New England Friends Women
United Society of Friends Women
Winter (February) 2004
Message from your Clerk
Dear Sisters of the Seed,
I woke up this morning and it was 5 degrees. Winter in New England can be spectacular with sledding, fires burning, snow shoeing. I too, have felt excited when the air tingles, but today the cold is paralyzing. At 6:30 am an early gloom wafted out my window. I couldn't drag my feet out from under the quilt. Then I watched the pattern of frost emerge on the storm window outside. An opaque haze turned to beauty as the sun bounces and sparkles off the frozen water. The curves of crystals on the pane looked like a geothermal map covering an ancient river shoreline. Individual crystal drops, some as big as a fingernail (that is a pious fingernail, not an inch-long painted nail) drew my breath away. Did you ever see how similar an ice crystal is to the twinkling rays of Venus in the evening sky?
Winter is only a stage in life. But it's a strict mistress. Feel the power of its steely grip: earth unforgiving as iron, gurgling water arrested by the vice of ice. Many trees hibernate and mammals bury deep in dens. Insects go into suspended animation. But many creatures don't survive. Death hovers closely at our shoulder. I hear friends' stories: someone falls and breaks a hip, children without heat, another's unsuccessful surgery, an aggressive cancer recurring. What can I do? I can stay in bed with my protective quilt enveloping my body. (and there's a time every night for that).
Or I can tremble. Now this is the earthshaking fact. I shake more because of fear than because of cold. Thich Nat Hahn's teachings on mindfulness remind us to only see cold as a sensation. It's cold, feel it, note it, keep your mind apart. The cold shouldn't touch our spiritual life. As we shiver, are we just as aware of how great it is to be alive?
Now there's two types of quaking. One is how we quake while afraid of death reigning supreme. God's beauty includes death, but I'm not wise enough to understand how. My eyes have too many scales to appreciate death.
Second is when we quake in the power of our Lord of Love. Winter is a tough season. But as Quakers we aren't daunted. We find ways to rejoice in these dark nights. The song repeats Fox's writing 'Sing and rejoice, ye children of the day and of the Light'. For the Lord God is at work in this thick night. God is more magnificent and penetrating than an arctic storm. Winter may bring discomfort, gripping pain, or loneliness. But when fear of pain racks my mind, then I need to find a small seed of God. Pain is temporary; Love is eternal.
Meg is a diabetic nurse in Dorchester who is loved by her patients. The story goes that she had a homeless patient whose sole possessions fit into two shopping carts. She was overweight, unkempt, without showering for weeks. She came to see Meg every Friday to check on her diabetes. She'll wheel one cart up the street, leave it by a parking meter, then shuffle back the block for the second cart. Meg would give her patient clear attention, as much as she gave the patient in a three-piece suit. She listened to the women's complaints and disjointed stories. Meg gave her encouragement. After the patient left, she'd open her window to clear out the smell.
Soon other nurses and doctors would see these same two shopping carts parked outside the clinic a few days a week, not just Fridays. She'd ask to sit in the consultation room where she saw Meg. Meg wasn't even working that day. She wanted to be in the room where she was listened to, and where she felt hope. It was Meg who carved the way, and the patient found God's presence even without Meg. She sought that calm seed of Love in her chaotic and wintry life. How could we survive the winter without God in our life? Can we honor Love and divine Truth without denying pain?
In this dark time of year, I also want to thank some special rays of light. My thanks go to Clarabel, Dorothy, and Marian who have been supportive and responsible as our executive USFW team. I was personally moved by Christine Wozich's witness (see Fall newsletter) in court. She is a justice warrior. Can she both testify facts to the judge as well as testify to Christ's truth? Kathy Mulhern's article on the book of St. Francis was printed up in the USFWI Advocate bulletin. Yeah! Grateful prayers for Darcy Drayton who works to help Kenyan impoverished families while going through the FUM bureaucracy. Another beam of light shines from Sukie Rice and Sharon Salmon who continue to work with Kakamega USFW orphans. Pray for people to come forward to do the next workcamp in Kakamega. Special thanks to Ann Armstrong who patiently puts together this newsletter 3 times a year, and holds our community together.
Minga Claggett-Borne
Presiding clerk
It is also time for the annual request for dues from our at-large members. The dues are two tiered: $8 to cover the cost of the NE newsletter and dues to USFWI, or $18 to cover the above and a subscription to The Advocate, the bimonthly publication of United Society of Friends Women International. We really encourage all of you to get The Advocate since it is a great source of inspiration and information about Friends women around the world. Of course contributions to the general fund of USFW of NEYM are always welcome.
