To Friends Everywhere:

The Fellowship of Friends of African Descent held its 14^th annual gathering at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, June 19-22, 2008. The theme of this year’s gathering is “Africa: Our Homecoming.” The group included 9 adults and 2 Junior Friends, who represent three yearly meetings, 2 AFSC staff and two guests, including a native of Ghana, to enhance our cultural awareness as we prepare to take the gathering to Africa. We acknowledged regrets from 20 other members. (should we say this last thing?)

We were welcomed to Atlanta with an opening reception at the offices of AFSC’s Southeastern Regional Office (SERO), followed by a screening of Part I of “African American Lives 2” produced by Henry Louis Gates, head of the African American Institute at Harvard University. The video described ancestral searches for a range of African Americans, including Gates, Tom Joyner, Don Cheadle and several other well-known persons. Part two was shown as an evening program at a later time.

Our daily morning worship was a silent worship period prior the start of our business sessions. The two Junior Friends joined us in worship, but were involved in other activities following worship, including a skating party and a trip to MLK National Park and the gravesite of Martin and Coretta Scott King.

In our first business session, we heard a report from Tejan Muata, staff in SERO, on work in the region dedicated to the Jubilee effort for debt forgiveness for African nations. Many African countries are encumbered by debts to international financial organizations, such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund. They are often compelled to pay these debts at the expense of serving the educational, health, social welfare needs of citizens of their country. The United States House of Representatives has passed the debt forgiveness legislation affecting those African countries not at war. Tejan passed out scripts to be used for those who agree to call the offices of various Senators asking for support of this legislation and also a preprinted postcard for mailing urging support.

Tejan also shared plans that are moving forward for a “Hope Conference/Consultation” within the year to focus on building peace in Africa, with attendance limited to representatives from countries engaged in or recovering from war. Plans include a major speaker and developing “peace testimonies” as a step to support the efforts of these nations to forge brighter futures and cultures of peace. Friends expressed enthusiastic support for both of these important efforts and agreed to share the information on the Jubilee act efforts and hearing further developments on the consultation.

We heard a report via telephone from Darlene Walker, an FFAD member who recently visited Ghana, on the possibility of taking the FFAD gathering there in the near future. Darlene travelled to Hill House meeting located on the picturesque grounds of Achimoda School outside Accra and spoke with the clerk.

The meeting has about 30 members and welcomes the idea of hosting the fellowship. There are many details to be worked out, including lodging, in-country transportation, air fares and an appropriate time of year to visit. We thanked Darlene for her extensive report.

Darlene is a member of the Ghana Planning Committee named at the 2007 FFAD gathering and clerked by Deborah Saunders, who will visit Ghana in December 2008. Other members of this committee are Vanessa Julye and Joan Crawford. The committee sees this African gathering as an important spiritual journey for Friends of African Descent; its members are empowered to follow through on planning: setting specific dates for the trip, exploring specific options for lodging, airfares and other details. Deborah contributed via phone to this conversation.

In order to facilitate planning and coordination for the Ghana Gathering, the FFAD Continuing Committee and the Ghana Planning Committee will meet four times over the next 12 months at locations to be decided. The meeting dates are September 12 -13, 2008, January 30-31, 2009, and May 1-2, 2009. In lieu of an official Annual Gathering in 2009, FFAD members are invited to attend the meeting held on June 12-12, 2009 to hear first –hand of the planning for the Ghana Gathering.

The Fellowship of Friends of African Descent continues to offer a supportive community for African American Friends and their children, especially for those who feel isolated and alone in their Monthly Meetings. We welcome hearing from those who would be connected with us as we grow in spirit and in numbers. This is very special time in the life of the Fellowship whose current immediate goal is to live out the theme of this gathering, “Africa: Our Homecoming.”

Diane Rowley

FFAD Clerk