Acting in Faith

Connecting Friends to the work of AFSC  Subscribe

A blog published by the

American Friends Service Committee (logo)

In Gaza: Dreaming with their feet on the ground
(November 19, 2012)

Gaza youth working with AFSC

Gaza youth working with AFSC

Gaza youth working with AFSC

Patricia Sellick, AFSC Regional Director for the Middle East, shares her experience working with AFSC’s Gaza team and the young people with whom they work.  She wrote this on November 18, 2012.          - Lucy

by Patricia Sellick

My first visit to the AFSC Gaza team, after taking up the position of Regional Director for the Middle East for AFSC, was in 2010. There are three overriding impressions that remain with me: I was visiting a people under siege; I was visiting a people who had just suffered a war; and I was visiting a people...

More

Church Leaders to Congress: condition military aid to Israel on human rights compliance

(November 15, 2012)

The below letter was sent to Congress on October 5th from Church Leaders including Shan Cretin, AFSC's General Secretary, as a call to make US military aid to Israel conditional on Israel's "compliance with applicable U.S. laws and policies” regarding human rights. There have been many responses to this letter, both in support and critical. I will post some of the relevant links here.               In Peace, Lucy

See AFSC's document ...

More

Addressing violence and fragility across the world: the road to economic development
(November 15, 2012)

QUNO Staff in Burundi

QUNO Staff in Burundi

QUNO Staff in Burundi

by Lucy Duncan

Thanks to Andrew Tomlinson, Director of QUNO-NY, Olivia Ensign, QUNO Program Assistant, and Theresa Kirby for assistance composing this post.

Security was tight in New York City as delegates gathered for the high-level meetings that marked the opening of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly in late September. There were snipers on the roof of the UN buildings, and black limousines with flashing lights crowded the streets nearby as they lined up to get through the NYPD roadblocks. 

One of the key items...

More

After the election: Answering the knock

(November 8, 2012)

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

by Lucy Duncan

After the election I remembered this quotation by Martin Luther King, Jr., from his speech Beyond Vietnam at the Riverside Church in 1967:

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they...

More

Election violence and peacemaking in Kenya: The experience of one Kenyan Quaker
(November 6, 2012)

Silas Wanjala

Silas Wanjala

Silas Wanjala

Introduction: Today we will peacefully elect (or re-elect) a president and many other national and local representatives. But peaceful elections can't necessarily be taken for granted. Kenya will likely have its next election in March of 2013. As they approach the election, tension and violence have started to take place in some parts of Kenya, especially the coastal and north eastern regions. Many organizations, Quaker and non-Quaker, are working to ease tensions and prevent violence as the election approaches. Silas Wanjala has experienced violence and its aftermath in several elections...

More