School of Peace 2025 finally kicked off in Nagpur, India

Last Updated (Wednesday, 05 March 2025 22:06)

After months of preparations, the Interfaith Cooperation Forum’s (ICF) School of Peace finally started on January 26, 2025, in Nagpur, India in cooperation with the India Peace Centre (IPC).

With the long-awaited political clearance, most participants got their visas approved and traveled to India. Some more participants were expected to join a bit later. Others, unfortunately, were unable to attend due to visa difficulties and personal reasons. The first small group of eight participants, with the ICF staff, gathered on the 27th of January for the opening ceremony, where they were welcomed by Rev. Asir Ebenezer, the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), the campus where the SoP is taking place. Angelious Michael, the director of IPC and official host of the SoP, welcomed the participants as well, with the Treasurer of IPC Dr. Teijinder Singh Rawal.

After a meaningful opening ceremony, the first day's activities concluded with team-building exercises in the afternoon, with Annika Denkmann facilitating. The participants engaged in various activities to learn about their fellow attendees and themselves.

On January 28, the focus shifted to the historical roots of the YMCA and the Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs (APAY), presented by NGS Retha Andoea. The attendees learned about the foundational principles of these organizations and explored their roles in promoting youth development and community service. In the afternoon, ICF Coordinator Muriel Orevillo-Montenegor led a session on "Conscientização," referring to Paulo’s Freire pedagogy of the Oppressed. She further informed about journaling techniques as participants will be required to keep a daily journal to reflect on the new learnings. On January 29, Muriel Orevillo Montenegro facilitated the first session on an introduction to world religions. This was followed by an in-depth examination of Judaism, highlighting its history, core beliefs, and teachings on peace. The session aimed to foster understanding and respect for diverse faith traditions.

The following day, January 30, brought insights into Christianity, with Fr. B. M. Thomas and Rev. Ganesh Barve leading discussions on the historical context, beliefs, and teachings of peace within the Christian faith. The first week of sessions concluded on January 31 with a session led by Muriel titled "Understanding Peace and Conflict: Examining Ways of Creating Meaningful Relationships." This session focused on introducing the participants to different types and levels of conflict and their understanding of peace.  To cap the week, after a day of rest on February 1st, the participants embarked on a day trip on Sunday, February 2nd, to Gandhi’s Ashram in Sevagram.

The journey continues…

The second week found the participants finally complete. The 12 youth participants are from six different countries. India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, and Timor-Leste spent the week, from February 3 to 7 learning about tools of conflict analysis, conflict transformation, and mediation. Cesar Villanueva from the Philippines helped the participants delve into and apply the different tools of analysis to conflicts in their own families and their communities or countries. The exercises aimed to get a better understanding of the root causes of these conflicts and find possible points of entry for an intervention. In the following sessions, the participants learned about Johan Galtung’s concept of Conflict Transformation, including the so-called mantra of conflict transformation: creativity, nonviolence, and empathy.

The weekend gave the participants time to process all the new information and some free time to explore their temporary home in Nagpur, India.

With the third week already completed, further topics were discussed. The week of February 10th started with 2 days of Forum Theatre with Annika Denkmann, learning to use it as a tool for peace while making use of conflicts discussed in the week prior, but also new conflicts were used to try and learn the method of Forum Theatre. With many different topics planned for the third week, Wednesday marked the move to the ever-critical and important topic of the climate crisis, especially concerning peace. This continued on Thursday when ICF Coordinator Muriel Orevillo-Montenegro dived into the Anthropocene, Ecofeminism, and Environmental Peacebuilding. The week also included a field trip to the stunning Tadoba Tiger Park on February 14, where participants experienced the beauty of nature firsthand. This excursion reinforced the importance of protecting Mother Earth. Embracing Indigenous Wisdom was on the schedule for Saturday the 15th, learning about Indigenous Spiritualities, focusing on the teachings of various Indigenous groups from Northeast India. The participants were challenged to reflect on how these teachings could inform their work as peacebuilders, encouraging them to incorporate traditional wisdom into modern practices.

Finally, the week concluded with a visit to All Saints Cathedral on Sunday, February 16th. The entire group was warmly welcomed to attend the Church service, and participants from the Christian faith performed David Haas's song “We Are Called,” which they had practiced a couple of days before that Sunday.

With week 4 already on the way. This week focuses on the different religious faith and their teachings of peace.

