The 鈥淎ll God鈥檚 Children March for a Ceasefire,鈥� organized by , included participants ranging in age from 11 to 74 years old. Marchers left from Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg on July 18, walking about 13 miles each day on their journey before arriving at the White House on July 28. Between 35 and 125 marchers took part in the action each day, with some devoting a day and others completing the entire route.

Watch a shot and edited by 91短视频 student Micaiah Landis,
offering a behind-the-scenes look at the march.

Together, the group braved the heat, humidity and rain, climbed into the Blue Ridge Mountains and through the Shenandoah National Park, and walked down quiet country roads, along busy highways and through suburban neighborhoods and parking lots. They slept in churches and camped in open fields. They listened and watched as passing drivers honked and waved in support of their cause. They marched while singing hymns and held evening worship services along the way.

You can read daily dispatches from the group鈥檚 journey
on the Mennonite Action website .

When they arrived in D.C. the marchers joined an protesting the annual conference of Christians United for Israel (CUFI). On July 30, members of the group protested inside the halls of the Hart Senate Office Building. Capitol Police made 47 arrests in the peaceful protest.

The march and arrests received a flurry of national media coverage. Outlets including , , , and highlighted Mennonite Action and its cause.

We spoke with 91短视频 senior and nursing major Jenna Weaver, sophomore and computer engineering major Renae Benner, and Tyler Goss, director for student engagement and leadership development, about their experiences.

How did you participate in the march and D.C. actions?
Weaver: I walked the first nine days of the march, almost making it to D.C. I also was a medic for the march, which mainly involved tending to people鈥檚 blisters, helping remove hundreds of ticks, calling the paramedics when needed, and watching out for dehydrated folks as we walked during several very hot days!
Benner: I participated in the entire march from Harrisonburg to Washington, D.C. On July 28, I joined the service of lament held outside the White House. The next day, I joined an interfaith chorus that sang songs calling for peace at the conference center hosting the CUFI summit. On July 30, I joined another rally with speakers and singing and helped on the jail support team for those arrested for peacefully protesting.
Goss: I was fortunate enough to attend the whole march and time in D.C. So, any of the good trouble Mennonite Action was up to over those days, I was there. Specifically, I helped to coordinate the programming during the march. From daily devotional-style gatherings, to yoga, to game nights, and evening prayer, I was the one tapping shoulders and connecting people’s gifts with the various programming leadership.

What were the most memorable or impactful experiences from your participation?
Benner: The day we marched into D.C. was full of energy. Lots of people joined us in the morning and more joined in as we walked. As we neared the bridge to cross the Potomac River, I was overwhelmed by the significance of what we were doing. It felt like such a powerful political action to enter the city by foot, in a line of over a hundred people, carrying the banners we had carried across Virginia. The entire two weeks felt this way: I knew I was experiencing something remarkable, and all I could do was try to take it in.

What drew you to get involved? Why is it important to participate in actions like these?
Weaver: I barely knew of the ongoing violence in Palestine until my intercultural to Israel-Palestine last summer, led by Tim and Chris Seidel. I learned so much history of native people being removed from their homes, and created relationships with people that I am still in contact with. When the Hamas attacks occurred in October, and then the extreme violence by Israel, it stirred so much anger and sadness in me. I was a part of various local protests, , and was a part of the on 91短视频’s campus. When the idea of the march came up, I knew I would do it. As a Mennonite, we believe in nonviolence. How could I not stand up for tens of thousands of beautiful humans being killed when my faith calls me to do so?

How has this changed your perspective, or how has participating in this impacted you?
Goss: I have always known our 91短视频 students are incredible, but, wow, I wish everyone could have seen the brilliant ways all of the 91短视频 students involved in the march and D.C. actions led with such courage and compassion. The meal organizers, the videographers, the de-escalators, the phone callers, the police liaisons, the medics, the song leaders, the protesters…our students took the lead in every role of the action.

What do you feel the result of your actions and involvement were?
Benner: Hundreds, and sometimes maybe thousands of cars, drove past us each day as we marched. Lots of people took videos. I don鈥檛 know exactly what people were thinking as they saw us walking. However, I was inspired by how many positive, or at least curious, responses we received. I think we gave some people hope, because we are continuing to care about Gaza and speak out against violence. Maybe we inspired some people to also raise their voices in protest. I hope our demonstration caused a few people to learn more about what鈥檚 going on in Palestine, or even to question their preconceptions for a moment.

Is there anything else you feel that would be important to share about?
Weaver: Just overall gratitude for the organizers of Mennonite Action who worked so hard to make the march happen, as well as donors and Mennonites across the U.S. and other countries who prayed for and supported us.

For more photos from the march and protests, visit the .

Her name is Leymah Gbowee, a 2007 graduate of 91短视频’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Before coming to 91短视频, Gbowee emerged into the world spotlight when she and a brave group of ordinary women, mostly mothers, banded together to do the unimaginable – use nonviolent methods to confront Liberia’s despotic president Charles Taylor and his warlord opponents.

