Christian Peacemaker Team worker Tom Fox was eulogized in an on-campus memorial service Wednesday evening, Mar. 15, as an example of active love and nonviolence in a place of protracted conflict.

At the same time, the one-hour service celebrated the thousands of others who are working on behalf of peace around the world and remembering those who continue to suffer as a result of violence everywhere.

More than 300 students, faculty, staff and community persons gathered in Lehman Auditorium to remember Fox and others who have put their lives on the line for the cause of peace in Iraq and other countries.

Human Rights Worker

Fox, 54, was a (CPT) member investigating human rights violations, helping ordinary Iraqi people rebuild their shattered lives and telling the truth to U.S. citizens about the horrors of war. He was taken hostage on Nov. 26, 2005, along with three fellow CPT colleagues, by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness Brigade.

Fox’s body was found by Iraqi police in western Baghdad on Mar. 9, 2006, with evidence of having been tortured before being shot. The status of the other CPT hostages remains uncertain.

The service opened with a candlelight processional by current students in EMU’s (CJP) program and a welcome from EMU President Loren Swartzendruber.

Kenneth J. Nafziger, professor of music at EMU, led the audience and the EMU Chamber Singers in music, including “O Healing River,” “If the War Goes On,” “God of Grace and God of Glory” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

Peace Mission in Iraq

Fox, from Clearbrook, Va., took one semester of graduate work in EMU’s graduate-level Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, studying “strategic nonviolence” with Lisa Schirch, associate professor of conflict studies, to prepare himself for returning to his peace mission in Iraq. Schirch visited Fox in Iraq last summer and stayed in close touch with him through e-mails.

Dr. Schirch offered sample readings from Fox’s communications while a series of photos were projected on a screen of the CPT worker’s activities in the Middle East.

“Tom was my student,” Schirch said. “He was dedicated to praying for and working for peace. He wanted to tell the world what was happening in Iraq. He would want us to plead to God today to send down healing waters and wash the blood off of the sand.

“Tom would want us to continue our fervent prayers for the remaining CPT hostages James Loney, Harmet Sooden and Norman Kember, for journalist Jill Carroll, for the Iraqi people who have suffered so much and for the U.S. soldiers who are our neighbors from here in the U.S.,” she said.

Memorial Fund

Guest books were made available for audience members to sign and offer personal reflections and condolences. These will be forwarded to Fox’s CTP colleagues, who will in turn convey them to Fox’s two college-aged children.

A Tom Fox Memorial Fund for CJP has been established to support the continuation of Fox’s work through the training of additional persons in peacebuilding, nonviolent action and advocacy for social justice.

More information is available by contacting Bonnie Price Lofton, CJP director of development, at 540-432-4234; e-mail: Bonnie.Lofton@emu.edu.

How often does one modest-sized auditorium in a small Virginia city hold people from Rwanda, Brazil, Italy, Syria, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Bombay, Burundi, Egypt, Nigeria, Israel, Palestine, Pakistan, the Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Nepal, Australia, Indonesia, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and the United States?

In all, 35 nations were represented among the 98 participants arriving on May 9 at ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø, for the tenth annual gathering that brings such diversity to the Harrisonburg, Va., campus.

SPI learners, from all continents and faith traditions, have experience in peacebuilding work, including human rights and relief. Most are sponsored by home organizations. Living on campus during four sessions spread over six weeks, they will complete workshops such as “Analysis: Understanding Conflict” and “Peacebuilding for Traumatized Societies,” while sharing food, music and games as friendships form.

The opening session addressed cross-cultural communication issues with a humorous skit:

“We don

Reformation church leader Martin Luther reportedly said, “Even if I knew my life would end tomorrow, I would still plant a tree.”

A Southern magnolia was planted in front of EMU’s Hillside Suites residence May 27 as a living symbol of hope for peace in Iraq, a country devastated by war and destruction in the wake of the U.S. invasion.

Six Iraqi citizens who spent several weeks attending programs at EMU aimed at training persons to do peacebuilding, mediation work and trauma healing in areas of protracted conflict gave the tree to the university as an expression of thanks for their experiences.

