Foundations for Freedom Newsletter 2014 ENG

The

M

Contents

osaic

03 The Mosaic

Our news

6

04 IofC without Borders

A message from Rajmohan Gandhi for peace in Ukraine

05 F4F Regional Meeting 2013

Creating a space for dialogue

14

8

amidst conflict in Ukraine

F4F EARLY HISTORY:

06 A perspective

from the Netherlands

by Kees and Marina Scheijgrond 07

The Beginning of F4F

by Mike Lowe

08 F4F Early History

by Sheila Andren 10 Foundations for Freedom

Origins by Miles Pain 14 A New Experience:

My internship with Foundations for Freedom

16 Our Cources

Crimean women

5 Foundations for Freedom Newsletter Issue # 51 is dedicated to the Foundations for Freedom ‘Coming of Age’. In this issue we publish a series of stories dedicated to the early years of the network. Our special thanks to Dasha Kolesnik and Nick Foster for the initiative of collecting memories about F4F Early History.

Editors: Liubou Pranevich Angela Starovoytova Proofreading: David Locke Elizabeth Locke Photo of the front cover: Diana Topan F4F Historical Timeline (the back cover): Anton Iemelianov, Dasha Kolesnik

Contacts: Foundations for Freedom International Non-Governmental Organization Registered in Ukraine e-mail: info@f-4-f.org www.f-4-f.org Facebook: foundationsforfreedom

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searching for trust and ‘piece circle’

18 Ukraine today:

The root of the problem

is in the unhealed past

20

F4F Historical Timeline

16

Our News Dialogue: searching for mutual understanding in Ukrainian society As a response to the situation which has developed in the Ukrainian society, Foundations for Freedom launch a series of Dialogues on the ‘Current situation in Ukraine: ways to find mutual understanding’. These Dialogues are aimed at the search for understanding amongst Ukrainians.

We understand dialogue as the process and method of communicating in order to build interaction between people, who share their experience, ideas, and thoughts on the selected topic. Dialogue is aimed at bringing a new wider understanding of the situation due to the communication with people who possess different points of view.

We organize dialogues in order to help Ukrainians build

solidarity around the values of civil society by searching for understanding, both on the community and individual levels. We are inviting people with different points of view on the events taking place in Ukraine, who would like to try to extend the boundaries of their understanding of the social and political situation in the Ukrainian society, be ready to hear, try to understand, and probably to accept another point of view. Dialogues are free and open for participation. More about the initiative read in the interview with Lena Kashkariova on page 18 of the Newsletter.

Find out more about the method and principles of the dialogue on our web page: www.iofc.org/dialogue-searching-understanding-ukrainian-society

Steps of Tolerance: Young people from Belarus, Germany and Ukraine discover discrimination in daily life 14 - 20 April 2014 near Minsk (Belarus) the third seminar of the series of ‘Steps of Tolerance’ project took place.The seminar was organized by Club for Young Leaders (Crimea) on behalf of Foundations for Freedom (Ukraine), a German based organization Initiatives of Central and Eastern Europe (InMOE) together with New Faces (Belarus).

The workshop participants’ from three countries were able to deepen their knowledge on the subject of discrimination and build active strategies to combat it and tried themselves in the roles of photographers. The footage they produced during the workshop then became material to learn photo processing work using various computer programs. The first in the series of the workshops on Discrimination, Photography & Anti-Bias started on 15th February in Ukraine, Carpathian. The final ‘Steps of Tolerance’ meeting took place at the end of May in Berlin, where the photo exhibition on the project results was prepared. The photo exhibition will be held in three participating countries.

Anastasiya Maximova, Crimea

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without

Rajmohan Gandhi for peace in Ukraine

A message from

In January 2014 Rajmohan Gandhi sent his message for the people of Ukraine. Four years ago, in the spring of 2010, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi visited Ukraine to support a series of meetings and events called Week of Trust.

Dear friends in Ukraine, I send this earnest message as someone who has been captured by the beauty and variety of Ukraine…

Someone captured by the brave and creative spirit of its people and especially its youth. I also send this message as a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi who taught me to fight for both peace and justice, for justice and peace both.

rule by ourselves also means rule over ourselves. I must learn to control myself. Each of us must learn to control his or her anger if we wish to be fit to lead.

Some people profit from polarization, but ordinary people need to come together. Without peace there is no economic activity, no movement of people, no movement of goods. I pray that no one in Ukraine will regard another citizen

www.rajmohangandhi.com

It is painful for me to hear that lives have perished in recent violence in Ukraine. Painful to hear talk of possible civil war.

There are times when protests and struggles are necessary. Yet a struggle must never descend into violence or into attacks on human beings or their property.

Independence from foreign rule was a powerful passion in India as it is all over the world.

Independence means rule by ourselves rather than rule by outsiders.

But my grandfather taught me that

or resident of Ukraine as an enemy.

Even if some politicians benefit from division I pray that the youth and other citizens and residents of Ukraine will sit down together and listen to one another instead of attacking one another. No one can be my enemy merely because he or she speaks another language or belongs to a region different from mine or to a religious group different from mine or holding opinions different from mine.

Ukrainians belong to one another.

As human beings, we are members

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Rajmohan Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and past president of Initaitives of Change International, is a Research Professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. A former member (199092) of the RajyaSabha (the upper house of the Indian Parliament), he led the Indian delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 1990. In the Indian Parliament he was the convener of the all-party joint committee of both houses addressing the condition of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Associated from 1956 with Initiatives of Change, he has been engaged for half a century in efforts for trust-building, reconciliation and democracy and in battles against corruption and inequalities. of the same human family. Allow me to say that those in power have to respect the voices of the people.

And allow me to say that those who take part in a non-violent struggle should never be afraid of sitting down with opponents for honorable negotiations.

I send my love to my numerous friends in Ukraine and my prayers for the good people of Ukraine that they will find both peace and justice.

