Justice and Peace
ICF Program Committee held its first meeting in 2022
Last Updated (Monday, 28 February 2022 16:42)
The Interfaith Cooperation Forum (ICF) Program Committee held its first meeting in 2022 on February 11 via zoom. Four ICF alumni and four APAY staff attended the meeting. The alumni were Rinku Mankhin, an alternate member from Bangladesh, Hein Thura Htet from Myanmar, Dunhill Angelo Maraya, an alternate member, and Hamsiya Olimpain from the Philippines. The ICF staff were Baidido Saganding, Program Officer, Annika Denkmann, BftW seconded personnel to ICF, and Dr. Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro, Coordinator. Mr. Nam Boo Won, APAY General Secretary, also attended the meeting.
The meeting started with the greetings from Mr. Nam Boo Won. He also congratulates the ICF and its committee members for the work done in the past year. During the meeting, Dr. Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro reviewed the Term of Reference of the Program Committee members. Some of its members are ending their term this year. Biplob Rangsa, ICF committee member from Bangladesh will finish his term this February 2022. However, due to the need to have a representative from the alumni who joined ICF activities before 2018, Biplob will continue to serve another term. One may recall that each member shall serve the Committee for two years, however, this could be relaxed when necessary. This is a special arrangement as provided for, in the Term of Reference. Meanwhile, ICF will look for potential candidates from the alumni circle to replace inactive members.
The meeting also served as an opportunity to share updates on ICF activities. Baidido Saganding shared an update of the ICF website. Each country will submit brief information about its alumni engagement and activities, to be posted on the website to reach a wider audience. Nepal was the first to submit and update its information on the website. Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the Philippines agreed to submit by early March 2022. ICF is also expecting alumni from other countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, and Timor Leste to submit their articles and photos respectively. Baidido shared an update on the small grant proposals. The deadline for submission of these proposals was on January 15, 2022. Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, and Timor Leste submitted their proposals. These proposals are now under review by the ICF staff. The alumni network may apply for two small grant projects: one for Local Peace Education, Advocacy, and Networking, and the other one for Alumni Follow-up activities. Moreover, Baidido informed the Committee that ICF received two small doable projects from the participants from the Philippines in relation to the November-December workshop.
Read more: ICF Program Committee held its first meeting in 2022
ICF conducted Online Workshop on Women’s Rights, the Trailblazers and Ecofeminism
Last Updated (Monday, 24 January 2022 18:13)
ICF joined the global campaign on 16 days of activism against Gender-based Violence by holding a series of online workshops on Women’s Rights, Ecofeminism, and the Trailblazers in the Struggle for Women’s Rights from November 25 and 26 to December 2, 3, and 9, 2021. Forty-one young people from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, and Timor Leste participated during the sessions.
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During the first session of the workshop, Dr. Hope Antone spoke on “Rediscovering Feminine Images of the Divine.” She organized her presentation into three parts: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Religion and Women’s Rights, and Feminine Images of the Divine and Women’s Rights. She started each part of her presentation by running a poll that the participants actively answered. On the question of whether the UNDHR document upholds the rights of women, the participants have Yes and No for an answer. She affirmed that yes, it upholds the rights of women. But it is also true to say No because the document is a broad stroke and specific details on how to uphold women’s rights are not in the covenant. UNDHR is not legally binding, more like of road map and a vision statement. The second poll asked whether each religion upholds women's rights. The answers from the participants were Yes, No and Unsure. Dr. Antone noted that the Declaration of Human Rights by the World’s Religions includes women's rights, e.g. full equality with men, to be free from all forms form violence, to marry a person according to their choice, and to marry with free and full consent. The third poll asked if the participants agree that women's rights are grounded or rooted in feminine images of the divine. The participants answered yes, but some answered: "not sure." Dr. Antone proceeded by uncovering the feminine images of the divine from each religion’s sacred text. She pointed out that one must investigate one’s faith resources to rediscover the images of the divine. One also needs to use lenses of gender criticism when reading and analyzing to uncover the feminine images of the divine. She also encourages the participants to recover the qualities of the divine feminine that may be missing today: mothering, abundance, beauty, inspiration, and peace.
