How can the alienation felt by so many young Muslims be healed? Imam Ajmal Masroor believes that the alienation stems largely from the inner conflict generated by feeling caught between two value-systems: the way their parents want them to be, and the way the society they are growing up in wants them to be.

Imam Ajmal Masroor experienced that dilemma himself, and discovered that the key to reconciling these two identities, European and Muslim, lies in the realization that peacemaking is the very heart of Islam. Mohammed, the holy prophet of Islam, said ‘Spread peace among you!’ Imam Masroor designed a five-day ‘Learning to be a Peacemaker’ (LPM) course to help young Muslims discover that secret for themselves.

He delivered it in Caux for the sixth time this summer, to a group of students and young professionals from Albania, France, Turkey, the Ukraine, and the UK – both Muslims and non-Muslims.

In a fast-paced and interactive manner – including a session at the top of a nearby mountain! – Imam Masroor took participants through the key Quranic texts relating to averting war and building peace, and the Prophet Mohammed’s own peacemaking initiatives. Topics included current misconceptions about Islam and what Islam actually teaches about violence and extremism; issues of responsibility and belonging under the heading of ‘Loyalty and citizenship’; the ‘Inner dimensions of peace’ on the sources of inner contentment; and the ‘Characteristics of peacemakers’. The course ended with a session in which each participant designed a project that they will carry out back home.

This was complemented by evening sessions, open to everyone in the house, on such themes as ‘Relationships’, ‘Overcoming barriers’ and ‘Discovering anger’, during which he drew honestly on his own experience.

Imam Masroor appreciates being able to deliver the course in Caux because it provides an opportunity for participants to go on to take part in one of the Caux Forum conferences – in this case Tools for Changemakers. There they can put into practice the peacemaking understanding and skills they have learnt with people of all ages and backgrounds from across Europe and beyond.

At the opening plenary of the Tools for Changemakers conference, Maryam Shah, a law student from the UK, spoke about LPM. ‘The course emphasized the importance of being an active citizen,’ she said. ‘Instead of allowing any feeling of isolation or not fitting in to lead to sadness or violence, we were taught to channel these emotions into something far more constructive, and to work for the societies we live in to become more inclusive, understanding and tolerant. This course has helped me to become a lot more at peace with myself and a lot more excited to be a tool for change and to contribute to the global society that we live in.’

Read Maryam Shah’s summary of the Learning to be a Peacemaker programme

Text: Peter Riddell

Photos: Paula Mariane and Leela Channer

The Caux Artists Program is an interdisciplinary course in drama, musical theatre, music and the humanities: an opportunity to experience two weeks of an artist’s routine of daily practice and rehearsals, culminating in performances for an audience from all over the world. Our schedule was intense. It included ensemble work with musicians from different countries and cultural backgrounds. I've met artists from the US, the UK, India, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Armenia, Lebanon, Germany.... It seems like the whole world is located there on the mountain in Caux! It was a great experience to meet people from different corners of the world, with a similar desire to create something valuable.

I started singing at the age of 17 when I was studying journalism at university. I had been too shy to sing in public before. Today I still struggle with my fear of performing, but I want my life to be dedicated to music as I understand its influence on people's lives. As I had no chance to study music in my childhood, I seize every opportunity now.

Ukraine has an ancient ethnical and cultural heritage. Unfortunately, we have no efficient facilities to develop musical theatre in our country, so I am grateful to Bev Appleton for giving me a better understanding of the genre.

This year was my most valuable CAP experience yet, because I was more involved in activities and workshops within the Caux Forum. I was deeply impressed by Carl Stauffer’s workshop on ‘Art as a peacebuilding tool’. The breathing techniques and physical exercises which I learnt at the workshop on ’Being ourselves: beyond individual and collective trauma’, led by Daya Bhagwandas and Dida Guigan, were very helpful both for personal and musical development.

My main conclusions from CAP are that the boundaries are just in our heads and that art is one way to make the world live as one.

