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Happy Anniversary
to me, Happy Anniversary to me, Happy Anniversary
dear Debbie, Happy Anniversary to me. I have recently
celebrated my one year anniversary as a volunteer
at Koinonia! Who would have ever thought it? It has
gone by so fast!
I will always remember the night that
I arrived at Koinonia. It was September 11, 2002.
I arrived at a place of peace on the date that will
always be remembered as a day of terror and violence.
In the months to come, as plans were being made
to attack Afghanistan and Iraq, I would greatly
appreciate being at a place where people work to
find peaceful solutions to problems in the world…a
place where people believe that we should not respond
to violence with violence.
Although a volunteer myself, I have
served the past year as one of the Volunteer Coordinators.
I have spent a great deal of my time responding
to letters and e-mails from potential volunteers,
making arrangements for their coming, and answering
questions. One of the most frequently asked questions
is: “What do volunteers do at Koinonia?”
A reasonable question…should be easy to answer,
right? This question is almost impossible to answer,
at least in a concise manner.
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At times it is so peaceful at Koinonia that
it seems not much is happening. However, as I think of how
to answer this question, and as I think over my last year
here, I am amazed at all that has gone on. Here are some random
thoughts, feelings, observations, and memories from my Koinonia
year.
- Meeting people whose lives were changed
by hearing Clarence Jordan or by previous visits to Koinonia
20-30 years ago…seeing their emotional response to
being here and hearing their appreciation that we are still
working and carrying on Koinonia’s rich history
- Community lunches with great food, sharing,
daily meeting new people, joking, devotions, and lively
impromptu singing
- The beauty (and staining power) of the
red Georgia clay
- Gathering around the bonfire or at the
Coffee House for singing and sharing
- Welcoming around two thousand visitors/volunteers,
giving walking tours of the museum and campus and driving
tours in “Jake’s Joy Ride” wagon
- Having the privilege of standing and applauding
former President Jimmy Carter the Sunday after the announcement
of his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (the only time
standing and clapping for him has ever been allowed in the
church)
- Learning there is no need to say goodbye
because most people who have an experience volunteering
at Koinonia keep returning as often as their schedules permit
- Walking the Peace Trail
- Attending Koinonia’s educational
programs…Tuesday night classes on topics ranging from
“Christian Peacemaking in an Age of Terror”
to “Celebrating Religious Diversity,” and “Redemptive
Living,” several special presentations on the “Theology
of Clarence Jordan,” a Centering Prayer Retreat, and
a “Spiritual Video and Discussion Group”
- Sitting on the porch, or in the tree swing,
on hot summer nights and having other volunteers drop by
for long talks
- Knowing Koinonia’s mostly unrecognized
place as the seedbed for ministries such as Habitat for
Humanity, Jubilee Partners, and the Prison and Jail Project
- Our Chaplain’s creative, and sometimes
theatrically dramatic, sermons during Chapel on Wednesday
mornings
- Close relationships formed among the grapevines,
while sorting pecans, or while packing chocolate in the
bakery
- Learning to really rely on God for my
future care rather than to rely on insurance and retirement
plans, to step out in faith rather than to pile up riches
- “Ellie’s worst verse”…given
to volunteers upon leaving Koinonia
- Hearing Millard Fuller’s story of
knowing nothing about Koinonia before coming to visit a
friend for two hours, and staying a month…knowing
that similar scenarios continue to occur
- Developing a whole new idea of retirement
years after seeing the vitality of our senior citizen volunteers
and their commitment to spend their time serving others
- Hearing the community bell ring announcing
lunch, potluck, and special activities
- Celebrating Koinonia’s 60th Anniversary
- Participating in weekly peace vigils in
Americus and in a world-wide candlelight peace vigil around
Koinonia’s peace pole before the Iraq war
- Celebrating the birth of two new calves
- Assisting with the activities at the Koinonia
Community Outreach Center…children’s after-school
and summer programs, senior program, trips, visiting the
