Cooperation
Times
Volume 13, No. 3 ~
Sept.-Oct. 1999
Over 100 area kids practiced peace this summer at the CENTER's annual Peace Camp. This year the former one- week program was extended to two one-week sessions, with over 50 children in each. It was quite an undertaking: the kids ranged in age from 1st graders to 7th graders; the kids were fed breakfast, a snack (or two) and lunch each day; a wide-ranging curriculum was offered; and all staff were volunteers.
In my class on conflict resolution I told the students that adults in our world had not done a very good job of finding peaceful ways to solve either interpersonal or international conflicts. I said there are skills they can learn that will help them today to work out problems with friends and families. These skills will also help them to resolve conflicts when they grow up and are in charge of our schools, cities, states and country.
Then the kids role-played various ways to handle problems. We talked about "you" messages, which often lead to more conflict (like, "You took my bookbag.") versus "I" messages, which are more likely to move toward resolution (like, "I can’t find my bookbag—I wonder where it is."). They also role-played an "international" conflict, in which two imaginary pumpkin-shaped countries (Bippity and Boppity-Boo) were about to go to war over a piece of land each one claimed. The children worked in pairs, with each one role-playing the president of one of the countries, so they all had an opportunity to be a decision-maker. In every class, the "presidents" came up with a creative variety of nonviolent, win-win solutions. And we had a lot of fun doing it!
The week included a lively gospel music class, a special presentation on local Native American myths and realities, and a visit from the Art Ark of the Arts Council of Topeka. On Friday of each week, the children staged a peace rally complete with placards, peace signs painted on faces, and a march around the grounds. This activity was particularly appropriate on the final day of Peace Camp, August 6, as it was on that day in 1945 that the U.S. dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.
Also on Friday, the children presented a music and drama program for their families. They sang songs like "Keepin’ the Peace" (to the tune of "Louie, Louie"!), "If I Had a Hammer," and "Walk A Mile In Your Shoes." These performances were really impressive, especially considering that the kids had only just met each other and that there was such a wide range of ages involved.
Judi Salyer did a wonderful job as this year's Coordinator. She and our crew of 63 volunteers held together an excellent week of activities with persistence and good cheer. Many thanks go to each of you who offered your time and skill—we couldn’t have done it without you!
We’re also very grateful to Our Savior’s Lutheran Church for so graciously opening their facilities for our use both weeks, to Topeka Public Housing for providing financial assistance to recruit public housing children, to USD 501 for designating Peace Camp as a summer lunch site and to all the Topeka businesses, congregations and individuals who contributed their money and products to make this annual, expanded, peace-making time for our children possible! [They are listed on page 5.]
(In addition to teaching at Peace Camp 1999, Lynn Barclay runs a business in Perry with her husband. During the 1980s she was the Director of Child Advocacy at Kansas Children Service League and was a volunteer in KCSL’s Parent Adolescent Mediation Program.)
Since 1992, Trinity and Westminster Presbyterian churches, with the support of many other Topekans, have accompanied the people of the Salvadoran village of Talpetates in the struggle to build better lives for themselves and their children. Like most people in rural El Salvador, the villagers are extremely poor. The village lacks electricity, potable water, and many other basic necessities. It suffered severely during the civil war which ended in 1992. [See the end of this article for information on an upcoming program on El Salvador.]
Topekans support the Talpetates school, paying the salaries of two teachers, helping to fund a school lunch program, and donating school supplies. The teachers supported by Topeka teach grades seven, eight and nine, making it possible for village children to prepare for high school. Topekans have also contributed to health projects in the village.
An important part of the project is an annual exchange of visitors. In July, nine Topekans visited El Salvador. In San Salvador, we met with priests, prostitutes, prisoners, environmentalists, scholars, diplomats, and peacemakers. Our understanding of the Salvadoran reality was greatly enhanced. We also spent three days in Talpetates where we visited the school and constructed a swing set. We met with community leaders, health care workers, and veterans of the war. We visited families and fields. We were impressed with the progress of the community and with the daunting challenges that it still faces. We returned to Topeka inspired and educated.
In Talpetates, villagers emphasized repeatedly that they were inspired and strengthened in their struggles by the knowledge that people in a distant land care about them and continue to reach out to them.
From December 4 to 13 two representatives from Talpetates will visit Topeka.
If you would like to know more about the Topeka-Talpetates Companion Community Project, contact Ken Cott at home 235-6790, or work 231-1010 ext.1249.
The Topeka Alliance on Central America will sponsor a rice and beans dinner on El Salvador on October 2. Speakers will be Jeanne Rickers, director of Christians for Peace in El Salvador and Juan Rojas, a member of the Pastoral Committee of Christian Base Communities of El Salvador. They will provide an update on current conditions in the country. The dinner and program will start at 6:30 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1275 SW Boswell.
(Ken Cott is a Professor of History at Washburn University.)
by Ariana Waynes
To the patriots and the activist poets, I sit here in the audience, reeling from the words of the soft-spoken revolutionaries, wondering if I should hate my country. As I am strangled by my stars and stripes, Mexican, Armenian, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Yugoslavian, Bosnian children cry for inclusion.
