Newsletter: Summer, 1999

A Prayer for the Millennium
— Patricia Mathes Cane

If we imagine there is a chance that all people might one day learn to live in beauty and kindness, then what might we pray for now, at this potent moment in history, to help invoke this possible future? Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon posed this question in preparing to write their beautiful new book, Prayers for a Thousand Years (Harper San Francisco, 1999). Prayers contributed by people of many cultures and creeds, echo the heart-cries of the human family. We feel privileged that CAPACITAR's prayer was included in this collection. (Newsletter pp. 4 & 5)

Robert Muller, Former Assistant UN Secretary General and Chancellor Emeritus of the UN University of Peace gave his prayer:

I dream that the celebration
of the millennium
will be devoted by all
humans, nations, and institutions
to unparalled thinking, action,
inspiration, determination and love
to solve our remaining problems
and to achieve a peaceful,
united human family on Earth.

In recent CAPACITAR workshops we met African-American women who are doing just that. At the Women's Theological Center in Boston, Co-Director Donna Bivens told us that there is a notable rise in racism on the national level. Her groups, Love Herself Regardless: Programs for Women of African Descent inspire African-American women to look at their historical legacy in order to heal the wounds of racism. Jo Davis described the sister-to-sister mentorship program she leads with adults and adolescents to inspire bonds of trust and self-identity in the African American community. Curdina Hill works to bring business and organizational development skills to empower women both in the US and in Africa.

Louise Dunlap, recently returned from work with grassroots groups in South Africa, described her participation in the the walk of the Middle Passage through the Southern states and West Africa to heal the history and legacy of slavery. During our time with the Women's Theological Center we spoke often of what it might mean to face the wounds and attitudes of our forebears which are destructive and no longer serve the human family, and to say, This stops with me! The WTC women were an inspiration as CAPACITAR looks for funding and begins initial plans to train teams in Africa in The women of Honduras are likewise focused with determination, action and love to rebuild their country after the devastation of Hurricane Mitch and the years of political violence. Our recent program on Trauma, Healing and Transformation, is CAPACITAR's response to walk in solidarity with the people of Honduras.

In collaboration with Center Visitación Padilla, grassroots leaders were invited from different areas of the country to be part of a one-year on-going training. The women work with street gangs, abused women, families, youth, the homeless, refugees affected by Mitch, the aging, the tortured and victims of political violence, as well as men and women prisoners and their families. The women see the recent destruction of Hurricane Mitch as only a further breakdown of life that needs to be rebuilt in a very different way. One woman leads a group of housewives who daily work to rebuild their destroyed homes and community in La Ceiba. Most of these women have very few material possessions but are rich in love, faith and a spirit that is indomitable. In their closing ritual the women expressed a deep commitment to take on the healing and rebuilding of their country, and to support each other in their own healing and transformation. It is a great privilege for CAPACITAR to work with these remarkable women.

The women of Boston and Honduras teach us that our prayers to transform our world can be realized. Their lives and actions are a great example of the human capacity to create what we focus upon, what we long for, and what we desire. Imagine the kind of healing energy that would be unleashed on the planet if we took to heart these prayers for the millennium!