Plan for the future of the project
—Sophie Quest and members of the BFM
Peace, Justice & Earthcare committee, together
with Sandy Fead and members of Friends Committee on
National Legislation, on “What Vermonters Can Do Now
to Build a World Without War.”
“Our long-term plan is to move from food subsistence to market gardening, with food sales allowing us to
meet other community needs. We are trying to reduce
expenditure to a minimum, while maximizing food yields
—John Reuwer, M.D., of Physicians for Social
and eventually sales. If we reach the desired scale of production (dependent on adequate tools) the project can be Responsibility will lead a workshop on “Nuclear
Weapons: The Current Threat and What We Can Do
self-financing in the future.
About It.”
Conclusion
Those interested in attending are asked to register
“We appeal to donors to help us become self-susnow so that organizers will have a sense of how much
taining. Some beneficiaries still hope to leave the camp
lunch needs to be provided. We’re asking for $25, but no
to return to their countries of origin, but this is imone will be turned away due to inability to pay.
possible for many, and those families who must stay
To register go to the Peace & Justice Center
have a second generation growing up without hope. –
website <pjcvt.org> and look up “Upcoming Events.”
Malawi does not permit them to take paid work or become citizens. So community gardening provides a durFor more information:
able solution. February 10: Severe flooding reported.”
—Robin Lloyd: <[email protected]>
Further donations to the project may be sent to the BFM or 802-355-3256
—Marguerite Adelman: <[email protected]>
Treasurer, 173 N. Prospect St., Burlington, VT 05401,
or 518-561-3939
earmarked for the Dzaleka Friends Concern. •
Burlington Friends Meeting • April 2017
2
March 12, 2017 Burlington Friends Monthly Meeting for Business
Attending: Charles Simpson, Jeanne Plo, Jim Geier, Bill Williams, Holly Gorton, Linda McKenna, Jane
Van Landingham, Abby Matchette, Jean McCandless,
Jonathan McCandless, Christopher McCandless, Diana
Linda, Thomas Sharpley, Leslie L. Hunt, Cheryl Flynn,
Jean Hopkins, and Hedi Mizouni.
Presiding Clerk/ Charles Simpson
Presiding Clerk/Recording Clerk Jeanne Plo
and has already been challenged by several states. It was
suggested that BFM communicate with our Attorney
General in Montpelier, encouraging our state government to respond. One Friend noted that in an article
which appeared in Seven Days, that the Vermont legislature is looking into a response. Friends were urged to
call their state representative as a way of acting now.
Considerable urgency in this matter was expressed,
noting that Friends from South America have had their
Reading by Presiding Clerk: “A Higher Loyalty”
visas cancelled. Immigration migrant leaders may be the
“We declare our faith in those abiding truths taught and
first ones to be deported. Schoolboard members want leexemplified by Jesus Christ—that every individual of
gislation saying they would not cooperate with attempts
every race and nature is of supreme worth, that love is
to be involved or to disrupt those who are illegal or unthe highest law of life, and that evil is to be overcome,
documented, but some lawyers caution against drawing
not by further evil, but by good. The relationship of naattention to the situation and making it worse for those
tion to nation, of race to race, of class to class, must be
who need protection. One Friend suggested that PJE adbased on this divine law of love, if peace and progress are
dress these issues and communicate with the Vermont
to be achieved. We believe in those principles, not as
Attorney General.
mere ideals for some future time, but as part of the
Friends approved asking the Presiding Co-Clerks to
eternal moral order and as a way of life to be lived here
and now. War is a colossal violation of this way of life. If write a letter immediately to T.J. Donovan, the new Attorney General of Vermont, asking him to join with the
we are true to our faith we can have no part in it.”
attorneys general of Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Mas—Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1961
sachusetts, and New York in challenging the new presidClimate Change Discussions
ential executive order and travel ban, which also
One Friend reminded the Meeting to consider the offer suspends the refugee resettlement plan for 120 days.
of $2,000 from Rachel Carey Harper to all Yearly Meeting
Revised Minute Regarding Standing Rock and
constituent Meetings for a climate change project.
DAPL, Burlington Friends Meeting
Friends shared ideas as follows:
We Stand Together
—Applications to NEYM are due by November 1st.
