N.J. Quakers help save lives a world away

By Edward Colimore
Inquirer Staff Writer

The tiny town of Gharm, Tajikistan, surrounded by snowcapped mountains, is still feeling the aftereffects of a civil war that killed more than 50,000 people a decade ago.

Trenches and earthen fortifications scar the high ground overlooking the Rasht Valley, and unexploded cluster bombs are claiming lives - often those of children who pick up the softball-size munitions.

Thousands of miles away, in Woodstown, Salem County, Frank Lenik, a Quaker and former Peace Corps volunteer, knew of the plight of the people there and wanted to help.
In his work as a surveyor, Lenik uses magnetic detectors similar to those utilized by United Nations contractors to locate and dispose of abandoned munitions.

So, when he saw the manufacturer of the devices offer a deal, Lenik went to members of his Woodstown Quaker meeting to raise money to purchase some.

Today, three detectors - two bought by the Quakers for about $1,500 and a third donated as part of a deal with the manufacturer - are being used under U.N. auspices in Tajikistan. And Lenik, his fellow Quakers, and others are raising money to buy more.

"From one small corner of New Jersey, we can reach around the world and send some good, positive energy," said Lenik, 48. "Fifteen hundred dollars is a small amount of money to do so much good."

U.N. officials say unexploded munitions are common in dozens of countries - wherever war has broken out, from Tajikistan and Somalia to Lebanon and Laos.

What's uncommon is getting equipment through private citizens to help dispose of them.

"I've never heard of a group doing this," said Richard Kollodge, a spokesman for the U.N. Mine Action Service, who took reporters to Tajikistan in June to acquaint them with the cluster-bomb problem.

"Countries acquire this equipment, but Tajikistan has a tight budget and can't afford them," Kollodge said. "This is a godsend."

To read the full article from The Philadelphia Inquirer, click on:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/12274791.html

A Valentine’s Day Tribute: The Things They Do for Love

by Olga Bonfiglio

Americans are largely unaware of the vastness and lethality of U.S. nuclear weapons stockpiles, say Sisters Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson, the three nuns who did time in federal prison for breaking into the N-8 Minuteman missile site in October 2002.

Now that the sisters are all back from prison, they spent some time with me to explain how their religious commitment and civic duty led them to become activists for nuclear disarmament.

In 1978 after Sisters Ardeth and Carol first heard Helen Caldicott’s message on the dangers of nuclear weapons, they decided to work for the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign in Michigan, their home state. At the time, Michigan held the sixth largest cache of nuclear weapons in the country. The two sisters helped to organize a statewide ballot initiative for the Freeze in 1982, which passed at 56 percent.

They continued to work to free Michigan of all nuclear weapons until the Defense Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) inactivated the Wurtsmith Air Force Base near Oscoda in 1993 and the K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base near Marquette in 1995.

Continuing to feel the intensity of their call to eliminate nuclear weapons, Sisters Carol and Ardeth then joined Jonah House in Baltimore and became members of Plowshares. The worldwide peace organization spotlights the dangers of militarism and weapons of mass destruction through symbolic acts like their blood-spilling on the N-8 missile site.

To read the full article from CommonDreams, click on:
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02/14/7048/

Upcoming Events

The first Agape of 2008

Sunday 17 February 4.30 pm at Kildara Centre, rear 39 Stanhope Street, Malvern

Rev Dr Merrill Kitchen
(Principal of the Churches of Christ Theological College)

will speak on

The Politics of Holy Week:
The Journey to Jerusalem,
Then and Now

Palm Sunday
16 March 2 pm
Stop the War Rally and March
State Library

April Agape
Sunday 20 April 4.30 pm at Kildara Centre, rear 39 Stanhope Street, Malvern

Jill Jameson
(Member of an international Buddhist Peace Fellowship Team to Burma and Thailand)

will speak on

Faith and Struggle in Burma

Our World in Crisis? Interpretations and Responses

Tuesday 29 April – 1 July, 5.15 pm:
Our World in Crisis? Interpretations and Responses. This 10-week course will cover Climate of Change, World Economy, Poverty or Development, National or Human Security, Energy and Climate Change, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and Afghanistan, Clash or Dialogue of Civilisations, Human Rights, Democracy and UN Reform, Race and Culture in Australia, and Australia and the World. Venue: Australia Volunteers International, 88 Kerr Street, Fitzroy. Principal lecture is Prof. Joseph Camilleri. Fees $550 (Institutional), $450 (Individual), $295 (low income). For further information contact Craig 0400 422 022, email: owic2008@wachy.com ; website: http://www.josephcamilleri.com/owic

Putin says 'new arms race' has begun

David Blair, London
February 10, 2008

PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin declared the onset of a "new arms race" on Friday and vowed to expand Russia's military strength to ward off predatory foreign powers.

