This is the third year has hosted the series of events, which includes a theater production on Monday; a “Remember the Heroines” vigil for women killed in Mexico on Tuesday; and two events on Friday: chapel with Center for Justice and Peacebuilding graduate student Myriam Aziz and Darsheel Sehbi, and the “Taste of EMU” cooking contest.

A committee from the International Student Organization chooses a new theme each year. The 2015 committee includes students Gamtessa, Brenda Soka, Winifred Gray-Johnson, Abdel Barry and Emmanuel Kampanga.

‘Sąđąšąđ˛Ô’

Monday’s performance of will be in the Studio Theater at 7 p.m. A collaboration of seven female playwrights from around the world, this documentary play is a series of monologues based on interviews with international women leaders. Directed by theater professor , “Seven” chronicles the worldwide struggles for empowerment, peace and well-being in Russia, protecting women from domestic violence; in Cambodia, with victims of human trafficking; in Guatemala, with the poor; in Afghanistan, with rural women; in Nigeria and Pakistan, for women’s education and rights; and in Northern Ireland, promoting peace and equality, according to the production’s website.

Olga Baltazar, who reads for the Guatemalan character Annabella de Leon, does not see herself as an actress. However, reading the script convinced her to join the cast. “These women rose from against all odds of their culture to fight for women’s’ rights,” says Baltazar, who is from Mexico. “I feel connected to to my character because I, for one, represent a culture where women are often put down.”

“These stories have inspired me,” says Rebekah York, a senior from Romania who plays an Irish woman named Inez McCormack. “To see that women have been supporting each other and empowering other women over the years is truly amazing. Sometimes we can feel so alone in our work, but looking at history and reading about some pretty incredible women of the past fills me with hope.”

Vogel says the “powerful piece” will be presented as a concert reading. Baltazar and York are joined by cast members Victoria Gunawan, Adila Wahdat, Dera Nwankwo and Iryna Clamp.

‘Taste of EMU’

The ‘Taste of EMU’ competition on Friday is open to all community members. To participate, contact Susannah Lepley in the Multicultural and International Student Services office. Up to $20 of ingredient expenses can be reimbursed.

“I was part of the food festival last year as a participant, but this year I’m really happy that I got the chance to help coordinate this event,” says Gamtessa, a sophomore computer engineering major from Ethiopia.

“Last year, we had to cook [for the contest] as part of my global connections class,” Gamtessa explains. “This year, we changed the name from the ‘International Food Festival’ to ‘Taste of EMU’ because we didn’t want to restrict the food to the international community. We want anyone and everyone who is willing to do it, to prepare something  which they believe has meaning to them and people around them and share it with the campus community.We hope this experience will take people down the road and across the globe.”

Senior Zoe Parakuo from Kenya competed last year with one of her favorite snacks, samosas – a savory, fried pastry. Samosas “were adapted by Kenyans when Indians settled there back in the day, so I thought a lot of people would be familiar with it,” says Parakuo. “I wanted students to enjoy my food.”

They were often the first on campus to greet weary travelers arriving from the airport in the wee hours of the night, and they were integral members of the SPI community: interpreting cultural differences during casual conversations in Hillside Lounge, sharing field trips to Valley attractions and meals at the weekly international potluck dinners, and escorting guests to activities like Salsa Night and into downtown Harrisonburg for dinner.

“Our community assistants are a great addition to the SPI community in so many ways,” said director . “They were willing workers and cultural ambassadors, of course, but also representatives to the global peacebuilding community of the socially conscious, thoughtful young people who are attracted to and thrive at EMU.”

Tyler Eshleman: practicing the art of hospitality

Tyler, a senior major from Harrisonburg, works with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s (STAR) program during the school year. Tyler has taken (STAR) Level 1 training and a graduate course in Transforming Trauma, and plans on earning a . At EMU, he is the student leader of the , which works to promote sustainability and social responsibility in food production and stewardship.

My most memorable experience at SPI is being part of the informal gatherings that people put together: going on a hike or making a meal or putting on a presentation for cultural night. I had a chance to see people from different backgrounds and cultures having a good time together, getting to know each other and teach each other, and breaking down cultural norms in the process.

Being hospitable means something different in every culture, and we had to learn to read people and be attentive to their needs, even when we are exhausted. The people who I meet at bizarre times of the night are often the people who I remained connected with throughout SPI. At first having to do this was kind of a shock and then I realized it was a great opportunity.