—Cutting trees, planting fewer trees would expand potential for solar receptors.
—In the 1960s a dozen elms had to be cut down.
—“Peaceable Kingdom” paintings by Edward Hicks almost always showed William Penn underneath the Elm
Tree making a treaty with Native Americans. We have
the great, great, great, grandchild of that tree in our
garden.
—A well-thought-out proposal for solar by Will Peery
should be considered.
—Solar receptors could be installed in the northwest
corner of the gardens.
—At the Fletcher Free Library a traveling Smithsonian
exhibit explores human origins and what it means to be
human.
—Using electric cars and cutting long-distance trips are
ways for individuals to cut carbon emissions.
Other related concerns
Appreciation was expressed for the Black Lives Matter sign which has been displayed outside next to the
Quaker Meeting sign. Appreciation was also expressed
for the Minute on Racism sign which is framed and displayed inside the entry to the Meetinghouse. It was
strongly urged that Quakers act quickly to bring attention to the new Trump travel ban which is anti-muslim
3
The remaining Water Protectors burned their Sacred
Stone Camp at Standing Rock Wednesday, February 22,
2017. One hundred and fifty marched away to drums and
singing as others were rounded up and arrested for failing to vacate the camp. With the Trump Administration
having instructed the Army Corps of Engineers to facilitate completion of the 1,168-mile Dakota Access Pipeline
(DAPL) without the need for any additional Environmental Impact Statement, machinery is in motion to
complete the last segment, making it possible for half a
million gallons of highly volatile petroleum a day to pass
under the Missouri River and down to refineries in
Louisiana for eventual export.
Over the past year, tens of thousands of protestors
from 200 indigenous nations and others camped around
Lake Sakowin, comprising a human blockade that attracted global media attention. The legal battle continues, focused on the question of whether a presidential
executive order can nullify a previous determination that
an EIS is required. The treaty rights of the Sioux, repeatedly violated over the last century and a half, are at
stake once again.
Rarely have issues of racial and social justice, our colonial past, and the climate crisis combined so powerMarch 2017 business, next page >>
Burlington Friends Meeting • April 2017
>> March 2017 business, from page 3
fully and called for a response by Friends. Sacred Stone
Camp contained the largest gathering of indigenous
people in a century. DAPL endangers the only source of
tribal water for drinking, irrigation, and livestock. It bisects traditional Native American territory on which are
located graves and other sites of cultural importance to
the Standing Rock Sioux. At risk is the drinking water of
20 million people downstream. Pipelines leak. In
December 2016, a spill took place 150 miles away that
discharged 4,200 barrels of crude oil, with 130,000 gallons ending up in Ash Coulee Creek.
The Great Sioux Nation, of which the Standing Rock
Tribe is a part, has been oppressed by the United States
government for 150 years. Seeking peace in 1868, the
Sioux signed the Fort Laramie Treaty guaranteeing them
a portion of their traditional homeland in perpetuity.
When gold was discovered, Congress ignored the treaty
and sent in the Army under George Custer, leading to the
Sioux defeat of 1877 and their loss of the Black Hills. In
1890, under the Dawes Act, Congress broke up the remaining communal lands and tribal governments, creating individual allotments in an effort to transform a
nomadic people into sedentary farmers. Land outside of
the allotments was turned over to white homesteaders,
and the tribal land base shrank again. When Sioux protested through a religious revival, 300 were massacred at
Wounded Knee. Yet the Sioux at Standing Rock endured,
building new lives based on orchards, fields, and pastures. But in 1958 the United States seized their land yet
again, flooding it to create the Oahe Dam and Lake. Now
it is Energy Transfer Partners, supported by state law
enforcement and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, that
is pillaging the Sioux lands.
This time they must not stand alone. Their protest is
aligned with the climate justice movement, a growing
awareness of racism in dominant society, and emerging
Native People’s solidarity across the hemisphere. For us
as Quakers, it also speaks to:
—Our long-standing concern with the integrity of our
relationships with indigenous peoples.
fense of their lands, civil rights, and environment. Ask
that Burlington Monthly Meeting make an additional organizational contribution to the individual contributions
to this Friends Concern.
