October 29, 2003
Awakened Woman's Circle is working for peace
SIGNS OF HOPE
Peace quilts travel round the world
by Linda Speel
Quilt inspired by Bare
Witness
This quilt was inspired by the Bare Witness movement last year when women came together to lay down their nude bodies, spelling out symbols or words like Peace, Truth, and Compassion in Marin and Sonoma County's as a protest against the on-coming war.
Others joined in with the movement, too with a "Make Love Not War" human statement in SF. It has grown all around the world with people joining in to create their own visual statement. See photos at: http://www.baringwitness.org.
I participated in a few of these events and being an artist as well as an activist, I express myself through my art. The quilt center is batik and tie-dyed by myself. Judith Meeker sewed it together using imported batik silks and it was quilted in Nashville, TN. The quilt is a joint collaboration of More Than Warmth and Peaceroots Alliance. It is being raffled as a fundraiser for Peaceroots, for a quilting machine and to support our billboard project.
More than Warmth was started by Judith Meeker, a fourth grade teacher in Nashville. TN. While processing the events of 9/11 and discussing what was happening to children in Afghanistan, with a desire to "do something" to help the freezing children, the class decided to make a quilt to send there. Drawings were made with fabric pens on muslin squares showing something peaceful to express their feelings. Letters were written by students to further express themselves, guided by Judy to be non-violent, non-military and non-religious. Judy being part of the community fell right into Peaceroots desire to "do something". MTW has grown with quilts going all over the world. Judy was picked as a peace activist by Time Magazine.
I had traveled to Cuba 10 years before with Global Exchange and knew Medea Benjamin was planning on going to Afghanistan soon. I asked her if she would take some quilts children had made. She was thrilled and agreed. Our first quilts were delivered to a children's day care center and hospital, and a girl's high school in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Because we were working locally with children, several women also wanted to make a picture and make a quilt, so I was inspired to start "Women to Women" extending MTW. Our first quilt went to an orphanage in Iraq right before the war there started. It was delivered by Diane -, a human rights lawyer from Austin, TX. Several schools and women's groups in our Northern California area have made quilts. Harmony Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary and Terra Linda High School, just to name a few.
Most recently one was delivered to a Woman's Literacy Center in Afghanistan and another to the Rachel Corrie Cultural Center in the Gaza this month.
Many quilts have been sent with Kathy Kelly from Voices in the Wilderness. She gave quilts to women in labor during the bombings in Iraq. Kathy said, "It was the only hope she could give at the time, the most positive thing that happened on that trip."
Teachers can contact Judy for a lesson plan via the website or Linda locally if you are interested in making a quilt to send.
Peaceroots Alliance was started by a group of friends who had once shared a community in rural Tennessee. After September 11, 2001 some of us came together to consider doing something as a group to help make changes toward peace. We wanted in include a project to educate youth about military recruitment and conscientious objectors. Raising the money between us, forty-six "Peace is Patriotic" billboards were put up around the Bay Area and across the country when patriotism was being questioned.
Raffle tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5.
You can also purchase raffle tickets on line at www.peaceroots.org at a $25 minimum or by sending a check to-
PRA
PO Box 255
Petaluma, CA 94953
Drawing will be held on December 21, 2003 at Jungle Vibes in Petaluma, CA. You need not be present to win.
Peace,
Linda Speel, PRA-West Director
For more information see www.peaceroots.org or www.morethanwarmth.org