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CONTENTS: Main highlights F4F registration My first visit to Belarus Viewpoint IofC Teams: School's Program in Moldova Training for Komi My impressions of winter conference in Caux Action for Life activities Discover your inner child
Main highlights “Foundations for Freedom” in cooperation with “Center for Political Education” has conducted a series of Ethical Leadership Workshops in 4 regions of Ukraine as part of a “Development of Responsible Democratic Leadership” project. Workshops took place in the Crimea, in the village of Beregove at the seaside, and also in picturesque places near Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Lviv for the representatives of youth NGOs practically from the whole country. During the workshops, the participants examined the ethical and moral components of 'leadership' which helped them to define for themselves their personal motivations, life values and priorities. The necessity of ethics in leadership was discussed as were the importance of responsibility, integrity, following their moral principles and serving society. The workshops incorporate a lot of interactive learning such as small and large group discussions, practical tasks and exercises. An important element of all F4F courses is, of course, time for individual reflection and the opportunity to share thoughts and experiences. The following are a few of the many comments that F4F received in feedback from the workshops:
The key of solving many problems lies in old and simple truth...
I've got a wish to change the direction where I move, the aim in life; I've started to question the values that I have defined as priorities in my life before the course.
Being a part of training for trainers of F4F
I have realized the importance of cooperation in life, and not only in business, NGO, etc.
We all come from childhood Ethical Leadership Workshops in Ukraine The most interesting and life changing meetings happen by chance A few notes from Treasurer
I've got the skills of self-discovery, understanding of myself, others, my thoughts and actions. A habit has appeared to believe in the better sides of a person, and generally in the existence of good people. On the whole, I was thinking for three days, that my head hasn't been thinking like that for while.
EVENTS IN 2008 Background: Since Foundations for Freedom ran its first course in 1993, the programme has steadily evolved and expanded. First there were 'International' Courses which brought people to the UK to see for themselves some of the country's democratic institutions in action, then Erik Andren created his 'Visiting Course' (VC) which he and others from the UK ran in many Eastern European countries. F4F has always been aimed at helping Eastern Europeans to take responsibility, so in 2005 the F4F organising committee decided to give responsibility for the programme to Eastern Europeans. The first part of the process was to employ a co-ordinator who would be based in Kyiv, Ukraine. This was followed by the engagement of more employees, renting an apartment in Kyiv, expanding the number of Eastern Europeans on the committee and training more course leaders. Finally we came to the point when we understood that, in spite of being officially a programme of IofC-UK, in reality F4F was also a programme of our fellowship in Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Latvia, Serbia, etc. We became truly a international initiative for Eastern and Central Europe. Thus, 2008 brought a big decision, to move from being a programme of IofC-UK to registering an independent NGO associated to IofC International Association with its own statutes, new mission statement and aims. Since an International NGO has to be registered in one country, Ukraine was chosen as a country, where the coordination centre was based and at present most of F4F activity takes place. To comply with Ukranian legislation 14 branches all over Ukraine were founded. After one year and three attempts to submit the application to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine we finally received a positive answer early October. We still have to follow some more formal procedures, but the main step is already done. IofC-F4F relations: first of all, F4F is very definitely an organisation that belongs to big IofC "family", shares IofC values and philosophy. From the legal point of view, our links with IofC will remain strong because the International Association owns the name 'Foundations for Freedom'. Also a Member of the IofC International Association is an elected Member of the new F4F Committee and we soon hope to be a Member of the IofC International Association. What's next: • F4F will cease its existence as an IofC-UK programme and receiving funding from IofC-UK. We have been most grateful for the support we have received both officially from IofC-UK over the last 16 years as well as from individuals in UK. • We invite new people to join our team in Kyiv. • We will continue working, using our experience, knowledge and IofC traditions to answer the needs of society.
in January 2008: 2008 cheerfully starts with New Year and Christmas celebration in Lviv. For that we express the very special thanks to our friends in L'viv and especially Olesia Dziuma! 15-21 January. After having “worked out” at Xmas table, Lena Kashkarova energetically took off for 40th Anniversary celebration of “Asia Plateau”- a conference center in India where the representatives of many IofC teams and programmes got together. 22-30 January. Angela Starovoitova and Sasha Kopyl joined Lena in India for the International Consultation of IofC in “Asia Plateau”. At such meetings of IofC representatives, which take place once per two years, important strategic decisions on IofC activity are taken. New members of International Council of IofC – Lorne Braun (Canada) and Hennie de Pous-de Jonge (Netherlands) - were also selected at that meeting.
in February 2008: 8-10 February. Bhavesh Patel ran training “Open Space on Open space” in Moldova at a wonderful place – center for elderly people in Strasheny near Chisinau - which was created thanks to the efforts of our friends. So now we have a number of qualified specialists:) You can learn more about Open Space at www.openspaceworld.org. 23-24 February. Meeting of F4F Committee took place in Kyiv, Ukraine. Main achievement of that meeting was a selection of new Committee members — 2 young perspective Moldovans Slava Balan and Victor Parlicov! 25-27 February. Anna Pozhogina, David Curtis and Miles Paine ran Visiting Course 2 for the participants from "People-Democratic Legue of Youth" near Kyiv. 29 February. Training for the buiseness company "AG-BAG Ukraine" was run by Anna Pozhogina, Miles Paine and David Curtis. in March 2008: 15-16 March. Super-puper important event for F4F in Ukraine - national team-building in Ukraine took place in Simferopol, Ukraine, under the wing of Hendelberg Center. That was an op-
One day, Zoryana has suggested me to join her and Lena Kashkareva in a trip to Belarus and visit some friends in Brest. …It was 5 p.m. on the 21st of October, I came back home from office, just about two hours since I had decided that I can join my friends on their journey to Brest. I was taking a bus to Lviv, at 6:35 p.m., I had plenty of time to throw a few things in my bag to find a map and think through my route – there is no direct transport from Chisinau to Brest.
portunity to use our skills in Open Space technology (OST). One of the important decisions taken within OST was to open a Bank account for contributions used for F4F Network needs in Ukraine. 22-23 March. Consultative meeting of VC facilitators who met in order to exchange experience and to develop a procedure for training of VC facilitators. in April 2008:
I decided to take a bus to Lviv first, Lvov is on the way. It is an overnight bus and when I arrived I already knew I was going to miss another one that goes to Brest early in the morning.
19-20 April. Meeting in Chisinau, Moldova. Strategic Planning for 2008-2009. (Description of the strategy appeared in eewww loop on January 9th, 2009).
That was a spiritual journey in itself I must say and I have felt it since I rushed to the Northern bus station in Chisinau to catch my fisrt bus.
29 April-6 May. Visiting Course in Cherkassy (Ukraine) invited by "Association of Young Lawyers". 30 April-4 May. "Ethical Leadership Workshop" in Mykolayiv, South Ukraine. in May 2008: 7-11 May. Training of VC facilitators in Chernigiv, Ukraine. 17-25 May. Visiting Course in Kharkiv, Ukraine. in June 2008: 6-8 June. Meeting of the representatives of F4F and International Association of IofC in Riga (Latvia). Negotiations about possibility for F4F to become a member of IofC International. 6 June. Presentation of F4F in Academy of talents in Riga (Latvia).
