In addition to the children of prisoners profiled in What Will Happen to Me?, the same question could be asked of many others touched upon in this edition of Peacebuilder: child soldiers and ex-combatants around the world; confused teens harmed by draconian school policies; survivors of trauma; overburdened officials in criminal justice, educational, and other ...More
Restorative justice is fragile. It hinges on people taking determined steps to relentlessly pursue their healing despite the pain it may bring. It challenges us to growth, to imagine beyond the current status quo and to take the creative risk of feeling and acting in a different, yet deeply courageous way. –Carl Stauffer, EMU restorative justice ...More
Three million children in the United States are estimated to have one or both parents in prison. Here is some information about these children: 1 in 15 African American children has a parent in prison. For white children the figure is 1 in 110. About half of parents in prison have never had a personal ...More
December 30, 2010 – 6:09 pm
Who would come from half-way around the world to enroll in a program at Eastern Mennonite University that was so new, no college catalog listed it? Sam Gbaydee Doe did. From Liberia. Initially, the plump squirrels running around campus dismayed him: They could be food for very hungry people in his war-torn homeland. He himself ...More
December 30, 2010 – 5:09 pm
Jim Bernat, MA ’00 Madison, Virginia For the last 25 years, Jim Bernat has worked in Culpeper, Virginia, a town that is mid-way between the two universities in his state that offer master’s degrees pertaining to conflict transformation: EMU and George Mason University (GMU). Jim holds an undergraduate degree in counseling from GMU. But he ...More
December 30, 2010 – 4:11 pm
C. Dave Dyck, MA ’00 Winnipeg, Canada Reflecting on the 10 years since he finished his master’s degree, Dave Dyck says two memories loom large: (1) The joyful time spent in community, experiencing meaningful relationships. (2) The way that his restorative justice professor, Howard Zehr, “handed off power.” Dave recalls that Howard had a way ...More
December 30, 2010 – 3:33 pm
Janice “Jan” Jenner, MA ’99 Harrisonburg, Virginia Jan Jenner is outranked only by Howard Zehr for being the longest-serving full-time employee currently at CJP. Over the last 13 years, she has been a student, grant writer, administrator, book author, and teacher at CJP. She and her husband Hadley formerly served with Mennonite Central Committee in ...More
December 30, 2010 – 3:25 pm
Tammy Krause, MA ’99 Chorlton-cum-Hardy, England Tammy Krause was the founding director of JustBridges, a group working across the United Stated to develop awareness of the needs of victims by attorneys working for the defense. She also was the first person hired by the federal government to work with victims’ families in capital cases and ...More
December 30, 2010 – 1:53 pm
Lina Maria Obando (Marquez), MA ’00 San Jose, Costa Rica “John Paul Lederach’s elicitive approach to learning has stayed with me through the years,” says Lina Maria Obando, who is Habitat for Humanity’s organizational learning manager for Latin America and the Caribbean. The “elicitive approach” refers to a participatory educational process often used at CJP. ...More
December 30, 2010 – 12:52 pm
Barb Toews, MA ’00 Lancaster, Pennsylvania After eight years of going “behind the walls and bars” to work with prisoners and prison staff, Barb Toews finds herself in a dramatically different environment these days: in the peaceful setting of a Quaker-founded private college with expansive lawns, towering shade trees, and buildings with picture windows. Barb ...More
