For A Change articles from October 2001

For A Change archives from October 2001

Initiatives of change.
October 1, 2001... If you want to change the world, where is the best place to start? With oneself, according to Moral Re-Armament (MRA), the worldwide movement launched in London in 1938 by American Frank Buchman. Over recent years those working with MRA...

House of love has many rooms: Mary Lean finds some remarkable companions on the road from fear to love.
October 1, 2001... The setting was spectacular, high above Lake Geneva with blue mountain peaks framing the horizon. The theme--taken from the Dutch spiritual writer, Henri Nouwen--was profound: `Moving from the house of fear into the house of love'. But, as...

Peace-building and forgiveness: the first of two Agenda for Reconciliation conference focussed on peace-building initiatives...
October 1, 2001... In the past ten years, the subject of forgiveness has climbed into newspaper headlines, political speeches and scholarly literature around the world. The further we move away from the 20th century, the more we feel the burden of the violence...

Meeting Vincent's murderer: (Richard Batsinduka forgives his brother's murderer).
October 1, 2001... Richard Batsinduka left Rwanda in 1973 and taught in Burundi and Swaziland before settling in Canada in 1990. It was the loss of his family in the Rwandan genocide in 1994 that decided him to devote the rest of his life to conflict resolution....

Truth and reconciliation for Bosnia (is the solution according to Jakob Finci).
October 1, 2001... `Bosnia was a poor part of the poor former Yugoslavia,' says Jakob Finci, the President of Bosnia's Jewish community and of its Association of Citizens, Truth and Reconciliation. `Now, after being destroyed by war, the country is even poorer...

`I promise to do more': (Merri Minuskin speaks out on the inequalities in Israel).
October 1, 2001... As a seven-year-old in the Bronx, New York, Merri Minuskin learnt about discrimination early. `The children used to beat me up and call me a dirty Jew.' After her family moved to Queens, she discovered prejudice from the other side, as she...

Inside the `perimetre cellulaire': (Amah Assiama's work in Rwanda).
October 1, 2001... Ever since leaving Ivory Coast to study abroad in 1984, Amah Assiama had dreamed of returning to Africa. So when she attended a conference in Caux in 1994, she took her chance to apply to a number of Geneva-based international organizations....

Singing for his soul: as always, the conferences in Caux were graced by the performances of several richly talented artists. Among them was American song-writer and guitarist Scott Christopher Murray.
October 1, 2001... How many million kids grab hold of a guitar to strum a few chords, dreaming that sometime they will make great music? But it's not that easy, of course. It requires a talent that can't be denied, and decades of hard work. Scott Murray's...

Everybody matters on a shrinking planet: good governance starts with individuals ...
October 1, 2001... `The world is smaller than it has ever been. Its six billion citizens are closer to each other than ever before in history. Each of us is increasingly connected to people we will never meet...' So starts the introduction to the UK Government's...

Some of the younger people (Igor Smerdov, Tania Chatterjee, Nabnita Jit, Marijana Logan) attending the Caux conferences tell FAC about the experiences that have changed their lives.
October 1, 2001... `Take the next train' `I must be a very stubborn person,' reflects Igor Smerdov from Nizhny Novgorod (formerly Gorky), Russia. He is referring to his determination over the last seven years to complete his doctoral thesis, despite the...

During the summer five distinguished figures gave public Caux lectures on such issues as the link between corruption and war, globalizatiom, and women's role in combating poverty.
October 1, 2001... Why not women? Educating women is the key to eradicating poverty and hunger, said Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the UN's World Food Programme and Under-Secretary General of the UN. It would break the vicious circle of...

Politicians' round table in Caux.
October 1, 2001... Thirty people from political life took part in a three-day round table conference on good governance. They included MPs from Japan and Korea; the Emir of Kano in northern Nigeria; Ambassador Mohammed Sahnoun, Deputy Secretary General of the UN;...

Movie power: (Erin Brockovich shows how people can make a positive impact on their community).
October 1, 2001... HOW often do we see in person someone whose daring and perseverance have inspired a hit movie? Rarely, for most of us. So it was a special treat to see and hear Erin Brockovich at the National Press Club (NPC) in Washington, DC. I'd already...

Opening up to love.
October 1, 2001... I am not a particularly fearful person. I am not afraid of the dark. I am not afraid of dogs, not even big ones. I have never been afraid of blood and hardly--except for the first time--of plunging my lancet through a patient's skin so I could...

Time for dialogue on business's role: (protests at international conferences are not the answer).
October 1, 2001... The efforts to stop the G8 summit in Genoa and other such meetings reflect a broader frustration about the inability of ordinary people to affect the policies, laws and regulations governing the world economy. The difficulty governments have in...