I didn’t stop praying earlier… I found some of my friends in Lvov, Olesya Dzyma met me at the bus station and Olka Hudz, whom I had been with on AFL 3 took me around to show Lvov. We hadn’t seen each other since few years. Time passes but some people do not change, one can feel it is The Spirit that helps them remain themselves. We had an interesting talk with one of my new friends Taras, over a cup of tea at Olesya’s place, we shared some life stories and quickly felt connected. Taras had mentioned of the regime and militia and had wished me best of luck in passing the border to Belarus. I had not remembered that Belarus is considered to be a totalitarian state. (The official internet portal of the president of the Republic of Belarus states “BELARUS – The state for the people”). Myself, being from Moldova a former Soviet republic, and having lived in Soviet Union for a bit less than half of my live since I was born, I’ve started getting some worrying thoughts. I’ve prayed to Mother Mary…
17 June-2 July. Keswick (UK) to Caux (CH) journey. It marked the 100th anniversary of Frank Buchman’s formative spiritual experience which set up a foundation for a movement and IofC organisation. F4F community was represented there by Alia Tarasenko, Tania Minbaeva, Diana Damsa. in July 2008: 10-11 July. F4F Committee meeting in Caux, Switzerland. New F4F strategy (developed at the meeting in Chisinau) was accepted. 10-11 July. Joint meeting of F4F and Saeima group (all European meeting). F4F got enriched by 4000 Euros generously donated by Saeima group for the programme's needs, which we are the most gratefull for. in August 2008: 2 August. General Assembly of International Association of IofC approved F4F assosiated membership in International Association.
I got into my morning bus …, at the Belarus’ border, 6 hours down the road, a border policemen entered the bus after the passports were collected, and shouted: “who is from Moldova, follow me…!” Well, I got out, I was the only Moldovan there, and…, I prayed again. Soon I’ve found out the officer just couldn’t read my family name it was written in Latin characters... In the bus I was sitting next to a young lady who was from Brest, she was friendly and apparently liked very much to socialize so I’ve found out many interesting things about Belarus. She told me it is difficult to find a job as a young specialist; products are pretty expensive and salaries are quite low; police and army is one of the best paid services and many young men are trying to obtain a job with it. With all that the State is omnipresent. There is almost no independent massmedia - it is the voice of the State; there is almost no private business the laws are too prescriptive and restrictive; most of the industry and enterprises are state owned, etc. Indeed, most of the things she told me about reminded me of Soviet times. (on the same internet portal I’ve found out that “The main principles of our state policy is guided by are plan-based approach, consistency, gradualness, and continuity….” as well as “The main principles of our country’s state policy have been identified by the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.”) In Brest my friends met me and for the first time in my life I was given a bouquet of lovely autumn flowers (that was one of the highlights). Amazing people are living in Belarus!!! Maybe it is because, again, as stated on the official president’s portal, "The plan-based state policy results in a stage-by-stage improvement of the people’s living standards" ? The names of the streets brought back memories of my soviet childhood memories: Lenin street, Sovetskaya street etc… All my time in Belarus I couldn’t connect those two things, such an obvious tendency to keep the soviet culture (I even believe it had never disappeared since USSR had collapsed it just remained untouched there) and those open-minded, bright, warm hearted and friendly young people, Liuba’s friends, whom we have met during our several days stay in Brest. Those few days I was able to see and feel more of - The People for the state rather than ordinary people. Of course a few days is not enough to get an objective view on the things in any country but it was certainly enough for me to get a feeling that I have received much care from my Belarus friends while being their guest. God bless Belarus people and my new Belarus friends! Vlad Oleatovschi, Chisinau-Brest
21-30 August. Annual Summer Camp in Crimea organised by Club of Young Leaders. in July-August: Organisation and participation of F4F programme and fellowship representatives in the conferences and Intern programme in "Mountain House" - Conference center in Caux, Switzerland. in September: Ira Mushkina (Kharkiv, Ukraine) joins F4F Coordination group in Kyiv as Follow-up programme intern and the one responsible for a volunteer programme. in October 2008: 1 October. "Action for life 4" programme starts up. Yulia Kutsmida (L'viv, Ukraine) joins the programme as a participant, Tania Minbayeva (F4F Committee member) — as planning team member. 9-13 October. IofC conference "Between Surplus and Hunger: food, a crossroad for peace" in Bologna, Italy. F4F representatives: Ania Bondarenko, Sasha Poltarakov and Nikita, Vlad Oleatovskyi, Diana Damsa. 11-12 October. Wine Festival in Moldova. Meeting of F4F VC "graduates" from Ukraine and Moldova. 20 October. Training run for the finalists of "Student republic"- the project of People Democratic League of Youth. "Red and Blue" exercise. 21-27 October. Lena Kashkariova and Vlad Oleatovschi, by an invitation of Liubau Pranevych made study visit to Brest, Belarus. It was a mixture of informal F4F presentations, follow-up with few of VC graduates and new acquaintances. End of October: an initiative of Vlad Oleatovschi, Alia Tarasenko, Violeta Frimu and Natalia Ghilascu. Launch of School programme series of workshops around the schools in Moldova. 31 October-2 November. "Training of facilitators" module 2 in Strasheny, Moldova. Study visit of Jorulf Silde from Norway (newly elected F4F Committee member). 30 October-5 November. Visit of Miles Paine and Bhavesh Patel to Moldova. in October-November 2008: Follow-up visits/sessions by Ira Mushkina and Zoriana in Chernigiv ("MOZART", "Youth of 21st century"), Cherkassy (Association of Young Laywers), Kharkiv.
in November 2008:
I always believed in the importance of the visits between members of different natinal IofC bodies. It proved to be efficient again. A result of the visit I received in October from my Dutch IofC friends, Hennie and Johannes de Pous, was the connection we made with a media person who invited me for a live talkshow, on a local tv station. It happened on 9th of December when for one hour I talked about IofC, about its history, mission, methods, programmes and how I met and got involved in it. It was for the first time when I managed to express all I know and feel about IofC in my native language, full of confidence. There are some good outcomes of this interview. Many people sent in appreciative messages and one of my friends said that now he can understand better what I do and what the organisation is about. One of the technicians in the studio asked for websites and contact details because he wants to learn more about this organisation and possibly get involved. He said he usualy gets distracted from what is said during shows like this. But this time he followed everything very carefuly because it was most interesting. One hour went by very fast - he said. It went fast for me, too. The same week, still under the name of IofC, I organised an event at the public library. On 11th of December, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn (Russian writer and disident) whould have been 90. To remember him I organised to show the film "One Word of the Truth" produced by AngloNordic Production Trust (www.anptrust.org.uk). The dean of the University of Baia Mare and another teacher had been invited to speak. I also said a few words in the opening. We had an audience of around 70-80. Four televisions came and interviewed me and all the main papers in the town were present and wrote articles about the event. The dean of University was very positive and invited me to come with the film to the students as well. Two other highschools that were present launched a similar invitation. My new aquired friend – the moderator of the talkshow mentioned above – as filming the event. She proposed that I go on a tour of all highschools in town to show the film and lead discussions on values, value based decisions and integrity. She offered to contact all the directors of highschools and recomed me. This event opened so many doors! This might be just the first step for further co-operation with schools. Once the connections
20-25 November. Visit of Alice Cardel to F4F Coordination in Kyiv. Alice conducted a workshop on "Leadership, conflict resolution and cross cultural issues" for 16 participants from Moldova, Romania and Ukraine. We paid a visit to UN in Kyiv and Counterpart Creative Center Charity Foundation. 27 November. Session-discussion in Club of political studies in Shevchenko Kyiv National University. Topic "Role of moral and ethical values in society". in December 2008: 6 December. Training on Conflict resolution for Kharkiv team run by Alex Andreev, Sergey Nechvolod and Ira Mushkina and led by Alice Cardel. 26 December-1 January. Winter conference "Heart and soul of Europe" in Caux, Switzerland. Ira Mushkina and Ksiusha Firstova assisted in House management. 31 December-2 January. New Year celebration in Crimea. Special thanks to Crimeans, extra special one for Lena Kovalenko. So, that's how 2008 went for F4F programme and its fellowship. Many thanks to those who supported us in 2008: who assisted in programme development, conduction of the courses, who invited and hosted us, who supported us financially or gave us his/her time, energy, knowledge and skills!