The opening ceremonies that started each session were really special. The participants introduced themselves and shared about themselves to the group. I found those moments to be a testament to the recognition of how we’ve shaped this community and how people are willing to share with intimacy and vulnerability.

Winifred Gray-Johnson: inspired by the dedicated work of others

Winifred is a junior economics major from Liberia. Her father Wilfred Gray-Johnson, executive director of the , first came to SPI several years ago and Winifred eventually found her way to EMU from that family connection (read about ). She had heard stories about SPI from her father but this was her first summer of experiencing it herself. Winifred is president of the .

Participants of SPI are very interested and curious about other cultures and want to share about their own culture. When you’re checking them in, the conversation starts right there. They want to know what EMU is like, what it’s like to be a student at EMU, and when they catch up on my accent, they ask where I was from. It’s not just with me. They will start a conversation with whoever is in the lodging.

To hear the amount of passion and determination is really amazing. So many people come to SPI from war zones or from situations with disasters or refugees in camps, and they have such interest and drive and hope. To see the hope they carry is really good.

It makes me very eager to do something, to work on something. All these people from all these different organizations who are doing such amazing things. There was this one man, , working with young girls in Zimbabwe and one day, I said, “Oh, I envy you, I want to do what you are doing.” There is so much variety. Anybody and everybody can impact change. It gives you that eagerness to help in whatever way you can, not just sit back.

At university, you are modeling yourself to become this person who can help society in the future. SPI has definitely helped me model myself in that kind of way. In this job, we are asked to be accommodating and helpful. I have learned how to work with all kinds of people here, both in my education at EMU, but especially at SPI. It’s one thing to say that I like everybody, but it’s another to really have to practice what you preach. I’ve left a couple of situations where I said to myself, “I didn’t know I had it in me,” or “I handled it well.” I definitely surprised myself sometimes.

Bethany Chupp: transitioning through cultures

Bethany, a junior major with minors in and , is from Canby, Oregon. Bethany spent last year as a community assistant in Residential Life on campus and also worked several summers at a camp on the Oregon seashore: in both positions, she helped to acclimate sometimes disoriented and bewildered newcomers. Bethany plans to pursue a degree in counseling, with the goal of specializing in art therapy with children who have experienced trauma in foster care and adoption.

When people would find that I’m not from Virginia, I would tell them I was from “Oregon, which is by California,” because most people know where California is. And then we had something to talk about right from the start, because with my seven-hour flight [from California to Virginia], we had travelled about the same distance to get to SPI.

I was on my cross-cultural semester to the Middle East in the spring before SPI, so I really hoped that SPI would help with the transition back to the U.S. and to campus. And it did.  At SPI, there was first a professor from Palestine and then later a woman from Jerusalem. Talking to them, it was amazing how familiar they felt, even though I didn’t know them personally. The woman from Jerusalem knew the people in the town I stayed in during my cross-cultural. She knew my host family and the places we visited, and that was really helpful.

One thing that struck me was that these people have all accomplished a lot, yet when coming into a new situation, they all have fears … they’re all new here and vulnerable. But they all found ways to relate beyond language and culture, especially I think because they are people striving for the same common goals.

It can be overwhelming to learn about so many issues that need work, but it’s inspiring seeing people working in these areas. Many are coming to the US for the first time, and English isn’t their first language, and they are struggling, but because they’re so passionate about what they’re working for, they’re willing to cross all those spaces to learn skills to help bring peace.

Rebekah York: SPI community is a source of energy, hope

Rebekah is a senior majoring in peacebuilding and development and with minors in psychology and theater. Raised in Bucharest, Romania, Rebekah  worked this summer at SPI and also as an intern with the Washington D.C. office of , a South-Africa human-rights focused development organization.

Being a part of the SPI family was an incredibly life-giving experience. There is something so unique and special about people from all over the world sharing the same space, classrooms, lunch tables and even dorm rooms. It makes me feel at home.

What I always think of when I reflect on SPI are the potluck dinners and the many one-on-one conversations. During these gatherings, people opened up and shared details about their lives. Nothing can take the place of those moments in which we sit together — sometimes in silence, sometimes just as a listener –in which the human heart is open and exposed for a short time.

I was also able to take the class with one of my most admired professors. That is not something every college student gets to experience and it was fascinating to interact with my professor in that environment. We even worked on a project together and presented it in class with another SPI participant.