View video message on www.rajmohangandhi.com

Creating a space for dialogue amidst conflict in Ukraine

13 20 Regional F F4 eeting M

C orders Iof B

Dialogue was used to improve understanding and develop trust building at the Regional Meeting of Foundations for Freedom, which took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 6-8 December 2013.

Around 60 participants from different parts of Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Romania, Germany, Poland and Latvia took part in the Regional Meeting. All of them had been participants in Foundations for Freedom (F4F) projects or initiatives. F4F is a non-governmental organization which was founded in 1993 as a programme of Initiatives of Change in Eastern Europe.

The aim of the meeting was to introduce the participants of different F4F projects and the partnering networks, whilst providing space for experience and information exchange about the current projects of Foundations for Freedom.

Projects include: Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past, a new project in the Crimea Living History of Generations, HOUSE in Baranivka and projects developing ethical leadership in Ukraine. During the last day of the meeting a General Assembly took place to which all members of F4F network were invited. There was discussion about the current situation in Ukraine and the needs of the society .

During the Regional Meeting the documentary film Beyond Forgiving was shown, which featured a story of forgiveness, following the tragic events of the South African conflict.

The film was followed by a discussion of the issues raised.

The Regional Meeting took place during the mass protest in ‘Maidan Nezalezhnosti’ (Independent Square), the main square in Kyiv, when thousands of people called for political change. Protests began on 21-22 November 2013, when Ukrainians gathered at the square following the Ukraine’s decision to suspend the signing of the agreement of association with the European Union. During the night of 30, November, demonstrators

were chased away by the special police force ‘Berkut’ which led to even more people protesting in the centre of Kyiv...

Members of the ‘Berkut’ had been allocated to the hotel where the discussions and sessions of Foundations for Freedom took place. Because of this, some sessions of the Regional Meeting took the form of a dialogue on the recent events in Ukraine. Participants talked about the issues in working groups and, as a result, some of them spoke to the ‘Berkut’ to find out their opinions on recent beatings of demonstrators by the special police.

Following Regional Meetings in December 2013 and January 2014 a set of dialogues was organized by Foundations for Freedom entitled ‘Todays situation in Ukraine: searching for mutual understanding’.

A three day meeting of the Foundations for Freedom team included conversations, activities and practical experience, proving the effectiveness of F4F activities in the areas of trustbuilding, ethical leadership and developing dialogue and understanding in society.

LiubouPranevich

31 January 2014

http://www.iofc.org/creating-space-

Panchgani, India

for-dialogue-amidst-conflict

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Foundations for Freedom Early Years: a perspective from the Netherlands

By Kees & Marina Scheijgrond

Since 1994 Cornelis and Marina Scheijgrond from the Netherlands facilitated Visiting Courses of Foundations for Freedom in Eastern Europe.

‘It has been a rich time of 15 years in which we met hundreds of fine people’ and ‘have discovered that F4F is actually for everyone’ wrote Cornelis and Marina in their message to the participants of the Foundations for Freedom Regional Meeting 2013.

3rd December 2013 Dear friends, Greetings from the Netherlands for all, who are assembled at the Regional Meeting in Kiev. What a large number of participants you are!

These are crucial times for Ukraine and Europe as a whole. An intense struggle for power is going on, may be at the expense of the ordinary people. Our news is full of the demonstrations in Kiev and Lviv. We think of you and pray for you. We also wonder whether the RM has a message of hope and future in this time of crisis....

Like all of you we are very grateful for what we have

Klaipeda, Oct. 1995, Erik Andren & Kees Scheijgrond

experienced and learned Foundations for from Freedom. Since 1994 we have been facilitating courses in Minsk, Lithuania, Novosibirsk, Ukraine and Romania, first with Erik Andren and thereafter as course leaders with a score of other faculty members. From

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2005 the program continued for us in Sierra Leone with a Train the Trainers Program for Military, Police and Civil society, called Moral Foundations for Democracy.

We did 7 courses there and now the program is hopefully running from inside the country.

It has been a rich time of 15 years in which we met hundreds of fine people, mostly young like yourselves but also the more senior ones.

We have discovered that F4F is actually for everyone, because it deals with the essential elements for a life which is purposeful and makes sense.

For that we are also very grateful to Erik Andren, who got the idea and did so much to get it going.

F4F: the Beginning

By Mike Lowe,

June 7th 2013

From 1980-1984 I was a student in Leeds. It was the height of the cold war and I participated in peace marches calling for an end to nuclear weapons.

There were some students from Bulgaria on an exchange programme and I got to know some of them and fell in love with one girl.

It was the start of a fascination with ‘the other Europe’ behind what we then called ‘the iron curtain’. I also started to read some of the great classics of Russian literature: Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Turgenev, Gogol, Solzhenitsyn and Bulgakov.

A few years later, while volunteering with MRA (the predecessor of IofC) I had an opportunity to visit Poland to take part in the annual pilgrimage to Czestochowa in 1986. I visited Poland again in 1987 with Rex Dilly whose links with Poland went back to the Second World War. Because of these experiences, my wife and I decided to spend a year living in Poland, teaching English from 1992-93.

It was during that year that I heard from Edward Peters, who was visiting with Rex Dilly, about plans to launch Foundations for Freedom. I was asked to help find participants for an International Course in

We feel lifted by the fact that your generations have taken over. We would have loved to be with you, but that did not work out this time. We accompany you with our thoughts and prayers and look forward to read what you have been doing!

Many greetings and love, Kees & Marina Scheijgrond, Gouda, the Netherlands

F4 HI F E ST AR OR LY Y

F4F Course with Mike Lowe, Oct 2002

September 1993, as well as to help with the course myself.

