You are here
Adventure and hope / Betsy Yeager ; Sanctuary / Diane Elder.
Primary tabs
- speakerA dear friend, a maryknoll priest, a man respected
- speakerin the international diplomatic community, lies at death's door,
- speakerobserving a quest for peace, for the defense of life
- speakerand against terrorism as his answer to Christ's call.
- speakerFather Miguel, this photo's life is ebbing
- speakeras Minister of Foreign Affairs and the government of Nicaragua and a priest.
- speakerHe is doing this as a prophetic prayer to put an end to the
- speakerpolicy of state terrorism inflicted on his people by the United States.
- speakerFrom a letter just received from a methodist missionary.
- speakerA friend, Peggy Heiner.
- speakerI read a young woman spoke her body taut
- speakerand her voice trembling.
- speakerShe told us how she and her husband had gone on a weekend visit to his family.
- speakerThey'd had a nice evening together and were in bed when a rain of gunfire
- speakerhit the house.
- speakerGrenades entered the room and they lived as finales.
- speakerHer father in law ran to where nine year old Maria was sleeping.
- speakerThe left side of her head was severed.
- speakerHe screamed, They've killed my little Maria.
- speakerThe family tried to get outside as the shooting shook the house, but
- speaker16 year old Esteban was shot as he ran out and
- speakercried, Mommy. They've killed little Maria and they've killed me.
- speakerI served on the first long term team of Witness for Peace
- speakeron the Nicaraguan Honduras border, spending months with
- speakerthe. Warmest. Most humble, most forgiving children
- speakerof God I've ever known.
- speakerLet me read from my journal so that you, too, may share this joyous,
- speakertragic, creative for Christian people.
- speakerDecember four for the trip yesterday to the new co-op
- speakercalled El Coco, formed from government efforts of people
- speakerwho had little farms in the mountains where the controls were attacking and
- speakerhave sought refuge. Here was fascinating.
- speakerThe government has built 100 basic shells of houses without houses,
- speakera school and a clinic.
- speakerThe people have moved in, formed a co-op at all levels
- speakerchildren's dining rooms, daycare centers, health care centers,
- speakercommunity grain silos, fields, crops, everything.
- speakerThe schoolteacher is moving into the community to better integrate into people's lives.
- speakerThey live so much better than they ever did.
- speakerThey've learned that cooperation and working the land is of mutual benefit.
- speakerAmazing people who never have known each other working as though they've been
- speakerborn together.
- speakerTheir enthusiasm for the revolution is high, boundless.
- speakerWe gathered together in the field that was central to the homes for a service of thanks,
- speakerwhich broke into a community sing at the end with such spirit and verve.
- speakerDecember eight.
- speakerTension is mounting in Hanukkah as groups of 12 to 15 year olds
- speakerarmed with rifles roll out of town.
- speakerWe went to a funeral this afternoon for 214 year old soldiers killed
- speakerby the constant. 50% of Nicaragua.
- speakerIt's under 15 years of age.
- speakerThe poor young mothers were standing there so forlorn.
- speakerOne in particular was so alone.
- speakerI put my arm around the.
- speakerIn a few minutes she looked up at me for tears and said, We
- speakerforgive you. We forgive the American people.
- speakerWe just pray Mr. Reagan's heart will soften.
- speakerThis woman standing over her own child's casket
- speakerhad no hate in her heart.
- speakerOnly forgiveness.
- speakerDecember 16.
- speakerAdvert. Hard to believe in this humidity so far from home.
- speakerMortar fire and machine guns. Near and far.
- speakerThese people obviously think the attack is coming.
- speakerOne deer woman kept saying they're not bad people.
- speakerAre you?
- speakerWhat's the future for these people?
- speakerAre they just to be spent as so many past generations of Nicaraguans?
- speakerThese young, idealistic, creative, joyous souls.
- speakerJust more bloody statistics.
- speakerDecember 17th.
- speakerToday, one of the women told me that she sees the map of Canada, the US,
- speakerMexico, Central and South America as the body of Christ
- speakeras it's pictured hanging on the cross with Nicaragua as its heart.
- speakerIt makes me think of their slogan that they always shout at meetings.
- speakerEvery Christian is small in revolution.
- speakerNow I would say the decision between Christianity and revolution.
- speakerThere is no contradiction.
- speakerThis place is just like so many little towns in Latin America.
- speakerI feel as though I've been living here always.
