FAIRHILL FRIENDS MINISTRY WORKING GROUP

Warm greetings and peace to you, Friends. We are happy to share with you our experience this last year. During the period of 2000-2001 the Fairhill Friends Ministry Working Group has continued to support the work in the Fairhill neighborhood of North Philadelphia. We have also provided oversight and nurture to peace work in the Andes, particularly Ecuador, while struggling to discern the right relationship with this part of our work.

In this report, we will be sharing our ministry of presence in Fairhill, based at Casa Amistad, and our work on Alternatives to Violence in Ecuador, channeled now through the Peace in the Andes Project.

"Ours is a ministry of presence and transformation. Rooted in the Spirit, and anchored in our North Philadelphia neighborhood, we seek to be a Quaker community, faithful to God's call to live, share and witness to peace, divine love, and service among our neighbors, the Religious Society of Friends, and the world."

Quaker Presence at Casa Amistad in North Philadelphia

The Fairhill Friends Ministry Working Group supports residents of Casa Amistad (currently one) by offering encouragement and guidance for the resident(s) daily life involvement in the neighborhood, planning and participating in activities of the community, and helping develop collaborative liaisons to support the neighborhood and the Quaker presence there.

We maintained ongoing involvement in the neighborhood life and activities, such as block and park cleanups, tree tending and community gardening. Here are some highlights:

• We maintained an active participation in our community group, The Neighbors of Fairhill.
• We continued to reach out to the tenants at the Lehigh Park Apartments. Besides nurturing relationships with individual families there, we have sought to sustain a cooperative connection with the apartment complex manager and social worker. Early in the summer of 2001, we helped the Lehigh Park Apartments management ensure the existence of a summer program for the young residents there, securing the participation of The Clay Studio, which offered ceramics classes for the apartments' children in late summer. Jorge has been a regular presence at tenants' meetings.
• In July-August 2000 we witnessed the successful the installation of the new playground equipment in Fairhill Square. This crowned years of neighborly efforts that changed not only the landscape of our neighborhood park, but its human climate -now the air of the afternoon air is filled with voices of many children playing, with parents coming from nearby blocks with their little ones, watching over them while enjoying the community's green, open space.
• In October 2000 we contributed to the celebration of neighborhood life and the installation of the new playground with a day of music, shared food, and puppetry for children. Along that time, the idea of bringing a labyrinth to the center of the park was embraced by the neighbors, starting a process that, although culminating after June 2001, brought together people from within the neighborhood and from outside, including Friends. (We invite you to come to Casa Amistad and the park at any time to walk on the labyrinth and enjoy a simple and peaceful adventure.) A great number of local organizations working on environmental and greening projects participated, sharing information with neighbors, young and old.
• In November 2000 we conducted our annual sharing in Thanksgiving, visiting more than 30 families with small gifts of fruit, acknowledging their contributions to the life of the community.
• In April 2001 we helped organize an Arbor/Earth Day celebration that involved many children and several groups, agencies working in the area. Children and adults enjoyed an afternoon of art performances that included dance, music, and story telling; many different educational displays, games, and activities; and wholesome snacks. In addition, this became a precious opportunity for many people from the community to get to know each other and work together.
• Several families harvested vegetables in our community garden and planted more. Flowers continue to bring color and beauty to the corner of Huntingdon and Orkney Streets, and the apple and peach trees started to bear fruit.

As a result of our participation in the life of the neighborhood, we have had the opportunity to serve community groups, organizations, and agencies.

• Most of our direct support has gone to The Neighbors of Fairhill, the community group that has become the voice of our immediate vicinity.
• Timothy Academy, a Baptist school, and Providence Center, run by a group of Catholic nuns, have been two of our closest allies. Other groups and agencies based in the neighborhood whom we have served or cooperated with include Concilio, CUNAD, Congreso, and Taller Puertorriqueño. In some cases our help has been to facilitate efforts at connecting youth with opportunities for community service in the neighborhood, including youth under the care of the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.
• Our engagement with groups such Philadelphia Green and the Fairmount Park Art Association has continued. Along with our neighbors, we have participated in Philadelphia Green's biannual events "Fall for your Park" and "Spring into your Park." We have continued our conversation with Fairmount Park Art Association concerning the future of public art works in the neighborhood's park.
• The Women's Community Rehabilitation Project continues to work with us around our community garden, and contacts have been initiated with the Neighborhood Gardening Association concerning its future preservation. (Two of the lots on which it rests belong to the Redevelopment Authority.)
• We maintained an ongoing relationship with Recreation Department officials, providing also support, encouragement, and our opinions to workers.
• We initiated and maintained negotiations with Philadelphia Housing Authority concerning an empty lot and a possible mural on Huntingdon and 4th Streets.
• We have been part of an ongoing dialogue between our neighborhood group and the Police Department of Philadelphia.
• Our Friend in residence at Casa Amistad has also maintained a weekly prayer time open to the neighbors as well as Friends; offered listening, spiritual guidance, encouragement, support, and respect to neighbors and others with whom he comes in contact.

