In her teaching years, Dr. Ann Frisch always encouraged her students to make the world a better place. After retirement, she's still leading by example.
Frisch, a former education and human services professor at UW-Oshkosh, left Saturday for a 10-week trip with Nonviolent Peaceforce, an organization that aims to work out international conflicts peacefully. Her first stop is Guatemala, where she will be part of a four-person team that will act as bodyguards for human rights workers in the country.
Due in part to upcoming elections, human rights workers investigating crimes against women, Indians and homosexuals are being specifically targeted.
"It's a tough time down there," Frisch said. "We're completely nonpartisan politically, but since there's heightened violence, the human rights workers are at risk and they have to do their jobs."
Despite the dangerous situation, Frisch said that she is not afraid for her life. Although she highly doubts she'll be abducted, she will carry a card on her at all times that says her organization won't pay ransom. Her potential kidnappers will have no use for her and will probably let her go, she said, which makes her feel safe.
"We're not there to be martyrs," she said. "We're there to keep ourselves and other people safe. There are realistic risks, but we're there to protect."
Al Lareau, one of Frisch's former colleagues, said he wasn't surprised to hear that she took on the project.
"She's very strongly committed to peace and community, and this is a culmination of that," he said. "It's an incredible opportunity for her and a great contribution."
Growing up, Frisch said her family would often discuss politics over the dinner table. Her mother deeply respected Mahatma Gandhi, and when Frisch entered college her mother encouraged her to study him. Soon after starting college, she became a Quaker and said that was when she truly started to feel that war was unnecessary.
"We prefer to resolve problems by peaceful means," she said, although today she is not an official member of the Quaker church.
Wayne Swanger, a Quaker and former colleague of Frisch, said that the efforts of Nonviolent Peaceforce epitomize the religion's beliefs that violence is never the answer. "Her efforts certainly reflect that position," he said.
The peace organization, based in Brussels, Belgium, has a mission to "build a trained, international nonviolent peace force," according to its Web site. Frisch said its long-term goal is to replace the world's armies with peacekeepers, which she said is not as unrealistic as it sounds.
"People have different views about what is making the world a better place," she said. "You show people that this really works. It's not magic, it's learning how to talk to people."
Through a blog, Frisch will keep family, friends and anyone who is interested updated on her work. She said it is part of her belief that secrecy is the basis for many of the world's problems. "Once you shy away from secrecy, violence gets undone," she said.
The effort in Guatemala is only a portion of the 10-week trip. After that, her team will move to Columbia to help protect some established peace communities that are trying to distance themselves from the country's crime problems.
Frisch will be working as a volunteer, but her living expenses will be covered. Any excess funds that the workers receive are sent back to the United States because they try to live as simply and as much like the locals as possible.
Frisch's experience living in Guatemala for two years and being fluent in Spanish should help her with any problems, she said. She also doesn't think she will run into any serious trouble.
"It's exciting, but hopefully it's not too exciting," she said.
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