- speakerThen I'm suddenly aware of the unified spirit, the awareness,
- speakerthe knowledge that they have understood their deep commitment to Christ, justice
- speakerand peace, and will fight to the death to keep
- speakerwhat they've won honestly, openly.
- speakerWith their own blood for their children.
- speakerThe smell of smells is always in the air, the smell of corn being roasted
- speakerand ground with a few cocoa beans, Latino, which is
- speakerpractically what they live on.
- speakerDecember 18th.
- speakerNow, with the one and only road to the rest of Nicaragua in the hands of the contractors,
- speakerthe poor town is cut off and supplies very little food,
- speakeralthough there's lots of beans and black coffee, the contrary, attacking
- speakerthe whole area. There's tents.
- speakerBullets are flying and mortars are raining to
- speakertragic people. Why is my government treating them in such
- speakera manner?
- speakerDecember 20th.
- speakerThere's a baby laid out on my neighbor's table.
- speakerIt looks like a little doll surrounded by wildflowers as well
- speakeras little play animals.
- speakerSomeone had put a flower in each tiny piece.
- speakerChildren were milling around it as. As it appeared to be sleeping in its manger.
- speakerDecember 24.
- speakerLast night, that beautiful por el Coco was devastated by
- speakerweapons, helicopters and men trained by my country.
- speakerThe conqueror attacked, burning those lovely fields, firing those
- speakernew little houses. The silo built so recently, murdering
- speakerthe children and killing all the people, including the health brigade
- speakerworkers and the teachers.
- speakerThe entire co-op was strong.
- speakerWe are wordless, shocked, beyond tears.
- speakerThese people are tearful, though deeply emotionally involved with each
- speakerdeath as though it is a member of their family.
- speakerJanuary.
- speakerI have to write this today.
- speakerI don't want to, but I must.
- speakerI was visiting a woman helping her hang up her wash.
- speakerChatting about the Bible study.
- speakerA mortar whistled close and exploded, killing her six year old.
- speakerShe ran, picked up the body and began running for it.
- speakerTom.
- speakerSuddenly she realized her child's body had been decapitated.
- speakerShe put the body down and round the head.
- speakerAhead which.
- speakerGod. God. What are we doing?
- speakerThis is why, Father Miguel, this photo was best in his life away.
- speakerAnd a prophetic, perfect piece of dialog.
- speakerFor six years, he struggled for peace for his beautiful people, creating
- speakerjoy the children of God that they are now exhausted.
- speakerHe gives his life in.
- speakerIf I may leave my journal, I'd like to read you.
- speakerThe Prince is.
- speakerDon't be afraid of your enemies.
- speakerAlways be courageous. And this will prove to them that they will lose.
- speakerAnd you will win because it is.
- speakerGod gives you the gift for you being given
- speakerthe privilege of serving Christ by suffering.
- speakerBecause God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey
- speakerHis own purposes and do everything without complaining
- speakeror arguing so that you may be innocent.
- speakerAnd here is God's perfect children who live in
- speakera world of corrupt and sinful people.
- speakerI'm. A little concern that we had to ask twice
- speakerthat pictures and not be taken.
- speakerAnd it reminds me of a trial that's going on in Phenix because
- speakera couple of people went to a meeting of church, people like you
- speakerand I for some misplaced motives.
- speakerIt makes me wonder if there aren't one or two people here with misplaced motives.
- speakerAnd if there are, I welcome you in
- speakerthe name of peace, and I ask you
- speakerto open your hearts to the healing power of this community of women.
- speakerJust about a year ago, I was asked if I would participate in this meeting.
- speakerAnd so many things have happened in my life in the last year.
- speakerI've had to revise the speech several times.
- speakerI was originally going to speak about refugees at Casa Romero
- speakerin Texas.
- speakerBut we are all very fortunate to have
- speakera woman here who will speak after me, who can speak
- speakerwith much greater authenticity about the refugee crisis.
- speakerSo instead, I'd like to rewrite the program a little
- speakerwith your indulgence.
- speakerAnd talk a little bit about some of the things that have happened to me in the not
- speakertoo distant past.
- speakerPerhaps to give you a clearer idea of the risks
- speakerthat I take with my life.
- speakerAnd perhaps a better understanding of what my personal motivation
- speakermight be.
- speakerI speak to you tonight, primarily from my perspective
- speakeras a mother of four young sons.
- speakerIn April, my husband began serving a five month sentence
- speakerfor his conviction on various counts of assisting Salvadoran
- speakerrefugees.
