Foundations for Freedom Newsletter 24 Greencoat Place, London SW1P 1RD, tel: 020-7798 6000, Fax: 020-7798 6001, www.f-4-f.org, Issue 27, February 2002
In this Issue...
STOP PRESS
F4F at the Hoho....................pg. 1 Caux, not to be missed.........pg. 1 F4F On line, Moldova..........pg. 2 F4F On line, Novosibirsk.....pg. 3
A summer you won’t want to miss...
Caux Service Responsibility and Leadership Summer 2002 promises to be as full and inspiring as ever and perhaps even more so for F4F. The Service, Responsibility and Leadership (SRL) – Working for a World that Works Conference, from the 5-12 July, will start off the series of international conferences in Caux this summer. Many of us from F4F who helped plan the Freedom, Responsibility and Leadership conference last summer have teamed up with the organizers of last year’s Aims and Values session to organize SRL. It is not too late to join our international planning team. For more details contact Angela Starovoytova (tel: 03806 5226 5898, email angelas@ci.ukrpack.net) in Simferopol, Ukraine who is coordinating F4F involvement in the planning. You can also get more information from the Caux website: www.caux.ch The weekend of 6-7 July will mark the celebration of 100 years of the CauxPalace Hotel, which became an MRA conference centre in 1946. All of Mountain House as well as members of the local community will come together to celebrate, to draw lessons from the rich history of Caux and to seek inspiration for the future. Immediately after the SRL conference will be two days of F4F teambuilding, thinking and planning for the future (July 10th – 12th). The initiators of F4F started the Programme approximately eight years ago with a view to eventually passing over responsibility to East Europeans. Over the years F4F has developed a rich international network. Individuals and
Continued on page 4...
F4F On line, Estonia............ pg. 3 From the treasurer................pg. 4 Training trainers ................. pg. 4 Regional meeting, Crimea... pg. 4
We are sad to report the death of Diana Bennett, one of the founders of F4F. Diana and her husband were responsible for a series of seminars on ‘Making Faith Practical and Relevant’ She will be greatly missed.
F4F at the Hoho At the beginning of 2002, many F4F friends took part in an international MRA (now Initiatives of Change (IC)) gathering at Asia Plateau, the IC centre in India. We created a rather large unofficial F4F presence. Here are some names you might recognise: Atsushi Ota (Japan), Angela Starovoytova (Ukraine), Erik Andren (UK), Nick Foster (UK), Kristen Cibelli (UK/USA), CJ Weeks (Australia), Kees and Marina Scheijgrond (Netheralnds), Laura Trevelyan (UK), Natalie Porter (UK/ Australia), Joy Weeks (UK), Doug and Francizsca Paine (UK), Peter and Rosemary T h w a i t e s (Australia), Marta Dabrowska (Poland) and Howard Grace (UK). Oleg Ermurati & Liliana Botnaru from Moldova were also at Asia Plateau as part of the Action for Life Programme. The meeting was called the Global Hoho. Hoho is a word from Nagaland (a province in Northern India) meaning ‘assembly of elders to reflect on matters of great importance’. At its height, the Hoho brought together 200 people from 35 countries who feel committed and responsible for taking the ideas and work of Initiatives of Change forward over the next ten to twenty years. In true IC style, a warm community developed that created an ideal environment for honest conversation, sharing and visioning for
the future. If you would like to know more about the results of this meeting, please email Kristen for a copy of the report. The Hoho provided an opportunity for us to share the work of F4F with others from around the world. Many of us had individual conversations with individuals and teams from different countries who wanted to know more about F4F. Kees Scheijgrond showed some slides from
some of the courses he has led in Novosibirsk to an international audience. A few of us then spoke and helped answer questions from the audience. The Hoho was also a chance for many of us to catch up and also to think about upcoming events. Those working with a group planning the ‘Service, Responsibility and Leadership’ (SRL) conference for the first week of Caux met up and attracted a few new members, too! Please see the piece about Caux in this Newsletter for more information about SRL Kristen Cibelli
F4F needs news! Please send your news in time for our next issue, deadline May 17, to f4f@london.mra.org.uk
From
Moldova
O
ur team of New Civilisation (CN) started this year in deep thought about itself. We are now in the process of serious discussions about our goals, activities and about the values and state of our team. I remember a few other times when we have been through such evaluations. We are young, both as a team and as individuals being part of it. We are like a pendulum that has just been put in motion - relatively far from equilibrium. It is clear to me - we are SEARCHING. Some reflections are available at the moment this text is written. They raise good points inside myself, bring new questions, but also they do answer some doubts. “…We need to work much more on ourselves. In the moment when we will be able to help ourselves and stop complaining about the ideas of MRA/IC being easy to practice in CN, but imposible to live in the outside world, in that moment we will start promoting these ideas through our projects…” Alexandra Mirciuc.
