They say that all journeys begin with the first step. On the journey to justice the path is often long, filled with difficulties. It's so easy to think you're never going to get to the end. The trail can be treacherous, the destination uncertain and outcome unknown. But, life is a journey and we are all on the path.
Years ago, my mother recommended Ken Follet as an author she thought I'd enjoy. I'll never forget the day I cracked open his epic, Pillars of the Earth, thinking to myself, "I know I can get through this mega-novel, even if it's one page at a time." For those unfamiliar, Pillars is the story of cathedral building in England. It begins in the 10th century, almost Stone Age in time, and finishes in the 15th century, upon completion of the cathedral which has been built. It made me conscience, for the first time in my life, the idea that something I may work on will never be finished in my lifetime, but what I add to the process as I work is as important as what came before me and what will come after I am gone. We may not want to think of ourselves as a cog in a wheel, but there are things, ideas, creations, values that we are a part of, but can never be fully ours to behold.
Our lives are made up of many interdependent webs. Whether it is the web of family, friends, colleagues... who help us build our personal cathedrals... or the web of social justice and human rights activists, we depend each other to do our part, place our stone and mortar with care, write our letter, attend our vigil, stand up for what we believe is right. We must do what we can and do it to the best of our ability, with care, love, grace and service.
In Follet's Pillars of the Earth there is a chapter when an entire side of the cathedral collapses one night because a stonemason from an earlier century used a poorly mixed, cheaper form of mortar to hold together the base of foundation stones for one of the walls.
His deceit erased over a century of hard, dedicated work of all those who came after him. It was a lesson I will never forget.
When I began my work with the Service Committee several years ago I thought of Martha and Waitstill Sharp. They were the courageous couple from Massachusetts who embarked on a ship one day in 1939 to travel to war-torn Europe. They were on a journey of justice to be of service in any way they could, not knowing exactly where they were going or what they were going to do. They were unsure of any outcome or effect they might have. Their conscience sparked them to act and their journey began.
The Sharps are the founders of the (now) Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. They were devout Unitarians, he a minister from a strong congregation in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, and she a minister's wife and social justice advocate. The Sharps read about the horrors facing the peoples of Eastern Europe, the injustices, the poor children and the atrocities being committed by the Nazi's regime. Their faith compelled them to "do something."
It was through their dedication, hard work, collaboration and connections that hundreds of young children, intellectuals, poets, authors, philosophers, theologians and others who were oppressed were able to flee war-torn Europe and find freedom and a new life in the west. Little did Waitstill and Martha know that their first step would be the path that so many Unitarians and Universalists would follow in the future....
Theirs was not the only journey of justice that humankind has made. When the world was in the process of trying to eradicate polio in the middle of the last century, there were those who said it could not be done. In the Congo, where polio was rampant, healthcare workers said you could never inoculate everyone. It simply would be impossible. Well, we all know the outcome. In the 1950s tens of thousands died in the Congo and last year that figure was in the hundreds. We know that with dedication, focus and perseverance, we can make a difference - even if it is not within our own lifetimes. Oftentimes we have to trust the work will be picked up by the person behind us. There are issues that compel us SO much that... we simply must lay our stones well so the next person can add theirs... with care, consciousness and love.
For over 65 years the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has been laying the stones of social justice for a Unitarian Universalist cathedral of conscience.
We are mindful... mindful of the needs of others... watchful over the injustices millions face... aware of imbalance... sensitive to the life of privilege we all lead and the lives of those less powerful... vigilant in our quest for the human rights of all.
I am but one of about 40 staff members of the Service Committee. Many of you are but one of the 25,000 members and supporters we have in our Service Committee ranks. Each of us has our place and role to play in the long march toward justice.
Currently, UUSC works in over a dozen countries on four continents to help bring worth and dignity to the oppressed peoples of those lands. In the past 65 years the Service Committee has
worked on virtually every continent and in dozens of countries to give voice to the voiceless, bring power to the powerless and be of service to those in need.
In our offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts we display the flags of each country in which the Service Committee has ever worked. It is an impressive display of nations where we once were, maybe still are, and a representation of the interconnected world in which we live.
The Service Committee's mission and vision is to be a powerful voice for human rights abuses wherever they may occur. We work diligently to empower women to take their rightful places in their developing societies.
