From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Wed Feb 05 2003 - 09:37:19 EST
February 5, 2003 == MEDIA ADVISORY
Calvin College will host talks on February 10 and 11 by a medical doctor who
was part of a team that recently spent three weeks in Iraq.
Dr. David Hilfiker is a Washington, D.C., doctor who works with homeless men
who have AIDS. He also is part of a joint American and British campaign,
called Voices in the Wilderness, that seeks to end the economic sanctions
against the people of Iraq. Since March 1996, nearly 50 Voices delegations
have traveled to Iraq; Hilfiker did so in December 2002.
He will speak about that experience on Tuesday, February 11, at 3:30 p.m., in
a talk called "Avoiding War with Iraq: Reflections on my Recent Visit to
Baghdad." The talk, to be held in the Commons Lecture Hall, is free and open
to all and is sponsored by the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of
Christianity and Politics at Calvin.
On Monday, February 10 at 3:30 p.m. Hilfiker will speak in room 010 of the
Calvin Science Building on "Why Work With the Poor?" It is one of three talks
this spring hosted by the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship reading
group on "Faith Communities and Furthering a Just Society." It also is free
and open to all.
A graduate of Yale, Hilfiker left his northern Minnesota medical practice and
moved to Washington, D.C. in 1983 to live and work among the inner city poor.
His book, Not All of Us Are Saints, was published in 1994 and chronicles a
decade spent in a world of poverty.
In recent years Hilfiker has expanded his efforts for the cause of justice
beyond the U.S. borders. His trip to Iraq, with the Chicago-based Voices in
the Wilderness, convinced him that not only would another war with Iraq would
be wrong, but so are the current economic sanctions.
He recently told a Christian Science Monitor reporter: "What the American
people are not aware of is that before sanctions, Iraq was highly successful.
It had free health care, education was universally available. They had reduced
the infant mortality rate."
"People are uncertain about this war," he continued. "I may be naive, but I
believe Americans basically want to do the right thing. People don't want to
hunt and kill innocent people."
His trip and his position on Iraq are costly. One friend told Hilfiker he
was a turncoat, a Hanoi Jane (in reference to Jane Fonda's visit to North
Vietnam in 1972).
Calvin professor of political science Doug Koopman has been a friend of
Hilfiker for 20 years, dating back to their days as members of the same small
inner-city Washington church. He disagrees with those who say Americans such
as Hilfiker have no business going to Iraq.
"Dave is a strong Christian who is passionate about righting injustices,"
says Koopman. "He's lived his faith in very real ways. For him to go to Iraq
was not a decision he made lightly. I hope people will hear what he has to
say with an open mind."
NOTE TO MEDIA: Hilfiker will arrive in Grand Rapids on February 10 and
depart February 12. For more on Voices in the Wilderness and its efforts in
Iraq, see http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/
-end-
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