are established it will be easier to get in with other presentations and programmes in the future! The same week I was present in two differet hightschools to show the film and discuss its message. The sessions were well received. The pupils seamed to understand its message. One boy said: "this film shows us the world as it is and not as we like to lie about it". Other good comments were made. I am already booked for similar highschools visits in January. I am also invited to write for the main local paper a substatial article about IofC and my work and learnings through it. Diana Damsa, Romania
IofC Teams: School's Program in Moldova Four months ago a team from “New Civilization” NGO (local IofC community) started to bring change to Moldovan youth communities. A team of dynamic facilitators and full of enthusiasm managed to plan and deliver four sessions on “Values in life”, “Communication as a tool for change” and “Teambuilding and Leadership”. Stimulating and encouraging young people to review values in life, to strengthen ethical behavior and to reflect on daily decisions were some of the principles this program tried to reach. About 80 young people from 4 schools aged 14-16 years old showed interest to participate. Usually, they come to a session during weekends for 3 hours.
During the evaluation, students from Dorotcaia shared their thoughts: "For me, the most interesting fact was the meaning of this training. I realized how important it is to trust each other, even if these people are not known to you”. "I learned an important thought that in this life, it is good to listen to other people's opinions, because it is not only you who leads”. "I acknowledged that trusting me and trusting others is a very useful learning”. "Values like trust, honesty, courage and purpose are the most useful things in life to follow”. "One new thing I learned was to be able to trust people, to help them anytime, regardless of who they are and how different they might be”. Students from Cricova shared: "I realized that the first thing I need to know is my values in life and how to totally apply and follow them in life circumstances”. "We need to respect both intellectual and spiritual values. But the most important value is to keep your faith”. "It was useful to work in a team”.
LEARNINGS FROM SCHOOLS PROGRAM TEAM The visits in schools helps me to stay in touch with reality and better understand the minds of youth and their nowadays interests. After a session is finished, I have a feeling that I am on the right track. This is an opportunity to give back to people new insights and experiences of life, but also, walk the talk. The quality of education in schools has dropt down and young people have few opportunities for spiritual development by Natalia Ghilascu
This work done in schools with youth gives hope. Sometimes I get pretty disappointed and sad when looking around at the drift of life, the mood and the values in society I think it is an ongoing and unstoppable decay. These visits prove the opposite to me this bright young minds and open hearts in spite all the spiritual barriers are moving forward, are happy and thirsty to learn and to do, deep inside they all know what is Good. I am also glad we can move out from Chisinau and offer something for students in small towns and villages. by Vlad Oleatovschi
Training for Komi To learn the model of conflict resolution – BMW has worked out five real life conflict situations. All of that gave something new to the old-kind-F4F-borshch.
Iryna Mushkina and Oleksiy Andreev were the inspirers of the idea to run training for members of Kharkiv team on the topic “Leadership and conflict resolution” in December 2008. That was after they took part in the course with similar topic run by Alice Cardell in Kiev. The training itself and the ways it was led have provided a big impression and stimulated sharing of gained knowledge. Oleksiy couldn’t even wait to return to Kharkiv so he wrote a letter to the email loop offering to run a one-day training in the home-city. That is how one of the few projects covered by participation fees only was born. Apart from that, new people from the third Kharkiv Visiting Course could finally get to know Iryna Mushkina and she could get to know them as well. Training preparations took more then a week. During that time a game was created on group communication skills by using a limited number of Naubi nuts between two competing companies.
Also during the training we looked at real situations from participants with individual, and …ehm… public analysis and checked possible alternatives to solve them. We can point out the fact that the meeting was aimed at young people, that is why educational process was constantly accompanied by jokes and informal communication. Effect from the training was enriched by a pleasant group of friends and sharing life stories, that was over late evening. Obviously as a future facilitator I understand and know what we still have to work on (thanks to Zoryana, who has diplomatically unpacked and pointed out the mistakes of facilitators). But I can say with confidence that the first pancake turned out for the Komi. * "Komi" is the name for bears or spirits of slavic ancestors in Old Rus. A proverb: “The first pancake – for the komi” means that the first pancake was sacrificed to the masters of the forest or to respectable ancestors. Sergiy Nechvolod, Kharkiv
My impressions of winter conference in Caux I believe, many of you’ve heard about a fabulous castle in the middle of Swiss mountains, with a view of a picturesque lake… green grass, caressing sun, people from all over the world in colorful light clothes… Yeah, this is how Caux looks in summer. But has anyone seen it during winter? What is going on there? What does this place live by? That’s what I would like to share with you. Once in 2 years a conference for Europeans is held in Caux. This time it was called “Europe: Responsibility, Hope, Future”. I’d like to mention that a winter conference really differs from the summer’s one. The first thing Ulrike Keller (the head organizer) advised was not to compare with summer and just enjoy staying there. And that was right! The grass turned into deep snow, where kids could play, the lake seemed unreal in a haze, light clothes changed for warm coats and caps, football ground became a skating rink, balls & rackets swapped with sleighs, skates & hockey sticks, but the sun was still bright & friendly!
There were 120 people at the conference, 30 of them children. For cooking we used only one third of the kitchen, half of the people lived in Villa Maria (a house near the castle). There were only 10 people in each discussion group, the duties were distributed according to the colours. So that, for example, red group is responsible for the kitchen, green group – for the dining room, etc. The main discussion’s thread was “How do I see Europe in the future?” and “How to live in Europe with the cultural diversities”. In general, the conclusion was that we should all unite, without loosing our own identity and having the right to express opinion. For me, as for a representative of Eastern Europe, was very interesting to observe how people, while discussing Europe mainly meant European Union only. It was clear that for more communication and interaction more Eastern Europeans should be involved. I believe, that would help to overpass the stereotypes about post Soviet territories and its residents. One of the days we prepared Borsch (national Ukrainian dish) for everybody in the conference and served it with garlic, sour-cream and brown bread.
On the conference Germans were my main discovering. I was surprised hearing that they
And finally, at the last day of the conference we celebrated the New Year. The weather was just like in fairy tale! Such a beauty is hard to imagine! Evening, mountains, huge fire-trees, lovely houses, the castle & snow-flakes falling from the sky!!! What a wonder! Everybody had to come to the New Year's Eve in a hand-made hat. It’s amazing how man can be creative! We watched a five-hour lasting talent show, drank grape juice, wished Happy New Year to each other and went to bed. For me such a celebration was quiet unusual:) but still interesting. The next day all guests & participants left. The next conference will be in 2010 and I strongly recommend that we join this process! For those who would like to have more information: http://www.iofc.org/node/39596 by Iryna Mushkina, Ukraine
are ashamed of their nationality, of public glorification of their country. They raised their flag only once after the war when they won football championship in 2004. I changed my attitude to this country after some important conversations during conference. I think they also change their opinions about post Soviet countries after meeting real people from there. It was unusual for people to eat raw garlic, but everybody liked it! It was also funny when all of the present Ukrainians and Russians came to the kitchen to taste the Borsch before dinner.