We returned to Britain at the end of 1993 and I joined Edward, Rex, Miles and Janet Paine, Erik Andren, and a few others on the initial Foundations for Freedom committee. Erik had developed the first Visiting Course (which took place in Slovakia also in Sept. 1993) while I was more involved with the annual International Courses at Tirley Garth, a residential centre which MRA owned in the north of England at that time. One of the participants of that very first course in Tirley Garth, Andriy Vinychuk,

was the President of the Student Brotherhood at the newly re-established Kyiv Mogila Academy. Through Andriy we visted Kyiv and the idea developed to run a study tour for young members of the Ukrainian Parliament, which we did with support and funding from the British Embassy in Ukraine. That first study tour for politicians in 1994 was followed by a second in 1997. In between there was an election in Ukraine in which about 90% of members of parliament were replaced. By then we had realized that it was much better to invest in training young people before they went into politics. Tragically, Andriy himself passed away from cancer a few years later.

Those early years were exciting, pioneering times. I learned a lot and made a lot of mistakes.

We talked often about the day when this work would be run by young people from the region and not in English. One of the last things I was involved with before leaving Europe for Australia was the first Training of Trainers program in 2002.

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Y RL Y A E OR 4F I S T F ‘ H

F4F Early History

by Sheila Andren, 21st May 2013

In 1992, Erik was slowly recovering from his second major heart op. We had had to close down his Margin Maker business, partly because I could not run his business, look after him and two teenagers and attend to my work as well. But partly also its natural life was running out with the advent of LaserJet printers which would replace the mechanical ‘margin makers’.

At this stage, we were looking for the next steps for him. I was looking for traditional jobs that might interest someone with his mix of experiences and skills, but he was not sure. About this time we went to Caux for the summer conference season and it was there that he woke one morning and filled 13 pages of his notebook with writing, the skeleton of the first Visiting Course. It seems this represented 25 years of his philosophical thinking in condensed form.

During the following autumn, Erik shared these ideas with a few trusted IofC friends and in the New Year he was asked to produce a fully ready to use course. He would have liked to share this task with others but in the event nobody was available, so he did the work himself and produced the first course, calling it ‘Man, Morality, Belief and Freedom’. The pilot course was invited to Slovakia by the Glasa family, whose eldest son and daughter we had met at Caux. We took the course to Tetranska Polianka with our daughter Lindy and Jan Willem Scheijgrond as faculty.At the conclusion of the course, one of the course members there, a cardiologist, invited the Erik to bring the course to her area of Ukraine.

Erik made it clear that she would need to provide participants for the course, and cover the expenses

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of a venue and arrangements for board and food. He would bring the faculty and course at our expense as our contribution. This she did, and so began the demand for more courses in Eastern Europe.

Erik always felt that it was better to take the course with a faculty of about four, to a group in a country where the course was invited, and only when invited.

This meant that the impact of the course material could be shared amongst the members of the group afterwards and was much more likely to have an impact than bringing one person to UK to learn and have them return home to try and enthuse friends there who had not shared the same experience.

It also Erik & Sheila Melbourne 2003 meant the person inviting the course often became the group leader who could help support the group and any activities they wanted to undertake after the course finished and faculty returned home.

More requests for courses followed and Erik realised that he could not consider doing more than four per year due to the time necessary for arrangements to set

up the courses (often at that time using communication only by fax and occasional phone calls with limited and often poor reception). This was soon after East Europe emerged from behind the Iron Curtain and computers and mobiles were non-existent.

He asked Kees Scheijgrond if he would consider learning to become a trainer for the course and taking on the running of courses himself.

Kees worked hard to familiarise himself with the course material before he, often with his wife, Marina ran courses himself. Others later trained as cours leaders.

Erik remained clear from the beginMinsk, June 1994 ning that, while the stories and anecdotes used within the course could be altered to use money to support the whole family – what happened individual leaders’ experiences, the core material to them if I was killed in an accident? Erik struggled must remain, following in the order written without with giving up his traditional father-as-provider role to missing any part as this would inevitably lose the become dependent. But we talked about these things full impact of the course. The residential nature of and gradually settled to our new roles. the course, often 12-14 days, gave time for course participants to have fun in the evenings after the Erik continued to the end to remind others that he daytime work of the course, so that they bonded and would have been unable to do what he did without my long-term friendships developed through deep sharing. His dream ‘We went to Caux for the summer conference season was that a network of youngsters, the leaders of the next generation, and it was there that he woke one morning and filled would form across national bound13 pages of his notebook with writing, the skeleton of aries from their common experience of the the first Visiting Course. It seems this represented 25 course and its material, resulting in a group years of his philosophical thinking in condensed form’, with common standards and mutual trust. He also hoped that the course would be taken writes Sheila Andren about her husband Erik Andren. on by the countries of East Europe to be held Erik Andren actually developed his idea and designed in their own language. This has of course the course called Foundations for Freedom. This was at now happened and I know how delighted he the time when ‘the iron curtain’ fell down and Erik had a would be.

vision for people in the Eastern part of Europe. He real-

While this was happening ‘out there’, there ized his vision conducting courses. The network of people were also adjustments to be made on the today is known as International non-governmental orgahome front. Erik was no longer a contributor nization Foundations for Freedom grew up from those to the family income. He worked full time for IofC, though he did not qualify as a full courses and today celebrating its ‘Coming of Age’ time worker. Fortunately I had decided to anniversary. do further medical studies in the previous couple of years, and changed to a different role within medicine and this led to a quabacking. You would have to ask our children how they drupling of my salary in the course of a year. perceived and felt about the situation as it developed This allowed us to make the decision that Erik should over the following few years as Erik’s physical, though continue his charitable work while I became the not mental health deteriorated. wage earner for the family. Easy to say, but it took a good few months for both of us to adjust to our new I travelled on F4F courses with Erik as often as work roles, while both accepting that this was the right allowed over the next few years and value greatly these way ahead for us as a family. I struggled with the times and the many friendships that resulted from them. responsibility of being the only one bringing in the

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Y RL Y A E R F TO 4 F IS H

THE ORIGINS OF FOUNDATIONS FOR FREEDOM

By Miles Pain, 30th May 2013 One person’s perspective It was the early 1990’s. The Soviet Empire had collapsed and the ‘Iron Curtain’ had been drawn aside. On both sides people were keen to discover what it was, and had been, like on the other.

