Earlier in the week, I interviewed Lyn Pace who is the Director of Service Learning at Wofford College in Spartanburg, North Carolina. He and his students were at Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, to learn about intentional Christian communtiy as part of class on the dynamics of community in America. Pace told me “individualization” has been promoted in society and the “most successful person” seems to be the one who has the most powerful job, most money, etc… So, in essence, they become the least reliant on others. Conversely, it is interdependence between people that tends to form the strongest sense of community. People needing people. What’s more, Pace pointed out that often when someone is insulated with all their stuff, so to speak, it’s easier to overlook “the man sitting on the street” because you are so far removed from his/her plight. Note: This was our last interview at Koinonia Farm.
1/27/08
I interviewed Millard Fuller who is the founder of Habitat for Humanity. He is now heading up The Fuller Center for Housing in Americus, Georgia. The Center focuses on building houses for people in need. “Unashamedly Christian and enthusicasitally ecumenical, The Fuller Center seeks to work as a companion to Habitat for Humanity affiliates and other low-income housing providers offering financial and other support,” explains some agency literature. Fuller explained The Center has a “Heart to Heart” Program that provides labor and/or materials for low-income home rennovation projects. While there is no obligation to repay, The Fuller Center has just instituted a “Greater Blessing Program” for the recipient of the help. The homeowner has the option (not mandatory) of paying some, or all, of the money back over time to The Fuller Center. And in return, that money will go to seed another project. The ‘greater blessing’ comes when you, in turn, give, said Fuller. And Fuller has spent his life, personally, giving. In his book: Theology of the Hammer, he writes: “We must do more than talk about faith and sing about love.” Fuller, 72, told me the reason Habitat and The Fuller Center are so successful in bringing people of all faiths and political affiliations together, is that there is an innate sense everyone deserves adequate housing. What’s more, Fuller said 10% of the money used for a Habitat House in the U.S., would often pay for a whole house in India, Uganda, Nicaragua, Peru… For more on The Fuller Center for Housing, Inc., see: www.fullercenter.org. Note: It would be someone like Mr. Fuller who we would tap for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
1/26/06
I interviewed Orlando and Barbara Friesen who have come to Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, to do volunteer work the next two weeks. From Newton, Kansas, the Friesens are both in their early 80s. They are involved with the Mennonite Church’s SOOP (Service Opportunites for Older People) Program. Orlando is a retired physician and Barbara is a retired school teacher. On another SOOP trip, the Friesens worked in the Atlanta area where Barbara volunteered as an aid in a public school and Orlando volunteered at a Day Care for the chronic mentally ill. Prior to this, Orlando and Barbara worked with the government’s “Project USA.” Their work was on Native American Reservations throughout the West… Orlando said while he and Barbara had retired in a traditional sense, they hadn’t retired from “working for God.”
1/25/06
I interviewed Sean Daly at Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia. From Nyack, New York, he was here with his wife Patti to do some volunteer work. Sean is retired from the drug and alcohol field, which he worked in for some 30 years. He said the “economics” of drug and alcohol abuse are staggering. That is, there are all the medical costs associated with treating alcoholics and drug addicts. Then there are all the medical costs (mental health problems, stress related physical diseases…) of treating the spouse and children of an alcoholic/addict. The burden on society then continues with incarceration costs (drugs or alcohol play a part in a majority of major crimes); diminished productivity in the work place; drunk driving offenses… Daly said he is a big proponent of the relatively new “Drug Courts,” which have been starting up all over the country. (We researched one in Needles, California, several years ago and found the dynamics of the program to be excellent.) In lieu of jail time for first offenders with drug or alchol problems, people are referred to intensive outpatient treatment that includes regular individual and group counseling, involvement with AA or NA, regular drug screens… As a former drug and alcohol counselor myself, it’s my opinion the more comprehensive a program is, the better the chance for long-term clean time… Later in the day, I interviewed Nashua Chantal, 53. He was 19-years-old when he committed a first degree felony that landed him in prison in California. Among other things, he said a precipitating factor was drugs and alcohol. The Rehabilitation Act was in effect in California at the time. The cutting edge Act provided for a tremendous amount of rehabilitation options for prisoners. Nashua said got his high school GED in prison and completed lengthy trade courses in cabinetry, upholstery, drafting and sheet metal. What’s more, he opted for six years of extensive mental health counseling in prison to work on issues that, not only may have helped lead to the crime, but issues that were keeping him from leading a relatively normal life in general. In addition, he became quite an accomplished pitcher in the prison baseball league… After 14 years, Nashua was released. While the transition to the outside was difficult, he worked as a pipe fitter, a woodworker, and after a time, started his own upholstery business. He also played semi-pro baseball for a number of summers. And he eventually came to Koinonia Farm, where he is now living and working in this “intentional Christian community.” And from everything we’ve observed here, Nashua is a tremendous assett, no only to fellow community members, but to many of the visitors who come to Koinonia. In addition, Nashua regularly writes to some 50 prisoners. And he has helped start the organization “Peace Knows,” which advocates for peace and non-violence… The amount of lives Nashua has touched in a postive way since he’s gotten out of prison has been, well, many. However, without California’s Rehabilitation Act and Nashua’s desire to apply himself, I couldn’t help but wonder what the odds of this story coming out the same would have been? Note: A Koinonia Community member told me she had recently come from a story telling session with some area seniors. She said one of the men said back in “his day” there used to be quite a drug problem in the area. “Yeah, we was always getting ‘drugged’ to the wood shed for this, or that,” he smiled.
