CPTnet
6 January 2013
CPT INTERNATIONAL: Twelve peacemakers of Christmas, part 2
by Tim Nafziger and
Sarah Thompson*
The following are very condensed versions of the originals posted on CPT’s
Facebook page. See also the first six days.
Seventh Day of
Christmas: Peter Haresnape
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| Photo by Chris Sabas |
Peter has served with
the Aboriginal Justice team since 2009.
“He has a keen sense of ability for community
and relationship building…. His ability to bring people to the table is
extraordinary. Witty with words… and what a guffaw of a laugh he has,”
says teammate Chris Sabas.
Peter is also willing to try new things, like an elaborate
role-play involving corralling an unsuspecting audience at a music festival
into a security check point and then hauling off planted
“dissidents.” It was an experiment in mass peacemaking pedagogy.
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| photo by Tim Nafziger |
Eighth day of Christmas: Bob Holmes
As a member of the Congregation
of Saint Basil, Bob trained with Christian Peacemaker Teams in the year 2000.
“…[D]uring the second intifada,” said Swedish teammate Inger Styrbjörn, the Israelis set a “curfew on the Palestinian population
and he and other CPTers snuck around giving food to the families.
Bob provided Pastoral Care for the whole CPT for some years
and traveled to all teams.
Back home, he speaks at retreats, high schools and other
venues.
Ninth day of
Christmas: Kryss Chupp
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Kryss is CPT’s
training coordinator and Signs of the
Times editor. According to Pierre Shantz, “Her energy, spirit and
strength have provided CPT a solid base to shape people into the family of
CPT. She … listens to people in their time need. She loves to laugh…. She is a
proud mother and grandmother. She is the longest running CPTer and has trained [almost]
every single person walking through our doors…”
In the photo, Kryss blesses CPT elder Hedy Sawatsky at Hedy’s
final steering committee meeting in 2010.
Prayers are welcome during the month-long training that began on 4 January.
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| Caldwell Manners and Brit Hanson |
Tenth Day of Christmas: Caldwell Manners
Caldwell currently
serves on the Colombia Team. From India, he is a crucial link in the development
of CPT’s South-to-South solidarity efforts, particularly with the Ekta Parishad nonviolent land reform movement.
He also has brought innovation to the Colombia team’s social media presence.
Caldwell and his wife, social media expert and community
organizer Brit Hanson, included CPT in an exciting worldwide fundraising
contest called Crowdrise.
(From eleventh place, help us reach the top 3!)
Eleventh Day of Christmas: Lukasz Firla
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Eleven attributes of Lukasz,
a CPT Iraqi Kurdistan team member since 2011:
1. first CPTer from the Czech Republic.
2. in love with the Kurdish people and culture; team’s best Sorani
Kurdish speaker.
3. supported a very afraid teammate during 2011 violence.
4. gets good ideas and accomplishes them.
5. knows Kurdish history and politics.
6. climbs and descends mountains like a goat.
7. has almost universally recognized dreadlocks.
8. a vegetarian who graciously picks out meat and praises Kurdish
food.
9. extroverted and gregarious.
10. trusted; greatly values trust for accompaniment and
solidarity work.
11. spends summers serving free tea and fair trade coffee across
Europe, telling about peacemaking.
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| Photo by Tim Nafziger |
Twelfth day of Christmas: Sylvia Morrison
Sylvia serves on
CPT’s support team as Undoing Racism coordinator and on the training team.
For five years she has led us in challenging structural
racism both inside and outside of CPT in deeply transformative ways. The impact
on our peacemaking has been wide and deep.
“We ask hard questions, challenge each other, take risks
in making statements, ask for clarification sometimes,” Sylvia wrote in 2009. “We
notice when power is not shared appropriately or when other dynamics of
oppression are present, and we deal with that respectfully.”
Give all these and many other peacemakers in CPT a boost here:
https://www.crowdrise.com/cptcolombia-christmas/fundraiser/christianpeacemakers
See also the first six days or read all twelve full versions on CPT’s Facebook page.
*Kathy Moorhead
Thiessen and Sandra Milena Rincón contributed the 11th Day.