Text: Svitlana Gordiienko, Kyiv, Ukraine 

Photos: CAUX-IofC - Paula Mariane

On Thursday 4 July at the Caux Forum I met a group of four women involved in the peace circles in Mali: Boye Diallo, Mamou Soucko, Kadidia Djenepo and Kadidiatou Mint Hanka. Peace circles is a project based on Creators of Peace, started by the organization Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) and since 2015 it has been supported by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).

Boye is sat next to me. She starts talking and tells me about the discussion groups that she organizes under the programme to strengthen social cohesion. She has been coordinating these groups for almost two years and bases her meetings on the model for peace circles provided by the Initiatives of Change programme, Creators of Peace. For three days a dozen women meet to explore their contribution to peace not only at the family level but also the community and national levels. This meeting model for peace circles is now used globally.

Boye, Mamou, Kadidia and Kadidiatou are at the Caux Forum for the Just Governance for Human Security conference to share their experiences and listen to other men and women committed to peace and social justice. They also hope to increase their skills and knowledge in areas such as leadership, team work, tolerance and social inclusion.

‘To learn about others.’ This is how Mamou Soucko summarises her main reason for participating. Involved in the programme to build social cohesion and peace circles since 2016, she has discovered during the conference that the problems the women face are not unique to their country. ‘By talking to the other participants, I have come to realise that it is a question of governance, violence and social peace,’ she continues.

Kadidia Djenepo also highlights the organisation of the programme and the serenity of the place. ‘It’s all natural here. I’d like to return and spend my holidays here every year!’

Kadidiatou Mint Hanka talks to us about the discussions that made an impression on her including the story of the indigenous peoples discussed in a documentary and the values expressed by India’s Minister of Happiness. During the conference she has learnt to stretch her limits in terms of forgiveness, peace, acceptance of others and commitments. This is a commitment she would like to strengthen within her community.

Boye Diallo then speaks about the situation in Mali and the insecurity which negatively impacts their actions. The example she gives of the difficulties linking the south and the north is striking. Due to security problems and roads littered with explosive devices, the women have to use internal flights provided by the United Nations Mission in Mali or pass by the neighbouring borders of Burkina Faso and Niger. These are sometimes depressing and demotivating obstacles ‘in the 21st century!’.

For Kadidia the only way to work for peace is through self-management, which is achieved through silence, forgiveness and making others aware. She therefore starts every day with a moment of silence to free her spirit and help her concentrate. She sits on her roof, listens to the birds and to the running water.

Text: Apolline Foedit

Photos: Apolline Foedit, Paula Mariane

Hasan Davis is a self-proclaimed ‘hope-dealer’, who has dedicated his life to engendering purpose, confidence and determination in young people across the United States and the globe. His son, Malcolm, himself an aspiring young leader, took part in this year’s Caux Scholars Program. Hasan, who is a Rockerfeller Fellow, spoke at the Caux Forum’s Towards an Inclusive Peace (TIP) conference on the importance of personal and community resilience in the face of violent extremism.

As a Caux Scholar, Malcolm facilitated some of the TIP sessions and so the pair had the chance to work, learn and grow together at the Caux Forum. This cross-generational collaboration was encouraging, at a time when intergenerational disparity and disillusionment are rife.

Hasan is committed to reforming the US juvenile prison system (achieving a monumental piece of legislation in his home state of Kentucky in 2014) and to the training and education of young people and their teachers and mentors. He sees the Initiatives of Change core values of honesty, love, purity of intention and unselfishness, along with the vulnerability which accompanies their application, as the cornerstones of his work. He promotes education programmes which offer young people the space to explore their idiosyncrasies, strengths and weaknesses in a safe and accommodating environment. The values fostered throughout the Caux Forum are fundamental to constructive intergenerational dialogue, Davis says, as they are founded upon trust and openness.

As Malcolm sits cross-legged on the floor looking up at his father addressing the Forum’s plenary, you can see the gleam of admiration in his eyes. Hasan is grateful that his son has made his own choice to work towards inclusive peace in his community, and is delighted at the way the Caux Scholars Programme has reinforced his sense of confidence and purpose. The mutual trust and respect which underpin their relationship was inspiring to see.