1/24/06
I interviewed Ann Karp who is a Koinonia Farm (Americus, Georgia) community member and graduate of Ohio’s Oberlin College, class of 2001. She said at Oberlin, there were a good number of co-ops. There were bicycle co-ops, pottery co-ops, photography co-ops, food co-ops… In each of these, students would share bicycles, cameras and other stuff, to cut costs. They also had co-ops to pool money to purchase food in bulk. This, too, saved money. (For instance, Ms. Karp was involved with a vegetarian co-op in a resident hall she lived in at the college and they would purchace, primarily, from local farms.) She said many of the students at Oberlin were quite environmentally aware and social justice oriented. That is, it takes the burning of polluting fossil fuels to make bicycles, cameras, and so on. So sharing these products only makes sense, environmentally. Also, by several people going in on buying one bicycle in America — there is more money left for social justice causes to help the poor worldwide. Note: The current issue of Sojourners Magazine has a story about “Play-Pumps” that are being installed near schools all over South Africa — where there is significant water shortages. The Play-Pump is a playground toy similar to a simple merry-go-round. But as the children turn the merry-go-round, it also turns a pump that fills a 30-foot high tank with ground water. Ingenious. Each pump costs approximately $5,000 to $10,000 and provides safe drinking water for villages of up to 400 people. Funding sources have included foundation grants, partners such as the World Bank and Unicef, and in the future… maybe some American people who have chosen to share bicycles, cameras and other stuff. Note 2: As co-ops work at Oberlin College, they could work in practically any neighborhood. In addition, several years ago we looked at the dynamics of a “Lending List” at First Mennonite Church in Bluffton, Ohio. Church members came up with a rather extensive list of kitchen appliances, lawn equipment, camping gear… they were willing to lend to other members of the church. Excellent idea.
1/23/06
America has just sent a $700 million space probe on a 3 billion-mile journey to Pluto, according to a Jan. 20, 2006 edition of USA Today. In the same edition was a story about a fight among nomads in Kenya that killed 38 people. It was a “battle for livestock” between Ethiopian and Kenyan nomads in drought stricken northern Kenya, “where tribes are desperately searching for food and water to survive.” Later in the day, I read in the A Common Place Mennonite magazine that water scarcity is a “crushing problem” in northern Africa. And much of the water that is there is not pure. This causes scores of deadly diseases, especially among children… So to juxtapose this: We’ve just spent $700 million on a space probe to Pluto (and billions of dollars on NASA missions to Mars to, among other things, see if there has ever been water on that planet); while meanwhile on this planet people are so desperate that they are killing each other over food and water and parents are watching their children die by the scores because they have no alternative than to give them impure water. This would beg the question: How far would the billions of dollars America is spending on space exploration go toward providing more food, cistern systems to collect clean rain water, solar ovens to boil water, whole village water filtration systems… for the Third World? Note: Our platform calls for ending the Space Program at this time because we think that the money could be much better spent on humanitarian causes. What’s more, right next to the article on the Pluto Probe, there was a story about space clutter making a mess of the Earth’s orbit. Part of the article reads: “More than 9,000 pieces of space debris are orbiting the Earth, a hazard that can only be expected to get worse in the next few years, according to NASA scientists.” Our paradigm with the space in the Earth’s orbit, I’d have to assume, is that its “huge.” So what’s a little “junk?” Probably the same way we percieved the vastness of the oceans — when we first started dumping “junk” in them.
