Peacemaker: "We can't afford to ignore the world around us'

October 13, 2011 at 10:49 p.m. | Updated October 13, 2011 at 10:49 p.m.

A large metal shed near Holts Summit containing equipment such as gas cylinders and utlitiy vehicles was destroyed by fire Thursday afternoon. Everything inside the shed was destroyed, including several utility vehicles. James Brockman, the building's owner, sustained a minor burn when he tried to grab something in the building. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
A large metal shed near Holts Summit containing equipment such as gas cylinders and utlitiy vehicles was destroyed by fire Thursday afternoon. Everything inside the shed was destroyed, including several utility vehicles. James Brockman, the building's owner, sustained a minor burn when he tried to grab something in the building. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Russian peacemaker Marina Shishova hopes that by spending time with Westminster College students she will help increase their awareness not only of her native culture, but of the importance of cultivating international relationships.

Shishova - the president of the Interchurch Partnership of St. Petersburg, a researcher at the Orthodox Institute for Missiology and Ecumenism and a former member of the Executive Committee of Pax Christi International - is on campus today as part of the 2011 Global Leaders in Residence Program.

The program, which is sponsored by the Emerson Center for Leadership and Service, aims to bring in global leaders to talk to and meet with classes on a more intimate level than the large lectures usually given by visiting speakers.

Shishova said that she hopes that opportunity to interact with Westminster students - as well as a public lecture she gave Thursday afternoon - will leave them with "maybe a better understanding of the situation in Russia."

To help the tornado-stricken people of Dumas and surroundings, donations can be made to the Delta Area Disaster Relief Fund, care of the Delta Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894, Dumas, AR, 71639, or through the Arkansas Community Foundation, 700 S. Rock St., Little Rock, AR, 72202.