Both sides used child soldiers who terrorized the population, including raping a large percentage of Liberia’s women and girls. The mothers dressed in white, held up hand-written signs saying “We Want Peace” and began to appear wherever the warring leaders could be found. They also told the men in their families “no sex” until you do everything in your power to stop the war.

At one point the women linked arms and barricaded negotiators for the opposing sides in a conference room. Gbowee threatened to take off her clothes, followed by the other protesting women – an act that, in Liberian culture, would shame and disgrace the men – if the negotiators failed to stay at the table until they arrived at a peace agreement.

The women’s efforts succeeded, and a peace accord was signed in the summer of 2003, leading to UN-supervised disarmament beginning in the winter of 2003-04 and finally to the election of Africa’s first woman president in January 2006.

Leymah Gbowee, a 2007 graduate of 91短视频’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, talks about her peacebuilding and faith journey in university chapel at 91短视频. (Photo by Jim Bishop) Listen to the chapel podcast…

On behalf of the women she led, Gbowee has received a half dozen major awards, including one from Harvard University. She has been the subject of an article in “O” Magazine, has appeared on “Bill Moyers Journal” and “The Colbert Report” and is the main figure in a documentary, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” ().

Liberia’s bloody civil war

Liberia was founded as a colony in the 1820’s as a place for freed slaves from the US to emigrate to Africa. In 1847, they founded the Republic of Liberia, establishing a government modeled after the United States.

A military-led coup in 1980 overthrew then-president William R. Tolbert, launching a period of instability that eventually led to civil war.

Charles Taylor invaded the country in 1989. During his time in power, some 250,000 people were killed and over a million others displaced in a country of just over three million population.

Thursday evening, Oct. 22, at 91短视频, Gbowee received a standing ovation as she came to the podium to address about 400 people. The audience had just viewed the film,”Pray the Devil Back to Hell.”

The riveting motion picture is directed by Emmy-winning and Academy Award nominated filmmaker Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, where it won “Best Documentary Feature.”

A formerly unknown social worker and mother of four, Gbowee organized hundreds of worken to call for peace. She attended 91短视频’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) in 2004. She returned to SPI in 2006 and went on to earn an MA degree in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding the following year.

She now heads Women Peace and Security Network Africa (), offering training and counsel to women all over Africa, with special focus on security issues.

Working together to promote peace

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Liberian women’s movement, she told the 91短视频 audience, was “the way that Christians and Muslims overlooked their differences and worked together to promote the need for peace.”

“Before I came to CJP, I was a bit selfish – my entire world view was Liberia or West Africa,” she said. “CJP put names and faces to conflicts in other parts of the world. Now, when I read the news, I am not thinking about statistics, I am anxiously thinking about my [CJP] sisters there.” She said she looks forward to seeing CJP alumni as she travels from country to country, viewing them as family who understand each other in a way that only fellow CJP alumni can.

Gbowee said she also learned at CJP how to make decisions with a strategic focus. “Before, I jumped into projects and ran with different things,” rather than being a “reflective practitioner” of peacebuilding.

Effective peacebuilder, strong faith

Gbowee shared more of her faith journey in university chapel Friday morning, Oct. 23, retracing her steps from that of a homeless, unemployed, despairing person to a leader in her home and neighboring countries, one whom governmental and international leaders call on regularly for counsel.

“I haven’t reached this place where I am today on my own,” she stated. “It is by the grace and mercy of God. I don’t see how it’s possible to be an effective peacebuilder in any setting without a strong faith. That is my message to others – take that first step of faith and ask God to order your steps.”

Asked what sustains her in the midst of stressful, difficult work, Gbowee replied, “I am basically an optimistic person. I believe there are more good people than bad people in this world – it’s just that we, the good people, refuse to step out.”

Ultimately, “I do what I do in the hope that other children won’t have to go through what mine have. I am doing this work for the children.”

Gbowee reflects on her experience in 91短视频’s CJP program at

Their leader, Leymah Gbowee, who organized the women and succeeded in pressuring those at the negotiating table to come to agreement to end the long, brutal war, will speak and answer questions following the film showing.

The film is directed by Emmy-winning and Academy Award nominated filmmaker Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, where it won “Best Documentary Feature.” Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu calls the film “inspiring, uplifting and a call to action for all of us.”

The film went on to win several other honors, including the Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals. The Liberian women in the film from the Mass Action Campaign for Peace have received both a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage award and Gruber Women’s Rights Prize this year.

A leader in Liberia, Gbowee organized hundreds of women to protest the civil war. In the midst of her campaign, she attended 91短视频’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI). She later earned her MA degree in conflict transformation from 91短视频’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, graduating in 2007.

She now heads Women Peace and Security Network in Ghana, offering training and counsel to women all over Africa. She has been featured on national news shows, including “Bill Moyers Journal” and “The Colbert Report.”

