Four Philadelphia Yearly Meeting members will participate in the “All India Friends Gathering” and attend sessions of the Young Adult work camp that follows. This blog will be share highlights from this trip.
The delegation will first convene on October 19 in Delhi at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, worship with Friends in their YWCA meetingroom, and travel to Madhya Pradesh where many of India’s 2000 Quakers live.
Members from all five of India’s yearly meetings are likely to participate in the All India Friends Gathering, which will meet in Itarsi from October 24 to 28. The Young Adult Friends Work/Study Camp begins October 29th at the Rasulia Rural Centre, where Indian Friends anticipate developing a regional home for Quaker Studies in central India.
Philadelphia YM’s India Friends Working Group has a two-pronged mission - to nurture ties with Friends in India, and to foster social justice. Our ongoing relationship with Gandhians has led the delegation to anticipate visiting Bhimkothi. It is a very rural village, which is in a “sisterhood” relationship with Unami Monthly Meeting in Pennsburg, PA. This 2012 delegation includes members from London Grove MM, Mt Holly MM, and Swarthmore MM in addition to Unami MM.
We invite anyone interested in learning how to develop a “sisterhood” relationship with an Ekta Parishad village in India or how to become involved with Indian Friends to join us in January. Plan to come to the Arch Street Meetinghouse in Philadelphia on Saturday, January 19th at 1:00 P.M. for our delegation’s debriefing.
