Indonesia: Friends/Quakers Peace Teams Initiative Update

Nadine Hoover is coordinator of the FPT Indonesia. A member of Alfred (NY) Meeting, she has traveled in the ministry among US Quakers for over a decade, with a minute from New York Yearly Meeting. Formerly secretary to Southeastern Yearly Meeting, Nadine has extended her ministry to Indonesia, coordinating the Indonesia Initiative of Friends Peace Teams. A conscientious objector to war and war taxes, she supports her ministry through donations and massage therapy.

The first Initiative of Friends Peace Teams was the African Great Lakes [Rwanda-Burundi] Initiative. Now there are two more: the Indonesian Initiative and a Peacebuilding in the Americas project.

Nadine currently coordinates the work in Ache, North Sumatra, West Java and Central Java. She is helping refugees struggling to live sustainably in a forest. They manufacture colloidal silver filters to make water safe for drinking without boiling it, and "rocket stoves" which conserve firewood and direct smoke out of homes. For some time now she has been teaching Alternatives to Violence Project, after translating it into Indonesian.

Some of these AVP workshops have included people from both sides in the 30-year war. Nadine has also set up several preschools and has been paying for the teachers to go to college for early childhood education. All of this empowers the Indonesians to carry on these projects and their own projects.

Website with snapshots of Indonesian participants: http://consciencestudio.com/index.php?q=indonesia

Website with video of Indonesian projects: http://friendspeaceteams.org/FPTJ/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=147&Itemid=1