That was certainly true for myself and my wife, Janet.

An opportunity soon presented itself when we met a post-graduate student from Ukraine. Lyuda Birkun was presently studying in Manchester University’s Department of Education.

Lyuda had been brought by a fellow student, from the Netherlands, to our local Church one Sunday.

We got to know Lyuda well and that Christmas her husband, Petro a Professor in Kiev’s main University, joined her for a few days.

With a number of friends we were able to include them in a great celebration meal.

Later in the year Lyuda and Petro invited us - Janet, Myself and our son Douglas – to spend a week with the family in their small flat in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital. It was a great introduction to

the country with its rich Christian history, spectacular art and architecture (much but not all of which had been destroyed during the Soviet occupation).

Even before the collapse of the Soviets, Edward Peters had joined a walking group in Poland and began to get some idea of the thinking of a cross section of the population.

At the same time and quite independently Erik Andren was putting together some ideas he had been working on regarding the basics of ‘being human’ and the manner in which the thinking of Frank Buchman combined with this by way of the four moral standards and the guidance of God’s interaction with those who ‘listen and obey’ the thoughts they get.

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So when the ‘curtain’ came down Edward Peters and Erik Andren realised that here was an essential ingredient for any country trying to establish a democratic society. Out of this emerged the possibility of a 10-day course ‘Foundations for Freedom’ - to be offered to any interested.

The Course In the first instance a course of ten day duration was suggested; the leadership and faculty would be provided by those in MRA/ IofC who would be responsible for funding their own travel arrangements to the location agreed by the person or group who invited them.

Such person or group would provide all meals and accommodation.

The course itself would be conducted in English, with

which participants would have to have a working knowledge.

Edward Peters with the help of others would be required to satisfy themselves that suitable arrangements could be made before agreeing for the course to go ahead.

In addition to these, additional courses would be arranged to be held in Tirley Garth – the MRA training centre at the time. As well as talks by suitable teachers/lecturers, visits to democratic institutions (law courts, community centres etc) would be arranged when possible.

All courses would have one day’s break in the middle for some relaxation and for a chance to get to know better others taking the course, and the faculty.

Applications for a course The first step was to establish in as many of the former Soviet nations as possible individuals or groups who would like to invite a ’visiting’ course (VC).

Later it was seen that much depended on this original contact and their selection for course participants.

Success or otherwise was seen to depend on this.

Early on one other type of course was decided on for those who might benefit and showed promise in a visiting course. This was a

residential course in Tirley Garth, the MRA / IofC Training Centre at the time with visiting speakers and visits to a number of towns in the north of England to stay in ‘MRA’ homes.

In addition there was an experiment with one other course which took place in London, Tirley and elsewhere. This was for a number of younger politicians; the selection was done in conjunction with the British Ambassador in Kiev (a friend of Archie Mackenzie) to make sure there was an even distribution (politically) of those selected and also showed ‘promise’ on the political scene in the country. In this case the course was tailored to place more emphasis on in depth exploration of a number of democratic institutions including parliament and the law courts as well as the historical development of democracy.

Even before the collapse of the Soviets, Edward Peters had joined a walking group in Poland and began to get some idea of the thinking of a cross section of the population. At the same time and quite independently Erik Andren was putting together some ideas he had been working on regarding the basics of ‘being human’ and the manner in which the thinking of Frank Buchman combined with this by way of the four moral standards and the guidance of God’s interaction with those who ‘listen and obey’ the thoughts they get.

SOME EXAMPLES OF THE EARLY ‘VISITING COURSES’ (V.C’s) a) CRIMEA In the early 1990 two Swiss ladies opted to take a Russian language course in Russia. On that course they met a Russian scientist from Crimea named Sergei Golovin. Later they invited him, with an industrial friend, to come to Caux.

The scientist was greatly impressed. He had earlier decided to go into the Church and had already taken appropriate training for that. But while at Caux, as he said later, he was not happy about the theological training he had received — prefering the MRA approach he had learned about at Caux.

Now everything ‘fell into place’ and he was determined to learn more about MRA. Hearing about the F4F courses he immediately applied to head up one. Edward was considering the application at the time and although he was due to go to Kiev he decided that an extra extension of the visit to travel to Crimea and back was not justified. However it just so happened that Sergey had come to Kiev at exactly the same time that Edward was in Kiev. So Sergey and he arranged to meet and a course in Crimea was agreed. (continuation of the story read on pages 12-13)

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Y RL Y A E R F TO 4 F IS H

Sergey now enlisted the Rector of the Simferopol University in selection of students for this course. But in doing so the Rector disallowed applications from any presently studying in the English faculty on the basis that ‘they would have an unfair advantage’.

As a result those selected for this first course had a poor command of English and did not continue to show any interest in the application of what they had learnt.

As a matter of interest we were impressed about the quality of many of the applicants for other later courses whose command of English always proved very adequate.

We then realized that at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Empire the brightest students were quick to realise the future importance of the English language especially for any opting for a career in Law and Economics.

Having no command of Russian or any Eastern European language ourselves, we had to offer the F4F course only in English.

In the process we automatically ‘culled’ some of the best students – many from Law and Economics faculties.

Although the first course in the Crimea was not ‘productive’ in terms of response of the participants to the

basic ideas presented in Erik Andren’s course it did lead on to a series more courses which have proved by far the most productive.

