The American Friends Service Committee has sent $50,000 to purchase supplies for emergency medical stations, shelter and to meet the needs of those suffering amputations and other serious injuries.  It is partnering with Handicap International in these efforts.  The AFSC has designated another $50,000 to provide 10,000 meals for families in hard-hit neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, in partnership with HEKS (Swiss Interchurch Aid.)  Jorge Laffitte, AFSC Director of the Latin America/Caribbean Region, is currently in Haiti and is providing on-the-ground perspectives on the crisis via his blog.

Evangelical Friends Church Eastern Region (EFC-ER) has seven affiliated churches in Haiti with around 2,500 attenders (plus another three Haitian congregations in the Dominican Republic.)  EFC-ER's Field Director in Haiti and the Dominican Republic is William Bertrand, who served for a while as pastor for a Haitian Friends Church in Florida.  The churches are more than thirty miles north of Port-au-Prince, so their main challenges have been shortage of food, water and other supplies because of transportation difficulties.  Since they provide material aid for their communities, this is a serious concern.  Soon after the earthquake, EFC-ER sent $15,000 to Haiti through World Relief to fund three food distribution centers that are feeding 5,000 people a day and to support a 300-bed hospital with three operating rooms.  EFC-ER is posting bulletins about Haiti on its home page.

 

The agencies that both these Friends' organizations have partnered with are part of InterAction, a coalition of 150 humanitarian organizations (many of them faith-based) that offer disaster relief, refugee assistance and sustainable development with a focus on the world's poorest and most vulnerable people.

 

Now is the time to register to attend.  The program begins Thursday, March 18 at 8:00 am for Friends serving on various FWCC committees, program groups and working groups.  The general program begins at 2:00 pm.  Those registering after February 22 will pay a higher registration fee.

If you are flying in to Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) allow up to two hours to get to Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center. Local Friends are now working on plans to greet Friends arriving at the airport and downtown Baltimore.  They will direct people to public transportation that will get them close to a location where shuttle service will be provided directly to Pearlstone Conference Center. If you have any questions about getting to Pearlstone, please contact the Conference Managers.

 

When Nancy Irving, FWCC General Secretary, and Louise Salinas, Section of the Americas Associate Secretary, traveled among Friends in South America this month, they met with overwhelming expressions of appreciation for the sharing, teaching and connections they brought representing the wide world of Friends.  Nancy and Louise learned first-hand about some of the challenges and joys that Friends in seven yearly meetings are facing today. 

In a meeting of heads of, or representatives of, all six yearly meetings in Bolivia and one in Peru, the largest of these, Iglesia Evangélica Misión Boliviana de Santidad Amigos (Bolivian Holiness Mission Evangelical Friends) revealed that they have lost 10,000 members over the last decade.  Most of the other yearly meetings spoke of similar trends in membership and some church closings.  This was partly attributed to a movement towards other evangelical and Pentecostal churches in the region that attract young people in particular.  An often-heard plea from both young and older Friends was for more knowledge of what makes the Friends church different.  A number of people lamented that the newer generations of Friends, generally speaking, don't know about or understand the Quaker distinctives that attracted the first Friends in these countries to Quaker evangelicalism.

Despite this, there were signs of hope and growth in some areas.  Some yearly meetings report new church plants in areas outside their traditional geographical strong-hold areas.  In Peru, growth is positive in urban areas, where younger people are migrating to, and plans exist for future 'campos blancos' here. Younger Friends in both Bolivia and Peru are taking action to broaden their internet-influenced worlds.  There are plans to hold an international gathering of Young adult Friends in 2011, probably in Peru.  

 

In both Bolivia and Peru Friends expressed gratitude for the recent Committee of Latin American Friends (COAL) sponsorship of visiting Friends from New England Yearly Meeting who spoke to youth groups, and who apparently stimulated the curiosity of many young Friends about their Quaker roots.  Appreciation was also expressed for other COAL activities, including a series of three writers' training workshops in recent years. 

 

The next FWCC Northeast Regional Gathering will be held May 21-24 2010 in residential accommodation at the University of New Brunswick's Fredericton campus. We will be posting a program and registration details on our website soon.

For now, please save the date.

 

 

 

 

John Irving Ocol, who provided the first glimpses of the flooding experienced by Friends here last September, created a video as a gesture of appreciation for Friends who supported relief efforts for the yearly meeting with financial contributions.

John writes:


To view the video, visit www.youtube.com and search for "Thank You Quakers" or simply click here.

 

Save the date!

FWCC's Asia West Pacific Section meets every three years. Its next meeting will be March 26-April 3 at Maryhill Retreat Center, near Paisig, Philippines.
 
Don't be put off by scenes of flooding. Executive Secretary Valerie Joy assures us that it will be the "dry season" and that the retreat center is on a high mountain!  More than 20 Friends from other Sections attended the last meeting in Bhopal, India, and Asia West Pacific Friends are hoping for many visitors. Information will be linked to from the Section of the Americas website when it becomes available.