1/22/06
At St. Mary’s Church in Americus, Georgia, at Mass Sunday, Fr. Clif Marquis said there was a fellow priest at his first assignment in Cleveland a couple years ago who was so concerned with the poor in the inner city that he would regularly: give the furniture in the rectory away. One of the readings this day was about the prophet Jonah and his message to Nineveh to repent, or else… After Communion at St. Mary’s, there was a time for introducing new families. I stood, introduced the family and then said I believed America was, indeed, “a Nineveh.” I explained that this day (Sunday) 24,000 people would starve to death in the Third World while we lived in relative comfort here. I also said 4,400 babies would be killed in their mothers’ wombs tomorrow (Monday) at abortion clinics all over America. I ended by saying it was time to “sell the furniture” here to keep people from starving over there. And it was time to go to the street corners of America and “scream out” as loudly and collectively as possible about abortion — so it ends. Note: The NFL Championship games were on later that afternoon. Children starving, babies being killed daily… and we’re more wrapped up in whether the Steelers are going to win or not.
1/20/06
I interviewed Chandler Thomasson who came to Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, with his wife Alice. Alice is vice-president of Habitat for Humanity in Morgan County, Ohio. (Koinonia is the birthplace for Habitat for Humanity and it’s national headquarters is several miles away from here.) Alice was here for a Habitat conference and Chandler did some volunteer work on the Koinonia Farm. He is a retired school pyshcologist and a U.S. Navy veteran who was on the USS Shangrala aircraft carrier in the waters around Cuba during the “Cuban Missile Crisis” during the Kennedy Administration. He said at the time he believed the patriotic addage: “Our country right or wrong.” And he said: “Hopefully you were never asked to kill, but if you were — you were willing to do that.” He said, however, since then his thinking has changed. He’s had children of his own and now has grandchildren. “I don’t think investing children in war is a good idea (now),” Chandler said. What’s more, he said of the innocent people that are killed that they can never be considered “collateral damage.” He said over the years, he has become much more inclined toward “peaceful resolution.” Note: With Chandler’s background as a counselor, he has worked for the organization “Passionate Friends,” which is for parents who have lost a child. And Chandler said he is convinced unless someone has lost a child themselves, there is no way they can truly empathize with a parent who has.
1/19/06
I interviewed Felix Lohitai who was at Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, to look at part of the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. Lohitai is in the Peace Studies Program at Manchester College in Indiana. (Koinonia was at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement when a group of Whites and Blacks started living and working together in Christian Community — in the mid 1940s in a highly segragated South.) Lohitai said he has experienced his own segregation. He’s from South Sudan. And he said the Arab Muslims in North Sudan were quite prejudiced toward the Africans living in the South. As a result, there was a good deal of oppression that led to a lot of poverty in the South and little access to higher education, said Lohitai. In turn, a rebel army (SBLA) started up in the South to fight the oppression, and to fight for the basic rights of those in the South. Lohitai joined the SBLA, became a Second Lieutenant Platoon Commander and fought for eight years. And up until last year, the conditions were so horrendous that world bodies and humanitarian aid agencies were starting to call what was going on in Sudan: “genocide.” Lohitai, his wife and six children fled the country several years ago and have refugee status in the U.S. Lohitai is in both the Peace Studies and Sociology streams at Manchester College. At the end of his studies, his plan is to take what he’s learned back to his country to help build as solid a base as possible: in peace. Note: We propose a U.S. Department of Peace that would help subsidize many ‘Felix Lohitais’ (from any country) to get as much education as possible in building peace at institutions like Manchester College. As I listened to Lohitai, I also couldn’t help but think if more Americans had helped finance modest “Habitat for Humanity” homes in South Sudan, for instance , more humanitarian aid in the form of food, clothing, medicine in South Sudan, more education opportunities in South Sudan… we not only could have maybe averted a war (and attendant genocide); but we could have also helped a society become a lot more sustainable. And that would be another proactive world-wide thrust of the Department of Peace we propose.
1/18/06
The Koinonia Farm experience continues… I was interviewed for Koinonia’s newsletter the “Cotton Patch News.” One of the questions: What are your views on politics and religion? Answer: “Politics should be an extension of one’s spirituality. That is, I take my spiriutality into my family, into my work place, into my politics… For instance, I am Catholic and believe strongly in church teaching about proactive social justice and environmental stewardship. As a result, we volunteer with Catholic Workers in Clevleand to help the poor, and we cut back considerably on water, heat and air conditioning to help the environment. And my political platform reflects this as well. As just one example, we’d turn the White House into a homeless shelter and create a permacutlure (organic garden, free range chickens, wildlife habitat area, wind turbine…) throughout the White House grounds. [Wouldn’t that be fun?]