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Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 20:42:50 +0300
From: Lisa Stewart <beachplumlisa@bellsouth.net>
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X-ASG-Orig-Subj: Quakerism
Subject: Quakerism
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Status:   

Dear Friends, This is to share something of what I've observed and to 
make a request.

Over 100 years ago (in 1902 to be exact) 3 Quakers from the Midwest came 
to Kenya and established the first Friends mission in Kaimosi They came 
from pioneering families themselves so were comfortable with the task of 
entering a wilderness and establishing communities. More followed and 
their little campsite eventually grew into a large mission with a lumber 
mill and today there is a hospital, theological college, elem.school, 
onr of the top girls high schools in the country and an agricultural 
center. During that era of missionary zeal hundreds more missionaries 
came to Africa to spread "the good news" and Christianity took such a 
foothold so that today Kenya is predominately Christian. There is as 
well a sizable Moslem community, mostly along the coast because of the 
Arab trading fleets, as well as many Indians and Pakistanis (referred to 
as Asians here) who are highly visible in the business community.

As Christianity spread and pastors were rare, Friends with a talent for 
preaching set up more and more churches. In the process the Friends 
churches seem to have lost some of the specialness of Quakerism. They 
use the word "Christian" knowledgeably but many (not all) have not been 
taught what makes Friends unique among Christians.They know the word 
"Quaker" but most cannot say what that really means. I've been told that 
Kenyans seem to use the word "Friends" as a noun while using the word 
"Quaker" as an adjective.

African Friends, Kenyans outside the major cities anyway,  have very few 
books, have little hope of getting many and have no libraries. Therefor, 
any books that they do have are cherished and passed around for as long 
as they last. However, so many of them do own Bibles and seem to bring 
them everywhere. Most of these Bibles look really old and are obviously 
well worn.The Kenyans use Scripture for guidance, for comfort and to 
sustain them and help them to stay positive in a life journey that is 
often difficult and hardscrabble. There are no mental health services 
and self-help books are unheard of so it is easy to see how comforting 
and important the Bible can be. They are grateful that they were brought 
the "good news" (the Gospel) that there is one God of love and they look 
to the teachings of Jesus to learn life's lessons. It is very obvious to 
me that their Bibles are precious to them.

All this is not to say that Kenyan Friends are not interested in 
Quakerism. They are, in fact, very interested. They are eager for any 
information anyone has the time and interest to share and are always 
appreciative of any tid-bit that I offer. I may have already told you, 
the Clerk of Central YM has asked me to present a workshop on George Fox 
and Quakerism to his pastors the day after tomorrow. Fortunately my 
meeting contributed and I brought with me four copies each of Brinton's 
"Friends for 350 Years'", John  Punchon's  "Encounter With Silence" and 
Sheeran's "Beyond Majority Rule" as well as one copy of G. Fox's Journal 
and one Faith and Practice. They are so excited so I hope I get to 
Kakamega and meet them on "some road" without a problem. My young Friend 
who calls me his "Mum" may be able to meet me and guide me to the right 
road. The roads have no names and houses have no numbers. Plus, they all 
look alike  - packed red dirt lined with stalls. How anyone finds their 
way is beyond me.

Now, I have no idea whether SEYM will remain in membership in FUM and 
have no sense yet of the direction our discernment will take us. 
However, no matter what, I still think we could have some real influence 
upon Quakerism among West African Friends by answering this desire of 
theirs to know more. I would love to collect a lot of books on Quakerism 
when I get home and ship them over here but the cost is prohibitive - 
$5.00 a pound. The "M Bag"option no longer exists and, anyway, the US 
Post Office won't guarantee delivery; packages are apt to never make it 
to their intended destinations. You can understand why they have so few 
books from us.  However   .    .    .

Many Friends from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will be at the FUM 
Triennial in North Carolina this July and about six of us from SEYM will 
be there so   -    I was thinking that this would be a golden 
opportunity to bring to them some books to take home with them. There 
are approximately 1500 village meetings, 525 monthly meetings, 175 
quarterly meetings and 16 yearly meetings. Obviously we cannot provide 
something to every church/ (village meeting) but we could give something 
to every yearly meeting. The leaders/pastors will share what they learn 
in their ministry.  Since I have four sets here to use that leaves only 
12. Don't even worry about the Quakerism 101 Curriculum. It is out of 
print and much of it is irrelevant to Africa. Besides, Friends here are 
perfectly capable of teaching themselves anything they are really 
interested in and they are very interested in anything spiritual. They 
do so want to be informed.

Do any of you feel so inclined contribute or to ask SEYM meetings or 
individual Friends if they would contribute to this effort? Friends 
could order some of the above books from FGC (or other books?) and get 
them to those of us going to the Triennial before we leave. I'll be back 
from Kenya July 1 and fly up to NC on July 9. I don't know when Phoebe 
and Neil start driving nor when Nil leaves.

I hope this is not asking too much and I am aware that it is not 
following traditional process for clearness but   .   .   .time if of 
the essence if we are going to do this at all. The next Triennial is 
2011. However, if it doesn't happen, not to worry.My inner peace doesn't 
hinge on this.We'll figure out something.

I just got back from two days of Quaker Peace Network meetings and two 
days of meeting with Lugari Yearly Meeting about how to use their the 
farm they have just received back from the lessees who vandalized it all 
before they left. I'll write about it in more detail when I catch my breath.

Love in the Light,
Lisa