Ethical Leadership Workshops in Ukraine: Joint initiative of CPE and F4F Continued. See start on the cover page... As well as receiving feedback about changes in thoughts or attitudes, F4F welcomes comments about the content of its' courses and suggestions for improvements. Some of these were: To decrease the level of 'democracy' and 'tolerance' during the training. To add more direction and obligation, add more tasks and discussions that could 'break' a person, making him look beyond the limits of his values and principles. More lecturing materials. Less theory and more practical exercises. Not to ask the obvious, because one gets lazy to answer and looses interest. Angela Starovoytova, who was a member of the faculty for the course in Lviv, explains such differing points of view by saying:
For me it shows two points: 1. In the society, moreover in our environment, ethical leaders are quite rare.
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2. Our Eastern-European mentality is still keeping its habit to look at education and development as a relaxed way of receiving information/theory from teachers, rather than independent work and research. Without doubt, each workshop was a rich learning experience and created new opportunities for personal growth for participants and facilitators alike. According to the participant's evaluation reports, the workshops helped 80% to develop their skills in listening to others, understanding themselves, self-discovery, communication and self-confidence. This project was implemented thanks to financial support given by the US Embassy in Ukraine. The final part, a conference for workshop graduates, will take place in Kyiv in December. by Angela Starovoytova, Ukraine
Action for Life activities It’s already my third month to be here, in India, with people from all around the world, living together, sharing rooms, food, thoughts, feelings, problems and their solutions together, making presentations and learning from each other and from the world. Action for Life (AfL) is a 7-month leadership program which is made up of around 35 people from 18 countries all around the world who believe that there is only one way to change the world – from ourselves. Most of participants are from Pacific Asia region, so am I, Julia Kutsmida from Lviv, Ukraine, lucky to be here. The only one from Europe. I’m very grateful for people who helped me in different ways to make this journey real. And especially I want to say THANKS to all F4F community who supported me financially and spiritually. From 1st Oct when the program was starting there was a lot of learning and activities. So this three months look like three years. First 3 weeks participants spent in Asia Plateau, the international center of IofC in Panchgani, Maharashtra, India. We had very fruitful time to get know each other and have unforgettable trainings given by John Carlisle on different human characters, presentation and facilitation skills, group dynamic, system thinking. His lively manner of presenting ideas and teaching was perfect so the knowledge and experiences were forming very smoothly in our minds. Each morning we started from an hour of “quiet time” and sharing in the center’s garden. And evenings finished by highlight of life storysharing from everybody in the team. At the end of October we were divided in 4 teams to go in our first outreach inside Maharashtra state for one week. Our team included Rob from Australia, Ngan(Vietnam), AnnNjeri(Kenya), Chae-Nam(South Korea), Peter(Canada), Tui(Fiji),
2 interns of Asia Plateau, Chao-Min(Taiwan) and Jayan (Tibetian from India) and myself. We arrived in Baramati-town and were living with a strict Jain family (Jainism is a religions with a conviction about absolutely non-violence). There we were a part of the Indian New Year “Divali” celebration and began to know much more about Indian traditions, culture, religions, and particularly about Jain belief. I was amazed by the hospitality of our host family and especially by our host Mum who was cooking for us all of time and didn’t accept our propositions to cook noodles for ourselves. She served us and didn’t eat until guests had finished their meal. She gave us some medicinal fruits and drinks when some of us felt ill. Ukrainians, I heard, are good hosts but here, in Baramati I understood how to treat guests as gods (as Indians say). It was the first time for me when I touched, saw, smelt the reality of Indian life. Extra poor and very rich side (you even don’t have to turn the coin). During first outreach we saw strong and weak sides of ourselves and our teammates and became more understanding and accepting each other. That’s why it was great to hear that we’ll come to next outreach in the same team. It meant that next 2 months we’ll have to deal with somebody’s poor memory, somebody’s stubbornness, inside struggles, or more than expected independence. As Peter Heyes always says, “Only God is perfect”. For me personally it looked like good times but not the best ones. A lot of ideas which I had in my mind didn’t become a reality. I understood that for me it is important to have support from other people not even in actions but in upholding with the same idea. I need to know that what I’m doing is needed by someone and is good. Another point of my uncertainty was singing. The main music director of our team is Rob Lancaster whose family’s musical talent is incontestable. And he didn’t understand how I could not sing as well as he wanted. So firstly I felt very stupid when others were singing and I only disturbed them. But more experience showed that not only the result is so important but my desire and the whole process. After first outreach we went back to Asia Plateau for three more weeks where family workshops
were waiting for us run by Ren-Jou Liu from Taiwan, who by the way, was the initiator of the AfL program. For everyone this sensitivity training and experience of writing letters to our parents was one of the very important times that we had since the beginning of the program. As Ren Jou said: If you want to be a leader you must know people. If you want to know people you must know yourself. If you want to know yourself you must know your family.
Telling about our childhood made us know the reason why we are who we are today. The way people spoke also brought more understanding inside every person and to the whole group. On Nov 24th we set out for a 28-hour train journey to Jamshedpur (Jharkhand). Hanting from Taiwan joined our North-East team. Our 2nd outreach started. I had never heard about Jamshedpur city. Green, clean city and such kind hospitality of MRA-team was beyond our expectations. 100 years ago the vision of the city was born in the mind of one person and still lives. It gives inspiration, courage and joy to other people. In this city another great idea was born – TATA. Now it’s a bunch of different companies, from TATA Steel to teafactory and golf-club. But what touches me the most is that on meetings with MD’s, leaders of workers’ unions and the workers everyone was so committed to the idea of a non-corrupted company. And in fact there is almost zerocorruption inside TATA in reality. The founder of TATA really was caring about people much more than about his personal benefit. That’s why remembrance about him is alive. The very tough week which we had was full of presentations, official & unofficial meetings as well as eating meetings ;) with different people. I was surprised how much women are doing in the Indian society. Previously I thought that in such conservative surrounding, women usually have no much choice in their lives. When we saw the trainer, a tiny young woman, circled by many rough track-drivers I was amazed by her confidence in the work she does. From being a house wife, another lady became the leader of opposition in the state. She is a woman who made her life by herself in order to help others.
During one of many presentations in schools and colleges one student raised a question about the source of terrorism among young people. It was exactly after the terrorist attack in Delhi. Our response on this question was that children usually carry their parents’ prejudices and views, so young people could grow up without real values. That’s why it’s essential to learn to think for oneself and not just follow a crowd. And carry the values which we want to see into the next generations. Our host team in Jamshedpur gave us excellent example of orderly, well prepared program and showed us the depth of love and enthusiasm in their hearts. As they said they wanted to give us hope. And they did it! AfL team proceeded further with a lot of inspirations. We hope that new generations will come to share the same values. The North-East AfL team came to the closeby territory of the North-East of India. Three weeks we spent in Nagaland where everyone of our group felt at home and maybe that’s why the group lost a bit of self-discipline. It’s a good lesson for the future – chose priority and better organize our time. I discovered that this is a region of hot weather, hot chili and hot hearts of the people we met. Also it’s a region of AIDS, alcohol and drugs problems. Mostly because of the hopelessness among young generation in this developing area. Yet everywhere we met people who believed that they can do something. In Kohima we had interaction with Youth Net - a dynamic group of young people who are working towards making changes in the election and governance system at the grassroots level but having great impact on the national level. We shared experiences of our own countries and were inspired by their phrase “Even if a profound achievement may not happen, actions start a positive process which brings changes”. By the way, this organization was recognized as the best “Yes campaign” group in the world this year. Nagaland is a Christian state in India. A lot of Christian conventions are happening here. We took part in one of such programs with 2000 participants. First time in my life I heard such loud and noisy prayers. So, I hope, the idea of our presentation put some seeds especially in young hearts. The idea to listen to God more rather than tell Him what He needs to do for us.