We work tirelessly to protect the rights of children who are being conscripted into the service of their country's wars, the children who are being forced into slave labor in the fields, factories and sex dens of our world. We fight for the rights of the oppressed, indigenous peoples of foreign lands who have little or no voice in their societies... the Karen people of Burma... the Native Americans of our own country... the Maya of Southern Mexico and Guatemala, the Dalits of India, and so many others.
What began in 1939 as a dream of the Sharps to help those in need has transformed into helping so many in Asia, Africa, Central America, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Currently, the Service Committee is aiding over 35 international, grassroots human rights agencies around the world - all of whom are supported by their own, local communities - headed up by visionary leaders, advocates and volunteers - all helping to bring justice and human rights to their own, local communities.
We assist them with some limited financial support, with technical assistance and with the power to grow.
UUSC's program staff travels regularly to visit our partners, lending one-on-one support and training. Just last month our own Chief Operating Officer, Nancy Moore, traveled to Thailand to give a leadership and management class to almost a dozen leaders of human rights organizations on the Thai-Burma border. These individuals were then going to travel into the mountains and villages of Burma - a nation that has borne decades of human rights abuses at the hands of the ruling military junta - to teach others the methods of management, organizational development and effective leadership.
I'd like to tell you about two of the grassroots organizations with which the Service Committee has been working tirelessly for years as an example of the justice-making work we do on behalf of our denomination.
In November, 2003 a delegation from UUSC, once again, traveled to the center of Guatemala - where we have had a quarter-century relationship with human rights defenders. We were there in November to monitor the presidential elections with a delegation of UUSC staff members, volunteers and a congressional aide. Our work there at the end of last year was to ensure the proper functioning of an election process, which could have placed back in power the man who was responsible for the deaths of over 125,000 people during Guatemala's civil war in the 1980s. His name is General Efrain Rios Montt.
It was in the late 1970s that UUSC first began its work in that beautiful country filled with courageous people. For over 25 years UUSC has been shining the spotlight of injustice on the atrocities of the Rios Montt government - the massacres, the death squads - the oppression - the abuse of power. The cornerstone of justice we laid a generation ago is now being built upon by the current team of justice-builders from your Service Committee.
Instead of architects, masons, stonecutters and wood carvers we are working with women's advocates, lawyers, filmmakers, community activists and others to build justice for the indigenous people of Guatemala. The work we began over 20 years ago... to teach women they can have a voice in their lives... bore fruit in
November's election when hundreds of thousands of them turned out to vote at the polls - the largest majority of women voters in the nation's history. The human rights activists the Service Committee has been supporting for years have now compiled enough data to ensure that Rios Montt's former government and henchmen will be brought to trial in a court and be held accountable for their crimes against humanity. The community activists we have supported for so many years are now a part of the civil society of this developing land and have taken their rightful place at the table of justice - recognized by their fellow countrymen. The filmmakers and videographers we have supported have been able to tell the story of the Maya in ways that have enlightened millions around the world.
Through the efforts of them all, the Service Committee has been able to help forge alliances, build relationships and bring light to the issues facing these oppressed peoples. And, our work will continue.... UUSC expects to carry on its tradition of our Just Works program and take additional delegations of Service Committee stakeholders and public policy advocates back to Guatemala and other parts of the world, so we can continue to do our part in building justice around the globe. Guatemala may have fallen off the radar screen for many these past several years since the civil war ended in the early 1990s, but your Service Committee knew more needed to be done and we have stayed the course with our vision of justice for all Guatemalans.
I must make an "aside" here and let you know that UUSC's current president, Charlie Clements, led our delegations to Central America when he was with the Service Committee back in the 1980s. At that time Charlie was the Director of Human Rights Education for UUSC. He took our supporters and members of congress to El Salvador to show them the direct effects that our U.S. foreign policy was having on the peoples of that land. The congress members Charlie took to El Salvador witnessed for themselves the horrific policy decisions being made back in Washington, and when they returned to the halls of congress they were no longer able to vote on abstract issues, but on the ramification of those issues they saw with their own eyes.
In addition, I am proud to tell you that when the peace accord was signed in Mexico City in the mid-1990s, Charlie Clements was one
of six United States citizens invited to come to Mexico City to witness the signing of this all-important peace treaty.
