AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE 160 North Fifteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102

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uaker Service Pro ram of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation in

Background

In response to emergency needs in Bangladesh the AFSC is seeking funds for a program of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

Since 1944 the American Friends Service Committee has conducted humanitarian service programs in India and following partition in 1947 in Pakistan as well. Over the years AFSC has been engaged there in relief and rehabilitation, rural community de­velopment, urban community development and work with students. The Committee has conducted agricultural, public health, nutrition, housing and village industries programs. From headquarters in the Subcontinent the AFSC also has conducted re­gional international conferences and seminars for diplomats, journalists, business men, young professional persons, rural development specialists and students in South Asia.

In the area that is now Bangladesh, Friends began relief and rehabilitation work during the Bengal famine of the 1940's, conducting projects throughout the area of East Bengal. Orphanages were established and feeding programs initiated. Among the rehabilitation projects carried on at that time were boat-building and the develop­ment of fishing cooperatives in Chittagong District and development of a cane furniture industry with headquarters in Narayanganj.

The Friends Center in Dacca launched a neighborhood center program to meet some of the educational, health, and social needs of the people in the neighborhood. Other programs included providing training opportunities for social welfare students, con­ducting adult education activities, assisting the social welfare efforts of private, governmental, and non-governmental agencies. In these programs the AFSC staff worked closely with many private and public welfare and social agencies.

Current Bangladesh Program

Two of the most experienced AFSC administrators of Quaker programs in India and East Bengal, Harry and Julia Abrahamson, were sent to the Subcontinent in October 1971 to advise on help which the AFSC and Friends Service Council of London should provide during and after the Bangladesh struggle for independence . They first spent a month studying humanitarian needs in Dacca, Chittagong, Jessore, Khulna and Barisal. Thereafter they devoted their attention to refugee areas near Calcutta, where they were in close touch with Bangladesh authorities. They made grants to equip a children's hospital and outpatient clinic handling cases of severe malnutrition. Another grant was for the provision of bamboo platforms in one of the large refugee camps so that families with sick children and old people could have raised sleeping are as and would not have to sleep on the damp ground.

The Abra.hamsons have just completed their t hree month assignment and. are being s ue· ceeded by John and Joanne Vo lkmar who have also had extensive e}<perience in ~dminis -tering oversea8 programs. The Vol.kmars have worked in the Middle Eu t, in North Africa and in West Africa. For four years they directed the Quaker International Conference Program in West Africa and were in close touch with the problems which burst for Lh in the Nigerian Civil War. During the period of t he Biafran secession they provided Lhe only help available to the group of Ibo r®fugees who fled to Togo. In order that t hey mny undertake this new assigmnent, the AF.SC is rel.easili.g John Volkmar from h is post in t:he Quaker Program at the United Nations, '.L'he Volk1nars are appointed for Lwo years, and their first step wi ll be to arrange with Bangladesh at1 t ltorlt ie8 the precise form which the Quaker program will have.

The Abrahamsons, on the basis of direct obMervation of needs and consultations with Bangladc1,h officials, have recommended that t he Quaker Servi cc program be one o[ reconstruction and rehabilitation. Such projects will help both the re turning refugees and t he disp l aced local popula tion to reestablish themselvas and rebuild Lheir fomily and economic security. Bengaiis will compose most of t: hc s ta:ff.

The Bangladesli government has an cnot·mous task to provide adcquutc services for its peopl e and needs the help of the world commun ity. lt is intended that t be Quaker program will be consistent with the priorities the Bangladesh government establishes . Growing out of t he Abrahc1msons I conversations and expl orations ¥tith Bat1glc1desh auLhorities and other knowledgeable. pc-rsons, they propose t hat t he AFSC plan pro -grams in some or the following areas:

1. Self·hclp hottsing for homeless familfos. (The Bat1gla.des h government estin~tes that 6 million houses have bean destroyed.)

2. Helping reestctblis h a.1:td develop medical and public health services whicl1 have been badly disrupted and which have lost con siderable numbers of their personnel.

3. Assist in development of t:ommunity services, both urban and rural, vl h ich have beE!n severely handicapped by the war and t he attendant suffering.

4. Training of rural l eaders and village workers for improving agricula tural production; assist in. the training of local personH in other skills required for the development of the country.

19 72 Bud~e_l

The budget of $370,000 for t he first year includes personnel, field administration, and project deve l opment.

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE INC.

HENRY BEERITS Chairman 15 t'- R Po

Postal Address

160 North Fifteenth Street,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102

Phone 215-563-9372

HENRY J. CADBURY Honorary Chairman

BRONSON P. CLARK Executive Secretary

.,;... .. , • 7 It< Jr:-~{, 6-eV\ evo1 I

Temporary Office Address

112 South Sixteenth Street

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Subject: /;i0 q-~

Questions fuid Answers for Reporters prepared by Harry and Julia Abrahamson

Harry and Julia Abrahamson, veteran .AFSC workers in the subcontinent

of Asia and in other parts of the world, returned January 1S from a three-

month survey trip of the former East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and India,

in order to recommend to the AFSC a long-range role it might play in that

troubled area. They have prepared the following list of questions and

answers for the convenience of reporters.

