Our Peace Witness

Quakers are known for their commitment to peace and social justice, expressed in actions such as protest at injustice, nonviolence training, peace education for adults and children, reconciliation between parties in conflict, accompaniment of people under threat, and research. This page lists some of the things in which our own members have been involved.

The money to build this toilet for women who work in the za'atar fields was raised by the childrten of Stourbridge Meeting.

Link with Seir Village, West Bank, Palestine: 
Two of our members maintain a regular link with the Palestinian village called Seir (pictured above) in a tense area close to the Israeli separation wall.  Others members of our Meeting have visited.  We support the Seir Women’s Co-operative and the local school. Since October 2023 mass unemployment has created a pressing need for basic support and well as continuing friendship in an increasingly desperate situation.  We maintain contact and receive regular news.

The children of our Meeting raised money for the toilet in the picture to the right;  it is in the fields where women were growing za'atar (a mixture of herbs)—work which has come to a standstill recently because of intimidation and disruption by settlers and the Israeli army.  Life has become much more difficult and dangerous in the past year.  

The playground in one of the nursery schools

Uganda: We have been supporting community projects in western Uganda since 1998, including landmine issues, adult literacy, nursery schools, girls’ clubs, and the development of a peace network and programme across Kasese District.  Two of our members have visited regularly, and others occasionally.  Our current work focuses on five voluntary schools high in the Rwenzori Mountains, and teaching women and girls how to make reusable sanitary pads.


Refugees and asylum seekers:  As a Meeting for Sanctuary over many years, we have given personal and some financial support to asylum seekers from Iraq, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Nigeria, Congo, Egypt and Russia. Two Friends took a family from Ukraine into their home. Another has visited Calais to see how refugees are assisted there.

We support an annual retreat for workers with asylum seekers who are overstressed by their work and close to burn-out;  two of our members have helped to organise and lead this. 

Peace and disarmament concerns:  A number of us have taken part in demonstrations outside arms fairs and places which make weapons of war (pictured left).  

Believing (with the UNESCO Charter) that wars start in the minds of men and women, some of us have worked as volunteers or committee members of Peacemakers (The West Midlands Quaker Peace Education Project).

We maintain contact with members of the Alternatives to Violence Programme in three cities of Ukraine, which have continued their work throughout the war.  (Picture on the right).

Journeymen Theatre  Lynn and Dave Morris formed Journeymen Theatre in 2010, specifically to address human rights issues and to help raise awareness and funds for human rights organisations.  Between 2010 and 2023 they wrote produced and performed nine plays which they toured throughout the UK.  Their themes included Quaker women's history, state-sanctioned torture, militarisation in schools, domestic violence, the plight of elderly prisoners, and nonviolent direct action among others.  Written with care, compassion and a spirited eye for character, these plays tackle difficult topics without flinching, uncovering both darkness and hope.  Some were commissioned by Quaker bodies.  Journeymen Theatre no longed performs, but the scripts have been published in Journeymen Theatre –  2010-2023: Our legacy project, by Lynn and David Morris.