I attended a session with some officials from the White House. A few months ago, President Obama gave a speech in Cairo, his “address to the Muslim World”, where he affirmed America’s commitment not only to community service but interfaith dialogue and action. These officials came to the conference to explain a bit about what [...]
Posts Tagged ‘ifyc’
Bridge-Builders
October 26th, 2009
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Tonight we are honoring “bridge-builders”, people who are making the idea of inter and intra-religious cooperation a reality in the day-to-day life of American social/civic interaction and indeed the world. They are changing the conversation about religion. Here they are: Abraham’s Vision – An organization that is providing education and vision to young people on [...]
Just peacemaking
October 26th, 2009
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This might be a bit like stream-of-consciousness, but I don’t want to spend time re-editing this later. It’s a workshop on the just peacemaking paradigm. Susan Brooks-Thistlethwaite (Interfaith Youth Core board member and former seminary president) gave us a brief history of the transition of the United Church of Christ into a pacifist church. The [...]
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 [...]
Settling into San Jose
October 5th, 2009
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Hafsa and I have been settling into our office within the offices of the Islamic Networks Group for a few days. The Faiths Act Fellowship officially launched last Thursday, the first day of work for the Fellows. It’s an odd feeling to know that Hafsa and I aren’t only working by ourselves; in cities across [...]
An evening with Tony Blair
September 11th, 2009
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Last night the Faiths Act Fellows attended a small reception with the Board of Directors and the staff of the Interfaith Youth Core here in Chicago. It was a nice opportunity for the board to meet with the staff who run their programs and the Fellows who will be out for the next eight months [...]
The last leg of the triangle
September 7th, 2009
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I’m back in Chicago after a nearly 6-month absence. Not only am I back in Chicago, I am staying for two weeks. This is both unheard of and very welcome. I like the Windy City. After two weeks in London and three weeks in Tanzania, coming “home” means a lot to me. Familiar streets, smells, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