- speakerHe was convicted on those charges when he was director of
- speakerCasa Oscar Romero, which is a temporary refugee
- speakershelter for Central American refugees.
- speakerIt's located in southern Texas.
- speakerIn May, a month after Jack began serving his sentence, my sons
- speakerand I moved from Casa Romero to a nearby town
- speakerwhere we continued to live and work on behalf of Central American refugee
- speakerconcerns.
- speakerI was really afraid that when Jack went to jail, I would be so
- speakeroverwhelmed by family concerns that I would withdraw from
- speakerworking with refugees.
- speakerBut as always, in times of crisis, God
- speakershows us new reserves of courage and strength
- speakerand energy. So my commitment continues.
- speakerAnd I've met several people who.
- speakerWe'd like to think that I'm an extraordinary person because of my commitment.
- speakerI can assure you I am not.
- speakerI guess my explanation would be that
- speakermy commitment has evolved from and is an extension
- speakerof my love for my children.
- speakerI think as parents, we are blessed with a unique relationship
- speakerwith our children.
- speakerIt's a relationship of total commitment, of selfless,
- speakerunlimited love and concern for the protection
- speakerof another person.
- speakerAnd one of the.
- speakerThe truths that I've learned from the refugees.
- speakerIs that this?
- speakerKind of selfless. Love is the love that God intends
- speakerall of us to share.
- speakerSo understanding that this love is
- speakerour only protection, our only liberator
- speakerfrom oppression.
- speakerAnd from hatred.
- speakerWe can see then that the risks become much more manageable.
- speakerJust exactly what are the risks?
- speakerThey can be quite a few.
- speakerLoss of privacy.
- speakerLegal. Entanglement.
- speakerIllegal harassment.
- speakerAnd the ultimate risk of jail.
- speakerMy family and I have faced that ultimate risk.
- speakerBut unlike our sisters and brothers in Central America,
- speakerwe North Americans face that risk in relative physical
- speakersafety.
- speakerAnd amidst a mountain of support from friends and strangers alike.
- speakerAnd like our sisters and brothers in Central America, we face those risks.
- speakerWith incredible grace from God, the extent of which we never could have expected.
- speakerThis administration uses jail as a way to separate
- speakerus from our communities, from our support.
- speakerAnd I don't think we need anyone else to do that for us.
- speakerI think we create our own jails when we refuse
- speakerto face our own private fears.
- speakerIn trying to face my own fears.
- speakerAnd going to jail or Jack, going to jail was one of the greatest for me.
- speakerI try to put life in its broadest possible perspective.
- speakerThe broad picture here very easily shows us the risks.
- speakerThen our brothers and sisters in Central America face daily.
- speakerIt shows us atrocities, which in my mind anyway have
- speakerfar surpassed the gross horrors of the Holocaust.
- speakerWe are witnesses to.
- speakerIn fact, we are responsible for governments
- speakerwhose aim is the systematic destruction of its own people.
- speakerAnd I'm talking here of civilian population.
- speakerPeople like you and me.
- speakerI'm talking of the terror of not knowing when you kiss
- speakeryour child goodbye and send her to school, whether you'll ever see her again.
- speakerWell, where you find her in a few days on the road, decapitated,
- speakereviscerated or burned beyond recognition.
- speakerOr the terror of knowing someone who knows someone who
- speakerwas a victim of this kind of violence.
- speakerAnd now your mind. And it's only a matter of time before they come for you as well.
- speakerAnd the kids. What about the children?
- speakerHow would it be for your children and my children?
- speakerTo have seen dead bodies in the street for as long as they can remember.
- speakerFor them to hear that daily bombs falling.
- speakerTo know the terror of the disappearances and to wonder when it will touch them
- speakerpersonally.
- speakerThis broader picture for me very often is outside the realm
- speakerof my own comprehension.
- speakerThe horror is too great for me to acknowledge.
- speakerBut as a mother.
- speakerThe children.
- speakerThey are constantly reminding me.
- speakerOn some level, which perhaps I can't even articulate very well.
- speakerI understand that all children are my children.
- speakerThat the things that I protect and hold dear for my family
- speakerare the things that I hold dear and protect for all families
- speakerthat the love I have for mine extends to all.
- speakerAnd my own children.
- speakerHow do they feel?
- speakerAngry sometimes. So do I.
- speakerBut I think they have a basic accepting and trust
- speakerof the infinite wisdom and goodness of life.
- speakerThey know that from time to time choices are set before us and that
- speakervery often those choices are not.
- speakerBy a conscious decision that they may be time and circumstance
- speakeror divine providence.