1. WHAT IS THE PRESENT SITUATION OF THE REFUGEES?

It has been estimated that there were some ten million refugees who

fled across the border into India. Of these almost four million have

already returned. The government of India is providing each refugee with

two weeks supply of food, charcoal, oil, and a small amount of money to help

on the return journey. The government of Bangladesh is setting up staging

camps for overnight rests en route, as well as transit centers to house

refugees until they have homes to re.turn to.

The refugees are only part of the problem. Homeless within Bangladesh

itself are an additional 20 million men, women, and childr~. An estimated

2! million new housing units are needed for those whose homes have been

destroyed. In addition food, transport, and medical aid are in short supply,

and the agricultural and economic base for the society must be rebuilt. The

resettlement and rehabilitation of the millions of victims of the civil war

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present a major job to the world, and especially to .Americans whose national

policies must be held partly responsible for the disaster.

2. 'WHAT .ARE QUAKERS GOING TO ])0 IN J3.ANGLAJ)ESH?

We plan to raise as much money as we can to help in the rehabilitation

job that lies ahead. Our successors, John and Joanne Volkmar will be going

to Tiacca as soon as possible on a two-year assignment . They will be following

up on our explorations with the J3angladesh authorities to determine the

exact nature of the Quaker contribution. This will naturally relate to the

priorities of government authorities . The situation in J3angladesh is so

new that decisions on the role of voluntary agencies had not yet been made

when we left the subcontinent .

J. WHO ST.ARTE]) THEW.AR?

We don't think it's possible or would serve any useful purpose to

determine who threw the first stone . Each side claims the other did, and,

it depends on which paper you read. We were in India at the time , and

India certainly did not consider herself the aggressor. We think that India

showed great restraint during many months when its economy was heavily

burdened by caring for millions of refugees. She deserves great credit for

providing sanctuary and life-saving food and shelter to the victims of the

civil war in East Bengal. To have been able to prevent communal rioting

and retaliation within India was a truly remarkable achievement .

4. 'WHAT .A:BOUT THE REPRISALS IN B.ANGL.A])ESH SINCE THE W.AR ENTIETI?

It is true there have been reprisals . J3oth the Indian and J3angladesh

governments are committed to preventing them. This has not always been

possible in spite of their best efforts . We do not approve of atrocities

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committed by anyone , but the Bangladesh point out it is important to

understand the provocation. Government leaders deeply resent the emphasis

on atrocities committed since liberation. In their view, criticism of the

killings by Bengalis without taking note at the same time of provocation, of

all that went before to cause the bitter hatreds of Bengalis for non- Bengalis ,

amounts in effect to condoning the attempted genocide of a whole people .

Individuals in speaking with us have compared this attitude to pointing a

finger at Israelis for searching out and killing top Nazis without asking

anything about the six million Jews who were put to death in gas chambers.

5. HOW DO THE PEOPLE IN WEST P.AKIST.AN FEEL .ABOUT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY FOR

WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

We are persuaded that they did not know what was going on. We have to

remember that it was a military dictatorship with a controlled press . Some

of the Pakistan soldiers deserted when they learned they were fighting their

own people and not, as they had been told, Indian invaders. We know

personally of acts of compassion on the part of individuals in the military

in Bangladesh.

6. WHAT .ABOUT PROSPECTS OF RECONCILIATION BETWEEN P.AKIST.AN AN]) BANGLADESH?

When we left East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, it seemed clear to us that

the Bengalis and the Bangladesh leaders would not consider anything but

complete independence. Government leaders in Bangladesh and in India expressed

themselves as hopeful of working out a relationship that would bring lasting

peace to the subcontinent . They seemed to bear no resentment against the

people of Pakistan.

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7 • vJ.HAT IS THE ll..TTITUTIE TOW.ARD THE UNITED ST.ATES IN B.ANGL.fl..])ESH?

The people there have been puzzled and embittered by US action • .As

an articulate Bengale said: "Sheik Mujib is a great democrat. The

principles of our nation which he set forth--freedon of the press, religion,

and all the rest--are the same principles as yours . You too rebelled

against injustice and tyranny in your own revolution. We thought you would

support us in ours; at the very least, you should have used your influence

to secure the Sheik's freedon long ago, instead your government helped our

oppressors, a military dictatorship, against us."

Bangladesh leaders differentiate between the US government and the

American people; they feel that the people, the press and public opinion

in thi s country have been on their side.

8. DO YOU THINK SHEIK MITJIB'S RETIIBN WILL STABILIZE THE COUNTRY?

It will certainly have a stabilizing effect. He is greatly loved and

revered by his people. He faces formidable problems, but we are impressed

by the actions he has already taken.

9. DO YOU THINK THE US. SHOULD RECOGNIZE B.ANGL.fl..])ESH?

Yes, we think we should, but we would like to enlarge on the answer.

We hope this would not lead to a rupture of relationships with Pakistan.

After all, Sheik Mujib represents a popularly elected government. Elected

by an overwhelming mandate, the government represents the hope and aspirations

of the people. The more quickly we recognize Bangladesh, the more quickly

relief and rehabilitation can get under way. If the United States--and the

UN as well--had shown their concern for the V,ie~ims of the tragedy of the

subcontinent in March and April, if together we had insisted on safeguarding

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their rights as human beings, the people of Bangladesh might have been spared

the awful cost of our failure and the world the responsibility of paying

for the consequences . As it is, because the US is at least partly

responsible for the suffering, we have a special obligation in this country

to help the people of Bangladesh to the limit of our resources .