—Support Friends from our Meeting and throughout
New England Yearly Meeting who are led to demonstrate
solidarity with our Standing Rock brothers and sisters
through participation in nonviolent direct action in opposition to this continuing disregard for Sioux treaty
rights and the resulting serious environmental impacts.
—Ask individuals and Meetings to continue to contact local and national legislators and the President, urging them to stop this violation of indigenous treaty
rights and this assault on our environment through the
extraction and shipment of shale oil.
—Approved by Burlington Monthly Mtg., March 12, 2017
Friends suggested that the above Minute be publicized in the Northwest Quarter. The Treasurer says we
have some funds to give to this concern, and in addition
to hold the Friends Concern open for individuals to contribute.
Ministry & Counsel—Linda McKenna
A preliminary State of Society summary was read by
Linda McKenna and will be sent out on the Meeting listserv, with additional suggestions from today’s Meeting
for Business, 3-12-17. Friends were asked to read it in
advance and to be prepared to approve it at the April
Monthly Meeting for Business.
Presentation of the letter from Ministry & Counsel
approving Abby Matchette’s request for membership.
Friends celebrated and approved Abby’s membership.
Tom Sharpley’s welcome celebration will be announced.
A letter was read which was written by the Co-Clerks
of BFM to accompany Ruah and Louis on their trip to
visit the Rev. Eric Manning of the Emanuel A.M.E.
Church in Charleston, S.C. (see March 2017 newsletter)
Gifts & Service—Jean McCandless
The Gifts & Service Committee is struggling to find
—Our New England Yearly Meeting’s August 2016
enough
Friends to serve on the various BFM committies
Minute on White Supremacy that calls on us to engage in
and
asks
that Friends hold the Committee in the Light as
the introspection of our personal and collective behavior
it
tries
to
find the best way to organize overcommitted
as a colonizing people.
Meeting committees and committees supporting wider
—The November 3, 2016 New England Yearly Meet- Quaker groups.
ing Public Statement, “A Call for Prayer and Support for
Announcements:
Standing Rock.”
NEYM Young Adult Engagement Program
In response to the urgency of this situation, the
partnership
accepting applications. The following letter
Peace, Justice & Earthcare Committee asks that Burlingwas
received
from the program’s coordinator Hilary
ton Monthly Meeting take the following actions:
Burgin:
—Maintain our Friends Concern to raise funds for
the Standing Rock Sioux to assist them with the legal deMarch 2017 business, next page >>
Burlington Friends Meeting • April 2017
4
>> March 2017 business, from page 4
Dear Friends,
The Young Adult Engagement Program partnership
is accepting applications starting April 1, and going until
July 15. This is an opportunity for your Meeting or Worship Group to work intensively with NEYM staff around
outreach to and engagement of young adults over the
course of the year, with regular visits and resources
provided by NEYM staff.
For more information, the NEYM website has news
at: <https://neym.org/young-adult-friends/news/
helping-your-meeting-engage-young-adults>.
We hope you will consider applying! If you have any
questions please reach out to Hilary Burgin, NEYM
Young Adult Engagement Coordinator, <hilary@
neym.org> or 978-760-0116.
In Peace,
Hilary Burgin
Young Adult Engagement Coordinator
Canadian Singing Intervisitation—David Millar
of Montreal Monthly Meeting is arranging for a singing
intervisitation with Gretta and Jacob Stone and other
Vermont Friends April 29th and 30th. Burlington
Friends are invited. Jacob & Gretta will travel from
Plainfield, Vermont, to Quebec City Friends to facilitate
singing with Friends Youth Choir there on Saturday
April 29th. The following day they will travel to attend
11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship at Montreal Friends
Meeting.
There is considerable interest in “exchanging”
(singing in turn) with the youth choir in Quebec City.
Pastor Msata Lubungula is very eager to invite Vermont
Friends to Quebec City. Are there Friends in Burlington
who would be willing to make a three-cornered trip from
Burlington to Quebec City to Montreal and back again?
With advance notice, David will arrange for hospitality
and meals in Quebec City for all who would like to attend. It is also possible to make it a day trip and take a
short drive on the 30th to attend Meeting for Worship at
Montreal Friends Meeting.
FCNL lobbying visit story
DURING OUR FCNL LOBBYING VISIT in Sen.