Would you have me forget that the blessed first amendment of these United States, that I can raise my voice to shake the world, or at least the trembling foundations of this atrocious, ferocious land that I love, but have never been exactly proud of.
Would you have me forget that when I come up on the box, check if you are black but not Hispanic?
Would you have me forget that I am African and Cuban and Jamaican and native American and Chinese?
Would you have me forget that I am all of these, that I am none of these, that I am more than the sum of the Census Bureau statistics or the stereotypes held against me, that I am the product of my everything?
...Would you have me forget—is nevertheless one of the few—in which I can speak my mind or pray to whatever God or goddess I choose or choose to refuse without being mutilated or murdered for it?
...Would you have me forget that in the mid-sized nation in Central Africa I would be the property of my husband, lord and master?
Would you have me forget that in the modern industrialized nation in Western Europe I would have to flee the country to have an abortion or a divorce?
Would you have me forget that I could be shot as a matter of course for raising my voice?!
And I pray to a God that I gave up with Santa Claus to thank her for birthing me here, where the sidewalks are paved with potholes of potential—and where else would you rather be?
I sit here in the audience reeling from the weight of internal contradictions and hysterical afflictions of patriotic asphyxiation for loving a broken nation that it’s up to us to fix. Power of the people. Remember?
At least it doesn’t take a military coup. Ask not what your country can do for you, because, you, I am tired through and through of waiting, of hating my home.
I still love my country. I guess it’s like my mama says, I yell because I care.
(Ariana Waynes participated in the recent Tenth Annual National Poetry Slam, held in Chicago. This poem was featured on the August 17 News Hour With Jim Lehrer. Reprinted from Online News Hour)
The
Phelps Came to Peace Camp
by Bridget Newman
I was cleaning up in the art room when I heard. Leaves were happily scattered everywhere—the aftermath of wreath-making with energetic children! It was my second week as a Peace Camp volunteer.
"Bridget, have you heard who’s here?" My friend Elizabeth had a look of disbelief mixed with anger.
"Who?" I asked, not knowing who could bring such a look to her face.
"The Phelps," she blurted. She said the phrase quickly, as people do, as if the words will dirty your mouth if you hold on to them too long.
I was silent. I was surprised. "Oh...." I said.
I found their presence at Peace Camp to be inappropriate. My first reaction was to go outside and ask them why they were picketing at our camp. I didn’t second-guess that first reaction.
"I’m goin’ out there, " I exclaimed resolutely.
"You’re goin’ out there?" She asked as her face broke into a surprised smile.
"Ya," I answered.
And I was out the door.
When I got outside, I was taken back by the ugliness of the picketers signs. I also noticed that the majority of the picketers were children. I approached the nearest adult.
"Excuse me sir, " I said. "Could you tell me why you are here and what your message is?"
He stood there like a statue.
"Excuse me sir with the ‘God Hates Fags’ sign, could you please tell me why you are here?"
Again, he was silent.
I saw a girl about my age a little up the sidewalk and so I approached her.
"Excuse me ma’am, could you tell me why you are here?"
She too completely ignored me.
I just stood there, not knowing whether to leave, or to stay, or just... Stand.
"J.L., don’t talk to that whore!" The man suddenly shouted.
The girl began to laugh.
The man was gesturing at me with his thumb, shouting, "Suc-cubus! Succubus alert! Don’t talk to the succubus!"
I was hurt. Words like that, regardless of their source, are hurtful.
I stood there with my arms outstretched and said to them, "Will any of you tell me why you are here???"
I faced nothing but hateful snickers, 29th street’s whir-ring cars, and those huge fluorescent signs.
Upset, I went back inside.
(Bridget Newman is a junior at Topeka High School. She is an honor student, the founder of the Amnesty International chapter, and last year's delegate to Kansas' Model United Nations. She was an assistant teacher during the first week of Peace Camp this summer and the Coordinator of Arts and Crafts the second week.)
what I remember
are the things that were shouted at the children....
at least three cars drove by tossing slurs
like bombs
at the signholders' children.
i remember young children
with grotesque signs, glowing neon -
shining hate....
i remember mothers explaining to me
that they tell their children the figures on the signs
are playing "leap-frog...."
i remember my friends telling me
of how the signholders' children
struggle to fit in, but how
their name alone scares people away.
i remember the pain
of being laughed at by a girl my own age,
knowing that normally we would be
respectful to each other, maybe even
friends, but she was holding the sign,
and I was the demon.
someday, I will remember
what I am beginning to realize now...
that hate destroys us all -
it destroys the innocence
of our children, and the innocence
of ourselves....
and that hate
in the form of words and silent signs
is not far from the fists
used to beat,
or the bullets
used to murder...
all leaving behind a lost and
bleeding innocence,
and all marring the image
of what our humanity could
and should be.
Thank You Peace Camp 1999 Volunteers!
| Laura Alford Mary Alford Susie Banks Lynn Zeller Barclay Sarah Beachey Bobbie Blocher Peg Chrisman Jessica Ciochon Dolores Collins Jessica Cook Don Crowder Jessica Deghand Chris Dorsey Carol Ferreira Anna Foerster Sally Fronsman-Cecil Gina Gambone Brittany Haley Renee Hall Emily Haury Anne Hawkins |
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