For A Change articles from April 2002

For A Change archives from April 2002

Ear to the ground.(MRA/Initiatives of Change Centre, Panchgani, India)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Bagpipes at dawn Dawn on a mountain top in India's Western Ghats. We had climbed up in silence and now watched as the sun teetered behind the clouds, gathering itself to climb into the sky. Many had brought symbolic burdens to throw...

A day for reaching out.(Initiatives for Change declares June 1st to be a day for cultural understanding)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
April 1, 2002... If you ask someone what is the biggest issue to be addressed in today's world they might suggest the Middle East, overpopulation, global warming, the gap between rich and poor, the impact of globalization or any one of dozens more seemingly...

A time for dialogue between the West and Islam; Frederic Chavanne argues that it is more important to get to know Muslims than to have opinions about them. (Building Community).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The dialogue between cultures and civilizations, the need for which has been underlined more than ever by the events of 11 September, is everybody's business. These last months have focussed attention on the West's relationship with the...

Travelling west from Rajanpur: it's a long way from a remote village in Pakistan to Brighton, England. Imam Abduljalil Sajid tells Mary Lean about the encounters which inspired his passion for interfaith understanding. (Profile).
April 1, 2002... The bridgebuilding Imam of the Brighton Islamic Mission, Dr Abduljalil Sajid, describes himself as an optimist. He believes the terrible events of 11 September 2001 have opened opportunities for better understanding between the West and Islam....

A gamble which paid off: the world lay at RD Mathur's feet as a young man--and he decided to give everything to try and change it. (Turning Point).
April 1, 2002... What turns a child of privilege into a student agitator? Or makes a budding politician throw up everything to devote himself to a campaign for moral and spiritual rearmament? Looking back on 74 years of turning points, RD Mathur has no regrets:...

Aid to Komso kids. (People: making a difference).(Children's Charity Volunteer Group provides aid to Kosmo Regional Children's Hospital, St. Petersburg, Russia)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... As in most hospitals in Russia, the conditions at the Komso Regional Children's Hospital in St Petersburg did little for their patients' spirits before the UK-based Children's Charity Volunteer Group came to their rescue. `The children can now...

Business for people's sake. (People: making a difference).(John Stephenson plays role in developing export business for Colombian artisans)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 1, 2002... `People are the most valuable asset of any business,' says John Stephenson, an international business consultant, who now advises Colombian artisans. As a result of his work last year over US$1 million worth of craft products from 30 workshops...

From Texas with milk. (People: making a difference).(Jesse Williams)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Not content with his comfortable work at the University of Minnesota, Jesse Williams, emeritus professor of animal husbandry, decided to work in needy countries overseas. Over 25 years Williams worked in development projects in 29...

Tackling corruption in paradise: Marie-Noelle Ferrieux-Patterson is no stranger to controversy. As Vanuatu's first Ombudsman (from 1994-99) she was responsible for exposing maladministration and breaches of the Leadership Code. (First Person).
April 1, 2002... I am lucky to live in Vanuatu, one of the South Pacific's most beautiful archipelagos and one of the best kept secrets left in the world. With its population of only 200,000, no pollution, not one single traffic light, beautiful beaches,...

Winners at the grass roots: the annual Worldaware Business Awards in London celebrate outstanding enterprise initiatives that benefit economic development in Third World countries. (Sustainable Development).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... If you've had your legs blown off by a land mine in Cambodia's Mekong delta, how do you exercise your basic human right to take part in daily life? Tun Chunnareth knows. The ex-soldier received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 on behalf of the...

Free, frank and fearless: why would a successful Kenyan salesman give up his career in order to become a thorn in his government's flesh? Bedan Mbugua, editor of `The People', talks to Paul Williams. (Profile 2).(Interview)
April 1, 2002... Bedan Mbugua had just won a luxury holiday for being declared `best salesman in Kenya'. `The sky is the limit for you at Ciba-Geigy,' he told himself as he walked along the beach. Then he suddenly found himself asking how long he would stay...

Down to earth philosophers: Pierre Spoerri finds both inspiration and food for thought in Alain de Botton's, `The Consolations of Philosophy'. (Bookmark).
April 1, 2002... Philosophy, at least here in European lands, seems to be an `in' subject at the present moment. One first noticed it when, some years ago, the book of a relatively unknown Norwegian author, Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World, suddenly became a...

Forgiveness: Breaking the Chain of Hate. (Urgent medicine).
April 1, 2002... Forgiveness: breaking the chain of hate' is published in the UK by Grosvenor Books, London, price 11.50 [pounds sterling] paperback, ISBN 1-85239-031-X; and in the US by BookPartners Inc, Newberg, Oregon, ISBN 1-58151-115-9. When Lewis B...

Boundless energy for the rural woman: the award-winning doctor Banoobai Coyaji has pioneered health care in 300 Indian villages. (Healthcare).(wins Magsaysay Award)
April 1, 2002... The eminent Indian gynaecologist and hospital director Dr Banoobai Coyaji is Pune's best-known lady--and perhaps the most loved. Coyaji, who won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for public service in 1993, constantly works on fresh projects to benefit...

Working with difficult people: Bjorn Ole Austad talks to people who face a common source of stress at work--other people. (Living Issues).
April 1, 2002... Some pressures spur us on to do our best at work. Others cause stress that may drain our energy, take its toll on our health or even make us collapse. There is one kind of stress that was not invented by modern industrial and economic...

Love at last sight. (Roundabout).(self-confessed dog-hater adopts one)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... `The only good dog is a dead dog,' I've been known to mutter, only half-jokingly, as some muddy hound has bounded up to me leaving paw prints that would make a forensic expert drool--in the unlikely event that I should ever want to bring...

Unexpected fruits of tragedy. (Webbsite).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Even the worst of tragedies may bear some fruit. That's clearly the case in America in the wake of 11 September. Public awareness of the prominence of government in American life has heightened as the role of government has inevitably soared....

Breathing in. (Reflections).(joys of quiet)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... The most precious secret I have found for creating happiness is the practice of silence and inner listening. My daily time of quiet--even though sometimes brief--is first of all a kind of `breathing in' before the turbulence of the day....

Finding the other. (Guest Column).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2002... Last year I was invited to a conference at the Initiatives of Change centre in the Swiss mountains at Caux. Afterwards, I was asked to offer my view of what had transpired. I suggested that in earlier times people used to go to the desert or...