Text: Emma Beuster

Photos: Paula Mariane, Emma Beuster

Marc Isserles’s poignant one-man show, We Must Save the Children, comes to life when you discover that his grandparents sought shelter at the Caux Palace in 1945 as Jewish refugees. The play took place as part of the Tools for Changemakers conference. Its message is that you have to reconcile your past if you want to change the future.

Marc Isserles is not the only one person at the Caux Forum this year whose relatives lived at the Caux Palace during World War II when it acted as a house of refuge for persecuted minorities. Shoshana Faire also walks the halls where her grandparents once sought refuge.

Marc, a Genevan lawyer and musician, and Shoshana, an Australian peacebuilder and activist, lead very different lives. But their shared history left Shoshana moved and ‘inarticulate’ after seeing Marc’s play. Its stirring story of persecution was also her grandparents’ experience, she says.

People from the Middle East, Germany and further afield approached Marc after the play to tell him how moved they were by his performance. This, he says, reiterates the fact that the labels and categories we subject ourselves to should not rob us of our capacity to be human. The only way we can work towards peace and reconciliation is through meeting people at the human level, regardless of interests, faith or ethnicity. This applies not just to the so-called refugee crisis, but also within conflict-ridden societies from Syria to Tibet. Breaking down the barriers which dismantle our ability to connect with others is the first step in dissolving hate-crime, violence and discrimination.

Marc cites the 2002 romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding as an example of the need to recognize past prejudice, labels and stereotypes in the interest of creating peace. We must understand and reconcile with those who have been labelled as ‘others’. One of the best ways of doing this, Marc and Shoshana tell me, is through storytelling.

Shoshana tells her story through training peacebuilders. Marc tells his through musical theatre. They both admire the storytelling ethos fostered at the Caux Forum and say that is essential to help emerging generations to understand their past, so that they can incite the right type of change. Learning historical facts at school and being immersed in the reality of another person’s story are two very different methods of learning, with different outcomes. Stories can equip changemakers with the compassion they need to work for positive change.

The trauma attached to Shoshana’s family history meant that their stories were not often talked about. She tells me how important it is that trauma-healing and storytelling are fostered from a young age.

Looking forward, Marc and Shoshana agree that intergenerational dialogue is essential to forming the next generation of ‘ambassadors of tolerance’. Storytelling enables empathy and openness toward others, and so the three processes of telling personal stories, breaking down stereotypes and passing on the torch are inextricably connected. The Caux Forum fosters these processes, and that is why Marc and Shoshana come back.

Front stage at the Caux Forum we have plenaries, workshops, tasty meals and rooms with a view. Back stage are the 22 people who run the departments which provide beds, food and beverages, clean rooms, front desk services and technical support. Without them, there would be no Caux Forum. Nicole Walther talked to some of them.

Khadija Hajoui from Morocco

Activity: You will find Khadija at reception, working at the front desk or the cash desk. She manages, supervises and trains the 14 junior managers and interns who serve in her department. 

When not at the Forum: She recently graduated as a work and organizational psychologist.

Favourite part of the day: Mentoring the participants in the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme who work with her. She loves to witness how they grow as they face the different challenges that arise at reception.

Caux story: Khadija first worked at reception five years ago, as an intern. The following year she was offered the job of front desk manager: a responsibility which took her out of her comfort zone and which she still holds.

Why does Khadija come back to Caux?: ‘Caux is a school for me,’ she says. ‘It helped me to grow into the woman I am today.’ She sees Caux as a safe space which gives her love, coaching and the opportunity to discover herself.

Her success: She managed 28 people in five different departments last year.

If she were an animal, she would be a bird because it can fly by itself but still enjoys being in a group.

Victor T Nyanhete from Zimbabwe

Activity: Victor mostly works in the dining room, but is in touch with all departments. He manages the setting up of the dining hall, the food service and the cleaning up. He is the person who makes sure that everyone gets what they need at mealtimes. He gives management training to the junior heads of service.

When not at the Forum: Victor recently graduated with a Masters in food biology. He now works in South Africa as a chemical scientist.

