santacruz coalition

Local artists auction teacups to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Don’t underestimate the power of the tea party—it could start a revolution. Bonnie and Steven Barisof, Santa Cruz potters with more than 70 years of combined experience, understand this. Spurred on by the power of another little everyday thing, the written word, the Barisofs are spearheading a teacup party in town to raise awareness and funds for education in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It all started just over a year ago in an unlikely place—a neighborhood book club. That was how Bonnie, a mild-mannered mother who confesses she’s actually “not much of a reader,” was introduced to “Three Cups of Tea” and the now-famous story of Greg Mortenson: After the Montana mountain climber’s failed attempt at K2 in 1993, he ultimately forged a friendship with the local villagers and began building schools with an emphasis on teaching girls in that remote part of the world. He has since established more than 100 schools.

“Three Cups of Tea” and Mortenson’s recent sequel, “Stones into Schools,” relate how educating girls in the war-torn area means more educated wives and mothers, which creates a noticeable trend of smaller families, healthier children, and greater community awareness. And as far as international relations go, a son will less likely join the Taliban if his mother doesn’t give him permission. A mother is less likely to give him permission if she’s educated.

The Pentagon estimates that it costs $1 million to keep one U.S. soldier on the ground in Afghanistan for one year. According to Mortenson, that same amount of money can build 30 to 40 schools in the region and transform a generation of kids.

It may sound like a foreign cause too far from our beachfront radar, but raising funds to build schools where our troops are being sent has become a very local issue in Santa Cruz.

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If we help [in Pakistan and Afghanistan], which doesn’t take huge sums of money, we won’t have to send all the money here into having our military over there. It’s going to help us faster this way than the other way around.” —bonnie barisof

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After reading “Three Cups of Tea” Bonnie told her husband of 32 years to read it. “I’ve never read a book that’s moved me like that,” she says.

Steven remembers how Bonnie was immediately inspired to help Mortenson in some way: “She said to me, ‘I want to help this guy, he’s doing such important stuff. Cups—we make cups, we can make cups! We know other potters who make cups. We can have some sort of cup sale. We gotta do something to raise money.’ And that’s how it all started.”

The ‘it’ is an online auction at 3-cups-of-tea-santacruz.com (built by Steven who doubles as a web designer) selling locally made teacups in sets of three, 2D art and jewelry. This year’s auction began on Jan. 25 and culminates in the second 3 Cups of Tea Santa Cruz fundraiser on Thursday, Feb. 11, at the Rio Theatre. Proceeds benefit Mortenson’s nonprofit Central Asia Institute (CAI).

The event will feature the former president of the CAI board, Julia Bergman, speaking and presenting a slideshow about the work of the CAI and the schools being built. Santa Cruz’s Lou Renner, an artist and international mountain guide who trains people to climb Mount Everest, will also speak about the K2 trek Mortenson attempted—the one he failed to accomplish but which triggered his immense humanitarian efforts that many predict will earn him a Nobel Peace Prize.

I chat with the Barisofs around the kitchen table where Bonnie first brainstormed ideas for a fundraising effort. I find myself welcomed into their artful and pottery-laden home by the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and, of course, a steeping pot of tea with a set of three homemade teacups glimmering with aquamarine accents neatly arranged for each of us.

As we share some orange blossom tea, I learn that while last year’s inaugural online auction and event at Gault Elementary School raised $9,500, with every item selling and bids coming in from as far away as New York and Paris, the Barisofs are hoping to approach twice that amount this time around. And the surrounding community is all for it.

Along with nearly 70 artists donating their work to the auction, five area schools are contributing to the cause by raising money on campus through “Pennies for Peace”—titled because each penny can purchase a pencil for a student abroad, opening the doors to literacy. Gault Elementary, Westlake Elementary, Branciforte Middle School, San Lorenzo Valley Elementary and Harbor High School are all hosting “Pennies for Peace,” and some students have gone so far as to craft teacups being auctioned.

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“People want to help if you give them a way to participate and do something positive. And giving a set of teacups isn’t a hardship—people want to do it.” —bonnie barisof

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Local government has even joined in. Mayor Mike Rotkin just issued a proclamation declaring the month of February 2010 “3 Cups of Tea Santa Cruz Month” in order to “encourage all citizens to promote peace through education.”

Still, it begs the question: Why all this effort for schools so far away when we have enough problems with our own educational system? Bonnie responded to that concern plenty of times, replying that “if we help [in Pakistan and Afghanistan], which doesn’t take huge sums of money, we won’t have to send all the money here into having our military over there. It’s going to help us faster this way than the other way around.”

She adds that when they started piecing together the whole 3 Cups of Tea Santa Cruz idea, we were still living in the Bush age; they were determined to do something that generated a sense of hope. “We wanted to show that there are wonderful things happening in the world that you never hear about,” Bonnie begins. “People want to help if you give them a way to participate and do something positive. And giving a set of teacups isn’t a hardship—people want to do it.”

Bonnie says that 3 Cups of Tea Santa Cruz, which started after her silent reading steamrolled into the clay community’s call for action, has given her “a new direction as a human being.”

All in all, the Barisofs, backed by a legion of 100 local donors, volunteers and sponsors, are giving a simple reminder that if you try to see the cup as half full, you might just make it overflow.

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3 Cups of Tea Santa Cruz takes place at 5:30-9 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 11, at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. For more information or the online auction, go to 3-cups-of-tea-santacruz.com.