Please support NEYM USFW. Send your contribution today.
Checks should be made out to USFW of NEYM and sent to:
USFW treasurer, PO Box 1401, Shirley, MA 01464
with the following information:
Enclosed total amount $________________________
Please use it as specified below:
_______ Msamaria Mwema project of the three USFW's in the north of Kenya (see next article)
_______ Contribution to the General fund of USFW of NEYM
_______ Annual dues to NEYM USFW (please specify as below)
$8 I don't want a subscription to The Advocate . If you don't already subscribe please reconsider.
$18 Please send my subscription to The Advocate to the following address:
When I was in Kenya this fall, I visited four different projects that help AIDS orphans.
God seemed to use me to help the various people who are working with AIDS orphans to find out about each other. Now they know who else is doing work with orphans, and can give each other moral support. Also, when one harvests beans they can exchange with another who has more green vegetables to feed the orphans.
The first project, I am sure you all know, is Kakamega USFW's work feeding the orphans in the provincial capital of Western Province. They can always use additional support.
The second project is in Miti moja and is called the Msamaria mwema (Good Samaritan) Project. It is under the care of women from three YM USFW's, Elgon, Elgon East, and East Africa North. Norah Musundi of EAYM North is the clerk of this project, and Priscilla Makhino of Elgon East has been a volunteer supervisor of the daily work. They have built latrines, put in a large water tank to collect rainwater, and planted any spare land with sweet potatoes and ground nuts (peanuts) to sell to support the project. All the women have copied our potluck system, so when they have monthly board meetings they all bring food to share and their own utensils. (In many African projects run by men, the cost of food for the board and utensils etc. would be taken from any funds received, as well as hiring someone to cook for them. They have with the help of a small grant from Right Sharing of World Resources built a three room building and purchased sewing machines and carpentry and knitting tools. They then found two people locally who could teach the local school leavers how to do tailoring, knitting, and carpentry. This keeps these young people from wandering to Nairobi or other big cities to look for work, where they are likely to get AIDS (it is an AIDS prevention project). Meanwhile they are taught about AIDS and how to prevent it. They are starting to sell their work, both to earn their own income as well as to give a small stipend to their instructors. In the sewing class they cleverly started by sewing up old gunny sacks and plastic grain sacks, so as not to waste cloth until they knew how to do the work. They may sell the ones made of plastic as a form of cheap raincoats! They already have done repairs for local people and have started selling nylon petticoats, which are similar to the very expensive imported ones. A number of these young people are ones who are orphans and some of the girls are unwed mothers.
The third project is done by one woman, Agnetta Injairu from Malava. It is not officially under Malava YM USFW. She lives way out in the countryside, in a place reachable only on foot or by bicycle taxi. It started with one small five year old boy who slowly over the course of several days snuck closer and closer to her home, edging nearer each time food was cooking. Eventually he snuck into the kitchen hut and hid behind the sacks of maize. (In Kenya, because smoky wood or charcoal is used for cooking fuel, they usually have a separate hut for cooking instead of a separate room in a house.) The next morning the boy came out from behind the sacks after the regular children had eaten and eagerly grabbed the crumbs of porridge from the dirt floor to eat. She has now ended up with eight AIDS orphans who she is trying to feed, clothe, and send to school. Both she and her husband have recently lost their jobs due to the mandatory retirement at age 50 which Kenya has at present. They have provided me with a detailed list of each orphan, their age, background, cost of school fees etc. Agent was overjoyed in her last letter to me that another Kenyan had given her a few tee shirts, so she had one to give to each orphan this Christmas. Imagine an American child getting very excited over getting one used tee shirt for Christmas!
The fourth project is also run by one woman, Eileen Maloba in Kakamega. She is running a basic secretarial and computer school for those who need training in order to get a job that will support them and their families. A good number of these people are those who are orphans, some of whom are trying to support younger brothers and sisters after their parents died. Eileen also has worship services with her students and times of training in living moral lives including avoiding the kind of behavior that spreads AIDS.
I would suggest that we raise funds for the Msamaria Mwema project of the three USFW's in the north of Kenya.
If some people in addition want to adopt or sponsor one AIDS orphan in either Malava, or Kakamega, I can provide them with names, ages, etc., but our first priority should probably be to aid USFW projects, rather than the ones run by individuals.
Marian Baker
After meeting for worship with Dover Friends and a potluck provided by Dover, we gathered for worship and a presentation about recent experiences in Kenya.