If you’re looking for a place to rejuvenate your sense of hope in the world, SPI is the place for you. Solving conflict is difficult and it is easy to become cynical and apathetic. You may feel like nothing good is happening today. But during SPI, people with life experience and a true desire to bring lasting change and peace to the world gather together to learn from each other, lighting the fire of hope for a peaceful world in the hearts and minds of everyone.

But she never imagined her father’s participation in the 2009 (SPI) would so directly impact her own future. Winifred, a junior economics major, spent the summer as a community assistant at SPI – the very program that first brought her father to EMU.

SPI director knows both father and daughter. “Wilfred fills up the room,” said Goldberg. “He is very outgoing … and tall. Winifred is quieter, but there is definitely a presence that they both share.”

As a community assistant, Winifred has offered support and information to the many international citizens who stayed on campus this summer. SPI employees accompanied participants to the grocery store, and on trips and tours over the weekend. The assistants were also available around the clock should someone need help or advice.

“They are incredibly dedicated to the participants,” said Goldberg. “They are always willing to answer questions and provide help whether they are working or supposed to be off.”

Her experience at SPI this summer has further solidified her commitment to follow in her father’s path of peacebuilding work, Winifred says. “It’s blown my mind how great everyone has been. Watching the dynamics between people from all over the world, the way they connect with each other – it makes me want to do good things.”

SPI plays ‘a critical role’

Wilfred Gray-Johnson, executive director of the (LPBO), attended SPI in 2009 and 2014.

“SPI has enormously enhanced my theoretical knowledge and application in peacebuilding, which has contributed to the level of success of the LPBO,” he said. “We are responsible for coordinating the Government of Liberia peace and reconciliation programs, and lead the development of various peace and reconciliation strategic policy frameworks. SPI, having built our skills in the areas of conflict and context analysis, as well as restorative and other forms of justice, continues to play a critical role in our work.”

Gray-Johnson has also sent members of his office to SPI every year since 2009. Participants from the LPBO include Sunny A. George, training and conflict sensitivity officer; Togar S. Tarpeh, national early warning and early response program officer; John R. Dennis, national monitor and evaluation officer; Matthew B. Kollie, who now works with the Governance Commission; and Victor Smith, who currently heads a USAID project in Liberia.

Tough transition

It wasn’t always apparent that Gray-Johnson was bound for Virginia. Soon after she graduated from high school, her mother passed away. Wanting to remain close to her father, two younger siblings and 10 extended family members, she attended a local college in Liberia for two years, after which she sat down with her father and had a long conversation.

“It seemed like the best thing, for my education,” she said. “At that point I needed to get away, to focus.”

Her father agreed. “EMU’s campus environment is conducive to focus and learning, par excellence,” he said. “I applaud the school for its multicultural environment that encourages respect for diversity, while remaining distinct in championing moral and ethical values.”

Winifred says her father’s familiarity with – and affection for – the campus made a hard decision a little easier. “My father loves EMU. He has so many friends here,” she said. “He wasn’t afraid to leave me here on my own.”

While her father’s connections to the campus drew her to EMU, they didn’t smooth her transition from Liberia to Virginia. The cultural transition, food and the winter weather proved the highest hurdle.

“I had a keen sense of being alone,” she emphasized. Furthering this feeling was a discomfort with certain social norms. “The hardest thing to adjust to was addressing my professors and supervisors on a first-name basis. I probably went for two months without saying their names. It just wasn’t comfortable for me.”

But frequent Skype conversations with her father helped ease her. ‘“We weren’t always close,” Gray-Johnson said. “Now we are close. We have become good friends.”

They are, however, good friends who haven’t seen each other for the past year. Though Wilfred Gray-Johnson was able to visit his daughter in Maryland last summer, where she was staying with her aunt, the two haven’t been on campus together since he dropped her off at the start of her first year. “I’d love it if he was on campus with me. Then he could introduce me to everyone he knows,” she said.

For his part, her father plans to attend an SPI session next summer. “Hopefully my daughter will be an SPI community assistant once again, and we can spend time together then,” he said.

Help for home

Nor has Gray-Johnson been able to return to Liberia, due to the Ebola outbreak in the summer of 2014. Watching from afar while the disease threatened her family and her father worked on the front lines of the crisis in Liberia, Gray-Johnson to supply aid and raise awareness of the devastation in her home country.

