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Welcome to the AFSC / Intermountain Yearly Meeting Joint Service Project

You are about to begin traveling on a great adventure, doing service in indigenous communities in the Western US or Mexico. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to get to know the people, culture and history in these communities. Your project leader is one good resource for this.

We emphasize safety on these service projects, but if you are concerned about injury, be aware that you are covered under the American Friends Service Committee policy. The communities where we do projects occasionally encounter medical emergencies and if a medical emergency arises for someone on the project, the same procedure would be followed. If you have specific concerns, try to tailor the project you choose to a community that could meet your needs – i.e. a community that could provide a rapid response time for a potential heart attack victim.

Although the goals and objectives are well established for these service projects (talk to your project leader or co-leader if you are unclear on what they are). Since it is part of our mission to “learn more about peace and service from all with whom we meet and work, using non-violence, listening, and love to guide us”, you should plan on working out the methods for accomplishing the goals with your co-participants, starting early on and consulting often to reduce potential misunderstandings. Do not expect the project leader or co-leader to do this for you since that is not their job. If an issue arises which cannot be resolved by the co-participants, then you can use the leader and/or co-leader as a resource.

It is also important to remember for your own health and those you are working with, especially since you will likely be in a more primitive environment than you are used to, that it is vital to follow good hygiene - for example:

1. Wash your hands (or use hand sanitizer) whenever using the bathroom and before preparing meals.
2. Be aware that showers are often limited.
3. Boil any drinking or washing water for 15 minutes (or use water purifiers) if it is not potable.
4. Thoroughly wash vegetables in potable water.
5. Wear shoes and appropriate clothing for the work and/or community you will be in.

Be sure to fill out an evaluation form when you are done with the project. It is our way to keep these projects relevant. If you are uncomfortable turning it in to the project leader, you can mail or fax it to:

Regional Director
AFSC Central Region
4211 Grand Ave.
Des Moines, IA 50312
Fax: 515 274-2003

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