Nagaland is very tiny state, and on such small territory there is huge diversity of tribes, languages, traditions. There are 14 main tribes and many other smaller ones. The tribes have a lot of conflicts which cause many problems, e.g. Tobu is a village of 2000 people, an hour from Tuensang and four hours from Mon. There is a hospital but no doctors or nurses and because their tribe has a conflict with Tuensang tribe villagers must go for any help to Mon. So if anyone is seriously ill s/he dies. This is a price for lack of peace. I hope that these people could learn to live together in peace, embrace their diversity and enrich each other. One thought that struck me is the Ukrainian-Russian problem, which is still alive. In my home city, in Lviv, there are strong resentments against Russians. Even if I spoke Russian at home there are some prejudices in my mind, especially when it’s all about the past. I understood that past must be past and we need to look into the future. After Nagaland we spent one week in the neighboring state of Assam. We were welcomed by Catholic priests. So we had night halts in church compounds with nuns and brothers and heard about their struggles and challenges which they faced in this state which is also multitribal. Here we spent our Catholic Christmass. This is was first time for me celebrating Christmas far away from home in extremely other circumstances. I’m so grateful for this experience because the weather, clothes, traditions, languages could be different but hearts of people are the same! In these few weeks we received care and love from IofC seniors: Peter Heyes, Ren Jou Liu, Naro (AfL2); Indian trustees: Christine and Niketu Iralu, Luis Gomes and change makers: Father Bimal (in Assam,who has also been a social worker for over 10 years), Dr. Amit (in Jamshedpur, whose “crazy inner voice” brought a lot of positive changes in society). They are always by our side and encourage/support us any time we need it. This briefly explains our life experience for the last months which reveals our outlook, social awareness and acceptance of differences. Actually, it has not been all flowers on my road and journey. In the beginning I was struggling with myself – who am I and what really I’m doing
on this program. I also couldn’t find free time to do some drawing, of which I have a great passion. I am expected not to draw in meetings, during our quiet times and can’t draw any person without asking permission. It means that there is almost no time at all for me to do what I like most. Another problem is my mood which could be unstable in spite of smile on my face every morning. It influenced my relationships with people. One more uncertainty was my responsibility to send weekly articles during our outreaches. I decided to do it because this is creative and interesting work, and also to improve my English. Firstly it was very hard, but I learned to ask for help if I needed rather than try to do it along with unhappy feelings. I learned to enjoy the process, not only take care about a result. I learned that I need to do what I need to do, and learned to appreciate myself even it other people have another view on my opinion. Far away from home I understood the importance of close relationships in the family and importance to have a motherland. I learned to appreciate more each moment which will not repeat again, each person which I meet first and maybe last time in my life, notice small things which create a big picture. I learned to see more positive sides in each situation which help other people to see it. I learned to write my thoughts in a diary which help me to systemize what’s happening in my outer and inner journey, to have clear thoughts and clear direction. More discovering is waiting us in the next few months. After New Year in Shillong we are going to Kohati and in December 6th we’ll return to Asia Plateau for few weeks. AfL team once more will be divided in 4 teams and on February 8th leave India for the last outreach in different Asian countries. Finally we’ll come together in Cambodia in April where our journey as AfL-4 officially will finish on May 10th, 2009 and another journey will start. (Journey in life after AfL;) Julia Kutsmida, Shilong, North-East India January 1, 2009
Discover your inner child A group of Moldovan girls had a chance to recently participate at „Discover your inner child” workshop run by Zoryana Borbulevych. I was one of the participants and I knew I needed this time of exploration for myself. All started 3 years ago, during the Action for Change Program where I firstly connected with a 5 years old child. It was Christmas Eve and my mother prepared the cookies. I saw my father entering the house with a bunch of woods to make the fire. It was a moment of him falling down because of a heart attack. My mother panicked and I desperately was crying. He stayed there on the ground and did not move. This was one of my memories, where the child from within needed healing. I said to myself, how come the fears of losing my father and the wounds of an innocent child can still be living in my body, without knowing about it? Long time has passed since then. This workshop for two days was finally ran in Moldova and I can better read my inner-child message. He speaks to me everyday, unfortunately, I cannot hear his cry, joys and needs. This is because of our everyday neglect, indifference, maturity life struggles and sometimes, lack of knowledge how to deal with it properly. This time, other memories came up and I was so sad that for a lifetime I carry his sorrow, without speaking and being next to this small child. Especially, when he needs you next, the only you who knows him best. This time, I approached when, in a kindergarten day, I was to fix a doll, that I did not crush, when I was blamed for the mistake of somebody else. This child had to struggle herself at a very early age with injustice and carry somebody's else cross. So weak and stuck with a cruel reality, I started frustrated fixing it, with no luck and I was punished for this... How can you heal this picture yourself and tell the child that life is not an easy game to play, that you have to live a cruel life, the only thing you need is „resist, be strong and trust yourself”. If God wasn't there, I
wouldn't live today. The daily encouragement the child asks for is the greatest need I could discover. There is space for the better and there is so much you can learn from your own child. This workshop helped me personally, understand who I am, why I am as I am and where next? I became richer, because I have got one innocent child now, newly born again, the child that was asking for help and love. The only one who can nurture this new creature, is only me. Such a great treasure, believe me, will be the only person who will be next to you always. I can continue my life much stronger now, because the struggle with life is much easier when you know you have such an invisible and loving friend. Natalia Ghilascu, Moldova
The key of solving many problems lies in old and simple truth: Changes start with oneself. F4F can make this idea universally accepted! The story of my involvement with F4F starts many years ago. In 1997 in my university I was lucky to see one unnoticeable announcement about a 4-days course, which as it turned out later, was the first F4F Visiting Course in Moldova. That course made a big impact in my life: it has helped me to overcome some of my inadequacies, has deleted some of my prejudices and stereotypes. It has given new strength to my values and motivations, and not the least important, has introduced me to a dozen of amazing and unusual people. Many of those are still my friends. Moldavian society of that epoch was going through hard times: people were loosing aims and reference points in their lives, everything ended up in pure lies and stealing money. Ideals of freedom and democracy couldn’t conquer the hearts of most Moldavian citizens. That’s why it was so important for me to consolidate the idea of honesty, following one’s principles, mutual support and good will to serve as life values and reference points. At the same time I had to change a lot and rethink many things within myself: to stop expecting changes in others; to start changing myself I had to learn to begin ‘difficult’ conversations; had to decline profitable, but ‘not pure’ propositions. Quite often my parents, relatives and old friends couldn’t understand me following some of those principles. However, it was still strongly helping me to remain in harmony and contentment with myself. All my internal transformations were possible because I was surrounded by people striving to live according to similar principles. We were also receiving support from friends, who were part of F4F programme. At the end of 90’s F4F was more an initiative group of people with good will, rather than a well-established organization. There were positive sides to it: members of that group were very inspired by what they were doing. If unexpected situations or needs occurred, F4F was attentively reacting to it. However, there were some negative sides in having such a flexible structure: people from outside F4F couldn’t always understand what F4F was doing, what plan it had, how it would spend the money received and what results it would produce. This problem has become more vivid in the last few years, when traditional internal financial resources of F4F have run short. Since I graduated from the university, I was able to work in a few interesting organizations: in Italian-Moldavian project on implementing new methods of youth work; as a teacher in National Academy of public administration;
in an NGO on protecting human rights called Amnesty International Moldova, and now in one of the projects of United Nations Development Programme in Moldova. Nearly all of those organizations are well known and are effective generators of serious and positive changes in the world. That is why, when opportunity to become a member of F4F Committee appeared, I thought that the time has come to try and bring in my little working experience into F4F activities. I have a deep conviction that F4F can offer very important things to people. Such things that would help the world to solve the problems that we call global: wars, violence, injustice, backwardness, poverty, and insecurity. The problem is that F4F finds it hard in the present shape to explain its ideas to those who haven’t met IofC or F4F personally. Also, in my opinion, F4F was often acting under the pressure of current events and immediate needs, thus harming more strategically planned and long-term aims and tasks. I hope that being a member of F4F Committee would allow me to contribute to the development of organization, its strengthening and becoming an effective and important generator of serious and positive changes in people and in the world. I am sure that F4F has all sufficient prerequisites and opportunities for it. The value of F4F is that it is one of the very few organizations that can change things deep within. No matter how good laws and created structures are, they won’t function if people connected with them do not believe them and use them for their own purposes rather than for its proper use. Why is it hard for democracy to become firmly established on the territory of Moldova and Ukraine? It is because Moldavian and Ukrainian parties have authoritatively formed themselves. Everything there is decided upon either by their leader or by its shadow ‘sponsors’. Why would an authoritative and ‘sponsored’ administration of the party become democratic and transparent once having gained the power? Why 60 years later after World Declaration of Human Rights was signed, it still remains an useless scrap of paper for the majority of world’s countries? It is because the leaders of the world’s public opinion are breaking them seriously while appealing to the ‘3rd world countries’ to respect human rights. USA continue to kill (punish) people, keep people imprisoned for years without trials and explanations on the base in Guantanamo.
