I spent the last week of May in Chicago with the Faiths Act Fellows. For many, it was the first sight of each other since we parted ways back in September. Unfortunately, only 29 of the 30 Fellows were able to attend. Bilal Hassam, who was based in Leicester, UK, was detained in Montreal on [...]
Posts Tagged ‘faiths act’
Why faith? Part 2
October 23rd, 2009
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A previous post addressed the religious imperative against malaria from the standpoint of those of us in the US, UK, and Canada. So why is the Faiths Act campaign so explicit about the work of churches and mosques on the ground in sub-Saharan Africa? As it turns out, religious communities in the developing world are [...]
October Newsletter from Interfaith Youth Core
October 6th, 2009
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This post appeared in the “Movement in Action” section of the Interfaith Youth Core’s October email newsletter: For most ordinary jobs, training or orientation usually denotes a few hours, perhaps a day or two, devoted to learning the ins and outs of one’s new organization. The Faiths Act Fellows trained for six weeks on three [...]
Why faith? Part 1
September 16th, 2009
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Today I leave Chicago along with twenty-eight of the other Faiths Act Fellows (my site-partner Hafsa lives in the city). I’m not flying home since home for me is only 100-odd miles west of Chicago. Tonight I’ll meet up with some of my old professors, mentors, and friends from Aurora University to play catch-up on [...]
The sheikh is my best friend
September 1st, 2009
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“The sheikh is my best friend,” shotus Father Mpinge. My site-partner Hafsa and I smile, too. The sheikh-in-question is actually the imam of the largest mosque in town. Mpinge is the parish priest of St. Francis, the largest Catholic congregation. We didn’t expect such a statement from him. As it turns out, the priest and [...]
Zanzibar is a real place
August 30th, 2009
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Note: This is my first post using QuickPress! YAY! For years I’ve heard of this mythical island out on the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania. It’s called ZANZIBAR, and it’s quite nearly as awesome as I thought it would be. Zanzibar is 99% Muslim, which is a bit of a departure from the [...]
Interfaith Livin’
August 20th, 2009
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I was called upon by our team boss to lead the group during today’s “early morning interfaith spiritual reflection”. Since we’re all young people of faith, I suppose it’s only natural that we learn a bit from each other by sharing something from our own tradition. To be honest, it took a lot of thought [...]
On the Kilombero River
August 15th, 2009
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After a quick breakfast, our team headed out this morning to the Kilombero River, the body of water that separates Kilombero District from its neighbor. One of our friends from the Tanzanian Training Centre for International Health came along to find some river guides; we made a deal and climbed into two massive dugout canoes. [...]
Welcome to Tanzania!
August 15th, 2009
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After a very long day of travel we touched down in Dar es Salaam and made our way to a guest house for the night. The accomodations were comfortable – always a good thing to have as you adjust to a new place. In the morning we took off for Ifakara in the south central [...]
