Speakers
MPT
Michigan Peace Team (MPT) provides speakers about peace teams, nonviolent peacemaking and specific violence reduction projects.
Call the office at (517) 484-3178 to schedule a speaker.
The following individuals served on peace teams in the West Bank and Gaza of Israel/Palestine; in Chiapas, Mexico; and at the US/Mexico border and are available to speak to your group, church or organization.
Fr Peter Dougherty
Peter, a 71 year old Catholic priest, has been a fulltime peacemaker for 27 years, and with Michigan Peace Team since its founding in 1993. He currently resides in Lansing, Michigan. He has been on peace teams in Bosnia, Haiti, Chiapas in Mexico, Iraq, and Palestine. He is an MPT nonviolence trainer. Peter coordinates the MPT Faith Community Peace Team Project. He has spent two years in jails for civil disobedience, mainly against nuclear weapons. Peter has worked for human...
Fr. Lou Anderson
Fr. Lou Anderson is a retired priest of the Diocese of Grand Rapids. In his forty third of ministry, Fr. Lou has served as a pastor, an educator, and as a missionary in Asia. The Gaza peace team trip with Michigan Peace Team in 2005 was his first service with Michigan Peace Team. The experience was informative, inspirational, and frightening. He is willing to share insights and reflections....
Sr. Liz Walters
Sr. Elizabeth Walters, IHM, has been a peace and human rights activist for 26 years. Her commitment to peacemaking, disarmament, and nonviolent action has resulted in three yeas of imprisonment. Liz went to Haiti with Pax Christi in 1993 when the United Nations was forced to leave due to rampant violence. Liz has also served with Michigan Peace Team in the West Bank in 2001, as well as in Gaza in 2003, 2004, and 2005. She supervises a Detroit soup...
Sr. Alice, IHM and Sr. Carolyn, IHM
The 5th of ten children, Alice (age 66) is a Catholic Immaculate Heart of Mary sister and a grade school teacher with 42 years experience. She loves teaching and looks forward to sharing her experiences with her students. She has been involved in the African-American community of Detroit for 30 years. In the past, she has spent her summers teaching in migrant camps, Appalachia, and on Pine Ridge Reservation. Alice is a member of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Peacemakers...
Joan McCoy
Married for 43 years, a mother of 5 and a grandmother, Joan (age 63) has been involved in peacemaking for 25 years. She is coordinator of Home for Peace and Justice in Saginaw, with involvement in local and global issues. She has spent time in jail for civil disobedience against nuclear weapons. Joan has been part of a diverse worship community in the inner city. She was in Israel/Palestine from July 1-18, 2002 as part of a peace team that...
Mike McCurdy
Mike (age 30) has been part of the Earth First! environmental movement, with experience in organizing, doing demonstrations and civil disobedience. He also has worked on Native American rights, anti-nuclear efforts, closing the School of the Americas, and other issues. He has been on 3 previous peace teams to Israel/Palestine, spending almost 6 months in the region. He worked closely with the International Solidarity Movement and provided nonviolence training to many of the internationals coming to the region for Freedom...
Janet Ray
Janet (age 39) was a lay missionary in El Salvador for several years. She organized over 20 delegations to El Salvador for Witness for Peace. She now lives and works in Detroit as a community liaison for an elementary school promoting international sister schools and sister churches. Janet is also active with immigration reform. She was in Israel/Palestine from July 1-17, 2002, living in Balata Refugee Camp as a human shield and working there and in neighboring Nablus....
Cindy Tobias
Cindy (age 43) has always been an activist, focusing on women's issues, nuclear disarmament, the AIDS -HIV issue, and other movements to end oppression. She currently lives in Detroit and works as a pediatric nurse. She is a teacher and leader in Re-evaluation Co-counseling. Cindy is a trainer and teacher for many issues, including listening skills, catastrophe and crisis debriefing. She was in Israel/Palestine from July 1-17, 2002 working as part of a team in Nablus....
Sheri Wander
Sheri (age 33) has a degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from Kent State University. She has extensive experience providing conflict management and peer mediation programs for high-risk adolescents. Sheri lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan and is Co-Coordinator of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice in Ann Arbor. She is also an MPT nonviolence Lead Trainer. She has organized many demonstrations, sometimes being arrested for civil disobedience. Sheri was in Israel/Palestine from August 1-14, 2002 as a nonviolence trainer. She...
Sayrah Namaste
Sayrah Namaste is the office coordinator of the Michigan Peace Team. She recently returned from a feminist peace conference in Jerusalem convened by Palestinian and Israeli women. The conference attendees included 700 women from more than 40 countries who strategized about ways to end the conflict. Sayrah also served on a team this summer to the US-Mexico border to assess violence directed at migrants by armed vigilantes. She is a labor and community organizer, and a mother of a beautiful...