In addition to Erik Andren as course leader with Mike Lowe, I myself with Janet and our son, Douglas were invited to join as faculty of tis first course since we happened just then to be accepting Lyuda and Petro Bekh’s invitationto visit Kiev around the same time. b) UKRAINE As mentioned earlier the British Ambassador in Kiev was one of the first contacts. This led to about eight MPs coming to a special Tirley Garth F4F course and

political leadership. It was on one of our early visits to Kiev that Janet and I were asked to ‘vet’ Kostya who had applied for F4F to put on a course for his selected candidates, which he would organise. We were impressed by what he was doing mainly for young candidates from throughout the country and recommended this possibility.

Up to that point we had attempted to run courses for candidates mainly from the same locality so that they could give support and encouragement to each other after the course, during the important stage of following up/ putting into practice the ideas presented in the course.

“The important part was the ‘follow up’ and individual care for each one over many subsequent years. ‘Regional meetings’ most years also played an important part where F4F ‘graduates’ from the different regions could meet from the different locations where courses had been held and share their experience in the application of absolute standards and guidance.

Caux also played an important part each year with its IofC multi-generational nature and outreach.

This also demonstrated the international nature and outreach of IofC.” in due course to another important contact early on, Kostyantin Plosky. Kostya was already in the business of organising courses, many with the financial help of the American Embassy.

Those selected were broadly in the category of potential

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Kostya’s candidates on the other hand were scattered from across the country.

However it did give us the advantage of providing a wide range of cross-country contacts some of whom subsequently wanted to provide courses themselves.

c) MOLDOVA The origins of a course in this country came via a completely different route.

Edward Peters had offered to come to any location to explain the origins and object of FF courses.

Living in Manchester at the time, Janet and I invited Edward to come and meet a group of post-graduate ‘Eastern European’ students one of whom we had earlier got to know.

Another of these was particularly interested and Edward invited him to take part in a forthcoming Tirley F4F course. MirceaEladi by name,he said that he came from Moldova. “I have never yet met anyone from there”, said Edward. I did not have the honesty to say that I had never heard of the country at that point.

Subsequently I was to visit the country on more than fifteen occasions Mircea took part in the course and asked to bring his recently wed bride, Rudica, who at that point spoke no English. “She can help in the kitchen then” was Edward’s suggestion.

Mircea was impressed with the course concepts (his country had recently been fighting Russia who wanted to keep control of a section called Transdnestria).

He thought it might do something to resolve their differences.

So shortly after Mircea applied for an F4F course in Moldova and it was suggested that I should run it. Janet was not free but encouraged me to take it on. I had no experience of teaching nor any idea at that point whom I could enlist to help me with the course. On the other hand, Mircea offered to find a location for the course, select the students and provide meals. I then had to enlist a ‘faculty’ to help me lead the course and then get these volunteers to Moldova.

Caux also played an important part each year with its IofC multi-generational nature and outreach.

This also demonstrated the international nature and outreach of IofC. Participation was made possible for many by a generous grant from the Karl Popper foundation which helped with payment of fares. For some, places as far away as Siberia these were not inconsiderable.

The fund also helped with part of the cost of residence at Caux.

As good luck (or guidance?) would have it, an Australian teacher was visiting UK with his wife at the time and at very short notice agreed to help. A young Japanese with very little English and Liz Carlisle a unemployed graduate completed the ‘staff ’ (faculty)

Some fifteen years later the effectiveness of these early courses became apparent with appointment of some of these first students to positions of responsibility in the country applying with great effect what they had learnt about absolute honesty, for example.

It was a good selection of students by Mircea six of whom are still the core of F4F in the country.

But the important part was the ‘follow up’ and individual care for each one over many subsequent years.

‘Regional meetings’ most years also played an important part where F4F ‘graduates’ from the different regions could meet from the different locations where courses had been held and share their experience in the application of absolute standards and guidance.

d) ROMANIA F4F was brought here

by Kees and Marina Scheigrond from the Netherlands through a minister, Father Milan Balan, in a Church in Baia Mare.

He was impressed by Caux and volunteered to bring a substantial delegation to Mountain House the following year. Later he arranged for an F4F course and this led on to the commitment of a young Lawyer, Diana Damsa, who has given considerable leadership in the last years and arranged courses.

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New A perience Ex

INTERNSHIP IN FOUNDATIONS FOR FREEDOM

In the autumn of 2013 Foundations for Freedom (F4F) hosted two interns Xeniya Mironova (Tajikistan) and Rashad Aliyev (Azerbaijan). That summer they were among 24 students from 19 countries, who took part in the Caux Scholars Program at the Initiatives of Change conference center in Caux, Switzerland. After the program in Caux, Xeniya and Rashad went to Ukraine to get to know the projects ‘Ukrainian Action: Healing the past’ and ‘House in Baranivka’, which are created by Foundations for Freedom.

Xeniya Mironova

Rashad Aliyev

I expect, many of you have already had the feeling in your life, when coming “down the mountain” from Caux means the difficulty of facing the world reality again and a challenge to preserve the atmosphere of Caux in your soul and heart as long as possible. I faced this feeling after being a Caux Scholar in 2013 - when I left Caux after that incredible month of being a Scholar. That month for me was full not only of learning the truth, transitology(is the name for the study of the process of change from one political regime to another, mainly from authoritarian regimes todemocratic ones (wikipedia), equality and healing, but also the possibility to meet new people and to seek the continuation of my work in the sphere of searching for truth and stability.

I was lucky – such a feeling of frustration was not a long one because the reality for me was that I got the chance to continue my development (the beginning of which started at Caux) by taking part in the course ‘In Search of Positive Change: Influence of Values on a Person and Society’ which was conducted within the framework of ‘HOUSE in Baranivka’ project this September. I went to Ukraine after making an internship for Foundations for Freedom on the Ukrainian action: Healing the Past Program. The course was very valuable for me because we learnt how to listen to ourselves and how to live our lives in accordance with our values and beliefs; how to motivate ourselves in order to make positive changes in our lives and many other interesting things.

