Midwest staff travel to Kenya, connect with international colleagues

Forty AFSC peacebuilding and support staff from around the world gathered in Nairobi in June 2024 to build connections and strategize about global work for peace, anti-militarism and healing justice.

Participants in the Just Peace gathering agreed that the best part of the trip was spending time with colleagues from around the world, analyzing the current historic moment and sharing how social, political, economic and ideological forces impact our local communities. There were wonderful moments of connection and a genuine excitement about collaboration and continued work toward building a global, intersectional movement for peace.

The six Midwesterners included asia smith, who directs AFSC’s work in Chicago.

“The Just Peace convening in Nairobi was so generative! It was wonderful to convene with colleagues both national and international to engage in imaginative, collaborative work,” asia said. “I left the hub meeting feeling a deeper sense of connectivity and a better understanding of what work is happening around the world as it related to anti-militarism and peacebuilding.”

Mary Zerkel, Associate Regional Director for the Midwest Region, noted that we have a lot of work ahead of us responding to current genocide in Palestine and Sudan, state and non-state violence and runaway military spending around the world. She’s excited about “the generative work of building alternatives, youth work, and trauma healing as a way to move forward with love and a vision for our collective future.”

Mary said the group had fun together, too. “We shared wonderful meals, music, and the amazing wildlife of Kenya together! I left the gathering feeling so grateful that I work at AFSC, an organization that is working to build peace by bringing people together globally to build social movements.”

Sharon Goens-Bradley, Regional Director of the Midwest Region, said she appreciated how people stretched themselves, taking the time to connect more deeply with staff who spoke other languages. She noted the complex and nuanced issues AFSC staff face around the world.

She cited El Salvador, “with their new president and how he frames himself as the ‘cool’ president. He’s actually really very aggressive and dictatorial, and people are disappearing. But average people see this as a good thing because they’re not subjected to the same level of gang violence as before this president.”

Sharon said it was important to hear about challenges faced in other parts of the world because the U.S. may be heading in those directions, too. “We may not be there with the same level of repression that people elsewhere are experiencing, but it’s a very real and scary possibility because of all the stuff going on here.”

She concluded by thanking the Africa staff for their gracious hospitality. “They took such good care of us,” she said. “It’s a huge task to host an event where you have people from all over who aren’t familiar with where you are. They did a great job in helping people understand how to be safe.”

Jennifer Bing added: “Yousef Aljamal of the AFSC Palestine Activism Program couldn’t join us due to finding out as he arrived at the airport in Istanbul that his sister had been shot dead by the Israeli army forces in Gaza. He stayed in Turkey to grieve with his mother, who also lost her husband in Gaza recently due to the lack of medical care available. The group held Yousef and all those who are losing family members and loved ones during current genocides in the Light.”

For an example of AFSC work across geographies, check out this interview with Libby Chase on Defending Civic Space Around the Globe.