Sukie Rice gave a slide show depicting her two recent visits to Kakamega, Kenya.
The Kakamega USFW Conference which she, Molly Duplisea, and Sharon Salmon visited last December was based on a theme from Matthew 9, where Jesus walked through the village teaching and healing. The number of women attending (500-700 women), plus the diligence of all the women carefully taking notes of all that was shared (in order to be able to teach others in their home village), impressed Sukie. The highlight of the conference was the honoring ceremony for the chosen elders, much like a wedding and with great joy for the exemplary life each of the chosen older women has been living.
In August, Sukie led a workcamp to Kakamega. It started with attending the funeral of Edith Ratcliff, a long (4 hour) service full of grateful thanks for the ways Edith touched the lives of so many in Kenya. The workcamp then spent a week working with orphans and other children in Kakamega. Through games, knitting, sewing, artwork, playing recorders, singing, plus a harambee moving of bricks for the construction workers, they bonded with the children, making farewells difficult. They plan to have another workcamp this coming summer. Sukie is willing to present her slide show to any Meeting or group interested.
Darcy Drayton shared her experiences of her 6 week visit to Kenya this past summer.
The Kenyans are a beautiful people with quite a wide variety. The teachers and students in the Lindi school project in the Kibera slum are amazing the way they live in terrible conditions (e.g. 40 families sharing one pit latrine), yet their school gives them a sense of hope and purpose. AIDS is rampant, and there is no way to grow food in the area.
Darcy shared the importance of being careful in what we say when we are in Kenya. There are so easy misunderstandings when dealing with two very different cultures.
She is impressed with how USFW crosses yearly meeting lines, both in Kenya and in North America. It is very difficult for any married woman there to leave her husband, as she could lose her children and her land in such a male dominated society. Widows and those with AIDS are stigmatized or shunned. Children of widows or those with AIDS are doubly shunned. There is extra pressure on all women who have jobs or permanent houses to take care of orphans in addition to their own children. There are so many funerals these days, that many have stopped going to them, against their own tradition.
The Kakamega project is a shining light in the midst of such overwhelming issues.
There is need to give spiritual support to the women as much as material aid.
Present: Acton- Ann Armstrong; Cambridge- Minga Claggett-Borne; Durham- Dorothy Hinshaw, Muriel Marston, Suki Rice; Dover- Cathy Mulhern, Sarah Hubner, Barbara Sturrock, Jennivieve Westwick; Fresh Pond- Nancy Shippen; Gonic- Shirley Leslie; Weare- Marian Baker, Darcy Drayton: Visitors- Erica Saunders
Regrets received from: Clarabel Marstaller, Nell Neal, and Christine Wozich
Minga began by reading Psalm 9.
1. Introductions. We introduced ourselves and shared briefly about what is happening in our meetings and in our individual lives at this time.
2. Treasurers Report. We received with thanks a written financial report and proposed budget from Clarabel Marstaller. A question arose about whether baby-sitting costs are included in the budget under the contingency item. We decided baby-sitting costs could come from this item. The costs for the most recent mailing of the newsletter are not yet known. We also thought the amount for Cuban dues is lower than it should be. We approved the budget with the addition of $30 for the USFWI dues for our Cuban sisters, thus a total budget of $3050.
3. Publicity about how to join USFW. We approved putting something in the next New England YM Newsletter describing what USFW is and how to be a member. Sarah Hubner volunteered to do this.
4. Relationship with Kakamega USFW. By focusing on this one major project, we feel a sense of accomplishment, and it has helped bring some new people to USFW New England. We approved continuing our relationship with Kakamega.
At our next meeting we will also consider forwarding our concern for creating sister USFW meetings to the USFW International Triennial next July.
5. Honoring our older women We decided to look into ways we could best honor the elders amongst us, e.g. interviewing them for our newsletter, getting oral histories, and/or holding a meaningful honoring event .
A committee to work on the way of honoring and the criteria and process for choosing those being honored. Those appointed were Marian Baker, Clarabel Marstaller, and Barbara Sturrock. They are asked to bring back a report to our next meeting, including any budget that might be needed for this project.
6. Plans for our Spring Meeting It was decided to hold our spring meeting at Weare Meeting in Henniker NH on 2nd May. Nancy Shippen will be our speaker, sharing about her work in prison and alternative ways we each can minister in prisons. Each person present agreed to invite several other women to the spring meeting. Darcy Drayton will host.