The program is sponsored by the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, and admission is free. For more information, call 432-4581.

By Tom Mitchell, Daily News-Record

David Works speaks in university chapel Friday, Sept. 18, on his decision not to pursue revenge for his daughters’ murders but to work toward reconciliation and healing. (Photo by Lindsey Grosh)

The catastrophe that brought unimaginable grief to David Works and his family less than two years ago left him at an emotional fork in the road.

On Dec. 9, 2007, a former church worker shot two of Works’ daughters to death in a vengeful hail of gunfire while leaving a worship service.

“I had a choice to forgive or not forgive,” Works said Wednesday while speaking at 91短视频’s campus center. “I decided that I did not want to go down the road of unforgiveness.”

Works came to Harrisonburg for 91短视频’s Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience program. 91短视频 created STAR in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He credits a similar seminar with helping him forgive Matthew Murray, 24, the man who killed Works’ daughters in the parking lot of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Works attended a clinic titled “Coming to the Table,” a gathering of black and white descendants of Thomas Jefferson at 91短视频 in January 2006. “Coming to the Table” used the topic of slavery to focus on forgiveness and reconciliation.

Works and his wife, Marie, have recounted their tragedy to the media numerous times, speaking on such venues as TV’s “Good Morning America.” The couple’s recent book, “Gone in a Heartbeat: Our Daughters Died, Our Faith Endures,” describes the attack and the grief they and their two surviving daughters endured.

In A Flash

David Works speaks during a trauma awareness training program Wednesday at 91短视频 in Harrisonburg. (Photo by Michael Reilly)

The trouble began as Works and his family were getting into their minivan after a service at New Hope, a megachurch of 10,000 members.

“I heard a loud crack,” Works said. “We were evidently the first people [Murray] saw. We were caught off guard. It was sheer terror.”

Armed with a 1,000-round AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, Murray fired into the van, hitting Works’ 18-year-old daughter, Stephanie. Works didn’t see that because he was already bolting from the van to protect daughter Rachel, 16, who was in easy range of Murray, who then shot her.

The entire shooting lasted seven minutes, Works said, adding that Murray fired 40 to 50 shots.

Bullets whizzed by and then two shots struck him, one above the belt and another in his leg. It could have been worse.

“I was turned sideways to the shots, or I probably would have been killed, too,” Works said.

Stephanie died at the scene while Rachel succumbed nine hours later. Unharmed were Works’ wife and two other daughters, Stephanie’s twin, Laurie, and 11-year-old Grace.

Minutes later, Murray charged into the church, spraying gunfire there. He wounded one person before the church’s security guard, Jeanne Assam, shot Murray several times. Murray then fatally shot himself.

Works said he and his family wrestled with grief for months.

“Christmas was especially hard,” he said. “We almost didn’t have one.”

Making The ‘Right’ Choice

But Works has worked to come to terms with the tragedy, and along the way maybe help others.

Attending 91短视频’s “Coming to the Table” event, he said, helped him make the right decision about how to handle his rage.

“It helped me break out of my anger,” Works said.

In the months since the shootings, the Works family has met with and grown close to Murray’s family.

Elaine Zook Barge, director of the STAR program, commends Works’ will to conquer hate.

“David is the first person I’ve known to choose to use the cycle of violence preventively, to make a deliberate choice not to continue the cycle,” Barge said. “His response to this incredible tragedy might have been so different had he not been aware of trauma and what can happen.”

The Rev. Luke Schrock-Hurst, who with wife Carmen co-pastors Immanuel Mennonite Church, called Works’ story “gripping.” Works spoke Sunday at Immanuel Mennonite Church’s worship service, sparing few details about the attack.

“David showed us the rawness of dealing with his loss,” Schrock-Hurst said. “It was a tremendous testimony to the power of God’s spirit, enabling a family to get beyond their grief and sorrow and forgive.”

Joanne Bland, a sought-after speaker with a compelling personal story of civil rights activism, will give a public lecture 7 p.m. Wednesday, Apr. 15, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at 91短视频.

Bland is co-founder and director of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in Selma, Ala., where she works to promote civil and human rights and in particular seeks to increase voter awareness.

During her lifetime, she has been a witness and participant in some of the nation’s most consequential civil rights battles. She began her civil rights activism in 1961 as an eight-year-old attending a freedom and voters’ rights meeting led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The young Bland marched on "Bloody Sunday" and "Turn Around Tuesday," witnessing brutal beatings, shooting and hosing of fellow marchers by police. Only 11 years old at the time, she was the youngest person to have been jailed in these demonstrations.

She continues to be active in local and regional organizations devoted to expanding and securing civil and human rights.

The event is sponsored by the JMU Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence, JMU School of Art & Art History, 91短视频’s graduate Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and 91短视频 Peace Fellowship, a student organization.

Admission to the presentation is free. For more information, contact Janie Beuthin, 540-432-4979.