Dear Progressive Caucus Member:

The undersigned organizations and concerned individuals have worked closely with the Progressive Caucus to prevent and to end the Iraq War. We appreciate your leadership on this issue and your continued efforts to ensure the removal of all U.S. troops from the country. We are also grateful for all that the Caucus, collectively and individually, has already done to speak out against the widening war in Afghanistan, which contradicts both our national security and our national values.

At this critical moment, your continued leadership to help reverse the downward spiral of the security situation in Afghanistan is urgently required. We urge you to oppose the expansion of the war in Afghanistan; require the Obama administration to present and implement an exit strategy; and to press for a greater investment in Afghan-led development efforts and regional diplomacy to stabilize the country.

We also urge you to press for an immediate end to U.S. air raids that continue to kill and maim Afghan civilians and destroy Afghan property. What is euphemistically termed ‘collateral damage’ not only takes civilian lives but also inflames Afghans’ hostility to the U.S. and wins new supporters for the Taliban. According to the UN Assistance Mission, U.S. strikes produced 64% of all civilian deaths caused by the U.S., NATO, and Afghan forces in 2008. Just this week, ‘collateral damage’ from U.S. air strikes took another 100 innocent lives, according to Afghan officials.

Secretary of Defense Gates, Secretary of State Clinton, National Security Advisor Jones, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mullen, and even President Obama himself, have each acknowledged that the internal conflict in Afghanistan cannot finally be won by military means. They have publicly agreed that it will have to be won — if it can — by dramatic improvements in the economy, the political system, government services, and the courts.

The President’s FY 2009 supplemental funding request would clearly widen the war in Afghanistan. We urge Congress to restructure the package to focus funding on the expanded diplomacy, development assistance, and international cooperation that are key to ending these conflicts and promoting a stable peace in the wider region. To defeat the Taliban and stabilize the country, the U.S. must enable the Afghan people to develop public services and an effective justice system essential to create political stability and support for the government; to develop agricultural alternatives to drug crops; and to root out corruption.

Given these objectives, the ratio of military to non-military funding in the Administration’s $83.4 billion supplemental budget makes little sense. More than 90% of the funds allocated for Afghanistan in the supplemental is for an escalation of war-fighting by U.S. military units. It would widen — not wind down — the war there. That contradicts the Administration’s own admission about how the ‘war’ will be won or lost.

President Obama has agreed that the U.S. must convince Afghans we have “no interest or aspiration to be there over the long term.” Yet our troop escalation, increased operational tempo, and expansion of large bases suggests just the opposite.

In light of these concerns, we believe that the Congress should restructure the supplemental spending in several critical ways:

Require the administration to set a date certain for withdrawal.
Prohibit any further Predator and other missile strikes and aerial bombing likely to result in civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Approve the $7.1 billion in funding for the international affairs budget, including: $3.7 billion for humanitarian aid, development initiatives, and diplomatic support in Afghanistan.
Oppose all new funding for combat in Afghanistan and, at a minimum, dramatically change the proportion of funds for war-fighting compared to those for development, stabilization, and diplomatic cooperation.
Now is the time to reverse direction in Afghanistan so that the U.S., as President Obama envisioned, “forge a hard-earned peace” there.

Signed (as of 6:00PM ET, May 11, 2009):

United For Peace and Justice

SANTA CRUZ, CA – May 3 – The vigil for peace in Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq and Israel was disrupted for over ten minutes last Friday by two large-framed men shouting their identity as Marines and accusing participants of being unpatriotic. The 5:00 PM vigil has been a regular weekly event since the bombing of Afghanistan began in October of 2001.

On Friday, April 26th, 2002 at approximately 6:00 PM, a vehicle pulled into the gas station on the corner, behind where most of the participants usually gather to display their signs and placards. Two large individuals exited the vehicle and came towards the group of demonstrators in an aggressive manner. With loud voices, they exclaimed, “We’re the Marines!”, “Take those signs down!”, “You’re the terrorists!” and “Traitors!”

The vigils are attended by a diversity of people, ranging from seniors to children. The 10-12 vigil participants present maintained their commitment to nonviolence and responded only with words.

The “Marines” proceeded to kick over signs that were mounted on sticks and placed in the grass. The two individuals then physically assaulted at least two of the men present, pushing one out of the way and grabbing another one by his shirt. While attempting to take a participant’s sign, the mounting stick was broken in half.

Two female attendees confronted these aggressive individuals, suggesting, among other things, that they study the history of US foreign policy more thoroughly before aggressively defending it. Their response was to cease further physical assaults and engage instead in verbal abuse. After about ten minutes they apparently became aware of an attendee in close proximity using a telephone and responded by returning to their vehicle and driving away.

Demonstrators, the people in nearby automobiles, and patrons at the gas station, witnessed the episode. The vehicle license plate was provided to the Santa Cruz Police Department’s dispatch operator by telephone during the event. While participants during previous weeks have typically noticed patrol vehicles passing through the intersection every few minutes, there was no evidence that an officer was dispatched to the scene in response to the emergency call. The participants declined to wait for an officer beyond 30 minutes after the incident.

The Santa Cruz Peace Coalition condemns the behavior of these individuals and calls on all citizens who value free speech to stand in solidarity with us. We will not be deterred by violence or threats of violence and ask that you join us this Friday and every Friday from 5-6pm at the intersection of Ocean and Water to help us maintain an area for peaceful dissent.