7. Appeal for Spring Newsletter. It was decided to have the spring appeal be for a project in Kenya. We will ask Marian to suggest a project, following her travels in ministry in Kenya later this month.
8. Posters Minga Claggett-Borne shared that we have a good number of posters remaining. She had laminated some, which helps them not fade. No action was taken.
9. USFWI Triennial. Minga reminded us that the International Triennial is to be held the 8th July to 11th July in North Carolina. We will need to appoint our representatives at our Spring meetings. Questions arose as to which Kenyan women might be coming.
10. Program at Yearly Meeting Sessions We approved asking Mary Juma of Rural Service Programme in Kenya, to be our speaker this summer. She works with about 50 different women's groups in Western Kenya and is likely to be attending the USFWI triennial. (The Yearly Meeting theme is "And who is my neighbor?"). Minga will prepare an invitation letter on letterhead to be delivered to Mary Juma by Marian, so that she will have time to get a visa to come to the States.
11. We adjourned purposing to meet next on 2nd May, 2004.
Marian Baker,
Recording Clerk
Join us at Weare Meeting, Henniker NH on 2 May 2004!
Restorative Justice has done much to shift the Quaker focus away from prisons to victims. Currently the calls for comforting the victims of crime are extending into the prisons. One of the amazing and confusing phenomenon about prison life is this: Perpetrators of crimes, victimizers of society, once they are sentenced and begin serving time, often discover themselves in the victim role. Most prisoners feel themselves to be victims of an unjust penal system.
The recent prison deaths of the priest, John Geoghan, and the young woman, Kelly-Jo Griffen, are good examples of this reversal of roles. A recent Massachusetts state house hearing, held by the joint senate and house Public Safety Committee investigating these incidents, asked questions of the Department of Corrections for 5 nonstop hours about policies and practices. Shortly afterward, the Commissioner of Corrections, Michael Maloney retired and his deputy Kathleen Dennehy was installed.
At the hearing Ms. Dennehy spoke briefly about the health problems in prisons. She detailed how Massachusetts has emphasized drug treatment programs in the past decade. One of the remarks she made has stayed with me. She spoke of the increasing need for drug treatment since the state in a cost cutting move has closed many local de-tox units. She described how this has flooded the prisons with people in need of detoxification and treatment. She said they have found that once a person detoxes, the prison is often left with a mentally ill person. In her opinion the prisons are increasingly becoming mental hospitals. In other words many drug users are self-medicating their own mental problems.
At the same hearing three Quaker women were in attendance: Toby Frost, Patti Muldoon and myself. We are all members of the League of Women Voters Administration of Justice Subcommittee chaired by Patti. As part of that group we have been meeting with Newton Representative Kay Khan's "Working Group on Prisons". That group has been submitting legislation for the past 5 years to create a Citizens Review Board for the prisons. In the past the bill has died again and again but this Christmas after much individual and organizational lobbying, the bill has come out of committee and is moving on to a house and senate vote. You will hear more about this in the future.
A change is happening. In the words of the new Public Safety Commissioner: The get-tough on criminals theory of corrections has reached its limit. The idea of rehabilitation through treatment and education is returning.
Thanks be to God!
Jeanne Kinney
Peace and Social Concerns
Christmas 2003
This year the School has its largest enrollment ever. Kindergarten through to Grade 12, we have 1050 Palestinian students and a staff of over 100 administrators, teachers and support service personnel. The School offers the International Baccalaureate Certificate and Diploma to its graduating class. At least 96% of our students go on to Higher Education in the West Bank, elsewhere in the Middle East (Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan especially), Europe, and North America. 30% of our graduates take up places in US colleges often with significant scholarship help. Our School provides a comparatively happy and secure atmosphere for its students who all live and come to School in a hostile environment with many violent and life threatening events happening daily around them.
The school is valued by the community not just for its academic success, which is good but primarily for the promise of a "values led" education encouraging our young people to be confident, morally and socially responsible leaders in Palestinian society. We offer a curriculum that values spiritual growth and community responsibility. FUM seeks to bring the Love of Christ and the Good News to the lives of those we serve.
Over 100,000 US$ was distributed this year in bursary assistance/scholarship help to our students 200,000 US$ was received in donations and grants. Without your help and your prayers none of this would be possible. Thank you.