The group reached out to Nobel Laureate , MA ’07 (conflict transformation), a fellow native of Liberia, and who knows and has worked with Wilfred Gray-Johnson. Winifred first met Gbowee when she was the 2014 commencement speaker (her son Joshua Mensah graduated with the class of 2014), and was eager to bring her back to campus.

To the group’s surprise, Gbowee accepted their invitation, donating her time and services to the cause, waiving even travel fees. Bolstered by Gbowee’s attendance, ISO raised over $4,000 to assist in fighting the Ebola epidemic. In addition, student participation in ISO events rose significantly over the remainder of the semester. “We had so much involvement,” Gray-Johnson said. “It was really wonderful.”

And when Liberia was declared Ebola-free earlier this summer, Gray-Johnson offered a prayer of thanks. “When I heard that, I gave a long exhale,” she said. “I was so relieved.”

Future peacebuilder

Her summer experience has contributed to a long-term plan that she hopes one day leads back to Liberia. In the meantime, she’ll spend the next year as president of a newly invigorated International Students Organization.

Following graduation from EMU in 2017, she’d like to spend a year interning or volunteering in a French-speaking country, to learn the language. And after that?

Gray-Johnson contemplates graduate school, maybe even at EMU’s. That thought gives her pause, though. “My father is so well known there, I am worried the level of expectation will be too high,” she said, a momentary frown crossing her face. Then she shrugged and smiled. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Pausing, she reflected for a moment on her father’s love for SPI and EMU, and his eagerness to share both with her. She nodded. “Now I see what caught his attention.”

It also helped that Gbowee knew ˛ÝÝŽÉçÇř well. She had earned a in 2007.

Gbowee, a social worker who led a women’s peace movement that helped end Liberia’s civil war 10 years ago, addressed a fundraising dinner for over 100 people at EMU on Feb. 7. Organized by the school’s International Student Organization, the event was followed by a public address to about 200 attendees, who put contributions into baskets passed by the students.

The events raised over $4,000 after expenses for the care of children whose parents died from Ebola. The funds will go to the Nobel winner’s in the Liberian capital of Monrovia. The foundation makes grants to grassroots groups, including two Liberian organizations founded by graduates of .

The countries hardest hit by Ebola, which started in March 2014, were Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, said Gbowee in her public address. The 3.4 million people of her country had only 51 doctors. “We were not prepared for Ebola, but Liberian civil society rose to the occasion,” she said. “We didn’t wait around for the international community to come and help us.”

Gbowee told the stories of three Liberian heroes – a doctor who cared for Ebola victims in his humble clinic at the risk of his own life, a taxi driver who transported dangerously infectious patients to the hospital, and a young man with a full-time job who provides care for orphans in his off hours.

The epidemic has finally abated in Africa, she said. The Ebola clinics are emptying and students are going back to school. But, she added, the people still live in fear, the economy is ruined and orphans abound.

“We appreciate the help of international organizations,” Gbowee said. “But sometimes they didn’t bother to consult with the local people about how to fight Ebola. They thought they had the expertise, but if you don’t really listen to what the people want, then it’s not much use.”

Gbowee has a reputation for speaking truth to power, most notably when she publicly confronted the president of Liberia during the country’s civil war. Most recently she criticized the United Nations’ humanitarian aid efforts during a meeting of the UN Security Council.

During a question-and-answer session at the conclusion of her speech, Gbowee praised young people for their idealism and gave advice on how to start on the path to activism. “Ideas that are ground-breaking and keep you awake at night might seem like crazy ideas,” she said. “But write them down, tell a friend and step out boldly. Getting angry about an unjust situation is not only okay, she added, but a good thing.

The students who organized the fundraiser represented five continents: Kaltuma Noorow and Nandi Onetu of Kenya, Winifred Gray-Johnson and Gee Paegar of Liberia, Sun Ju Lee of South Korea, Wael Gamtessa of Ethiopia, Brenda Soka of Tanzania, Zoe Parakuo of the United States, Norah Alobikan of Saudi Arabia, Danika Saucedo of Bolivia, Victoria Gunawan of Indonesia, and Marcus Ekman of Sweden. , EMU’s director of , is the advisor for the International Student Organization.

Gbowee’s last trip to EMU was in April 2014, when she was the that included her son, Joshua Mensah. Before that she came to campus in . Just prior to her arrival, the was announced, and thus her appearance made for a frenzied weekend.