EU countries consciously allow transportation of people through their territories to be tortured in other countries. Some of the countries are even hosting secret jails on its territories, where people are also kept without trials or explanations of reasons for imprisonment. If authorities of USA and EU countries are allowed to do it, why not authorities of China, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine do the same? Through experience, tools and people, F4F can influence values, motivation, and ways of people’s thinking, thus making them honest, transparent, democratic, tolerant from inside, and not from outside. That is why, the task of F4F now is to demonstrate to the ‘outside’ world what it can and wants to do. In order to do it, F4F has to go organizationally through big changes: to attract more professionals into the organization, to do advance planning of activities, to run regular evaluation of its
activities in relation to previously planned tasks and characteristics, to create an accurate and clear internal organizational structure. Obviously, in my vision, that is not all that F4F should do in the near future. There is also support from regional teams, continuation of personal development for course participants, etc. In F4F Committee there are people who do not forget about it, and who are doing a lot in order to save and develop what is already there. I hope that all together we can go through this complicated time of our organizational ‘puberty’ and in a few years time we would be able to change destinies of people, countries and, possibly, the world! Slava Balan, Moldova 20 January 2009
Being a part of Training for Trainers of Foundations for Freedom! Once I wrote this I realised I haven’t actually reflected on that experience. I went to Moldova and Ukraine to do it, and I just went through it, no questions asked... We have just finished Module 4 where all of us gave a 2 days course for new group of participants in Chernihiv and I haven’t looked back. When people ask me how it went I just say ’It was good’ and that is all. It was good but there was more to it than that. This was an opportunity to grow beyond measure. For me personally, trainings that we went through weren’t just the time to learn; they were the time to practice. A great test for myself in walking the talk. I have been doing trainings for several years now, and I like to think I am a bit of a professional. I also often place my self in circumstances where I have to learn new things, occasionally with kids, just so that I do not forget how it feels to be teachable. And it get harder every time. I have discovered one thing about myself this time - I forgot how to learn from little things... How to set the room, how to speak, how to dress properly and how to be patient. Yes - we did learn about course outline, yes - we were taught new exercises and new skills and it was profoundly valuable. Some new, some not. But for me it was more important to learn about myself in new circumstances.
And I learned mostly from those little things. Traveling 2 days to get to Moldova, changing travel means, not understanding the language, and people not understanding me. Flying to Ukraine, getting to different ends of a country, listening to a course, listening to people, trying to understand and speak something that resembles Russian language. Preparing a session on values, panicking, leading it, listening to my partner lead the other part in another language and being lost in translation due to my poor knowledge of Russian betraying me in times of need for some reason; debriefing and traveling again. Finally working on something completely different. This all gives me a lesson in spirituality, a lesson in PRESENCE that enables one to be there for people no matter what and do whats necessary. It gives me a lesson in team work with people who are not of my culture, and a lesson in teaching people who are not of my culture. A lesson on my inner resources that are always there, waiting to be used. One more time I learned that practice gets me going, and friends and team work gets my spirits up. As a part of a bigger team, after all these experiences I believe that we are on the right course... Olivera Ivanovic, Serbia
We all come from childhood Who has never been a child? And who has never wondered at least once where childhood leaves off? What happened to boys and girls who liked icecream more that anything else in the world? Every day of our adult life asks us to look back and to reflect on the years we lived through, on achievements and perspectives. And, certainly, for most people the brightest memories in the carousel of our bustling life are about Childhood. Human memory is an amazing device: you may not recall the name of the girl you kissed for the first time in your life, but you'll always remember the taste of your granny’s jam or grandfather’s borsh, a toy-car of your neighbor and the number of stickers you’ve lost in school games. But too seldom we allow ourselves to look deeper and to realize that our intolerance to people or fear to sleep without light might be caused by our childish fears. Paradox: a child is a whole world – pure and opened, and maturing is a period when pure and opened child’s soul has to constrict its endless world to narrow frames of the society in which we are lucky to be born. And then, to become a real adult you have to learn to live with the imperfections of society, which were the most shocking for you, when you were a child. Series of seminars (based on materials of American psychologist, theologists and consultant John Bradshow) “Foundations for Inner Freedom” allows to recollect everything step by step. To observe yourself in different periods of your life from the moment of birth (and no matter what scientists say, we managed to do it in our group). To remember different circumstances, people, who were close to you, behavior of your parents or people who were authorities for you, your best friends, lifestyle – everything that formed you as a personality. Work with inner child is a simple and fascinating process, based on meditation, writing letters, drawing and tests. It is a process of continual sharing with people in small groups, talking to your parents, close people and friends of your family aimed at liberation from the conventionalities and possibility to look in your souls, stay honest to yourself and admit things which you’ve hidden (not always consciously) deep in your heart, discover new sides of your personality. In our adult world cluttered up with worries, work
and dictated social values we rarely find time for real us. We’re afraid to admit and mercifully accept things that could hurt or offend us in childhood. Often knowledge about the world does not let us accept ourselves and be unprotected. We like hiding in our cocoons, wearing masks and playing roles so much, that one day we start seriously to perceive them as our comfort zone. Life with them is less scaring, but we never acknowledge our real essence, our desires and needs. The process of communication with inner child resembles “The Little Prince” of Exupéry. When you once meet an incredibly sensible little man, who is you in your childhood, you take responsibility for your common future. You get a new amazing friend, who will accept you the way you are and will understand all your wishes. It is very easy to spend time with him, to walk around favorite places and eat ice-cream, to go on a balloon. He will help you to understand your unrealized fantasies and won’t let you be led by them. He will help you to become an aware adult. If you are sure, that you have enough courage to go trough your childhood again, that your soul is opened and your thoughts are pure, welcome to our sand-box. During the process you’ll be able to analyze what influenced forming of your personality and what kind of parent you want to be. You’ll learn to recognize your childish impulses, complexes and unsatisfied needs. And, of course, you can find a cute neighbor for your sand-box within friends, who work with you in a group, so that you can ride on a swing together and share how your grandmother taught you to cook. Lida Zamaraeva Kyiv, Ukraine
Ethical Leadership Workshops in Ukraine Starting from April 2009 Youth NGO Center for Political Education together with International Programme “Foundations For Freedom” with the support of Democracy Grants Program of USA Embassy in Ukraine ran a series of training-seminar on basics of ethical leadership. Active youth who strive to become the leaders in their surroundings took part in them. Center for Political Education and International Programme “Foundations For Freedom” started a project “Developing Responsible Democratic Leadership in Ukraine”. The project is aimed at the development of the culture of responsible democratic leadership among representatives of the youth civic sector of Ukraine. Within the framework of the project the following educational activities are to be held – Ethical leadership workshops in 4 regions of Ukraine and the final conference in Kyiv.
