Peace and Social Concerns will host a fundraising luncheon at the rise of Meeting for Worship on First Day/Sunday, January 12 to benefit the Ramallah Friends School in Palestine’s West Bank. Guest speakers are Betsy Brinson, a member of Richmond Friends Meeting now living in Chapel Hill NC, and Faedah Totah Ph.D., an Associate Professor at VCU’s School of World Studies, coordinator of the International Studies Program, and mentor to the VCU Students for Justice in Palestine.

Betsy and her husband Gordon Davies lived in Ramallah for two years (2009-2011) while working on a definitive history of the Ramallah Friends School, which traces its Quaker roots to 1869. Faedah is a 1984 graduate of Ramallah Friends School and a sociocultural anthropologist who teaches courses in globalization, development, urbanism, and the Middle East.

Betsy will speak on the current plight of the Ramallah Friends School, where emergency tuition assistance is needed to assist families at risk of leaving the school community due to the 60-80% unemployment levels in Palestine. Faedah will provide additional context about the wartime conditions across Palestine that threaten the present and future educational infrastructure.

Bring your checkbooks! If you cannot attend but are led to contribute, send contributions to Friends United Meeting, 101 Quaker Hill Drive, Richmond IN 47374 and note Ramallah Friends School in the memo line.