(no subject)
To: Friends World Community
From: Robert Glass
Re: Very Sad News
Marla Ruzicka, Friends World Program-Long Island University student from 1995 through 1999, was killed in a suicide bombing on the road to the Baghdad airport on April 17. She died fulfilling her life’s work as a passionate activist, most recently involving herself in assisting the victims in war-torn Iraq. For more details please consult today’s edition of almost any major paper.
Marla began her Friends World academic career studying at the North American Center on the Southampton campus. She spent the spring semester of her freshman year working in with Global Exchange, a San Francisco based educational organization, then moved on to Washington, D.C. to learn about grassroots organizing with the U.S. 50 Years is Enough (50 YIE) Network.
In the fall of 1996 Marla traveled to the Friends World Latin American Center in Costa Rica where, in combination with her language and cultural studies, she furthered her activism through an independent study on Nicaraguan elections, serving as an electoral observation delegate from Global Exchange. Marla also conducted independent studies relative to solidarity given by the Cuban Government and its people to the liberation struggles of the African people, in particular Angola. This work inspired her to travel to the Friends World East African Center in Kenya in the fall of 1997 where, in addition to her continuing thirst for understanding local political and social issues, she studied Kiswahili and focused her studies on issues relative to the poverty, child labor, “child” prostitution and limited educational opportunities of East African children.
In the fall of 1998, Marla took her passionate activism to the Friends World Middle East Center in Jerusalem. Always quick to immerse herself in local struggles Marla identified with the Palestinian cause and became a devoted volunteer in Palestine. Her work at this time is best described by her advisor at the time: “Upon arrival she immediately sought an internship at the Ibda Children’s Center in the Deheisheh refugee camp. Marla’s commitment to the center and particular to the children she taught there was truly extraordinary. She even organized and raised funds for a trip to the Jerusalem zoo with the children. Her love for and devotion to the children was infectious and she was able to inspire and mobilize some of her fellow studies to join her in her work at Ibda.” While in Israel Marla began working on her Senior Thesis, an overview of Cuba’s Aid Programs in South Africa entitled: A Sacrifice of Love for the Construction of a New South Africa: The Cuban government’s program of international education for Southern Africa and the stories of students who were transformed by the experience. The evaluator of her thesis described it as: “…an important contribution in a realm which has received relatively little attention from the English-speaking academic community.”
After leaving Friends World, Marla founded Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, CIVIC, an aid agency that was committed to making sure that the innocent victims of America’s wars were neither forgotten nor left without compensation. She campaigned effectively with Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to get congress to commit millions of dollars to help the victims of war torn countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.
She truly dedicated her life to global citizenship.
Please join me in bringing Marla into your thoughts. Let us all be inspired by her passionate commitment to making a difference in the world.
From: Robert Glass
Re: Very Sad News
Marla Ruzicka, Friends World Program-Long Island University student from 1995 through 1999, was killed in a suicide bombing on the road to the Baghdad airport on April 17. She died fulfilling her life’s work as a passionate activist, most recently involving herself in assisting the victims in war-torn Iraq. For more details please consult today’s edition of almost any major paper.
Marla began her Friends World academic career studying at the North American Center on the Southampton campus. She spent the spring semester of her freshman year working in with Global Exchange, a San Francisco based educational organization, then moved on to Washington, D.C. to learn about grassroots organizing with the U.S. 50 Years is Enough (50 YIE) Network.
In the fall of 1996 Marla traveled to the Friends World Latin American Center in Costa Rica where, in combination with her language and cultural studies, she furthered her activism through an independent study on Nicaraguan elections, serving as an electoral observation delegate from Global Exchange. Marla also conducted independent studies relative to solidarity given by the Cuban Government and its people to the liberation struggles of the African people, in particular Angola. This work inspired her to travel to the Friends World East African Center in Kenya in the fall of 1997 where, in addition to her continuing thirst for understanding local political and social issues, she studied Kiswahili and focused her studies on issues relative to the poverty, child labor, “child” prostitution and limited educational opportunities of East African children.
In the fall of 1998, Marla took her passionate activism to the Friends World Middle East Center in Jerusalem. Always quick to immerse herself in local struggles Marla identified with the Palestinian cause and became a devoted volunteer in Palestine. Her work at this time is best described by her advisor at the time: “Upon arrival she immediately sought an internship at the Ibda Children’s Center in the Deheisheh refugee camp. Marla’s commitment to the center and particular to the children she taught there was truly extraordinary. She even organized and raised funds for a trip to the Jerusalem zoo with the children. Her love for and devotion to the children was infectious and she was able to inspire and mobilize some of her fellow studies to join her in her work at Ibda.” While in Israel Marla began working on her Senior Thesis, an overview of Cuba’s Aid Programs in South Africa entitled: A Sacrifice of Love for the Construction of a New South Africa: The Cuban government’s program of international education for Southern Africa and the stories of students who were transformed by the experience. The evaluator of her thesis described it as: “…an important contribution in a realm which has received relatively little attention from the English-speaking academic community.”
After leaving Friends World, Marla founded Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, CIVIC, an aid agency that was committed to making sure that the innocent victims of America’s wars were neither forgotten nor left without compensation. She campaigned effectively with Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to get congress to commit millions of dollars to help the victims of war torn countries like Afghanistan and Iraq.
She truly dedicated her life to global citizenship.
Please join me in bringing Marla into your thoughts. Let us all be inspired by her passionate commitment to making a difference in the world.