My time in Ukraine I started my internship in September by participating in the course ‘In Search for Positive Change: the Impact of Values on an Individual and Society’ in Baranivkavillage in the Poltava region of Ukraine. There I met Lena Kashkarova, the coordinator for ‘HOUSE in Baranivka’ project, trainers Zoryana Barbulevich (whom I met in Caux before), Zhanna Sviridova, Olia Diatel and Taras Grytsiuk. Thus, I have got a chance to get acquainted with two projects of the organization at the same time – the community house and the visiting courses.

Healing the Past program helped me to understand, what kind of difficulties could have happened with my own ancestors, if they had not left Ukraine and had not moved to Siberia and then to Tajikistan. The program was very useful for me, because personally I am half Ukrainian and half Russian and have problems with the identity of my identity and my culture. This internship opportunity really helped me to start to understand that all those problems of identification and culture which I faced at Caux, could be, probably, solved in the future and I can deal with them.

Both my participation in the course and my internship with F4F helped me to preserve the atmosphere of Caux and the values of Caux in my heart and my soul. I hope that this is not the end and there will be the continuation of this process.

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Rashad Aliyev

The course was the start off point. In spite of appearing to be easy, I mean not demonstrating its full capacity at the beginning, the course influenced me a lot. It helped me to understand my values, my goal and objectives better. Besides that, it strengthen my belief in such trainings, courses because before I was skeptical about its benefits.

Baranivka, the community house, where the course was held, became a discovery for me. It is a house on the outskirts of a village with enough land around it. People living there are promoting an eco-friendly life by cultivating land in natural ways, growing vegetables and eating healthy food. Besides that, the house functions as a training place. During the summer the visitors andtrainees live in tents enjoying being close to nature.

After training, I went to assist the project ‘Live History of Generations’ in Crimea, in the city of Simferopol,

the capital of Crimean Autonomy in Ukraine. I met F4F Executive Director Angela Starovoytova, whom I had met in Caux before.

She told me about the goals, projects and working mechanism of the organization.

projects and skills. It was a great chance for me to see different creative ideas for partnership and develop my ideas for my own community. In addition, my inspiration about Baranivka made me go back and help them on cultivating land, to prepare it for the spring planting. Not having their own cow in Baranivka, people there were buying milk from the neighbor’s cows and making their own village cheese for self-consumption.

The project ‘Live History of Generations’ was about collecting history of elders from different nations living in Crimea, making a book and organizing a gallery of video interviews, photos, books to make locals and guest of the autonomy acquainted with the history of the people, who live in the Crimea. I Our team held a Regional Meeting on 6-8 December. enjoyed working with the program manager OleksaStasevych.

During the meeting the network discussed the annual I liked his management approach, hardworking and abilactivities of the organization, the current situation in the ity to control himself in conflict situations. During the month country and ideas for future projects. With the regional and a half in Crimea, I had meeting my internship a chance to travel through was finished. About My name is Rashad Aliyev. By profession, I am a Crimea and talk with elders the organization My in different ethnic communi- journalist holding a bachelor and masters degree. first impression about ties like, Tatars, Ukrainians, However, I moved to the nonprofit sector and organization looking at Russians, Armenians, Greeks, their projects and the have been working in this field for the last four Jews, Qaraims, Poles and othjob they do was that years. Among the areas of my activity were new ers. I got acquainted with the it is a big organization media, youth and peace building. region and understood its with many workers. I One of the best experience in my life and 2013 multinational culture. was surprised when I was my three months internship with the saw everything with my In Crimea, I also got valuable Foundations for Freedom (F4F), organization own eyes. There are few experience about program people in the adminfunctioning in Ukraine. I got this chance from the developing and fundraising. of the organiCaux Scholarship Program (CSP) as the continua- istration We got the idea, found the zation. Nevertheless, donors and started develop- tion of my course. At first CSP offered to work with they are able to carry ing grant proposal. One inter- F4F at a distance. However, when I researched out voluminous, necesesting side of this experience sary and working projthe organization and read about their projects, was that people working on ects which bringing I said I would go and spend my time with the project were living in difchange. It was hard for the organization. ferent parts of the world: the me to understand how, UK, theUSA, Nigeria, Ukraine. because of my standard In spite of the big distance, we did not have communications view of organizations. However, later I understood that it is problems and could finish the project successfully in a short possible because of the strong network relying on values. time. During most of the first part of my internship time in Whatever they do, there are enough volunteers to help.

Crimea, I had a chance to travel to Lviv (Western Ukraine) as Organization has skillful, professional experts, trainers, one of theF4F representatives to an NGO Fair. I introduced our facilitators in on the network, which makes their projects organization to the local citizens of Lviv and to the tourists of professional and successful. the city. We were selling the T-shirts and other souvenirs from

Baranivka. I hope people shared the feeling of my passion What I learnt about the project.

My experience in Foundations for Freedom increased my knowledge of nonprofit work, social projects, project Towards the end of my internship I was included in the process management, project development and fundraising. What of dialogue called “Healing the past”. Moreover, during the is most important is that it gave me clear vision for what dialogue I assisted in the facilitating process. We worked with I can do in my society. Now I strongly believe in dialogue the executive director of Foundations for Freedom organizaand leadership training. I think such professional training tion Angela Staravoytova and facilitator OlehOvcharenko. This can provide a strong influence on our community and experience gave me a chance to see the process happening ‘in bring positive change. I guess Community House ideas the kitchen’ of professional facilitators. I have got a complete of Baranivka is my passion now. It would be a wonderful view of the facilitation process, its structure and logic. chance to promote eco-friendly activities and give a place for the activities of civil society members.

Next stage: another month and another half of my internship was in Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine. The activities were Next steps mainly dedicated to the organizing of the F4F annual Regional The strong believe and clear vision, which I got with the Meeting. Once (or twice) a year the organization calls aRegionhelp of F4F, made me take a decision to create my own al Meeting of F4F, board, members and people involved in their initiative. I started gathering people with a common and project and everyone who is are interested. I was coordinating similar vision. My aim is to organize them, share my expethe working team of the Regional Meeting. Besides that, I had rience and start implementing ideas for bringing positive a chance to participate in the NGO Forum of Ukraine in Kiev, change to my community. I’m looking forward to the help where different organizations were demonstrating their best and partnership of F4F in realization of my plans.

