After four weeks of travel, the 2018 International Peacemakers gathered together one final time at Laws Lodge on the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary campus. Seven of the 10 peacemakers met for two days of conversation and a debrief session to talk about their experiences with congregations, students and other organizations before heading back to their respective homes.
The Rev. Alex E. Awad, a peace and justice advocate and former missionary with the United Methodist Church, spoke to U.S. audiences this fall as part of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program’s International Peacemakers initiative. He’s served in Israel/Palestine as an educator and pastor for more than 30 years and spoke about his experiences in the Holy Land, the conditions faced by Palestinians under occupation, the impact of Israeli settlements, and the role of the church in ending the current injustices found in his homeland.
Presbyterian congregations in the U.S. are learning about the struggles and successes of church work in Venezuela this fall from the moderator of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Venezuela visits. The Rev. Zulema Garcia is a pastor of the Western Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Venezuela.
The Rev. Alex E. Awad, a peace and justice advocate and former missionary with the United Methodist Church, will speak to U.S. audiences this fall as part of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program’sInternational Peacemakers initiative. He’s served in Israel/Palestine as an educator and pastor for more than 30 years and will speak about his experiences in the Holy Land, the conditions faced by Palestinians under occupation, the impact of Israeli settlements, and the role of the church in ending the current injustices found in his homeland.
The horror of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda is still fresh for Jerome Bizimana Nkumbuyinka. That’s when more than 800,000 people were slaughtered by perpetrators over a 100-day period following the assassination of the country’s president.
Mary Mikhael is a familiar face in Presbyterian circles. For years, she has met with churches, synods and seminaries about the ongoing crisis in Syria. This fall, she returns to the U.S. once again as an International Peacemaker.
Founded in 2011, South Sudan is the world’s youngest country. But infighting among its two largest tribal groups — friction that dates back to the 19th century — has plunged the country into civil war and forced many of its young citizens to become soldiers instead of doctors, teachers or farmers. The Rev. Michael Muot Put, from the Nuer tribal community, is working to educate communities about the importance of peace among different ethnic groups and to provide a platform based on peace and unity.
Madagascar, which sits off the southeast coast of Africa, is the fourth largest island in the world. More than 90 percent of its flora and fauna are found nowhere else on Earth, including more than 8,000 plant species. Yet for all of its natural resource richness, Madagascar is among the world’s least-developed countries, according to the U.N. Nearly 90 percent of its residents live on less than $2 a day and only one-third have access to safe drinking water.
Nearly 30,000 refugees live in or near Thessaloniki, a port city in Greece. Manolis Ntamparakis has made it his calling to help them. He is the director of social action for the Naomi Ecumenical Workshop for Refugees, a nonprofit organization founded two years ago.
Mary Mikhael is a familiar face in Presbyterian circles. For years, she has met with churches, synods and seminaries about the ongoing crisis in Syria. This fall, she returns to the U.S. once again as an international peacemaker.
