Ethnic Afghani Dinner
to benefit
"Seeds of Hope" campaign.
Sat. May 11, 5:30 to 8 p.m.
|
(former director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and former director of the American Friends Service Committee New England office) Mr. Hostetter will show his slides, and speak on his experience as part of a 2 person effort, which brought 23 truckloads of supplies through Tajikistan to Afghanistan in Nov. 2001. "Shortly after the attack, Hostetter, 57,…decided the peace and pacifist tradition needed to respond immediately. 'I realized the poor people of Afghanistan would soon be paying a price for the terrorist activity, though they had nothing to do with it,' he said. 'So I felt we had to reach out to the victims.' He explained his idea of immediate massive aid to leaders of the Fellowship and the American Friends and together they made commitments of $40,000 for the project. But he was told the borders into Afghanistan were sealed and no one could get in. He discovered, however, that a former contact, Sadeed Suraya, director of Help the Afghan Children, Inc., was also planning an aid mission and knew how to cross the border from Tajikistan. They both did further fundraising and pooled the total, which eventually came to $130,000. They then flew to Tajikistan, purchased enough food and supplies to fill 23 10-ton rented trucks, crossed over a mountainous area and passed through four Russian-manned checkpoints before entering Afghanistan." (From an article by Robert McClory, National Catholic Reporter, 12/21/2001) |
Send checks to: DOERS, PO Box 259525, Madison, WI 53725-9525.
Call (608) 251-6892 to see if any dinner tickets remain.
http://doerswi.homestead.com
All profits will go to buy seeds and tools for Afghani refugees returning home. Donations will be sent through the Mennonite Central Committee.