His favourite part of the day: Being responsive in helping people.

Caux story: This is Victor’s fifth time at Caux. He has always worked around the dining room. He began as an intern, came back as a sponsored participant and then as a trainer for the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme. Last year he was the buffet manager and now he is Head of Service in the hospitality department.

Why does Victor come back to Caux?: ‘Caux means to create and recreate,’ he says. ‘You create friendships and internal peace. However you can also recreate yourself by fixing the things that have gone wrong.’

His success: Last year he served 30,000 meals.

If he were an animal, he would be a koala because he likes to raise himself out of his comfort zone.

Watch a video about how Caux has inspired Victor

Liliana Neciu from Romania

Activity: During the Caux Forum conferences, Lilana Neciu sits behind a big desk covered with switches, buttons and cables. She manages the light, sound and room display as part of the technical team.

When not at the Forum: Lilana is a professional opera singer. This makes her appreciate her work in Caux even more. Here she is not on stage under the spotlight but doing the work that others normally do for her.

Favourite part of the day: Having talks with people.

Caux story: This is Liliana’s third time at the Caux Forum. She first came in 2017 for the Week of International Community which prepares the Caux Palace before the conferences begin. Last year she participated in the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme and she is now Head of Service Junior of the Technical team.

Why does Liliana come back to Caux?: She loves the energy, the view and the Caux Palace. She first came to Caux at a difficult time in her life: ‘It came into my life when I needed it.’

Her success: She gave an opera concert at last year’s Addressing Europe’s Unfinished Business conference.

If she were an animal, Liliana would be a dog, as she is a faithful person who keeps her friends for life.

Wanda Iwan from Poland

Activity: Wanda is a Head of Service Junior in the dining hall. She prepares the food and tables, and makes sure that everyone knows what to do before the big rush starts. She enjoys her work and the running around it involves.

When not at the Forum: Wanda is studying Economics with an interest in International law. She has set herself the goal of visiting every country in the world.

Favourite part of the day: She likes giving out the tokens that indicate participants’ diets. At breakfast she gives the participants a big smile, because ‘we are the first people they are seeing today’.

Caux story: Wanda came to the Caux Forum for the first time in 2018, as a participant in the Caux Peace and Leadership Programme. She was an intern in the dining hall.

Why does Wanda come back to Caux?: Her face lights up: ‘It is hard not to come back: partly for the people, partly for the place. Here you can give 200 per cent of yourself.’ She likes the way people support the ideas and projects that emerge during her time of silent reflection.

Her success: For her every day is a success, as she knows that people love to come for food and are happy afterwards.

If she were an animal, Wanda would be a black Robin.

Text & Photos: Nicole Walther

After fighting against the German occupation of his country, Norway, Jens Wilhelmsen worked with Initiatives of Change (IofC) in Germany and Japan. In over 70 years of fulltime work for IofC on three continents, his focus has been on trustbuilding and reconciliation. Nicole Walther met him at the Caux Forum 2019, where he spoke at the opening of the Tools for Changemakers conference.

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Jens Wilhelmsen was not the only person to feel a strong sense of hopelessness and dissatisfaction after the end of World War II and as the cold war began. He was losing hope that Europe would reconcile. But instead of slipping into political and personal lethargy, he came across the IofC standards of living: honesty, unselfishness, love and purity of intention. Because he could not change society around him, he used them as a tool to change himself. This gave him energy: ‘At least there is something I can do!’

Jens sat on his bed with four sheets of paper, one for every value, and started to write down all the situations where he had failed to be honest, unselfish, loving or pure. ‘As the list grew longer I had alarming thoughts: I had fooled my stepfather, stolen money and told lies to my friends in order to put myself in a good light.’ Even though it was terrifying to tell the truth to all these people, he decided to do so: ‘I had to come off my pedestal.’ As a result, his friendships got more real and he was able to reconcile with members of his family.

Jens says these standards are not a panacea and cannot instantaneously solve everything, but they ‘stir up the pieces and cause the patterns to change’. He sees such change as essential in the current social and political context, where Europe is seeing a rise in nationalism and time is running out to address the climate crisis.

