Appeal to assist NV Trainer

Dear Friend,
I have been invited to take part in a Transnational Gathering of experienced
nonviolence Trainers in July in The Netherlands.  I am seeking contributions
to help with funds to get there.  I need $2000 for a return airfare to
Amsterdam.  I am able to provide the $1000 I need for living/conference costs
from my own savings and with the help of relatives and friends.

The conference is immediately before the War Resisters International
Triennial in Belgium which I also hope to be able to attend.

The international network is anxious to have someone from the growing network
of nonviolence teachers in Australia to attend, however the main organizers
are unable to secure funding for me as they are paying for several third
world activists to go.

I am a nonviolent activist working for social change based in Melbourne.  In
the past I have worked with the Rainforest Action Group here in Melbourne and
the Gulf Peace Team Support Group.  I am at present working on a networking
group for CONNECT, a War Resisters Women's Working Group networking in the
Asian-Pacific region for a conference in Thailand concerning nonviolence and
women next year.

For the past eighteen months I have been an active member of the Melbourne
Nonviolence Teachers Collective, teaching workshops in Tasmania and Far North
Queensland as well as in Melbourne.  I travelled, last year, also to Japan
where I gave workshops to grassroots groups interested in using nonviolent
action as a strategy for social change and for reducing their country's role
in tropical rainforest destruction.  This work is of special relevance
considering the gathering's focus on cross cultural training.

On my return to Australia, I propose to share my experiences and insights
with the nonviolence and peace networks in Australia, initially through the
CONNECT project and by writing for publications such as Nonviolence Today and
the Melbourne Networking Newsletter and through workshops held in conjunction
with my colleagues in Melbourne.  I will also be sharing through workshops
held at the National Nonviolence Gathering to be held early next year at the
Quaker retreat in Kangaroo Valley.  I am also planning, with friends in
Tasmania, to run a residential workshop of three days, in early October, to
explore nonviolent action and teaching techniques, and share insights from my
time abroad.

I am excited by the prospect of attending this gathering and hope that you
may be able to help in my further work as a peacemaker.
Yours in Peace
Margaret Pestorius