Peace in the Andes Project

During the past year, the way has opened for Jorge to make three trips to Ecuador to provide AVP training in the Southern province of Loja, as well as in city capital, Quito. At the same time, Jorge has offered ongoing consultation and support for facilitators in their work, while continuing the slow and laborious process of finishing the translation of AVP materials into Spanish.

• In August 2000 Jorge brought personal donations of money from members of the working group for the AVP work in the Women's Prison in Quito, to cover expenses related to the distribution of manuals among the inmate facilitators and the cost of additional trainings. With the prisoners' own contribution of foodstuffs and labor, two workshops were held in the prison, all conducted entirely by local and inmate facilitators. (Coming from seeds planted before, Alternatives to Violence workshops had regularly been conducted there since early 2000.)
• Also during in the summer of 2000, a first AVP workshop was held in Alamor, a town in the province of Loja, near the border with Peru. Since then, Ecuadorian facilitators have continued to conduct additional first-level (basic) workshops in that area. During a visit to an eastern city of Sucua, Jorge developed a concern about poverty and access to education by children of the native Shuar people, which still persists.
• In January 2001 Jorge helped with the facilitation of a second-level workshop and a third- level (Training for Trainers) workshop in the city of Loja. Educators, leaders of women and community groups, and human rights workers were among the graduates of the T4T workshop, including a Friend from Canada, Shauna Curry. (The T4T workshop was the second one that happened in the country in little more than a year.) The newly graduated trainers undertook right away the facilitation of more first-level (basic) workshops, with the support of more experienced Ecuadorian facilitators.
• In January in Loja Jorge facilitated also two seminars on non-violent communication (one of them, a one-day training for the leaders and officials of the local peasant organization.)
• In May 2001 Jorge helped facilitate a first-level workshop for high-school students, and two second-level workshops, one in the Women's wing and another in the Men's wing of the Loja prison. (The inmates who graduated from the second-level workshops were eager to complete the T4T workshop, and plans were made that were fulfilled later during the summer.)
• During this process, Jorge has focused mostly on coaching the newly trained facilitators in Loja, Ecuador, as they complete their apprenticeship as AVP trainers. (By the end of June 2001, four of them had facilitated at least two workshops as apprentices, the minimum advised by AVP standards to be able to continue their work on their own, while two others had completed the facilitation of one workshop as apprentices.) Trainers were supported in gaining insight and skill concerning the planning, conduction and evaluation of the training process, facilitating problem solving and offering guidance to the facilitators.
• At the same time, the growth of the AVP communities in Loja and Quito was encouraged through team-building activities and discussions where members of those communities struggled with practical challenges as well with the deeper issues that embracing a message of non-violence confronts us individually and collectively.
• The international AVP community has been informed of the progress and needs of the AVP process in Ecuador.

Jorge's travels to Ecuador have continued to be an ongoing baptism of fire for him. To mention only Loja, the city and the province are the home of thousands men and women who have migrated to Europe and the U.S., escaping poverty and even misery. Poverty, misery, frustration, pain and anger stay at home, perhaps along with some hope among their relatives. During breaks between the Alternatives To Violence workshops he was facilitating in the city, he saw hundreds of men, unemployed and hungry, fighting despondence and waiting idly for any offer of work.

Following Jorge's Winter trip to Ecuador he witnessed the social explosion caused by the powers of the market and usury in the country. On his return, he was led to walk to Washington to talk with a representative from the IMF about its policies and their impact on the people in Ecuador. He completed this trip in March with help and support from many Friends and friends here in Philadelphia and along the route to Washington, who provided hospitality, companionship and spiritual support. A sizable community was formed of people who united with the concern.

Jorge has also used his visits to meet with indigenous leaders and peace and human rights workers concerned with the escalation of tensions in the country resulting from its ongoing economic crisis and its increasing involvement in Colombian the civil war, expressing his solidarity in the Spirit and his moral support for their struggle.