Colin and Kathy South
John and Marjorie Scott
Jacob Kuntz
This summer I experienced one of the most challenging family camping trips of my life. The weather was damp -- for three days! Clouds covered the late summer sun tempting us with a 'clearing' but rarely appearing. Coyotes roamed close to our tents at night, howling, and making our blood curdle when we were suddenly awakened in a damp, cold sleeping bag. As the vacation proceeded, family issues surfaced and as all family members were gathered, blood related as well as married relations, there was no escaping a rainbow of emotional reactions. Photographs were later developed of sullen faces half blocked by the smoldering campfire smoke that I dutifully placed in the family album with the faith that some day I would find these amusing or even funny!
The very interesting part of this vacation, that has stayed with me as a gift from God, was a very industrious beaver family we had the opportunity to observe up in the beautiful rugged remoteness of Baxter State Park. The ranger told us to be sure and go "down to the bridge at dusk" to view the behavior of this family. The story went, due to the rather cool summer up there, park campers were down in population so the beavers decided to build their lodge closer to the campground, thus at the bridge across Trout Brook. The beavers had a wonderful lodge. The 'father' beaver was busy dragging branches and mud to solidify his lodge. The 'mother' beaver was foraging for scraps of food to bring to the lodge and the 'adolescent' beavers were virtually swimming in a circle of curiosity as they listened to my husband play his flute on the bridge. It reminded me of the title to this story, the quote by Matthew Fox that goes, "A bear knows how to be a bear, but humans don't know how or what it is to be a human." Matthew Fox, a brilliant Jesuit scholar, was excommunicated from the traditional Catholic Church for his radical though that the purpose of the Garden of Eden was Original Blessing and not Original Sin. He suggests humankind has not remembered their Sacred Instructions from the Divine as to who they are and what they are to be. He goes on to explain that other creations on this planet have done exactly that, remembered their purpose. One only has to study the spirituality of the First Nation Peoples of our country to see that some cultures do understand this awesome power other life forms possess. Think of the eagle, its power, its beauty, the heights it soars, its remarkable vision, its swooping accuracy, the indigenous peoples call its name 'spirit'.
For purposes of this writing, I am including the beaver along with the bear as an illustration of God's creation that knows exactly what they are to be. They do not even think about it. They just are who they have been instructed to be, a beaver.
That day, as I sat, confused by the state of my family, I also sat exhilarated by nature, the gift the beavers gave me, to be part of Their family, to learn from them through observation. I pondered do they ever become disillusioned in each other? If they do they must get over it quickly, because they seem to be so absorbed in being beavers, building community, preparing for the overlapping circles with one another, fearing not a stranger who brings a gift, that there isn't much time for anything else. I am quite certain that Matthew Fox is right. If we are children of God, doesn't it ring true that we have inherited the genetic code of God. Is it possible that we will also have within our soul the capacity for wisdom, peace, love, beauty, creativity, balance and eternal life? In addition, might it be true that the inner light and knowing we all have might be part of that divine Inheritance and a path to becoming our true Self?
Christine Lundquist Wozich
Christian Service
8-11 July 2004
Greensboro, North Carolina
Come enjoy fun & fellowship with other USFW members!
Subscribers of The Advocate should find registration information for the triennial in one of the spring issues. Others can request a form from USFW Newseditor usfw@neym.org or PO Box 1401, Shirley MA 01464
If the following seeds flower, we may consider them further at our Spring Meeting:
1. Do we want to write a minute to the wider USFW Triennial asking our North American USFWs to consider a sister relationship with USFWs in other countries?
2. We may have 50-100 posters called A Living Stream of New England Quaker Women stored at the NEYM office. Do we have money and interest in distributing them at FUM, FGC, or within NEYM? Do we want to laminate them to ensure their durability?
3. At this point we are encouraging our sister in Cuba, Cruz Concepcion, who is president of Cuba USFW to come to the Triennial in July 2004. She would need over $1000 to travel and attend the conference. Send prayers and ideas of how to help her to come.
4. Sarah Hubner wrote a blurb about USFW in the New England Friend. Do we need to do more outreach at NEYM committee days or quarterly meetings?
Minga Claggett-Borne
Next Newsletter Deadline is May 15, 2004. Please send your articles, thoughts, graphics to:
USFW Newsletter <usfw@neym.org> or PO Box 1401, Shirley, MA 01464-1401
All are welcome to come to the USFW Meeting at
Weare Meeting in Henniker NH
2 May 2004
10:30 am Meeting for worship
11:45 lunch provided by Weare Meeting your hosts.
12:40 Program by Nancy Shippen
1:30 Business Meeting
Nancy Shippen will be sharing about her work in prison and alternative ways we each can minister in prisons.