Lost Valley's Grace Iraq bound

A Madison County woman will leave for a missionary trip at the end of this month from which she may not return.

Mary Grace of Lost Valley will head to Suleimaniya, Iraq on July 31 as part of a Christian Peacemaker Team, an international organization that sends groups to areas involved in crisis situations, she said.

The organization works to assist and guide local citizens to respond to violent attacks and conflicts through non-violent communication with the disparate factions and their local government officials, according to Grace. The group has representatives in Canada, Israel, Palestine, Colombia and parts of Africa, she said.
“I firmly believe the only way to solve conflict is through non-violent communication,” Grace told The Eagle.

Later this month will be the first time the organization will be sending its temporary “delegation” teams into Iraq since four Christian Peacemaker Team members were kidnapped in Iraq and held hostage for four months from late 2005 to early 2006. During the crisis, one of the members, former Virginia resident Tom Fox, was killed.

Although Grace accepts that it is possible she could be hurt or killed, she says it is unlikely since she will be in the “relatively safe” Kurdish Regional Government area of Iraq, which about 200 miles north of Baghdad.

“I’m not so much concerned for myself and my own well-being, but I am concerned for my family,” she said.

Grace’s family has mixed reactions of her upcoming two-week long trip, she said.

“My husband said, ‘I don’t want you to go because I love you so much. But, I love you so much because you want to go,’” Grace told The Eagle.

The Madison County resident’s grown son and daughter-in-law have been understanding of her desire to travel to the conflict-ridden area, although her 12-year-old daughter has not expressed much opinion about the situation, Grace said. The couple has chosen not to inform their daughter about some of the risk factors involved with the trip, she said.

“If, however, I lose my life or am injured in anyway, I consider it little compared to the vast losses of life, family and property that people in war zones perennially endure,” Grace writes in her mission statement for the trip.

Since the 1980s, the Madison County resident has been concerned about the situation in Iraq, writing letters to Saddam Hussein as well as other state and federal government officials, she said.

In 2007, Grace was arrested at the headquarters of Moyock, N.C-based Blackwater – a private security company hired by the U.S. government. She was at the Blackwater USA headquarters when some members of her spiritual retreat group re-enacted the Sept. 16, 2007 event in west Baghdad’s Nisoor Square, when Blackwater employees reportedly opened fire, killing 17 Iraqis, Grace previously told The Eagle.

The longtime Christian community activist first became interested in participating with the Christian Peacemaker Team organization when she learned of the ongoing genocide in Darfur, she said. She had wanted to travel to the African region but halted these plans once she realized travel to the country during the summer months would be too difficult, she said. During the school year, Grace works as a college access coordinator and as a teacher of English to immigrants.

About two months ago, Grace applied to participate with the team’s travel to Iraq. Currently, she has raised $421 toward the $3,000-price tag and is seeking additional donations, she said.

During her stay in Iraq, Grace and the other team members plan to record their experiences through writing, photographs and video.

Part of the team members’ roles in transforming violent situations is by acting as “international observers,” Grace said. Local citizens have said that when they visit their government officials alongside CPT members, they receive “a whole different demeanor and attitude from their government” because the officials recognize that the members of the international organization will provide accounts of their experiences to the U.S. media and others outside of the country, according to Grace.

“There is a really strong journalistic component to it,” she said.

The CPT representatives expect to access the Internet about three times during their visit in order to share written and photographic accounts of the experience.

Many U.S. residents do not feel personally connected to the war in Iraq, unless they have friends or family members in the U.S. military who are serving in the area, Grace said.

“Most of the country is not concerned in an emotional way about what’s going on there,” she said. “We’re spending a whole lot of money on a war there and yet we’re still not personally involved.”

Upon her return to Madison County, Grace hopes to connect those in the U.S. to the war in Iraq by telling stories and sharing photos of those she encountered during her stay.

This trip will also afford Grace – who has never traveled outside of the U.S. before – with opportunities to visit places she has only read about in the Bible, she said.

“I will be seeing and touching places of the prophets,” Grace said. “It’s a fantastic pilgrimage as well as a time of service.”

On Sunday, July 20, Grace will be at Antioch Baptist Church near downtown Madison to speak about the purpose of her travel to Iraq and collect donations to support the trip. The event – which is open to the public – will likely take place following the church’s regular Sunday service at 9:30 a.m., although an exact time has not yet been set.

To make donations to help pay for the cost of Grace’s trip, send checks made out to Christian Peacemaker Teams to P.O. Box 189, Wolftown, VA, 22748.