nursing home
- The pleasure and sense of order that I
feel in seeing the beauty of a well-kept pecan orchard…with
trees lined up in perfect rows with equal spacing apart
- Attending the dedication of the Smithville
Neighborhood Community Center, begun after black citizens
took back control of their community from corrupt white
officials
- Taking my turn at washing lots of dishes
after community lunch
- Feeling, as others have often expressed,
that this truly is sacred ground
- Recognizing that the diversity and changing
population, which make Koinonia interesting and exciting,
at times also make it more challenging
- Learning to accept the adjustments and
challenges of living in community and being willing to work
together to resolve any difficulties that arise
- Having the most variety of work experiences
in my life…from office to pecan plant to working in
the grape orchards
- Taking Spanish lessons at Koinonia
- Getting away from the city and seeing
spectacular sunsets and star-lit skies, the likes of which
I had only seen on wall calendars before
- Being a place where employees can bring
their children or grandchildren on school holidays…to
play, help with the work, have lunch, and meet new people
- Learning the history of the Civil Rights
Movement, and Koinonia’s part in it, through books
and documentaries; learning of current problems of injustice
and racism through the Prison and Jail Project
- Wonderful singing… black gospel,
jazz, folk, country
- Participating in protests at SOA (School
of the Americas), Oakridge Y-12 nuclear plant, Washington,
D.C., Atlanta
- Playing volleyball after community lunch
- Visits from people living in other communities…Human
Kindness Foundation, Shepherdsfield, Jubilee Partners, The
Open Door
- Picking up just as many pecans as two
hands can hold
- The Peace Clown putting noses on (willing)
newcomers as he explains his call to promote peace
- Sharing the grief in the deaths of family
members, friends, and people important in Koinonia’s
history
- Visioning sessions for Koinonia’s
future
- Participating in the Heart to Heart program
repairing and maintaining homes in the villages, the original
Fund for Humanity houses
- Writing newsletters and designing new
catalogs
- The feeling I get when we are holding
hands and singing “They will know we are Christians
by our love” after Wednesday morning Chapel services
- Visiting Clarence’s Writing Shack
- Celebrating birthdays
- Washing linens and cleaning housing for
guests and volunteers
- Participating in death penalty vigils
- The energy brought into the community
as new people come to work and share with us
- Delivering meals to the senior adults
in the villages
- Summer swimming in the creek
- Pruning vines, picking, sorting, and selling
grapes and blueberries
- The feeling of camaraderie that comes
from dropping whatever you are doing and all working together
to accomplish a high-priority project
- Working in the bakery, pouring chocolate,
preparing fruitcakes and pecan pies, making peanut and pecan
products, labeling, and packaging
- Assurance that God is in this place and
with its people, that God continues to save Koinonia for
a special purpose
- Musicians playing guitar, saxophone, banjo,
flute, harp, piano, full orchestras
- Visiting area churches… black, white,
all Christian denominations as well as other faiths
- Volunteer /Community meetings to discuss
personal and community concerns
- Having dinner/cook-outs with friends who
live in the villages
- Watching President Carter and his Secret
Service personnel playing baseball against an area team
during the Plains Peanut Festival
- Planting and harvesting peanuts, corn,
sweet potatoes, okra, wheat, and soybeans
- The feeling of awe I experience when I
go up to the guesthouse and see the names above the bedroom
doors…Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Thomas Merton, Dorothy
Day, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dietrich Bonhoffer
- Serving meals to family members of prisoners
who have traveled long distances in order to visit their
loved ones
- Playing dominoes (Mexican Train becoming
a Koinonia requirement)
- Maintaining the computers and developing
Koinonia’s website and web store
- Learning what it means to live simply
- Never knowing what the day will bring…what
interesting people will be dropping in for tours, lunch,
or to share our community life with us
- Joys and Concerns
- Playing whiffleball with kids in the villages
- The feeling of hope I get when I see “Little
Bear” (dog) and Cleo (cat) snuggling and grooming