In a televised address to the State Council in Moscow, Mr Putin delivered the belligerent rhetoric which has become his hallmark. Appraising global events, the President said: "It is already clear that a new phase in the arms race is unfolding in the world."

He added that "no steps towards compromise" had yet been made on America's plan to station a missile defence shield in Europe. "There has been no constructive response to our well-founded concerns," said Mr Putin. Consequently, he has vowed to modernise Russia's armed forces.
"We are being forced to take retaliatory steps. Russia has and always will have a response to these new challenges. In the near future, Russia will start production of new weapons systems that will not be inferior, and in some cases excel, those held by other countries."

This was necessary to defend Russia from unnamed foreign powers who, he claimed, were bent on controlling the world's natural resources.

To read the full article for The Age, click on:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/putin-says-new-arms-race-has-begun/2008/02/09/1202234227114.html

Papua New Guinea: Waking Up Finally to the HIV and AIDS Threat

By Kevin Pamba

MADANG, Dec 5 (IPS) - When the new government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) set up in August a separate ministry devoted to containing HIV and AIDS in this Pacific Island country, it reflected the enormity of the threat to its six million people.

The government also increased funding for the fight against HIV and AIDS in its 2008 national budget passed on Nov. 20 from 12 million Kina (3.7 million US dollars) in 2007 to 15 million kina (4.6 million dollars).

Yet, this response is being seen as coming too little too late. Experts have been warning PNG of a sub-Saharan Africa-like AIDS epidemic for a decade now, but the government and the public took little notice.

According to the National AIDS Council’s ‘2007 Estimation Report’, released in August, as of December 2006 there were 4,017 people who tested HIV positive, a 30 percent increase from 2005, bringing the cumulative number of diagnosed cases to 18,484.

The council also reported that "the revised estimates indicate that the national HIV prevalence is 1.28 percent among adults aged 15-49 years.’’

Many believe that PNG should be doing far more if it is to win the war against HIV and AIDS. For a start it could stop marginalising people already living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs) says Joe Egu, a well-known campaigner in the country.

To read the full article from IPSNEWS, click on:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40348

Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Letter of Support for Fr. John Dear's Nomination for Nobel Peace Prize

Archbishop Desmond Tutu
In support of The Reverend Father John Dear, S.J.:
Nobel Peace Prize 2008

Dr Leo Rebello, World Peace Envoy from Bombay, India and Dr Charles Mercieca, President of International Association of Educators for World Peace, USA have nominated the Reverend Father John Dear, SJ for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize.

I commend Father Dear to you and support his nomination.

Fr John Dear is a Jesuit priest who has been in the forefront of the religious peace movement in the United States. He is the embodiment of a peacemaker. He has led by example through his actions and in his writings and in numerous sermons, speeches and demonstrations. He believes that peace is not something static, but rather to make peace is to be engaged, mind, body and spirit. His teaching is to love yourself, to love your neighbor, your enemy, and to love the world and to understand the profound responsibility in doing all of these.

He is a man who has the courage of his convictions and who speaks out and acts against war, the manufacture of weapons and any situation where a human being might be at risk through violence. Fr John Dear has studied and follows the teachings of non-violence as espoused by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., he serves the homeless and the marginalized and sees each person as being of infinite worth. I would hope that were he to receive this honor his teachings and activities might become more widely accepted and adopted. The world would undoubtedly become a better and more peaceful place if this were to happen.

For evil to prevail requires only that good people sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Fr John Dear is compelling all of us to stand up and take responsibility for the suffering of humanity so often caused through selfishness and greed. I hope you will consider his nomination favorably.

God bless you,

Archbishop Desmond Tutu