In order to become real initiators of democratic changes in a country, young civic activists have to discover and develop real democratic values within themselves and their surrounding.. This is the main aim of the workshop. Ethical Leadership Workshop is an interactive training which includes learning practical skills which help to develop greater self-confidence, understanding of oneself, one’s goals, motivation & insights into society. Gained skills would help the participants to implement positive changes, to put into practice socialoriented initiatives based on common moral and spiritual values. Four workshops were held in Crimea, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Lviv basing upon the F4F communities in different part of Ukraine. The workshop uses study, discussion and the exchange of the views and experience of the faculty and participants. The course includes presentations, discussions in large and small groups, exercises in teamwork, role-plays & times of quiet reflection. It lasts 4 full days, for 20 people, and is led by a team of 3-5 facilitators.
After the end of the workshops Center for Political Education and “Foundations For Freedom” will provide the participants with an informational support, namely via e-mail loop, “Foundations For Freedom” Newsletter, consultation, an information about opportunities of further education and youth initiatives.
- April 23-26 - ELW in Crimea; - May 28-31 - ELW in Chernihiv; - August 20-23 - ELW in Kharkiv; - September 24-27 - ELW in Lviv. In the end of October 2009 the participants of all 4 workshops will take part in the conference "Responsible Leadership in Ukraine: start from yourself!". More detailed information about the ELW project proceeding and results can be found at: http://cpe.org.ua/projects/prj_78.html. Oleksandr Kopyl, Center Education Tel.: +380 67 788 92 66 E-mail: oleksandr@kopyl.info www.cpe.org.ua
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Olena Kashkarova, Foundations for Freedom Tel. +380 97 989 29 29 E-mail: info@f-4-f.org www.f-4-f.org Center for Political Education (CPE) – is an organisation of young professionals-enthusiasts, who share the common idea of the development and implementation of efficient educational programmes for social-political activists. The mission of the center is to support the development of Ukrainian politics and civic society based on democratic values that can be achieved by providing education, supporting public dialogue, and research work.. Partnership with F4F is an important field of CPE activities for the development of democratic youth leadership.
The most interesting and life-changing meetings happen by chance... People from the whole world are coming to the conference center of the international organization ‘Initiatives of Change’. All of them are unique. My acquaintance with a famous thinker and publisher Grigoriy Solomonovitsch Pomeranetz and his wife Zinaida Alexandrovna Mirkina has happened in the summer in a Swiss town Caux, where I was working as a volunteer. Already in the first seconds of our meeting I started thinking why these were exactly the people that my destiny brought me to… Andrey Mironov – a Russian defender of human rights, a military journalist in the past and a family friend of a famous philosopher has invited me for dinner with Grigoriy Solomovitsch and Zinaida Mirkina. At once I was amaized by Grigoriy Solomovitsch' eyes – their irreproachable clarity, unlimited depth, scope and wisdom. No matter what topic of conversation there is, Grigoriy Solomovitsch immediately touches the point. He finds the right words to express that point. Such human ability is unique. I would have described that ability as a skill to see the depth and essense of the topic. Zinaida Aleksandrovna was telling philosophic fairy-tales in addition to the theme. During one of the meals Grigoriy Solomovitsch has invited me to visit him: ,If you are ever in Moscow – come and visit us, from October we will be in the new apartment'. I managed to meet a couple once again only in December and already in Moscow. Even in his 91 years old Grigoriy Solomovitsch has a tight schedule: he gives public lectures, reads his papers on international conferences, is a guest on popular TV programmes of Russian TV, and in the remaining time works a lot at home. By the time of my visit the couple have moved to the new appartments and were dealing with many issues, connected with new accommodation. I am very grateful to the welcoming hosts for their sincere hospitality irrespectively of their working atmosphere and busyness in such situation as it seemed to be. To my great joy, Andrey Mironov was in Moscow at that time, and on one of the cold evenings we went for a visit. We were expected for supper. Grigoriy Solomovitsch was telling us a lot, as well as the story, when once in his youth he overcame the metaphysical fear and it has helped him at war:
As I told you, there was no real danger in that situation. Bombing was three kilometers away, but the fear was pushing me into the ground. The view of bombing has caused me something that I later defined as psychological trauma, wound and a concussion that happened all at once. I was searching for reasons to overcome that fear, and then I thought: ,the abyss of space and time didn’t scare me, then why should I be scared of planes!’ And fear has disappeared at once. But it was not the reason that has influenced me! One cannot defeat fear by reasons. One can prove that there is no danger – but it hasn’t been there from the very beginning, although the fear was. I didn’t get it at once, only afterward. There is a level of superficial life, when eternity is a mathematical symbol that doesn’t touch the hearts; there is a deeper level of metaphysical fear that existentialists were writing a lot in 20th century. And there is a level of depth, where fear disappears, the level of connection with eternity, internal creative eternity. It wasn’t the proof that gave me freedom from fear – fear cannot be defeated by any proof, but if internal depth is opening, then fear disappears. Meaning a helpful hint to remember that while trying to concentrate on eternity some internal depth has been opened…” (“Metaphysical courage”, lecture in the Museum of Russian Patrons, 1, November 2002). A chandelier is shining with mild green light in Grigoriy Solomonovitsch’s study-room. That is a birth-place of thoughts which philosopher shares with the world: thoughts about personal freedom, God, religion, world culture. The philosopher didn’t call to dethrone the power, didn’t create reactioning organizations, however, just like both in Stalin’s and Brezhnev’s time, his worldview was alien to the state ideology. The sense of his main task in life was expressed
already at school in the essay on the theme “Who to be”. At the end of the essay he wrote some words that have disappointed the teacher: ‘I want to be myself’. Soviet ideology was trying to unify everyone, to suppress personality. That is why his expressions were automatically looked at as of a dissident. “With the feeling of flight over fear I walked through the whole war - Grigoriy Solomonovitsch says in the essay “Religion and culture in formation of personality and cultural circle”. – But, unfortunately, it stopped helping after the war. Front-line soldiers were quite successfully untaught of the front-line courage. For three years I couldn’t find a way-out from the cell of Soviet system. Finally, a way-out has appeared: to go down. On Lybianka, in Bytirka and in the camp I could breathe freer than in Stalin’s big surrounding, - as we were jokingly calling the fake freedom”. Zinaida Aleksandrovna Mirkina is the life partner of Grigoriy Solomonovitsch from 1961 till now. The couple brings their discoveries of the depth and spiritual experience connected with it into daily activities, trying to be a bit above the ordinary life. Zinaida Aleksandrovna expresses her feeling of depth in her poems. She is also an author of philosophical fairy-tales. Both spouses have written some books as co-authors. In a common lecture with her husband named 'Metaphysical courage', Zinaida Mirkina is speaking about a great strength, which is hidden in each human being. “…The only spiritual science – learn to turn away from everything that is outside into inside, search for foundations only inside. What is created outside, on the surface – it is in front of the eyes, it is separated from you. It can be mighty, you want to grab it, to stand on it, but it is breakable, it has shapes, beginning and the end… But it is much easier for us to feel small, limited and to lean on somebody bigger, to worship him rather than to feel your own internal infinity. People are afraid of