The group, three men and three women, attended a weeklong STAR (Seminars on Trauma Awareness and Recovery), a program co-sponsored by EMU’s Conflict Transformation Program and Church World Service. STAR provides intensive training programs for religious leaders and caregivers to assist persons in areas affected by traumatic events.

They then participated in the first two sessions of the annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI), an annual CTP-sponsored event that offers intensive seven-day courses on conflict transformation, strategic nonviolence, trauma awareness and reconciliation, restorative justice and related themes.

“The workshops we attended were extremely valuable to our work in Iraq,” said one participant, speaking on behalf of his colleagues. “The mediation training will help us in resolving local and community conflicts, hopefully reaching out to a broader base and with more formal applications to human rights situations.

“Coming here (to EMU) gave us a new sense of hope,” he said. “The public media isn’t showing the progress being made in trying to bring stability and improved economic life. Violence will only lead to more violence. We want to take back and apply the values to help build up peace in our country.”

The delegation was sponsored by Church World Service and Mennonite Central Committee.

The SPI program continues through June 15.

Frantic banging on an auditorium door interrupted a quiet moment during the May 3 opening of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at EMU.

Once Brian Gilchrest gained admission, he ran anxiously up the aisle shouldering a huge travel bag. “I’m confused!” announced Gilchrest (actually, a student in EMU’s Conflict Transformation Program, which sponsors SPI).

He role-played an SPI participant who had struggled to obtain a visa and flight connections, as many had. He expressed relief at finally reaching EMU. (Fortunately, he noted, his taxi driver had known the way to the Harrisonburg campus because “he had a brother who was a Mennonite or something.”) Though eager to jump into peacebuilding issues, Gilchrest’s character was uncertain what to wear or how to behave in this gathering of guests from many nations.

Some of his new friends who wore garments ranging from colorful, flowing robes to t-shirts advised Gilchrest that diversity would be valued. However, they suggested that cultural sensitivity called for discretion in his habit of greeting new acquaintances with head-rubs.

About 100 participants were on hand at the start of SPI’s ninth summer, with 185 anticipated during sessions that continue through June 15. SPI learners represent all major continents and faith traditions. All have experience in peacebuilding work, such as human rights and relief. Most are sponsored by home organizations. Some, like Gilchrest, are studying toward a masters degree. Others come only for all or part of the summer institute.

CTP students Jennifer Jag Jivan, from Pakistan, and Brian Gilchrest, originally from New Jersey, do a role play on appropriate ways of exchanging greetings and other cross-cultural dynamics in the opening session of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at EMU.
Photo by Jim Bishop

Over its four sessions, they will complete workshops such as “Restorative Justice” and “Peace Education for Youth and Children.” During free hours, they share food, sports, music and culture, visit local families and churches and form friendships. Close ties sometimes form between persons from clashing nations and cultures.

This year’s attendees include five from Iraq. Mindful of recent world strife, SPI is offering two new workshops related to societies recovering from violence or repression: “Transitional Justice,” facilitated by Louis Bickford of the South African-based International Center for Transitional Justice, and “Peacebuilding for Traumatized Societies” by CTP faculty member Barry Hart.

In the Philippines, Ramon Chito Villegas Genoroso works with a peacebuilding institute assisted by the Mennonite Central Committee. He received a transportation scholarship to attend SPI in search of ways to promote peaceful change in his native country. He has enrolled in the workshop, “Strategic Nonviolence,” led by by CTP faculty member Lisa Schirch.

In Haiti, Genevieve Bonny is a peacebuilding project manager for Catholic Relief Services. Bonny sees Haiti’s recent, violent governance change as a challenge. “That gives us more opportunity to know what to do,” she said with a smile.

Her organization, affiliated with Caritas, works to meet a broad range of needs through orphanages, homes for the elderly, a microfinance program for small-business loans, and a health and nutrition program for mothers and babies. She has come to SPI for the workshop, “Introduction to Conflict Transformation,” co-taught by David Dyck, a mediation trainer from Manitoba, and Nyambura Githaiga, program officer for the Fellowship of Christian Councils in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa.

“Our peacebuilding program is one year old. The Mennonites have a lot of experience in this arena,” Bonny said. “I’m very excited to be here and I hope I’ll learn a lot.”

Chris Edwards is a free-lance writer from Harrisonburg, Va.