Dr. Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro’s topic seemed to be new to the participants: “Ecofeminism as Activism in Defense of Mother Earth.” She started her session by assessing the understanding of the participants on the different words such as feminism, ecofeminism, Anthropocene, religion and nature, and Francis Bacon. A few participants shared their view on feminism briefly, but the rest did not say anything on the remaining keywords. She used a word-study approach and discussed each keyword. She highlighted that feminism is a philosophy grounded on the premise that women’s wisdom on matters that affect them is crucial in patriarchal, sexist, or male-dominated contexts. It is both a critical theory and political movement that seeks justice for women and ends all forms of sexism. She discussed how human beings treat nature from their religious perspectives. Through the concept of Ahimsa, the principle of non-violence, Hindus believe that all living things, including the natural world, are sacred because they are part of God. While the Buddha did not give teachings specifically on this subject, he instructed the monks to never relieve themselves in or near running water and should not disrupt the established habitat of any other creature nor kill other living creatures. Taoism, the indigenous way of life of ancient China, values harmony between people. However, Taoism values, even more, the harmony between nature and humanity. Dr. Orevillo-Montenegro took a critical reading of Genesis 1:28, a favorite text among those coming from the Judeo-Christian tradition, on the role of humans to take care of the earth. She pointed out that the text is problematic because of the Hebrew words kabash and radah, which mean to dominate and subjugate. In Islam, the concept of oneness or Tawhid is reflected in Allah’s creation, and human beings and nature form one whole that humans must preserve. Islam also teaches that individuals should act as a guardian or Khalifah of the earth as a sacred trust. Dr. Orevillo-Montenegro then proceeded to connect the philosophy of Francis Bacon with Genesis 1:28. Bacon took the image of nature as a female to be subjugated as a philosophy to argue for the necessity of extracting nature's secrets. Then, she proceeded to introduce another new word: the Anthropocene as the geologic period that humans heavily influenced. The Anthropocene Epoch is the start of the era of nuclear bomb tests, disposable plastics, and the human population boom that caused earth destruction. The Anthropocene is the beginning of adverse climate change. Ecofeminism is a commitment to defend women’s rights and Mother Earth’s rights. This could be done by taking actual steps to reclaim an earth-based spirituality, with an understanding that spirituality is a day-to-day lifestyle.
Read more: ICF conducted Online Workshop on Women’s Rights, the Trailblazers and Ecofeminism
Beauty from Brokenness
Last Updated (Friday, 03 December 2021 21:35)
The whole world is passing through troubled times caused by COVID-19, and the vaccine against the COVID-19 virus has brought a ray of hope to our life.
The theme of World YWCA and World YMCA week of prayer and fellowship for this year, “Beauty from Brokenness” is indeed appropriate in the current situation. This is the time to ponder upon this theme and search for beauty in this brokenness. According to the scripture we cannot develop divine beauty unless we break down and come out from our personal ego.
Ranchi YMCA is going through troubled times may be the worst situation in the history of YMCA Ranchi. We are facing financial crisis as well as unable to operate in full-fledged due to the government Covid-19 guidelines. Amid the challenges the theme of the World Week of Prayer has given us meaning to our struggle. This is the time to ponder where we can improve and where we were lacking. This brokenness can be converted into opportunity by our collective efforts and submission to Almighty.
Due to restrictions YMCA Ranchi could not observe the World YWCA and World YMCA week of prayer and fellowship with the whole community, but this year on 10th & 13th of November’21with the members of YWCA and YMCA had the prayer meeeting. The speaker on 10th November’21 was Dr. Sheet Nihal Topno a educationist from one of the prestigious college in Ranchi. He deliberated on the theme in a very simple language but in an effective way. He gave examples of David and Paul in his message. He mentioned about their brokenness and they came out from the personal ego and how Almighty Lord used them for His Glory. On 13th November’21 the speaker was Mrs. Ranjeeta Alice Dungdung, Assistant Teacher, Bethsaida High School, Ranchi. She collectively reflected on all the sub themes chosen for day one to six. Further briefly related the sub themes to the main theme “Beauty from Brokenness”. The members of YWCA and YMCA were present during this occasion. We hope that this theme is not only for a week but for our lifetime. Throughout our life we need to ponder on the beautiful theme and follow.
Virtual Thematic Workshop: The Impact of the Pandemic on the Situation and Rights of Migrant Workers in Asia
Last Updated (Tuesday, 28 September 2021 16:23)
65 youth attended the Thematic Workshop on the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
ICF organized a virtual workshop on the theme “Uncovering the Plight of Indigenous People’s Rights and Access to Health Care during the COVID Pandemic.” The workshop took place on August 23-27, 2021 from 7:00 to 9:00 in the evening, Hong Kong time. Around 60 young people joined the workshop as regular participants. Some young people joined from Cambodia, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Myanmar, Mongolia, and Nepal, but the bigger delegations came from the Philippines and Bangladesh. The religions represented during this workshop included the Buddhist, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and some coming from Indigenous traditions. The workshop was ICF’s way of expressing solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples as they celebrate August as the IP month and August 9 as the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. During the first four days, ICF had invited resource persons to speak on different topics.
Read more: 65 youth attended the Thematic Workshop on the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
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