American Friends Service Committee
Mission: " . . .To transform conditions and relationships, both in the world and in ourselves, which threaten to overwhelm what is precious in human beings . . . We nurture the faith that conflicts can be resolved non-violently, that enmity can be transformed into friendship, strife into cooperation, poverty into well-being, and injustice into dignity and participation."
Mainland China contact:
James Reilly (吴瑞利), Wu Na (吴娜)
East Asia Representatives
A-23-4 Xing Hai Da Sha
595 Zhongshan Lu, Shahekou Qu
Dalian 116023
Tel: +86 (0)411 8467 7526
Activities in Other Countries:
Worldwide
Religious Affiliation:
Christian (Quaker)
This organisation grew out of a ‘Religious Society of Friends’ that was founded in England in the 17th century. The Friends, popularly known as Quakers, are (Protestant) Christians who believe that God is present within all human beings; they are thus strongly opposed to killing. In the West, the Quakers are well-known for their pacifism, which is often actively expressed in a strong commitment to social justice.
AFSC (美国公谊服务委员会)was originally established in 1917 to create a way for young pacifists to serve others as an alternative to military service. The Committee sent men and women to France to provide care and shelter for refugees from World War I. After the war, the AFSC worked in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe fighting famine through agricultural reconstruction and child feeding programmes. Similarly, after World War II, the Committee supported civilian reconstruction efforts in many European countries, and also in India, China and Japan.
Over the last few decades, AFSC has established aid programmes in developing countries to address the disparity between rich and poor nations and to relieve the tensions that lead to war. It also brings together young professionals and mid-career diplomats from many nations for informal conferences designed to promote international understanding and tolerance. Today the AFSC carries on programs of service, development, social justice, and peace education in 22 foreign countries and 43 places in the United States, with an annual budget of 42 USD million.
AFSC first came to China in the 1920s to help establish a model village near Shanghai. In 1938, AFSC helped open a Friends Center in Shanghai and then co-founded the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) in 1941. Over 150 FAU volunteers provided transport, medical, relief and rehabilitation programs on both sides of the Chinese Civil War. Via direct intervention by Zhou Enlai, the FAU sent a medical team to the International Peace Hospital in Yan’an.
AFSC became an important voice advocating for US recognition of China during the Cold War. In 1965, the height of McCarthy-era fears about “red China,” AFSC published a booklet calling for “A New China Policy.” Over the next two years, AFSC sponsored a series of conferences in the US calling for US recognition of China, which led to the founding of the National Committee on US-China Relations. AFSC also held influential conferences with UN diplomats in Geneva and New York to discuss the PRC assumption of the China seat at the UN.
In 1971 and 1972, AFSC led two high-level delegations to China and published a series of books aimed at broadening dialogue, facilitating exchanges, and building understanding between the US and China. AFSC continued to promote US-China relations in periods of difficulty. In 1990, AFSC led a high-level delegation on a visit to China hosted by CAIFU (Chinese Association for International Friendship and Understanding), which met with a number of influential Chinese leaders, including Foreign Minister Huang Hua.
More recently, AFSC has sponsored seminars on alternative security and peace education and organised exchanges for women leaders from the Republic of Korea, China and Vietnam to observe the impact of globalisation on women workers.
Since 2001, AFSC has held an annual Summer Camp in a village in Hunan, where volunteers from the US and other countries, along with volunteers from Chinese universities and high schools, spend three weeks giving around 200 local children tuition in English and environmental education. Over the years, the volunteers and local children have refurbished a school, turning it into a community education centre.
AFSC’s program office in Changsha is now working with the Hunan Women’s Federation and other local partners to provide information and other resources to rural young women before they migrate to urban areas for work. One joint program is a “Go With You” project, through which information packets inside small toiletry bags have been distributed to tens of thousands of current or future young women migrant workers. AFSC is also involved in training and exchange programs with partner organizations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea).
In 2002, AFSC’s total income was USD 40.2 million. Of this, 36% was donated by individuals, and a further 29% was received in bequests. One third of the organisation’s funds are devoted to international programmes, with the remainder being used for ‘peace education’ (18%) and community programmes (26%) in the United States. The China Summer Camps are funded by a Friends chapter in New Jersey
Links
http://www.afsc.org
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