Yearly Meeting 2024: Preparation - part eleven
The Friend’s reports from Yearly Meeting preparation sessions and special interest meetings continues
With the historical injustices of colonialism on the agenda for Yearly Meeting, Reparations and working in partnership: the Quaker Africa Interest Group (QAIG) Approach was an opportunity to hear about some of Friends’ work in Africa.
QAIG members believed that it was important to acknowledge the past, said Lee Taylor, co-clerk of the group, but Friends needed to be working and thinking in the present. Working in partnership was also essential.
Steve Kaim-Caudle of Forward Africa Education Trust said its work in education looked to the future, too. He showed Friends some images from its work with Rwandan Quakers in lifelong learning.
Don Rowe and Sipho Nsimbi discussed Peace Works Zimbabwe, beginning with the history of Hlekweni Rural Training Centre. Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) trainers were at work setting up peace clubs in schools, where schools inspectors talked of the ‘huge difference’ the work made to a school’s culture.
Ann Floyd, of Chilterns Area Meeting, told the twenty-five Friends gathered how Chilterns Quakers had responded to the YM 2022 minutes about considering reparations. They had set up Meetings with Friends in Kenya, who talked of how colonialism had impacted their climate, resulting in deforestation. Friends Theological College, for example, needed wood for cooking, which meant cutting down trees. The president of the college, Robert Wafula, said a biogas digestor would be part of the answer, so Friends set about raising money. Ann showed the group pictures of the installation, now complete.
Summing up, Lee Taylor talked about how relationship building was a common thread in the work. British Friends certainly didn’t have all the answers, and could learn a lot from partnership. The ‘two-way nature of empowerment’ was what mattered.
Staff from Quaker Peace & Social Witness (QPSW) joined twenty-five Friends for Introducing the centrally managed peace, social witness and climate justice work of Quakers in Britain. This was an interactive exploration of QPSW’s ongoing work in campaigns, grassroots accompaniment, and international peacebuilding projects. The session, led by Bridget Holtom and Suzanne Ismail, started with participants sharing inspiring Quaker actions that brought them hope.
QPSW shared its vision: ‘Guided by the spirit, our vision is of a peaceful and sustainable future built on just relationships between people and with the earth.’ Staff highlighted their priorities of peace and peacebuilding, and sustainability and climate justice. These might seem narrow, but Suzanne and Bridget emphasised the links and overlap these have with other Quaker concerns.
QPSW’s approach involves community-led peacebuilding, partnership and movement building, skills building, education, and advocating for political and institutional change. Suzanne shared the story of a recent campaign QPSW supported against child labour in Burundi, where children were illegally working on sugar plantations. Thanks to the campaign, the children are now back in school.
QPSW’s campaigns for peace focus on rethinking security, addressing global military spending, supporting conscientious objectors, and highlighting the connections between climate change and militarism. Bridget spoke of its involvement in the DSEI arms fair protest, in which the Quaker Roots group brings a spiritually-grounded, radical, creative response.
In East Africa, QPSW engages in peacebuilding by partnering with the Africa Center for Nonviolence & Sustainable Impact and the Coalition for Peace in Africa. These partnerships focus on fostering non-violence and impactful community engagements to build lasting peace in the region.
Staff shared ways in which, through the Turning the Tide initiative, they work closely with communities to identify pressing issues and develop effective campaigns. This grass-roots approach ensures that the solutions are community-led and sustainable.
Bridget also shared an inspiring example of the Extinction Rebellion march for climate action, in which 300 Quakers joined. QPSW’s involvement included building connections and community, and these moments, while small, provide hope and drive collective action for change.
Writing by: Lis Burch, a trustee of the Friend; Rebecca Hardy, journalist at the Friend; Imi Hills, a freelancer from West Weald Meeting; Joseph Jones, editor of the Friend; Alastair Reid, a trustee of the Friend; and Elinor Smallman, production manager at the Friend.
