 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Editorial:
"Know Thyself"
Alwyn Thomson
Comment:
Illiberal Democracy
Alwyn Thomson
From
the Director: Good News People?
David W Porter
Balancing
on the Edge
Tony Davidson
Grateful
to God
David McMillan
Space
& Freedom
David Hewitt
Imaginative
Engagement
Keith Getty
No
longer at ease with this dispensation?
Mike Wardlow
Living
with our deepest differences
Os Guinness
Deep
Questions
Johnston
McMaster
Steady
presence
Cecelia Clegg
No
longer lonely
Joseph Liechty
Something
to give
Ingri Sakaria
Bible
study series: Faith in the future
David
W Porter
Review:
The Elusive Quest, Reconciliation in N I by Norman Porter
Bill
Brown
Review:
Journeying Towards Reconciliation, A Song for Ireland by Ruth Patterson
Lynda
Gould
Review:
Islam in Conflict:Past Present and Future by Peter G Riddell &
Peter Cotterell
Alwyn
Thomson
Review:
The R Option - Building Relationships as a Better Way of Life by
Michael Schluter & David John Lee
Anna
Rankin
Review:
Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman
Glenn
Jordan
Summer
School Poetry
Various
For
God and His Glory Alone:
Study 6: Truth
SOMETHING TO GIVE
One summer, a few years back, I climbed the stairs looking for the ECONI office and a person called Alwyn Thomson. I found a neat office and a positive response and a contact was established that has lasted ever since.
The Folkhögskola where I teach provides pre-university adult education. The second year of the international course is specialised in conflict understanding, so of course we were interested in the situation in Northern Ireland and wanted to hear from both sides in the conflict. We were keen to have an e-mail exchange between our students and somebody from ECONI and later on have them visit our school. Alwyn gave us this contact and also came over to Sweden where he, with utmost patience, answered a lot of questions. This was the first phase of our contact.
The second phase was established during this first visit when Alwyn and ECONI agreed to become one of the partners in an EU project concerning "The Role of Religion for European Identity and Integration" (see www.sundsgarden.nu/eri). The other partners included another Folkhögskola further north in Sweden and a Christian Academy in Latvia. We produced case studies and met once every six months. In so doing we saw each of the participants' organisations and experienced something of the countries and the situations which were the subject of the case studies. Our meetings created an atmosphere of intercultural understanding besides the fact that we had a great time together. One fruitful aspect of the discussions was that in the course of trying to describe the social structure in your own country, which for you is a familiar situation, to somebody to whom this is totally new and hard to understand you discover new aspects to your own problems. For example: "Could the type of crosscommunity work being done in Northern Ireland meet the problems of lack of integration which we face in Sweden?"
When we visited Belfast we met with the Board of ECONI. This meeting has stayed in our memories – naturally because of the nice setting – but most of all because we were impressed by what we heard from the Members of the Board. We met a group of people who seemed so devoted to the aim of the organisation and who were willing to share their personal convictions with us. This was a revitalising experience for us, both personally and for our organisation. When we came back we tried to challenge our Board but unfortunately only a few members responded. Our school is run by an Evangelical Lutheran movement within the Swedish Church and for us, "How can we express our faith in what we do?" is an ongoing discussion. It is not easy to engage all the staff and it is also a challenge to meet rootless students in a secular country. ECONI works in a different area but we feel we share the same values and our contact has brought inspiration and a reminder of our Christ-centred focus.
Phase three of our contact arose out of a disappointment – a second stage of our EU project was rejected. International contacts with people whose contribution you appreciate becomes like a vitamin injection for the quality of your work and for your own personal growth. We found that we had become dependant on injections from Northern Ireland – that is ECONI – and the way you work, so we found a way to get Lynda Gould over to Sweden to run courses with us. She has now been here twice and the response from our students has been very positive. Our experience is that practical peace work created out of acute situations in Northern Ireland has something to give our country. In Sweden the problems that we face stem from the lack of integration between large immigrant groups and more traditionally Swedish Swedes. We believe that the group work facilitated by Lynda helps people in a practical way to recognise the destructive powers that exist in our society. There is a feeling of relief when people can get not only the theory but also the practical tools with which to deal with attitudes we find hard to accept, such as scapegoating and racism.
Connected to phase three, a very interesting new development took place this summer as a volunteer from our school in Sweden spent two months in Northern Ireland with ECONI to follow the summer activities. We are very grateful for this opportunity and sincerely hope that our contact continues. We remain excited to see how the links will develop in the future.
INGRI SAKARIA is a teacher of Psychology and Religion and a counsellor at Sundsgardens Folkhögskola in the south of Sweden. She has a degree in Psychology and Drama and is the mother of five children.
 |
||
 |
 |
|