Editor’s note: Kara Lofton, a 2014 EMU grad, reported on Gbowee’s appearance at the Ebola fundraiser for local public radio station WMRA; her four-minute report can be heard.

She never imagined that desire, born from hours of long-distance conversation with her family members and prayer over the sufferings of fellow West Africans, would draw the attention and support of her university community – and a .

“Doing something was a way to help myself with the panic of thinking about my family and what was going on in my country,” said the economics major. “I didn’t want to be silent and just sit on my hands, so I started thinking, ‘What could I do?’”

That question quickly became “What can we do?” when shared with fellow members of EMU’s International Students Organization (ISO).

To Gray-Johnson’s surprise and delight, Liberian peace activist and ( ’07) learned of the fledging movement and enthusiastically agreed to headline a fundraising dinner.

at EMU’s Martin Chapel, with a seating capacity of 140, are $100, with $80 of that a tax-deductible donation to the Africa. Dinner guests will receive preferred seating at a public lecture later in the evening in Lehman Auditorium.

A freewill offering will be taken at the lecture, with an for those who cannot attend.

To those who need most help

“She is helping us raise awareness, but at the same time, we know that this money will go through her organization to those who most need it, [to] the children who have lost family members or been displaced,” Gray-Johnson said.

Gbowee, who received the 2011 prize for her work in ending Liberia’s civil war, says that her country’s decade-long peace is threatened by Ebola.

“We must face another enemy from within,” she wrote in an in Britain. “…Ebola is resurrecting old traumas from those who survived the war.”

Since the Ebola outbreak began, Gbowee’s Monrovia-based non-profit has contributed to community-based, . Donations from the EMU fundraiser will be shared by the foundation with two Liberian organizations founded by alumnae of : GSA Rock Hill Community Women in Monrovia, founded by Vaiba Flomo (CJP Grad. Cert. ’13), and Messengers of Peace, a youth outreach group founded by Gwendolyn Myers (CJP Grad. Cert. ’14).

Gbowee’s visit kicks off a series of events planned by the in March, including a color run, chapel talk, and movie showing.

Kaltuma Noorow, ISO co-president, said students have rallied to the cause, inspired first by Gray-Johnson’s willingness to share how she and her family were personally affected by the outbreak.

Wilfred Gray-Johnson, Winifred’s father, is executive director of the . During the outbreak, he and his team travelled frequently to rural areas “to work on an early warning and response mechanism to ensure that Ebola did not lead to a national conflict,” Gray-Johnson said. “While in the field, he could see firsthand what was happening.”

At later ISO planning meetings, student organizers discussed “the stigma of disease and who was getting aid and who wasn’t, which led to conversations about who needed help who wasn’t getting it. We’ve all seen that in our own countries,” said Noorow, a junior peacebuilding and development major from Kenya.

Learning from action-taking

In a year of new leadership and transition for the organization, Noorow credits ISO members for pulling together and taking on “huge responsibilities” to work on this fundraiser and the upcoming events in March, she said, adding that she’s reluctant for any one member of the group to be singled out for attention. “We’ve all learned a great deal from the process. It’s important that every member be recognized for their thoughts and all the time spent deliberating and processing.”

Her own involvement with the project has been empowering, Noorow added. “In class, we learn a lot of theory and just reading about it is great, but I’m interested in change. I’m a doer. This event shows that we students can actually do something given the platform. We never imagined it to reach this magnitude. It’s been a lot of work and a lot of time, but we’re all really excited.”

From following appropriate fundraising protocols to parsing out the correct wording for public relations releases and invitations, Gray-Johnson says the hands-on experience has taught her about the complex realities of fundraising for international causes.

“I’ve learned a lot about professionalism and credibility, about raising money for a cause,” she said. “It is important to me that the money raised here go through the right channels… [It helps that] Leymah’s giving us her credibility and that of her foundation.”

Noorow and Gray-Johnson both met Gbowee briefly when she came to campus in spring 2014 to deliver the commencement speech and celebrate the graduation of her son, Joshua Mensah, a major. They are looking forward to learning more about Gbowee’s peacebuilding experiences from the woman herself.

Gray-Johnson hopes to share the experience with her 14-year-old sister, Addy, who moved from Liberia this summer to Maryland, where she’s living with an aunt.