‘The European Union was built on reconciliation as a promise of a pattern of nations against nationalism,’ he says. ‘At the moment economics has taken the upper hand over reconciliation. This is due to a demand for increased living standards.’ With prosperity as the focus of Europe’s society and actions, unity has been lost and nationalism rises. This pattern has to be broken, and Jens believes the four IofC values can be a powerful tool in that process.

The values of honesty, unselfishness, love and purity should not to be seen as a dogma, he says, but as a tool to frame actions related, for example, to the future of Europe and the environmental crisis. ‘They are an attempt at summing up ethics and a practical searchlight to find a better path.’

Text: Nicole Walter

Photos : Nicole Walther and Leela Channer

The Grampari association was presented on Thursday 27 June 2019 during the first plenary session of the Caux Dialogue on Land and Security. Deepak Jadav who has been working with the association since 2012 spoke about several successful projects: the inclusion of women in village decision-making, the improvement of water systems and the development of agriculture. I met him the next day together with Jayashree Rao, Founder of Grampari and Archana Rao, his daughter and member of the association who simultaneously interpreted Deepak’s story from Hindi into English.

Founded in 2007 by Jayashree Rao, Grampari is an Initiatives of Change India programme based in the Asia Plateau conference centre. Trans Asia, Arghyam and the Child Health Foundation are also partners of the association. Three themes are at the centre of the different programmes: improving quality of life through drinking water access, strengthening local institutions and the promotion of entrepreneurship.

Local communities are at the heart of the Grampari approach. The problems are initially identified by the communities who then organize village meetings. At this stage Grampari is represented by different people including farmers, engineers and scientists who contribute their expertise. The programmes are then implemented by the communities with attention paid to them taking ownership of the projects. These meetings and the resulting programmes are now an important source of inspiration. The idea of listening to everyone takes shape while the populations feel increasingly concerned by environmental problems such as fires and waste water.

For the last two years, quiet time has been a regular feature of the meetings. This practice, which is encouraged within IofC, allows important changes to come about as Deepak and Jayashree attest.

Deepak Jadav speaks about a new work ethic that he developed following quiet time. He realised that his fight against corruption had to start with him. He therefore tackled his relationship with his parents who had cut family ties because he had married a woman from Erreur ! Référence de lien hypertexte non valide.another cast. Deepak meditated and thought for a long time about his emotions. He moved from anger to understanding to forgiveness. ‘I put myself in my father’s shoes,’ he explains. Almost nine years after his marriage, his parents finally agreed to meet his wife.

Now Deepak is the coordinator for water systems and for a community capacity building programme in a village which he is passionate about. In 2014 he participated in the International Farmers’ Dialogue in India organised by Initiatives of Change India, where in particular he learnt about sustainable agricultural techniques and the role of women in agricultural development.

Jayashree Rao attended the Caux Forum for the first time when she was 18. She remembered the positive energy, the meetings with other people and the inspiration that she drew from those moments. She passed on the format of the meetings to Grampari. The meetings have proven an efficient way of bringing the villagers together. Sharing experiences and stories followed by quiet time let the villagers call into question the traditional roles and participate in reconciliation talks between themselves.

Jayashree’s daughter, Archana, has grown up with the Caux Forum experience. After studying abroad and travelling overseas for work, she participated in a women’s meeting on water problems organised by Grampari. This moment in time profoundly changed her relationship with the world and began a radical change. She left her job to take charge of the Grampari’s water project. She is now convinced by the idea that spirituality and development go hand in hand, ‘if there is any sort of change, it has to come from within’.

Report: Apolline Foedit

Photos:  Paula Mariane and Leela Channer

Londoner Jonas Truneh (25) and I are sitting on a bench, watching participants in the Caux Scholars and Caux Peace and Leadership (CPLP) programmes playing something resembling football. As he deflects the ball from crushing my laptop (thank you Jonas), he describes what his experiences at Caux over the last three years have meant to him.

