SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 2025
Weekend Reading
Hi Friend,
Every day, dozens of migrants—many of them children—arrive at Costa Rica’s southern border. Many were deported from the U.S. or forced to turn back after attempting dangerous journeys overland. They step off buses, exhausted, carrying little more than the clothes on their backs. It’s one example of the unthinkable hardships facing migrants in Latin America.
That’s why AFSC has launched the “Hummingbird Plan” in Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. In Indigenous cultures across Latin America, hummingbirds are believed to bring messages of hope—something we strive to offer migrants facing difficult journeys. Through this initiative, we’re providing migrants with food, hygiene kits, legal assistance, and other vital aid. We’re also documenting human rights violations and advocating for policy change. Read more from AFSC’s Marcia Aguiluz Soto. [link removed]
TAKE ACTION
Urge Congress to support a nuclear-free world [link removed]
Nuclear weapons do not make us safer. They threaten every community, every ecosystem, and every future generation. And yet the U.S. continues to invest billions in these weapons of mass destruction. Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern introduced a resolution that boldly calls for a nuclear-free world. Now we need support from more elected officials. Urge your member of Congress to add their name and take meaningful steps toward nuclear abolition.
CRISIS IN GAZA
Gaza is dying while the world watches [link removed]
By Serena
Writing from Gaza, AFSC's Serena describes how systematic starvation has brought Palestinians to catastrophic hunger. "Everywhere I look, there's a body giving out. A woman falls to her knees in the street. A child can no longer walk." Palestinians are dying of starvation. They are being killed by Israeli and U.S. Gaza Humanitarian Foundation security and military forces while trying to access food. This is a deliberate, man-made crisis. Today, the world must demand an immediate end to the genocide. "Do not let silence be your answer to our starvation," Serena urges.
STRONGER WITH IMMIGRANTS
Mapping untold stories of migration [link removed]
By Araceli Argueta and Valentina Beltran
Every day, immigrants in the U.S. and around the world face overwhelming challenges as they try to rebuild their lives. But their stories of struggle and resilience are rarely told. Instead, harmful narratives have reduced migration to a political issue. That’s why AFSC created TRACES, a visual storytelling project. It maps the lived stories of immigration. From those who arrived as children to those who returned by choice or force, this project honors their voices and the paths they’ve walked.
GLOBAL PEACEBUILDING
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki [link removed]
This year marks 80 years since the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945. Never again can we allow such acts to be repeated. Survivor Michiko Kodama was 7 years old when the U.S. bombed Hiroshima. In 2015, she wrote this firsthand account. It’s a reminder that we must keep up our call for a world without nuclear weapons.
YEAR IN REVIEW
AFSC’s 2024 annual report [link removed]
We are proud to share with you the annual report from our past fiscal year. The report includes highlights from our worldwide work for peace, immigrant rights, and economic justice. We hope you enjoy seeing some of the ways that supporters like you are helping us put Quaker values into action for a better future for all.
Special thanks to our monthly donors, our Partners for Peace, for their ongoing support to make all our work possible.
DONATE [link removed]
American Friends Service Committee
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
United States
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