In another part of the world - the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa - a woman named Immaculee Birhaheka is now one of the Congo's leading human rights activists. Immaculee was born in 1959, the same year Belgium gave the Congo its independence. What was once the Belgium Congo became Zaire. Zaire elected its first democratically-elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, in 1959 and it was within the first one hundred days of his election that he was assassinated, some say by the hands of our own CIA because he was too close to the then-Communists of the former Soviet Union.
I recently was honored by the opportunity to spend some time with Immaculee Baraheka, the founder and president of the organization, Promotion and Support of Feminine Initiatives, also known as PAIF, UUSC's partner in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It is difficult for anyone who is not Congolese to imagine what it is like to live in this country torn apart by decade after decade of foreign-sponsored civil war. The basic infrastructure of a civil society - government, police, and hospitals - have all been either destroyed or weakened past all recognition. And yet, in this environment, Immaculee has managed to build an organization dedicated to protecting and promoting women's rights.
When she first started her organization, she was, by and large, on her own. In 1995, when PAIF received its first grant for human rights work, it was from the Service Committee. This follows the Service Committee's longstanding practice of seeking local, grassroots organizations that are addressing human right concerns and supporting them by offering funding, technical support, and a means of building a constituency in the United States for their issues. Most often, we choose to work in areas where U.S. foreign policy has exacerbated the situation.
PAIF has grown dramatically as an organization. They work on a community-building model that serves to empower women even as they address specific human rights violations. During the time that your Service Committee has worked with PAIF, Immaculee has been honored for her human rights work by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Community, and numerous others.
These awards are not empty gestures. They are key tools that Immaculee uses upon her return to the Congo.
She can walk into a military or paramilitary encampment and demand to see prisoners. She can, often quite successfully, negotiate for their release or improvements in the conditions of their captivity. And she can do this because she has built her own cathedral of justice in her homeland.
The commanders of these troops cannot simply kill her or take her prisoner because she is a focal point of international attention in the Congo - from Unitarian Universalists as well as from the United Nations and others.
That is not to say that there are not risks. Recently, the threats against Immaculee became serious enough that the Service Committee determined that it was a good time for her to visit the United States and speak to policy makers, UUSC members, and the general public about the Congo. She works every day, under threats against herself - and with the constant worry that her teenage son will be involuntarily drafted into one of the armed groups or another as a child soldier - to advance the cause of a civil, peaceful society in her community that respects the rights of women. The Service Committee stands with PAIF and all the people it serves.
PIAF is headquartered in the city of Goma, on the shore of Lake Kivu in the eastern part of the Congo. It is where the Congo meets Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. It is where we learned of the strife between the Hutus and the Tutsis a few years back. It was Idi Amin's backyard. Immaculee, with only a dream in mind, began PAIF by laying the foundation stone of justice and it is now - a decade later - one of the most powerful voices for human rights in her nation and Central Africa.
The Congo may not be any place you or I think of every day. It is many worlds away from our existence. However, UUSC is driven to keep the issues of Africa - especially Central Africa - on the map of justice. We know our work is not finished there and may not be for many years to come. But, until the world remembers daily that war is tearing these nations apart... that dictators are abusing their powers and their people... that children are being used as human landmine sweepers... that imperialism is still raping the natural resources from their hills and valleys... that the same number of children who live in all of New York state and the state of California are being left orphaned by AIDS in Central Africa ... UUSC's mission is not over.
We may not expect to see justice brought to the wondrous continent of Africa in our lifetimes, but we are compelled to add our voice, bear our resources and call attention to the world's activists that there is much more that needs to be done. This cathedral is far from built and the Service Committee will do its part to continue laying the stones of justice one course at a time.
Many ask what is the long-term mission and vision of our Service Committee. It is not enough to say we empower women, protect children and advocate for the rights of oppressed indigenous people.
Our framework at the Service Committee is to look at the U. N. Declaration of Human Rights and do everything in our power to protect those rights... the rights of women, children, workers of the world, access to health, clean water and more. We know we cannot be all things to all people in all places around the world. UUSC needs to use its resources wisely and effectively. And, one of our greatest resources is the power of our members and supporters' voices. We call upon YOU to help in our UU journey of justice.