This year, Jonas was one of the organizing team members of the Just Governance for Human Security conference (JGHS) and took part in the CPLP. His parents and grandparents have been involved in the work of IofC (then Moral Re-Armament) in Ethiopia and around the world since the 1960s. So the ideas of IofC have been a recurring motif throughout his upbringing, though his own interest was only sparked in his later school years, when he began to engage with issues of politics and social justice.

He first came to Caux in 2017, to attend JGHS, a five-day intensive conference on the fundamental pillars of human security. This coincided with his choice to study religion and politics at Kings College, London, in what he describes as a ‘culmination’ of his desire to becoming a more active global citizen.

Jonas’s curiosity was sparked by the topics covered, the speakers’ presentations and the Forum’s participatory and self-reflective ethos. He returned in 2018 as a Caux Scholar. He found the experience ‘humbling’ and ‘inspiring’; a journey of self-discovery, as part of a global network of bright and diverse young leaders. Constructive introspection and self-analysis are even more embedded in the CPLP programme, he says.

Both the CPLP and the Caux Scholars Programme (CSP) are rooted in IofC’s core values and offer the space for self-development within a framework of leadership and peacebuilding. As the names suggests, the CSP is more academic, and the CPLP more leadership-focused. Both put you in touch with yourself as well as an extensive group of intelligent young people. Jonas has maintained contact with the CSP alumni network, which he describes as a ‘base of support’ for reintegrating back into normal life after the month is out. His one regret is that the programmes are too short.

Jonas is adamant that the directors of both programmes do not get a fraction of the credit they deserve, for the effort they put in and the programmes they offer. They give support to each individual’s personal journey above and beyond what is expected. The confidence participants take away from Caux is due to the tone and ethos set by the programme directors and their teams. It is the people that make the experience, he says, and he is eternally grateful to be part of the Caux family.

I leave him in peace to finally join in the football fun.

Report: Emma Beuster

Photos: Paula Mariane

June 2019. It’s the fourth time that Lisa Yelyzaveta Yasko has participated in the Caux Forum. Before joining the organising team for the Caux Dialogue on Land and Security in 2018, Lisa took part in the Caux Artists Program in 2015 and the Caux Scholars Program the following year. This year she is also the Emerging Leaders Programme Coordinator which runs in parallel to the conference and aims to bring together young people who would like to be involved in promoting peace, the environment and the restoration of ecosystems.

‘Caux could play a big role in the future of Europe where a common goal, a raison d’être, is currently lacking,’ says Lisa. Passionate about leadership, conflict resolution and diplomacy, Lisa is convinced that the Caux Forum has great potential to develop creative solutions for Europe and the world. However, she thinks it is critical to increase the involvement of young people.

The idea of including young people in the Caux Dialogue on Land and Security is at the heart of the Emerging Leaders Programme. It aims to create a safe space where young entrepreneurs, passionate students and engaged advocates regularly come together over the course of a few days. Music, storysharing and other activities are all used to strengthen the participants’ communication and team work skills. Participants also attend the plenaries and workshops organised as part of the main conference where they can interact first-hand with the speakers.

Born in Ukraine, Lisa met John Bond, who was working for Initiatives of Change (IofC) during a security forum in Kiev in 2014. This sparked the desire to discover the Caux Forum.

After participating in the Caux Artists Program the following year, she decided to return for the Caux Scholars Program. ‘These programmes have changed my life. I’ve made many important decisions here,’ she tells me. The meetings and discussion she had during the programmes with other young people who shared her passions combined with the activities and quiet times all changed Lisa on a personal level. She has also increased her knowledge in the areas of the environment and international relations.

Lisa has sought out the best education possible as can be seen in a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in political sciences from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev. She also has a master’s degree from Oxford and another one from Moscow. ‘I wanted to understand the world and take that knowledge back to Ukraine,’ she explains.

This year she will undoubtedly become one of the youngest members of the Ukrainian Parliament. During the Caux Forum she took the opportunity to check her knowledge of global issues and to nourish the links that she had created in previous years. For Lisa, Caux is a unique place to recharge your batteries, to take the time to understand your decisions and prepare for the next steps in your life.

Report: Apolline Foedit

Photos: Leela Channer