each other…if animals can get along then humans can
learn too
- Harvesting, processing, and sorting pecans
- Christmas caroling in the villages
- Enjoying nature and the peace and quiet
of living in the country, while having others just a few
steps away if you want someone to talk with
- Group activities such as attending the
premieres of “Briars in the Cottonpatch” and
“Lulu and the Girls from Americus 1963”, visiting/volunteering
at Jubilee Partners and The Open Door, attending the Cotton
Patch Gospel Musical play at the old Rylander Theatre
- Picking up sticks and mowing in the orchards
- Participating in the Freedomwalk sponsored
by the Prison and Jail Project
- Maintenance and upkeep of Koinonia property
- Experiencing the beauty and peace deep
in the woods at the Meditation Gazebo
- Learning the “real” story
directly from the people who live in Columbia, Chile, Mexico
or those having personally visited in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Israel, and Palestine
- Selling produce and candy at festivals
and Habitat for Humanity
- Learning how much patience is required
for farming
- Assisting with cooking and serving meals
for guests and conferees
- Watching the birds and squirrels cavort
on the campus
- Helping each other through illnesses
- Enjoying Sunday night potlucks
- Working in the organic garden
- Becoming more aware and more involved
in politics
- Being there for each other when we receive
bad news from home
- Appreciating the extra group effort during
product season…taking orders, preparing products,
packing and shipping out orders in time for Christmas
- Getting to know other volunteers better
while assisting with transportation to the grocery store,
doctor, dentist, church, bus station, airport
- Becoming the “Pepsi Machine Lady”…buying
drinks, stocking the machine, and spending hours rolling
coins in order to buy cat food and take our 12 farm cats
to the vet
- Working in the library
- Going out to eat and taking out of town
trips with other volunteers
- Repairing farm machinery
- Helping with mailing out thousands of
newsletters and catalogs
- Hearing pecans fall on the roof
I describe Koinonia as having many layers. Koinonia
is a rare and very special gathering place of people diverse
in any characteristic you could describe. Volunteers come
as singles, married couples, families, church and university
groups, seekers and pastors. We are young people, senior citizens,
and every age in between. Some Koinonia volunteers are highly
educated and others have less formal education. Some have
led happy, relatively easy lives; some have been badly wounded
by their life experiences. We are of all socio-economic levels
and are skilled in areas ranging from farming to computer
technology, cooking to construction. We come from many races,
faith backgrounds, and geographical areas of the USA and abroad.
We come to Koinonia for various reasons. Some of us come primarily
guided to live out and share our faith, others to care for
the land and to live in a quiet country setting. Some are
attracted by the concept of community living, others by our
peace presence and activism.
Being at Koinonia is a daily lesson in faith,
but I know that God is in this place. Over and over again
I have seen really key volunteers leave, or have felt a little
fear about who will be here with the skills necessary to help
with certain tasks. Always God sends very willing and able
volunteers at just the right time, exactly when they are needed
(and usually not a minute earlier).
So, “what do volunteers do at Koinonia?” We do what God has called us to Koinonia to do. We come to
fill a spot and a need when God calls us to do it. We do more
than we ever expected to do when we made plans to come. Regardless
of our life experiences or beliefs before coming to Koinonia,
we are challenged by new ways of looking at the world, of
relating with God, and of relating with other people. We grow
spiritually, personally, and interpersonally. We share our
lives, not just our skills. We gain much more than we give.
How are you spending the next month, next six
months, or next year of your life? Perhaps God wants you to
come…and have a Koinonia anniversary to celebrate as
well. |
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Koinonia Partners - 1324 GA Hwy 49 S - Americus, GA 31709 - 229-924-0391 -
Koinonia is a Christian farm
community founded in 1942 by Clarence Jordan,
author of the Cotton Patch Gospels. Birthplace of Habitat for Humanity
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