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Peace Creators of

CRIMEAN WOMEN SEARCHING FOR trust and ‘PEACE CIRCLE’

The first Creators of Peace Circles in Crimea took place. What role can women play in peacekeeping, when the social and political situation in the country is insecure? How to maintain peaceful relations not only with the neighbours on the peninsula, but first of all in the family, where husband and wife, parents and children often take totally opposite political sides? The Peace Circles participants searched for answers to these and other questions together.

‘them’, that we are one and all is one. It has been important for me to hear that from other people, because it fosters faith and gives strength.

Who is a Creator of Peace? For me, it is a person who accepts themselves. I think it is impossible to be a peace keeper and an angry, irritated, hateful person dividing people into “good” and “bad” at the same time. It is only possible to create peace in a state of tranquillity, love, acceptance and unity.

relations with the neighbours on the peninsula, as well as in the families, where often husband and wife, parents and children take the opposite pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian sides? What is the role women do and can play in this situation? The Creators of Peace Circles reflected upon these and other issues trying to find answers to questions.

Anna Kalatur - The program has been very useful in making us reflect on the issues we often overlook in the everyday fuss. Besides, the rough edges coming out in discussions are a valuable resource for self-reflection, for instance, the issues of national identity, active and passive conflict resolution. It has also made me think about the interdependence between the inner and outer worlds.

From 19 May to 12 June, Creators of Peace Circles were initiated and conducted in Simferopol by the Foundations for Freedom trainer Anna Bondarenko with the support of the Crimean Youth Initiative Club for Young Leaders (Crimea).

Although there had been many Peace Circles held around the world, for the first time these unique women’s gatherings were conducted in the postSoviet area and were held in the Russian language. Ten women aged 25 to 35 met twice a week to get to know each other, to talk, to discuss, to look for common grounds, to share stories, discoveries, surprises, experience, pain, fears, joy, optimism, and achievements. Crimean women, who had been peacefully living in a sunny land of mountains and sea, suddenly found themselves in difficult socioeconomic and political conditions triggering a multitude of issues and problems.

The situation in Crimea followed by the Referendum on becoming a constituent entity of the Russian Federation has divided the local community. How to live now? How to maintain peaceful

What was the outcome? Let us ask the Crimean program alumni.

Elena Kruglova - I am very happy that all the gatherings have been based on the core idea that there are no ‘us’ and

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Anastasia Grozdeva - I think it was important for each of us on the program to pay attention to our Creator of Peace personality. I am sure that the participants who wanted to open up within, to replace anger that they had inside with peace managed to achieve it! I also had new insights. And I have already started using them to pacify myself and other people.

Anastasia Sachko - Our gatherings let me listen to and feel myself and other people.

I practiced trust and openness. I also learned to analyze my fears, to settle them. I searched for faith in my power and my own ability to change myself and the world around. The gatherings helped me

very kind and friendly, thus creating a favourable space for discussions. We discussed questions that I was very eager to get answers to.

During these discussions I tried to hear and listen to other opinions that were different from mine. I am very grateful for the life stories that have been shared.

Anastsia Sachko

face the feeling of loneliness and gave me a sense that I am not alone in my needs and issues.

Elena Bondarenko - I have realized that we are all one - we are the inhabitants of one planet, thus we all depend on each other, we are all HUMANS. And if

Anna Bondarenko, organizer and leader of the Peace Circles course in Crimea.

- I had been thinking of having the Peace Circles in Simferopol for quite a while, but I was always insecure regarding timing and my own readiness. This time I was pretty sure it had to be now. On the other hand, I still had a fear because of the overflowing tension in my society. In fact, there is no war in Crimea now, but there is a lot of pain, fear, hatred and judgment in the hearts of Crimean people. Talking to the people I know who have split over the issue between the pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian sides, I felt an urgent need for support, a desire to be heard and to deal with the situation. I am very happy with the outcomes and conclusions of the program. Despite the varying opinions and attitudes, we started building trust. Beyond pain and fears, we were learning to listen with our hearts. I am happy that

Anna Bondarenko

we are ready for dialog and mutual help. I am grateful for the discussions, during which each participating woman had an opportunity to look at herself from the outside, to reflect upon her small and big deeds and actions, to draw conclusions about what to do and what not to do in order to avoid becoming a part of the peace destruction process . This is relevant for peace at all levels: in the family, at the workplace, in Crimea and in the world. I think that our gatherings have helped us to come out of the created circle of irritation and judgment and to build however small, a Circle of Peace and Trust.

Author: Anastasia Sachko Photographer: Anna Bondarenko

Elena Bondarenko

we want others to take us for who we are, to listen to our opinion and refrain from judgment, to understand our concerns and pain, to forgive us for our mistakes, if we want to make this world a better place, we have to start with ourselves. I have realized that we tend to think and draw conclusions based on our own experience, while there is a need for a broader perspective and an attempt to overcome stereotypes.

Lilia Ablyazova - I liked our Peace Circles team very much. The atmosphere was

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Ukraine today: the root of the problem is in the unhealed past Having been in Crimea and in Donetsk I was convinced that we had to conduct 1 000 more dialogues’, says Lena Kashkariova, the facilitator of the dialogues of the program Ukrainian action: healing the past. ‘Unrest in the east of Ukraine was provoked by the lack of unity, the roots of which lies in the various interpretations of the past. The “only” difference is that the early latent conflict moved into the stage of armed confrontation.’ ‘ The root of the conflict is in the rapidly deepening division into ‘ours’ and ‘foreign’. There comes a time when the contradictions related to the certain topics of the past reach the extent when we start distinguish people according to the criteria like ‘who is your hero’ or ‘what language you speak’. These criteria become for us very important.