- speakerI did not seek the refugees.
- speakerThey literally knocked on my door.
- speakerBut whether those circumstances are actively sought out or whether they
- speakermagically appear before us.
- speakerThe choice is always the same.
- speakerThe choice is life or death.
- speakerJustice or injustice.
- speakerLiberation or oppression.
- speakerThe choice is not hard.
- speakerThe difficulty is in carrying out the choice once it is made.
- speakerAt some basic level, my children understand that God asks two things of us.
- speakerOne that we love and serve God.
- speakerAnd to that we love one another as we love ourselves.
- speakerI think perhaps it could be said that we should love one another as we love our children.
- speakerBecause to love as a parent loves a child is to risk everything.
- speakerAnd when we understand that, we also know that there
- speakeris very little risk that is too great in the preservation
- speakerand the liberation of life.
- speakerI would like now to introduce Anna.
- speakerAna is a Salvadoran refugee.
- speakerShe's been in the United States for three years.
- speakerFour years? Excuse me.
- speakerShe is in sanctuary at Central Presbyterian Church in Massillon,
- speakerOhio, which I understand is the only Presbyterian
- speakersanctuary in the entire state of Ohio.
- speakerCongratulations to those of you, if any of you are here.
- speakerAna will speak to you for a few minutes about her.
- speakerOwn personal experience and solo.
- speakerI am very happy to seize the opportunity,
- speakersaid Presbyterian woman.
- speakerGive to me and share with you
- speakerthe same for this house and this reality.
- speakerAnd people. And Central American people.
- speakerHe's very hard all the time.
- speakerSee, I know the number.
- speakerBut it is necessary.
- speakerThe 6000 woman.
- speaker6000 mothers.
- speakerAnd I wish you understand
- speakerwhat's going on in our countries.
- speakerIn 1980, my husband
- speakerwas disappear.
- speakerHe was cast to the first sign.
- speakerHe he was talked to and I take care of him
- speakerbecause I'm a nurse and he was
- speakera terrible starter for the National Guard.
- speakerThe second time, he never go home.
- speakerHe was consul with two Salvadorian friends.
- speakerMy two.
- speakerI was looking for him in different places.
- speakerAnd I find only two bodies.
- speakerDecapitate.
- speakerPlus.
- speakerMy husband, Fran.
- speakerAfter.
- speakerI was working with the doctor who was
- speakersymbol with some people cannot go
- speakerto the hospital.
- speakerI helped this hospital two months after
- speakerhe was killed to.
- speakerI hate myself for a in San Salvador.
- speakerI don't want to leave my country.
- speakerI don't want to leave my little boy.
- speakerBut I did.
- speakerBecause my mum come and she says, Please
- speakerand you need to go out.
- speakerI don't have faith to go.
- speakerI only have in their name $80.
- speakerSomebody came to me.
- speakerMy mother said, Please go.
- speakerAnd I said, Mom, no, I don't want to leave my little boy.
- speakerHe was only eight months old.
- speakerI love my children with my mom.
- speakerI was alone for three years.
- speakerSanctuary movement give opportunity,
- speakerbe opportunity.
- speakerFind myself opportunities.
- speakerSpeak for the people who don't have
- speakervoice. Now, honestly, I very appreciate
- speakerto they must can embody Presbyterian assured in my
- speakerOhio chair.
- speakerNow continue to.
- speakerBut we its.
- speakerAudience only have.
- speakerThe only option is in the hall.
- speakerAre you?
- speakerI wish.
- speakerGo back to my country.
- speakerMany Salvadorians. Where you been, guys?
- speakerThey want to go home.
- speakerI all the time homesick.
- speakerI really. I want to go back and I
- speakerwant to say, please help me to go back.
- speakerWhen our country are free.
- speakerYes. Peace and justice.
- speakerBefore I finish, I want to say
- speakerto John Fine.
- speakerTen up.
- speakerAnd say thank you in a name to my people.
- speakerHe worked. He was a first.
- speakerIn his congregation, the Reverend Joan Fry.
- speakerHe opportunities saved many lives.
- speakerAnd I went to see John Tyndall.
- speakerCindy, people can see you.
- speakerAnd I want to say thank you, Diane, and other
- speakerpeople who work in central movements.
- speakerI say my people love you
- speakerbecause they know. What's the difference?
- speakerYou got a woman and you.
- speakerYou are the civilians. You are my brothers and sisters.
- speakerAnd we love you very much.
- speakerThank you very much.