Bernie Sanders’s office in Burlington recently we each
told a story about why we feel strongly that increasing
Pentagon funding is a terrible idea. The office staffer requested that we write down our stories and send them to
her so she can forward them to Bernie. She said that
facts have less effect in the new Administration, but legislators can still be influenced by stories. Bernie will use
our stories reading them on the floor or in committees in
appropriate situations.
We then asked if Senator Leahy and representative
Welch wanted our stories when we were in their offices.
They were also interested so we have sent them to all our
reps. Anyone who feels called to help out can send their
rep a story as well. The more the better. Also it is very
helpful if you can encourage your friends who live in red
states to call and write to their members of Congress.
I am enclosing my story as an example:
No increase in Pentagon funding
Lobby visit story 3/22/2017
When I was in 8th grade in 1961, I went on my first
peace march with Joan Baez and many other anti-war
activists. We walked for three days from Palo Alto,
California to San Francisco. I remember people yelling
obscenities and throwing eggs and tomatoes at us from
their cars. I also remember the severe nausea I felt as
we walked past the military cemetery—miles and miles
of lawn with small white sticks placed for each of the
thousands of soldiers who had died in WWII.
I had never really thought seriously about war before then, even though I knew that my parents had escaped from Nazi Germany and had always told me that
military force was wrong.
As I walked I proudly carried a sign that I had
made with two people standing facing each other each
with a fully drawn bow pointing the arrow at the other.
Below the drawing I wrote, “Does pulling the bow
string harder make them safer?” On the other side of the
sign I had written, “Stop nuclear armament.” It was
Peace Justice & Earthcare announces Nonviolent unbelievable and terrifying to me that adults could be so
stupid as to think that making more bombs would make
Communication groups to start March 26, 2017, 9:00them safer and that war was a way to resolve conflicts.
10:30 a.m. in the Meetinghouse.
I felt like I couldn’t trust adults to keep me safe any
Appreciation was expressed for Charles Simpson and more.
the issues he brought up during his campaign for City
Now there is a new budget that proposes massive
Council. Appreciation was also expressed for Helen Head
increases
to Pentagon funding while cutting programs
and her work in the Vermont Legislature.
that support human needs and promote peace. We can’t
Meeting for Worship for Business ended with a molet this happen. Please vote against all increases in milment of silence. •
itary funding.
—Catherine Bock
Charlotte, Vermont
5
April 2017 • Burlington Friends Meeting
Resources for action from PJ&E
As a Meeting we are very small, but our political
situation requires a huge number of people to act. If
everyone in the Meeting joins in resistance on the
issue that is most important to them, we can have
Recent events at BFM
an impact.
Here is a list of some of the groups who are
organizing actions:
1. Sign up for action alerts from the Women’s March
organizers: <http://resources.womens-
march.com/#f=Stay+Involved>
2. Moveon has weekly calls with action suggestions: <https://act.moveon.org/survey/
readytoresist>
3. Climate actions through 350.org: <https://
350.org/campaigns/>
4. We all know about the Peace & Justice Center
in Burlington, but I’m including their calendar
just in case: <http://www.pjcvt.org/get-involved/events/>
5. You can sign up with Friends Committee on National Legislation to get action alerts and instructions on what will be most effective:
<http://act.fcnl.org/ signup/one-action-everyweek/?_ga=1.67296661.547182460.1465518921>
6. American Friends Service Committee has actions
as well: <https://www.afsc.org/actioncenter>
7. Our Revolution, a movement continuing
Bernie’s campaign goals: <https://ourrevolution.com/issues/>
8. Indivisible, a practical guide for resisting the
Trump agenda: <https://www.indivisibleguide.
com/web>
9. Actions with humor from Michael Moore
<http://michaelmoore.com/10PointPlan/>
10. National Resources Defense Council. One of
my favorite groups to support. They also have
action alerts: <https://www.nrdc.org>
11. Sierra Club. More actions <http://sierra
club.org/take-action>
12. And this is interesting about voting: <https://
www.rockthevote.com/get-informed/elections/>
This should get you started….
—Catherine Bock
Peace, Justice, & Earthcare
Burlington Friends Meeting • April 2017
6
Ruah and Louis visit Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, S.C.
