wfn.org | United Methodist stays with peace group in Baghdad

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

April 1, 2003	News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-71B{196}

By United Methodist News Service

Despite the war with Iraq, a United Methodist from Downers Grove, Ill., has
remained in Baghdad as part of Christian Peacemaker Teams to make a witness
with Iraqi citizens amid the violence.

Scott Kerr, 27, has been in Iraq since early February. Previously, he has
worked with the ecumenical ministry - started by Mennonite and Church of the
Brethren congregations and Friends Meetings - in Chiapas, Mexico, and
Colombia. 

United Methodist Bishop C. Joseph Sprague of Chicago noted that Kerr has put
his "life on the line" in efforts to be a presence where people are
threatened by violence.  "Scott is a remarkable, remarkable young man, deeply
committed to the holistic gospel," the bishop told United Methodist News
Service. 

Kerr "struggled mightily but prayerfully about the decision to go to Iraq,"
said Sprague, who has not been able to talk to the young man since the war
began.

The Iraqi government unexpectedly expelled seven activists with Christian
Peacemakers Teams, along with several others, March 29. Kerr, however, is
still in Baghdad, according to Claire Evans of CPT.

Kerr's parents, Steve and Diane Kerr, had been in regular telephone contact
with their son until March 27, when a missile attack on the telephone
exchange covering southern Baghdad disrupted communications.

"Scott's a devoted Christian and believes strongly in what he is doing,"
Steve Kerr said in a March 31 telephone interview. The family belongs to
First United Methodist Church in Downers Grove, which has provided prayer
support.

Though worried for their son's safety, the Kerrs also realize that he has
always helped people who have difficulty helping themselves. "He's been a
good Christian and followed his faith pretty strongly since he was about 15,"
Steve Kerr explained.

While fully supporting the U.S. troops in Iraq, Steve Kerr also said he is
"very proud of my son in the work that he does."

CPT is working in Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness, a grass-roots
organization that has campaigned in recent years against the continuation of
U.S.-supported sanctions for the Iraqi people. The organization initiated its
Iraq Peace Team, of which CPT is a part, last September.

"We accompany civilians who are suffering, largely due to the combined
efforts of the U.N. sanctions and the Gulf War," the team said in a March 17
statement to the U.S. and Iraqi governments. "We are committed to continue to
accompany and befriend civilians in the event of escalating violence."

Much of that accompaniment occurs through visits to families, hospitals,
churches, mosques and orphanages. Since the outbreak of war, the team has
visited families in about 10 different neighborhoods whose homes were bombed.

The start of the war, not surprisingly, has had an effect on team members.
"We have all heard about 'shock and awe,' but I can tell you that on the
ground it feels a lot more like 'misery and terror,'" Scott Kerr wrote in the
March 24 "Iraq Diaries," posted online. "For the last week, people have not
been working, there has been a very limited access to food, and other basic
necessities. I would say that about 95 percent of the city is shut down."

Three of the expelled team members suffered injuries when one of the taxis
taking them to the border blew a tire on the highway and rolled into a ditch.
According to CPT, the injured were initially taken to a nearby children's
hospital in southwestern Iraq, but the facility had been bombed, so they were
treated by Iraqi medical staff at a secondary clinic.

Some expelled team members, now in Amman, Jordan, will remain there to
provide support for the Baghdad team.

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United Methodist News Service
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