Preparing for the Pilgrimage

by David Ball
National Coordinator
November 14, 2008

Just a quick post to let people know how our Pilgrimage to the School of the Americas is going. We set out next Wednesday for a week-long social justice road trip to the gates of a US army base notorious for training human rights abusers in Latin America.

I had been anxious about low participation this year – partially because the vigil is much later in November than last year and students are getting into exam season. But all of a sudden this week, I’ve been flooded with emails and calls. We’ve now got 14 participants, which is an ideal number for building community.

We’ve even got an experienced film-maker with us to document, as well as a participant whose father was involved in SCM in Latin America during years of dictatorship ushered in by students of the SOA.

So we can use all the prayers we can get to get us down safely, and for this trip to be transformative of not only ourselves but our world in some way.

I, for one, am growing in excitement every day as it nears. Even getting to spend 5 days traveling with this rag-tag, diverse bunch of young adults is pretty exciting. I’m ever-grateful for the opportunity! Keep us in your thoughts.