At home, UUSC has been working tirelessly for years on the issues of migrant farm workers, Native Americans, inner-city youth and more. Our Just Works workcamps have helped to train and mobilize hundreds of UU activists who wanted to be of service, to learn about the issues before them and to advocate for the voiceless. We have helped migrant farm workers ensure they have access to clean water, proper sanitation and livable working conditions.
We have helped inner-city children and youth with the problems of poverty and racism through our Just Works camps. UUSC sent teams of Just Works advocates to help rebuild African-American churches, which were burned in the South in the 1990s. And, we will continue to hold our Just Works camps nationwide on the issues of today.
The Service Committee's latest Just Works initiative is something you will be hearing a lot about in the upcoming months. We are working hand-in-glove with the UUA and a large coalition of other faith-based organizations under the umbrella of the "Faithful Democracy" program to ensure the strongest, most informed voter
turnout in the 2004 national election. Soon, your minister will be getting information from the Service Committee and the UUA about Faithful Democracy and the UUSC initiative, Defending Democracy.
The Service Committee's part in this democracy drive will be to engage our younger voters to have them register, get others to register, vote in November and to go to the polls educated and informed on many of the issues before us.
You who cast your votes here in Florida have been a topic of conversation around the country for nearly four years now. The rest of the United States, and possibly yourselves, aren't quite sure exactly what happened in our last national election. What we do know is that the election was extremely close. It was contentious. And, it was important for the future of our nation.
Every four years we, as citizens of our country, lay a course of stones for our collective cathedral of democracy. We need to ensure that each layer of stone is set properly and the mortar holding each course together is strong.
In many ways there is nothing as important for you, me, the Service Committee and our nation this year as to ensure we never have a situation similar to what we had in the year 2000 ever happen again. Whatever you believe in, whomever you voted for, the fact remains that the last election's course of stone was pieced together with broken fragments and patches of cement.
I ask you to get involved and stay involved in protecting one of the most enduring and powerful tools we have as U.S. and world citizens: the power of voice and vote. I will be available after service today to talk more about Defending Democracy and
to answer any questions you may have. I do hope you will be able to join me.
The Service Committee has many, many ways you can get and stay involved in the issues of our time. If you are a member, we thank you and ask that you read our literature, check out our dynamic and informative Web site, stay active and continue to work on justice. If you are not a member, we ask you to join the struggle for human rights here and abroad.
Approximately 12% of all Unitarian Universalists are members of the Service Committee and we ask that you help us to create a stronger and louder voice for justice. Our goal is to have a much higher percentage of all Unitarian Universalists voice their conscience through our venerable Service Committee. Annual memberships start at $25 and all membership donations of $60 and above are eligible to be matched - dollar for dollar - by the Congregation at Shelter Rock. You can rest assured that your membership donation is going to a trustworthy institution that takes your support seriously.
Last year nearly 80% of all dollars donated went directly to those most in need. UUSC has a strong policy to keep its administrative and overhead costs well below the national average. We take your trust in us very, very seriously. Unlike other denominations, Unitarian Universalists are not missionaries. However, we do have a mission. Our mission is to carry our UU values from continent to continent... from region to region... from issue to issue... to ensure that the interdependent web in which we all exist is caring, loving, and open to all.
When people ask me how the Service Committee is different from all the other agencies out there doing good in the world, I tell them that there are relief agencies that will give a fish to someone in need. There are local and international development agencies that will teach people how to fish. But it is the Service Committee and other human rights institutions that ensure that everyone has open and free access to the fishing hole now and forever. It does no good to know how to fish if you cannot get to the pond.
Please, join in the struggle for others through your Service Committee. There is much that needs to be done. Get involved. Stay involved. Become an activist. Teach others to be active in their societies. Donate your time, your energies, talent and good fortune. Take the leap of faith that justice will prevail. It was a UU who talked about the long arc of justice, how it bends toward the horizon and most of us will not see its end in our lifetimes. Those who built the cathedrals in Chartes, London, Rome, Paris and elsewhere did not see their work in their lifetimes, either.
I ask you to add a course of stone to your personal cathedral of conscience.
Lay your cornerstone of compassion. Apply your mortar with meaning. Sculpt your statues of justice. Carve your pulpits of peace well. Together we can... all... help to build the cathedral of conscience that reflects our Unitarian Universalist values.
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