LOUIS COX AND RUAH
SWENNERFELT recently returned from travels in the South
that included a visit with the Rev.
Eric Manning, the new pastor of
the Emanuel African Methodist
Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in
Charleston, S.C. This was where a
horrific mass shooting two years
ago by a professed white supremacist took the lives of nine
members of the church, (including the pastor) now known as the
“Mother Emanuel Nine.” In their
45-minute sharing, they and the
new pastor opened the possibility
that their two faith communities
can work together against hate
crimes and help to heal the
wounds of racial injustice.
“Our hearts have been very
heavy with the news of what has happened to the
nine beloved souls of your congregation,” began a
letter that Burlington Friends wrote to the Emanuel
A.M.E. Church in July 2015 in response to the shooting. “Several in our midst have close ties to people in
Charleston. Please know that Burlington Friends
(Quakers) are holding you in the Light of Christ and
are grieving along with you.” In that letter our Meeting also pledged to work on the issues of racism within
ourselves and within our community. Since then we
have taken some measures to live up to that pledge,
knowing we have much more to do.
BFM had carried out in the almost two years since
that tragedy.
On Monday, March 20 they were warmly welcomed by the Emanuel church secretary, Cathy, who
gave them a booklet about the tragedy. She also gave
them two bracelets that included the names of the
victims and the words, “Only love can conquer hate.”
In the booklet they learned that, “some relatives of the
Mother Emanuel Nine have expressed forgiveness.
Others have not. If it were not for the sincere expressions of forgiveness this hate crime would have been
just another attack on an African-American church.
Louis had felt particularly touched by the tragedy; But the unexpected expression of forgiveness speaks
he not only had grown up in Charleston but had atto the core of our belief as Christians.”
tended the Citadel Square Baptist Church just around
It was a rich exchange of getting to know one anthe corner from the Emanuel church. News of the
other and exploring ways Burlington Friends Meeting
shooting brought back memories of a spring day in the
and Emanuel A.M.E. Church might stay in contact.
early 1960s when he and others had watched from the
The Rev. Manning expressed appreciation for their
Citadel Square parking lot as a large group of Africanreaching out and wanted to find a way for his church
Americans filed out of the Emanuel church to begin a
to reciprocate. He said that he knew it was time to
nonviolent civil rights march in downtown Charleston.
reach outside of the congregation to people in other
During their years of visiting his late parents, Ru- denominations and faiths, but he wanted to move
ah and Louis had often worshiped Charleston Friends, gently with the congregation, since many of them were
and it turned out that one of the Meeting attenders
still in much distress.
had been a co-worker of one of the Bible-study class
Burlington Friends will continue to reach out to them.
members slain at the Emanuel church. Since they had
Maybe someday others from our Meeting will be welplans to be back in Charleston in March of this year,
comed as Ruah and Louis were by Emanuel church
they asked for a letter to be written by the BFM clerks,
members and that those from Charleston will come
introducing them and outlining some of the steps
visit us. We have a lot to learn from them. •
7
April 2017 • Burlington Friends Meeting
Burlington Friends Meeting
173 N. Prospect St.
Burlington, VT 05401
April 2017
Burlington Friends Meeting events—
all at the Meeting House unless noted
Date
Event
Each Sunday
Meeting for Worship—11:00 a.m.
Contact/Committee
Ruah Swennerfelt, 425-3377
Linda McKenna, 879-4307
Each Wednesday
Midweek Worship—noon
John Sharpless, 871-5195
2nd & 4th Sundays
Children’s program—10:45 a.m.
Abby Matchette, 765-618-8936
Each Sunday, on request
Childcare during worship and other
Meeting events
Louis Cox, 425-3377
April 9, 2017
Meeting for Business—12:45 p.m.
Jeanne Plo, 233-6377
April 22, 2017
World Without War conference
Robin Lloyd, 355-3256
9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in Winooski, Vt.
June 11, 2017
All-Mtg. picnic with First Day School
Abby Matchette,
765-618-8936
Send newsletter submissions to Louis Cox <[email protected]>
8
Check out our public calendar of Meeting events and gatherings at:
the Burlington Friends Meeting website: <www.burlingtonquakers.org>