Annika Denkmann

BftW Seconded Personnel to ICF

Over 200 youth volunteers engaged in “Master Peace Knitting" event organized by the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong

Last Updated (Friday, 14 February 2025 11:27)

“MASTER PEACE Knitting"- A record breaking finger-knitting event by over 200 youth volunteers

In response to the "Culture of Peace" proposed and advocated by the United Nations, Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong celebrates the third Saturday of November as our "Peace Day" every year to spread the message of love and peace to the public through different activities. Sponsored by The ONE and Happy Yarn, a local crochet brand, this year's event "MASTER PEACE Knitting" was held on 16 November, bringing together over 200 youth volunteers aged between 10 and 24 at The ONE in Tsim Sha Tsui to participate in a group knitting session and a visit to the community. The volunteers created "Peace Cushion" with the popular stress reliever "finger knitting", and delivered them together with charity bags to the underprivileged to spread love and care. Through "MASTER PEACE Knitting", we hope to help young people heal their bodies and minds and relieve stress. Our warmth-carrying visits also allowed the younger generations to learn about life at grassroots level, and encouraged the community to care for the underprivileged and spread the message of peace to the general public. The event was graciously supported by Ms. Winnie Ho, JP, the Secretary for Housing, and Mrs. Kimbee Lau, the CEO of Chinese Estates Holdings Limited and Founder of Happy Yarn.

In the welcoming speech, Dr. Arnold Cheng, President of Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong expressed his delight to see more than 200 youth volunteers at the event, together with the generous support from the Housing Bureau of the HKSAR Government and sponsors such as Chinese Estates Holdings Limited, to "weave" love and peace into the community.

Addressing the event, Ms. Winnie Ho, JP, the Secretary for Housing, said she was pleased to see how Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong connected young people, ethnic minority families and different sectors of the community to knit and spread the message of love to the needy around them, thereby building a harmonious and prosperous Hong Kong.

On behalf of the main event sponsor, Mrs. Kimbee Lau, CEO of Chinese Estates Holdings Limited and Founder of Happy Yarn, hoped that all volunteers would embrace the soothing and healing qualities of knitting and spread their joy to others, living up to the name of Happy Yarn - happy knitting to weave more joy.

Mr. Liu Ho Yin, one of the participants said that the activity not only taught him how to knit, but also relieved his academic pressure during the process, and felt satisfied for being able to knit a unique cushion and provide warmth to the needy.

Following the finger-knitting of more than 200 "Peace Cushions", all youth volunteers Ms. Winnie Ho, JP and Mrs. Kimbee Lau in visited public rental housing tenants, sub-divided unit households and the elderly in different districts to deliver the cushions and charity bags with food and beverages, cleansing products and thermos cups. Together, we were able to spread the love and care to the underprivileged through our own strengths for mutual help.

(Left photo) Over 200 youth volunteers participated in the "A Culture of Peace Campaign 2024" to spread the message of love and peace through finger-knitting.

(Right photo) All youth volunteers gathered at The ONE in Tsim Sha Tsui to finger-knit cushions, holding up their unique works to spread the message of love and peace.

(Left photo) Ms. Winnie Ho, JP, the Secretary for Housing (second from left), visited a public rental housing tenant to understand the needs of the grassroots and delivered charity bags containing food, baby diapers, "Peace Cushion" and daily necessities.

(Right photo) One of the female tenants was in tears when she talked about parenting, and Mrs. Kimbee Lau encouraged her to "sweat it out" and relax in the park whenever she felt upset. 

A Joint Statement by World YMCA and Asia Pacific Alliance of YMCAs in solidarity with Korea YMCA to protect democracy and human rights

Last Updated (Wednesday, 18 December 2024 17:24)

The World YMCA and the Asia Pacific Alliance of YMCAs stand in strong solidarity with the National Council of YMCAs in Korea and all our brothers and sisters in the YMCA Movement in South Korea, in these very turbulent times.

We are inspired by the swift and resolute response of South Korea's people and democratic institutions to safeguard their constitutional and democratic order and protect their human rights. Their courage and vigilance exemplify the strength of a nation committed to preserving its core values, which in turn are those of the YMCA: freedom, equality and social justice which will lead to a lasting peace in the Korean peninsula and beyond. We condemn any attempts to jeopardize these shared values of nationhood and community, and we applaud any attempts to uphold them.

Our thoughts are with our YMCA colleagues and wider civil society, and all the young people and communities of Korea which they serve.

Carlos Sanvee, Secretary General, World YMCA

Nam Boo Won, Secretary General, Asia Pacific Alliance of YMCAs