As international military continues to pursue more sophisticated technology for warfare and seek to intensify military might, a peace team in Michigan remains committed to a nonviolent alternative to militarism and violence, through empowered peacemaking.

Meta Peace Team, formerly the Michigan Peace Team, was founded in 1993, as a nonprofit organization, dedicated to creating a more just and peaceful world.  Volunteers are recruited, trained and placed on teams and sent to areas of conflict.  Peace teams have served in Bosnia, Haiti, the First Nation in Canada, Mexico, Iraq, Gaza, the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, Panama, the West Bank (where a near permanent presence is maintained) and in many zones of violence within the United States.

For 20 years, members and volunteers of MPT have taken time to travel to faraway places, learn about and experience, firsthand, the economic and political climate, and offer assistance where it is needed. 

In areas where journalists were warned to exercise extreme caution, MPT co-founder and recipient of the International Gandhi Award could be found joining grateful families on a Gaza rooftop to help thwart an Israeli air raid.  

Other members have slept in the homes of families whose children were threatened with arrest by Israeli military.  More have placed themselves in harm’s way to ensure the safety of innocent people who were targeted for simply protecting what was theirs.

In an unjust world, focused on power, wealth and military might, we forget the importance of humanity.   We forget what we should be grateful for.   We place value and focus on things of relative insignificance.  

Those at MPT, who work tirelessly to ensure a better world for those who would otherwise be neglected and forgotten, abused and oppressed, if people of conscience didn’t step in to lend a hand, should be honored and celebrated.  

We can be grateful this organization was founded and continues to offer alternatives to violence – promotes peace with justice, encourages dialogue in places of conflict, gives hope to those who otherwise would have none and encourages us to become more caring, giving and loving individuals.

Please support the ongoing efforts of MPT by attending its 20th anniversary celebration this November.  

Annette Thomas is a member of the MPT planning committee.

The MPT 20th anniversary dinner is at Byblos Banquet in Dearborn on Nov. 3, from 4-7:30 p.m. It will feature bishop Tom Gumbleton, a world renowned peacemaker, and include an awards presentation. Tickets are $50 a person; $500 for a table of 10 and $35 a student. For more information on the event, or to purchase tickets, visit www.metapeaceteam.org, or call 517.484.3178.