Lena Kashkariova is the facilitator of the Foundations for Freedom program Ukrainian action: healing the past. Seminar-dialogues on reconciliation and healing historical traumas are organized in different regions of the country by the program. In the autumn of 2013, when the socio-political situation in Ukraine became worse, Lena initiated dialogues on searching for mutual understanding among Ukrainians under the general name ‘Todays situation in Ukraine: searching for mutual understanding’.

‘When “Maydan” started (the name of the main square in Kiev), we started conducting dialogues on searching for mutual understanding. The protest movement stirred the society to some extent, dividing it into those who are “for” it and those, who are “against” it. The first dialogue took place on 20 December in Kiev. Then it was held in Kharkiv, Lviv, Simferopol (Crimea) and Donetsk.’

Lena learnt how to deal with painful historical situations whilst attending different programs and workshops all over the world and also in the USA. Last autumn she was an intern with a programme Hope in the Cities of Initiatives of Change-USA. The aim of the program was to learn about the 20 years of experience in conducting dialogues in Richmond, Virginia as well as to share knowledge and information on the work of reconciliation in Ukraine. The method of a dialogue, as it turns out, can be applied universally.

‘The method of dialogue fits everywhere, both in Ukrainian and American societies. Because it allows you to hear and understand another point of view. But not all of their methods are suitable to us. For example, the method “walk through history”, which is used by Hope in the Cities. Participants literally physically walk the path that were walked by the enslaved people who arrived from Africa and followed the slave market. Then the participants of the “walk” share their feelings, thoughts and associations caused by this experience. This can be carried out in a spirit of openness and mutual understanding, because there is a public consensus related to this fact in the past, they have a kind of joint “starting point.”

Of course, the consequences of the slavery society still affect the present – this is poverty and the division of society, and much more. But the important thing here that allows to them to use such a method is a unite attitude specifically to the slave trade history.

‘There is no such “starting point” for using this method in Ukraine. We are still thinking, whether the actions of

Ukrainian Action: healing the past Dialogue ‘Monuments and names of the streets’. Chernihiv, Ukraine, December 2013

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certain groups during World War II / Great Patriotic War, was Stalin right or wasn’t etc. were justified or not justified. These are the topics for the dialogue’, says Lena.

The recent dialogue on healing the past was on the topic of historic monuments (Our heritage and its present meaning: monuments, names of the streets). The participants also visited the monuments of historic leaders, memorials during the seminar-dialogue on World War II / Great Patriotic War. Lena an example from the past: ‘At one of the oldest cemeteries in Ukraine, Lychakivsky tsvyntar (Lychakiv Cemetary) in Lviv, the place where Poles were buried, borders the graves of the buried Ukrainians. On the gravestones of both groups was written that they were defending their homeland. At the same time they were killing each other. This and much more was discussed in the dialogue format.’

From the beginning of December 2013 to the present day the problems of unhealed past in Ukraine became the present. Lena believes that the need for dialogue in society is crucial now: both dialogue about the present and the past.

‘Ukraine needs dialogue very much, if we want to remain a united country’, concludes Lena. ‘A state program for healing the past should be implemented. Common attitude, the same values cannot be imposed. They can only be developed together, including the method of dialogue as an asset. Another form of work, which can help to

achieve this, is to collect and spread stories of individuals about their past. The project Ukrainian action: healing the past has already published a book with stories of people about their past. Now it is time to collect stories about the present – about the events in Ukraine in the years of 2013-2014. Sharing people’s experiences helps to understand all the ambiguity of the situation, helps to find in oneself more tolerance and understanding of the “other”’.

Ukrainian action: healing the past Program started in 2010 and was initiated by Olha Hudz-Sakuma. During a few summer months a group of young people from different parts of Ukraine collected and recorded life stories of various people in Ukraine who witnessed different historical facts in their lives. As a result of the project the book of life stories (‘Vidpushchennia’) ‘Letting Go’ was published, a series of videos of the life stories was produced.

Dialogue is a process of communication during which the other/stranger becomes clear.

Dialogue is a specially organized process that includes trained dialogue facilitators and special rules – safe atmosphere and obeying the main principles of the dialogue: Dialogue principles: - Respect towards the right to have one’s own view of the world.

- Active listening in order not to agree or believe, but rather to understand.

- First-person speaking based on own beliefs and personal experience. Equal opportunity of all participants to express their opinion.

- Confidentiality. Information and ideas learnt during the dialogue may and should be shared, however, without indicating names of participants.

More about the method of dialogue conducted by Foundations for Freedom see at: http://iofc.org/ru/dialog-v-ukrainskom-obshchestve

The next steps of the project are to conduct training for trainers of the dialogues, those who have already had experience of facilitating a group. To teach them to design the dialogue-seminar and to equip with all necessary for their independent work materials.

More about the project see at: The Ukrainian action: healing the past Program iofc.org/dialoguesearching-understanding-ukrainian-society Liubou Pranevich Photo: Diana Topan www.iofc.org

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Foundations for Freedom aims to foster the development of truly free, democratic and just society, where people live in commitment to the values where freedom thrives, in particular honesty and personal responsibility.

Areas of activity -Reconciliation projects, public dialogues, trust-building activities.

-Offering access to international networks and experience exchange programmes.

-Leading round-tables, forums and conferences.

-Leading various training and educational programmes.

Foundations for Freedom is an international NGO registered in Ukraine.

It was initiated in 1993 as a programme of Initiatives of Change in the UK and works in Eastern Europe.

Our activities -Supporting the development of responsible leadership.

-Enhancing social involvement of youth.

-Initiating and supporting public dialogues.

-Developing mutual understanding and cooperation between various ethnic and social groups.

-Establishing honest and transparent relations between citizens and governmental structures. www.f-4-f.org