“
…First of all we need to be sure of our values, gain confidence in what we believe. If we talk of honesty, subconsciously thinking that it is not very realistic, nobody will believe us. And I would urge us to seek more guidance, only then initiatives will spark. If some-
thing is born in the heart, not mind, one does it with full confidence and enthusiasm. And enthusiasm is infectious, others will join in. One lesson that I learned from my discussions with other people is: study your own country, then you’ll find ways to be more effective. And learn from people who do bring change. Regarding the activities, we could start different projects, but only if our heart is fully in them. I think that CN is there to help us become stronger and if we stick to our beliefs and make an impact at least at our working place, it is already a start.” Liliana Botnaru.
New Civilisation showing Moldovan hospitality to guests, Kristen Cibelli and AngelaStarovoitova
“
…3 February 2002 our official First-Sunday-Of-Month General Meeting was dedicated to reflections on our personal values and hopes, commitment to MRA/IC and expectations of CN as an organization. The idea was to listen attentively to what every single person had to say without any discussion or arguing. There was not a single comment made. Everybody went home with food for thought. One of the initiators of the activity suggested that we didn’t seem to share the same goal, but I came to conclusion that we actually did. We all want to see this world a better place to live, it is just that some make more emphasis on self-development, and others are eager to take an active part in different projects, some are more concerned about the way our businesses are run, and others consider that the best way is to start with educating children. It is great that our interests are so different, and yet the purposes are so much the same. Even if we do get involved in activities of different domains, it doesn’t make us less of a team that we are. On the contrary, in my opinion, responsibility and trust in people doing their best is something that definitely unites.” Anastasia Clipicova.
From
Novosibirsk... D
ear friends, warmest greetings from Youth Humanitarian Initiative in Novosibirsk! We remember and miss all our IC friends and greatly hope to see a lot of them at the Regional Meeting!
Chris Evans en-route to Novosibirsk with Igor Smerdov and Alexei Saganov
...and from
T
As to the projects we are working on at the moment unfortunately the work was rather slow due to exams and holidays, but we are doing our best to keep it going. The major part of the program we have been offering in schools has been written down and we hope to see the manual for trainers in a month. As soon as it is done we will start the program with new schools. The demand is still there - we got a phone call recently from our former group, asking us to come again and we will do that as
Estonia
he F4F course in Viljandi (5.09-15.09) deeply impressed us. Erik, Sheila, Steven & Minna really helped us to find the right way of changing. It felt like we were meeting ourselves & other people for the first time. Something new opened up inside us every day. People from our group became more understanding & we learned how important respect is. The R&D time was a real discovery for us. It is gold!!! After we came back, practically all our relatives & friends noticed some difference in us. Nobody wanted this feeling of freedom to leave him/her. I (Svetlana) began to ask other people, who were in Viljandi about how to continue together. Erik
wrote some letters to us saying that he hoped we wouldn’t stop on that level. I took the leadership & arranged a first meeting. Not everyone came, but those that did told me of their desire to go on. Some people said that they asked others for forgiveness as a result of the course. After that meeting I created a web site (www.geocities.com/ e_f4f) for us & our friends from foreign countries. The aim of the site is to facilitate our communicating & to help people from our group to keep abreast of events even if they were not at the meeting. Hope it will work. I try to refresh our homepage as often as I can. We continue to meet every second week. Also I keep a notice-
soon as everyone comes back from holidays. As for the business seminar, we stay in touch regularly with the business people we met during the visit of Chris Evans and Gordon Fuller in Dec. 2001(especially the Sibcontact bank representative). They organized a meeting to promote the seminar. Other possible participants are still thinking about it. Good luck and all the best to everybody! We’d love to hear from you: mailto:YHI_ORG@mail.ru With best wishes, Anna Svirkova board with information about F4F and refreshing it every second week. Our Rector, Mrs. Sokolenko, always helps me to choose interesting information. Also she began to join our group meetings. It’s great, because she always finds the right words to help us if we need it and gives us advice. We really don’t want this process of our group’s development and personal changing to stop. That’s why we’re eager to participate in the Caux Scholars Program. Our motivation is based on the results of courses in Viljandi & the work of our team. Mrs. Sokolenko told us about some people, who have devoted their lives to MRA. We impressed by those life stories. We want to know more & then to share our feelings with people. We want to involve new people into the group. Svetlana Mandrikova, & Natalia Voronova