Collaborations and relationships have been developing in Philadelphia also, where Friends have explored the possibility of working together for the cause of peace in Colombia and the Andes region. Helene Pollock, a Friend with a deep connection with the country of Colombia, has agreed to join the working group for Peace in the Andes. Jorge has been communicating with the AFSC people in Philadelphia and in Quito. We are waiting for doors to open concerning the possibility of travelling to Peru and Bolivia to do some exploratory and ground work there.

Friends involvement in the ministry, and ministry to Friends:

• Twenty five children and five adults participated in a field trip to the "Beaver Run" Camphill Special School and Community on July 2000. We were hosted by Friends from Schuylkill MM who are connected to the Beaver Run school and community.
• A number of students from Westtown Friends School came to Fairhill for a day of community service in the spring of 2001, engaging in a refreshing and stimulating experience that also included children from the community.
• Flower bulbs were donated by a member of Newton Square MM in the spring 2001, which were freely distributed among local gardeners.
• Members of the ministry have been invited to share our good news in several settings, including Haverford QM, Chestnut Hill MM, and Haverford College
• On December 2000, Casa Amistad held an 'Open House', attended by Friends from different monthly meetings.
• In January 2001 we hosted a "Three Kings" celebration, which was an opportunity for Friends and others to worship together and share music, stories and testimonies of inspiration and solidarity with the suffering people of Latin America and Colombia. We had a follow up gathering in February, which became a special occasion for prayer and discernment.
• Our Friend in residence at Casa Amistad, while keeping his involvement at his home meeting, has maintained a regular presence at Unity Friends Meeting, the youngest and smallest meeting in Philadelphia Quarter. At the same time he has supported Young Friends community, and the Worship, Ministry and Eldering gatherings.
• Friends from several monthly meetings participated in our activities, providing direct support and becoming personally involved, enjoying their friendly interaction with neighborhood residents, developing relationships.

Some other expressions of our ministry in the world:

We continue to support the Prayer Vigils for Peace in the World. They are a rich spiritual discipline for those of us who participate in them, a public witness, and invitation to others to join the work for peace in their lives and their communities. Carried on by one of us in his travels, they have been a vehicle to minister many with our message of peace. This public exercise of faith challenges us to further reflect on our roles in the Fairhill Friends Ministry and this Ministry's role in the world.

Casa Amistad:

Casa Amistad has continued to be a place where neighbors and representatives of groups or agencies meet to talk about community affairs. Here we offer snacks to volunteers, who may also use our facilities. Here we store wheelbarrels, tools and a number of implements we use in our ministry. It has also been a place for Friends to gather, worship and nourish our faith community.

It has been used as a place of hospitality for travelling Friends and other persons visiting Philadelphia with a concern for peace and justice, too.

We continue to envision the development of an intentional Quaker community at Casa Amistad. We hope to bring this into sharper focus in the upcoming year.

Challenges:

Challenges in the neighborhood community seem to ebb and flow. We struggle to keep in touch with it as we face them. These include the dangers inherent to unsupervised children's activities, inappropriate or abusive use of public spaces, alcohol and drugs commerce and use, acts of violence, and unequal levels of response and support on the part of government agencies. Tensions exist along racial and social-status lines that are affected by these issues. As we seek to carry our witness of peace and solidarity towards all, we are tested ourselves in our faithfulness to that Light that heals and unites.

The relatively long absences from Fairhill of our Friend in residence there, as he travels in the ministry, have also tested the nature of our presence in the neighborhood. Members of the working group have been remained involved during those times. Most remarkably, we have seen that members of the neighborhood community continued to look after our community affairs on their own.

This has also added urgency to our vision of an intentional Friends community here. We hope that the growth of a Quaker communal household at Casa Amistad will ensure a stronger continuity for our presence in the neighborhood.

Ongoing discernment:

We have continued to reflect on our process and to be mindful of the need for ongoing spiritual discernment. We have sought to support each other in this effort, and clearness committees for individual members of the working group have been a precious resource. We struggled with various calls to the Spirit and various directions in which the group is being led. We continued to pray about and discern whether the Fairhill Friends Ministry should encompass all of the work of residents of Casa Amistad, which would provide continuity to the work, or whether the work should be broken up into 'projects' with working groups of special expertise recruited for each. We will continue to consider these issues until unity is clearly present. We are planning a retreat day in October 2001 to further discern our direction.

Hold us in the Light, dear Friends. Peace,

Pamela Moore
Jorge Arauz

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