their infinity, they don’t want to move from outside into inside. One needs huge courage to find foundation only inside...” The family periodically comes to visit the Swiss conference center Caux. They know ‘Initiatives of Change’ for over 20 years, even under its previous name ‘Moral Re-armament’. In the summer 2008 Grigoriy Solomonovitsch was once again giving his lecture in Caux and then Zinaida Mirkina went up the stage. Both of the spouses were answering questions from the audience. One of the important tasks of the modern world the spouses see in increasing level of education in people and in the development of personal spirituality. For more then 10 years they both lead seminars in Moscow, give speeches on the conferences. You can learn more about the life story of the spouses and to get pieces of wisdom from different literature and printed works, lectures and interviews, which are published on the web www.pomeranz.ru. I have read a lot of works that have internally enriched me both before and after the meeting with the philosopher and his wife. Over and over again with pleasure rereading some of those works I open new dimensions of knowledge and again confirm to myself with gratitude what amazing gifts our Universe brings. I could have passed by and not even paid attention at that gift, thus never touching the amazing world of other people. Such meetings are impossible to plan or to envision. One can be open for them and ready to let them enter your life. Ljubov Pranevych, Belarus a journalist involved with ‘Initiatives of Change’since 2006
EVENTS IN 2009 The past eighteen months have been quite challenging for F4F's finances. When the Committee met at Caux in July 2008, we decided that we had to stop running courses for the rest of the year due to the shortage of money. We also agreed that we could not continue with our past policy of waiting to be invited to run courses and then seek funding, we needed to be more active. Most funding agencies want definite measurable outcomes from their grants and, therefore, are unlikely to look kindly on our Visiting Course because it is difficult to describe and quantify the results. The new strategy that we devised is to seek people or organisations who wish to tackle specific problems, to work with them to create a project with definite measurable outcomes and seek funding for the project. In addition, the revised Ethical Leadership Workshop is a 'product' that is much more understandable than a 'Visiting Course' and, therefore, we decided to try to concentrate on this. We are most grateful to the Saeima, which gave F4F a donation during our time of greatest financial pressure that was equal to two months overheads. We also received donations from IofC Netherlands and many individuals in response to our appeal for funds. As always, we are deeply indebted to all our donors without whom we would struggle to exist. As you will have read elsewhere in this news letter, F4F is now an independent NGO registered in Ukraine. We are coming to understand that Ukrainian tax systems and legislation make it very, very difficult for NGOs to survive if they are completely honest. The first major problem is that many funding agencies do not allow organisations to use a proportion of their grants to pay for the day to day overheads of the NGO. The second major problem is that legislation in Ukraine does not allow us to run events that will make a 'profit' that contributes to our running costs. The only way for us to receive money is through grants or donations. This makes it extremely difficult for a NGO to exist, so it will be a struggle to survive. Perhaps it is F4F's role to show that and NGO can survive while being honest. This will be my last set of notes as Treasurer because it is both right and sensible for this role to be performed by an E European now that we are a Ukrainian NGO. F4F currently has only 5000,00 GBP with which to pay our running costs, which will last us until approximately the end of February. Unless we raise significant funding that contributes to our overheads, the future is bleak. We need to create projects that can be funded and we need donations in order to survive in the short term. In the long term, we need to develop other income streams that will help us to survive. I think we will have a stimulating but challenging future, let's hope that it is not short! Gordon Fuller
in January: 1-3 January, Crimea: New Year celebration 23-25 January, Kharkiv: Training of Visiting Course facilitators, third module in February: 13 February, Kyiv: exercise on co-operation 'Red and Blue' for a business enterprise 14-15 February, Chisinau: 'Discover your inner child' workshop in March: 5-8 March, Krynychky village, Dnipropetrovks region: participation in IofC initiative 'Farmers' Dialogue' 22, 29 March, 5 April, 23 May, Kyiv: series of workshops based on the 'inner child' material in April: 10-12 April, Chernihiv: fourth (practical) module of Training for Visiting Course Facilitators Trainees organised and led 2-days course for a group of social workers and public servants 21-22 April, Feodosia: beginning of the project “Development of Responsible Democratic Leadership in Ukraine� with training for Ethical Leadership Workshop facilitators 23-26 April, Feodosia: Ethical Leadership Workshop in May: 15-17 May, Crimea: Follow-up Course for Young Leaders Club 24-31 May, Crimea: Visiting Course for participants of Young Leaders Club initiative 'Volunteers programme' 28-31 May, Chernihiv: Ethical Leadership Workshop in June: 18 June, Kyiv: F4F Management group meeting 19-20 June, Kyiv: F4F Committee Meeting 21 June, Kyiv: Foundational meeting of F4F as an International NGO. Angela Starovoitova was elected as a Chair of the Board
24 Greencoat Place, SW1P 1RD, London, UK Tel: +44 20 7798 6000 :: e-mail: info@f-4-f.org :: www.f-4-f.org
Continued... in July:
20-30 August, Satera, Crimea: annual summer camp
in September: 2 July-16 August, Caux: Caux Intern programme. Ten F4F courses graduates took part 9 September: Registration of F4F as an International NGO by the Ministry of Justice of in the programme Ukraine 9 June-15 August, Caux: participation of 24-27 September, Lviv: Ethical Leadership F4F community members in Workshop conferences and such spheres of house life as: secretariat, kitchen, finance in October: desk, allocation, organisation of 10-11 October, Kyiv: 'input from the regions' conferences and international meetings weekend meeting to discuss the future of F4F, 10, 12 June, Caux: workshop on Sustainable activities, potential projects and funding Leadership as part of the conference 'Leading applications Change for a Sustainable world' 12 October, Kyiv: Olka Hudz and Natalia Bezborodova joined the coordination team in in August: Kyiv as new follow-up coordinator and fund-raiser 2-3 August, Caux: European 'Saeima' meeting in November: 15-19 August, Caux: Workshop 'Changing 7 November, Kyiv: final conference after the Perspective: from Self to Others' within the series of Ethical Leadership Workshops within framework of the Tools for Change conference the framework of 'Development of Responsible 20-23 August, Kharkiv: Ethical Leadership Democratic Leadership in Ukraine' Workshop
Dear Reader, We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to making this issue of the F4F Newsletter. If you think that someone else you know should get this newsletter or if you have any suggestions, please contact the editor Oleksiy Stasevych at oleksiy.stasevych@gmail.com. Thank you.