F4F
Training for trainers
F
oundations for Freedom urgently needs more people who can train to lead F4F courses. We are therefore planning a three-stage training programme for anyone one who is interested. Phases 1 & 2 will be based on the course “Man, Morality, Belief and Freedom” (MMB&F) developed by Erik Andren and used successfully in Central and Eastern Europe. The third phase will be a more general training in teaching and facilitation skills in the context of Initiatives of Change, and will be of value to people who want to pass on the ideas of IC in a variety of contexts. Phase 1 (from April 2002): Participants will be sent the manual of the course MMB&F and asked to make a note of any questions that arise as they read through the manual. Phase 2 (28 August to 3 Sept 2002) A residential course in Britain where participants go through the course MMB&F in detail, raising any questions, seeing examples of how it can be led and looking at the issues that arise for anyone taking on such a course. Phase 3 (7-13 Sept) A residential course in Britain for developing training/facilitation skills in the context of Initiatives of Change work. We are looking for 8-10 people who will be ready to work with F4F in Central and Eastern Europe, of whom we hope up to 5 will be from the region itself. However, there will be a few places for people who may want to lead courses in other part of the world. The total cost (not including travel) for phases 1-3 will be £600, or £300 for phase 3 only. F4F will take joint responsibility for raising funds for those who commit to working with the F4F programme. Anyone interested in applying should contact F4F for an application form.
...Caux
continued from page 1
from the...
Treasurer
Thanks to some recent gifts, we still have our heads well above the water line, with much to be grateful for. Our fundraising target for the costs of the forthcoming Regional Meeting in Crimea is well on the way to being met - only £350 to go. Looking further ahead, we have four courses coming up which cost an average of £4000 each. We are making applications to various foundations for these, and for funding to bring people to Caux, and for the programme to train more trainers - that is, people who can offer F4F courses and seminars. We pray that these are successful, and will keep you informed.
Regional Meeting - Crimea 14-20 April F
inally, there is a great opportunity for all F4F people to spend a week from 1420 April, 2002 in the pearl of Ukraine, the Crimea, taking part in the Regional Meeting with the main theme ‘Leadership—Can I?’ Can I have a holiday in the middle of April? Can I reach the top of the mountain? Can I enjoy the waters of the Black Sea hitting the cliffs under an ancient castle? Can I play football and volleyball? Can I ride in a boat? Can I have fun with friends from many countries? It may sound like an advertisement for a resort (which Crimea really is) but there will be some hard work to do participating in seminars on following issues: • What is leadership? Are leaders born or made? To lead or to be led? Teamwork, etc. mid March Planning meeting for Caux SRL conference, • Discovering yourself through discussions, quiet times, exercises, in Moldova or Hungary asking yourself ‘CAN I?’ 23-31st March F4F workshop Latvia • Project planning and network development. 8-12th April Regional Meeting, Crimea, Ukraine All this excitement will cost $60, (partial scholarships are “Leadership: Can I?” available). Let us know when you’re coming by 5th April (even earlier 8-12th May Teachers seminar, Lviv, Ukraine for those needing visas) and ask any questions at theme: fighting corruption in education. spacecodet_fila@yahoo.com or angelas@crimeainfo.com . May Kyiv: Workshop for young politicians Organized by the new Crimean team, it is our first big project, elected to local government so...uhhh...guess what we need? Your prayers and support. Come July Ekaterinburg: Workshop for NGOs personally or in spirit, and all of us will get what we need! July Caux, Service Responsibility & Leadership With warm and sunny greetings, September Training for Trainers Crimean Team
teams in several parts of East Europe have been inspired to work together to deepen their understanding and, in many different ways, take responsibility for the forwarding of the ideas and work of IC around them. Now seems like a good time to take stock of the past and present and consider what the future has in store. What continuing and /or potentially new roles could there be for us as individuals/teams/countries? What concrete steps can we work on together? What would the practical implications for training and funding be? We hope that anyone who feels committed and responsible for the work of F4F will join us for these exciting days.
Diary
F4F