I'm not sure if anybody is reading this or not but for those of you that are unfamiliar with the organization I am working with in Northern Iraq, I would like to summarize what/who Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is. Before discussing CPT, it helps to let you know that I am a member of a Mennonite church. I started attending Joy Mennonite Church about three years ago and it has been extremely influential in my life, if it wasn't for Joy Mennonite I probably wouldn't have gotten involved with CPT. If you are unfamiliar with the Mennonite Church, I would encourage you to check out this link. Generally speaking, Mennonites take seriously the teachings of Jesus, which means we are pacifist. That is one of the biggest beliefs that separate us from other Christian traditions. Many people involved with CPT are Mennonite, but CPT itself is ecumenical, meaning its members and supporters come from all kinds of churches and faiths. So with that said, here is some text from the CPT website that does a better job of explaining CPT than anything I could say.

"Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) is a living answer to the question, "what would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to nonviolent peacemaking that armies devote to war?"  It is an evolving challenge.

Partnering with nonviolent movements around the world, CPT seeks to embody an inclusive, ecumenical and diverse community of God's love.  We believe we can transform war and occupation, our own lives, and the wider Christian world through:

• the nonviolent power of God's truth
• partnership with local peacemakers
• bold action

CPT places teams at the invitation of local peacemaking communities that are confronting situations of lethal conflict.  These teams seek to follow God's Spirit as it works through local peacemakers who risk injury and death by waging nonviolent direct action to confront systems of violence and oppression.

CPT understands violence to be rooted in systemic structures of oppression. We are committed to undoing oppressions, starting within our own lives and in the practices of our organization."

The undoing oppressions aspect of CPT's work is something I find very crucial. It is challenging but necessary. In the training program we did modules on Undoing Racism, Undoing Sexism, Undoing Heterosexism, and Sexual Harassment. You can check out this link if you would like to read more about undoing oppressions. If you only read one of the articles, I would probably suggest White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh.

I'm working with the Iraq team for the next two months. The team has a couple different projects currently but the focus is documenting human rights abuses along the Iran and Turkish borders of Iraq. Due to a long history of Kurdish repression, two rebel groups along the borders are fighting for Kurdish autonomy. Turkey and Iran respond with cross-border bombings, which often destroy village life if not kill innocent people. Iranian bombings have killed many civilians this year, including a ten year old boy. If you would like to see the fruits of the team's labor, you can read a report the team published recently titled "Where there is a promise, there is tragedy: cross-border bombings and shellings of villages in the Kurdish region of Iraq by the nations of Turkey and Iran"

I hope this post accurately describes CPT as well as the Iraq team. If you have any questions or comments, please share. You can email me here.