F4F NL September2005

Foundations for Freedom Newsletter 24 Greencoat Place, London., SW1P 1RD, UK tel: 020-7798 6000, www.f-4-f.org, F4F@london.iofc.org Issue 40 September 2005 In this issue...

Another Summer ... on Caux The Spirit of Caux Everytime... there’s something new

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First Challenge of Practice From Mentors... to Caretakers The 4th YPF! Things I’ve Done & Learned

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Rejoice of Changes Romanian Welcome Moving to Sierra Leone F4F Community News

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Another summer Another great time for some people in Caux.

Another hard work put into fundraising and organising for Caux. Another bunch of inspiration, ideas, training, intern

express our gratitude for all those people who helped us either by co-ordinating the process in the regions, donating money or praying for it. Some have decided not to go this

F4F Group in Caux working shifts, knowledge, appreciation, friendships, sharing, speeches and much more what we’ve experienced, received and gave to the world that gets together in the Mountain House.

I was coming to the conference centre in Switzerland since 2000, skipping just one year, for extended periods of time, serving in different areas and fulfilling various tasks.

This year was different because I was on the side of those who do the main work before the conference centre starts to operate and before people actually appear in Caux. Not an easy work they have, I would say. There are so many discussions, thinking, praying, hoping and sacrificing happening, and that is on top of all the necessary communication and paper work that needs to be done.

Being on the F4F co-ordinating side I would like to

summer thus giving this opportunity to others, others were working hard for the whole year to get enough money for the trip.

From the circles of F4F or on F4F invitation we were able to support 55 people from 6 Eastern and Central European countries. F4F has spent £19,222 this summer for Caux. A bit more than half of the money was spent on 22 conference participants, who mainly came for “Service, Responsibility and Leadership” and “Heart and Soul of Europe” conferences. £6,000 were spent to cover some travel and accommodation for 7 F4F mentors that were working alongside with Intern programme as well as conference organisers. Another £3,000 were spent to support Interns travel and not let Caux down by rejecting their call for help 1

and Caux’ need for Interns.

We managed to raise all necessary funds with generous support of Oxford Group, Karl Popper Foundation and different individuals. Comparing to the amount spent on Caux previous years, this year more of you in the region contributed toward your stay and travel, which much eased the situation with fundraising. So, I just want to say, ‘Well done to everyone! Together we make the impossible possible!’

And we are all hoping that those who are planning to go to Caux next summer would start thinking about money issue already, while there is still the whole year ahead and some opportunities to earn and save money! I would also tell the same for those who have experienced Caux and would like to help others to experience it as well by supporting those who are not able to do that.

Angela Starovoitova (Ukraine/UK)

…on Caux When I look back and think about my trip to Caux I say to myself: “I am lucky I could be there and obtain that experience that is unique, as nothing will be as it was before”.

This trip was a very special one to me. It was special in many ways. First of all, “special” refers to people I have met there and whom I probably would never have met in other circumstances, because of many reasons, and now I feel this would make me poorer in some way. It is obvious we can meet interesting people whom we may find special everywhere, its just the open eyes and heart that can accept new people, but somehow it was Caux where a miracle occurred. Caux for me is the people who come there, share their thoughts, accept you and support you - this is how it happened to me. And I am thankful for that. It is strange, but the more I try to tell my friends and acquaintances about Caux, the more I understand I can not do that. They need to see it and experience it by themselves: early mornings, getting up from the bed, drawing curtains aside, going out on the balcony, looking above, at the sky, then at the sleepy and calm Geneva lake, Montreaux beneath.It was great.

Eleonora Iatun (Moldova)

The Spirit of Caux?!

This summer was the first time when I was able to visit Caux, even though I’ve met people from Initiatives of Change in year 2000. That time I have discovered that somebody is still thinking about ethics in politics and business, that for someone - responsibility and calling are still important.

My time in Caux was first of all a hard work, work on inner-self. When in my daily life and work I make 2

mistakes, quite often I either forget about them or don’t even notice. In Caux they became even brighter; some of them appeared as habits and addictions. It was the right time to look at it from a side.

I saw Caux as a source of inspiration for many people. And what created that atmosphere were not only beautiful landscapes of mountains and the Lake of Geneva.

During the conference, quite often I heard people mentioning “The Spirit of Caux” and I believe that people who come there created that spirit. Caux is an amazing gathering of people with rich life experience and young people, a rare case of interaction between life wisdom and youth energy.

The spirit of Caux is a communication and dialogue of different cultures. It was the first time that I’ve met such a great number of representatives from different countries with different mentality, religion, political systems. “Unity in Diversity”, the main principle of our Universe, can be easily understood in Caux.

For me Caux Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, as a person, who is part of Caux community. Whatever one might say, the participants are developing His job, aimed at mutual understanding and peace, respect and solidarity, unity and human dignity.

I have explored another gap in me – a gap between my inspiration and action, between idea and its implementation. But this is another story… May there be Caux. Amen.

Volodumir Krutko (National Youth Democratic League, Ukraine)

Every time … there’s something new Well there is a lot to talk about... during my time there I have discovered many amazing things. As a young academic in Public Administration and a young politician, I have tried to understand the way Europe lives, and most of this understanding came from the rest of conference participants, who appeared to be very interesting people.

Perhaps, like anyone else who was new to Caux, I was astonished by the spirit of the place, becoming friends with people from different countries that I never imagined to meet. I fell in love with this place and its energy - there aren’t that many places in the world where ‘your soul sleeps’.

Though I feel a bit sad - because of the ‘culture shock’ I was not confident enough to talk to many people, and it makes me feel like I have missed a valuable opportunity.

As a participant of Young Politicians Forum, I have led the session on “Responsible Leadership” and, hopefully, it has stimulated some thinking about this issue amongst the participants.

I have been walking a lot down the Alpes mountain

paths thinking over the things I had heard and seen, and yet I feel there’s still so much to understand. I will never forget the night walk with Mike Murphy from Liverpool and sunrise at Rocher du Naye... And every time I think of Caux there’s something new that springs to mind.

Oleksandr Bezuglyy (Ukraine)

First Challenge of Practice Foundations for Freedom has launched a new programme in Caux – F4F Mentoring programme. It was developed together with Caux Interns Programme and was aiming to assist Interns’ Co-ordinators in their duties, providing care and support for young people coming to work in Caux, as well as facilitating the workshops and leading mentoring sessions with Interns.

Foundations for Freedom has a long history of delivering courses and working with young inspired people all over Eastern and Central Europe (ECE). Some of these young people have successfully designed and are leading their own initiatives, training programmes or organisations.

Some have just started to explore this field. Nevertheless, all of these activities always happened somewhere in ECE countries.

F4F young people have played a significant role in assisting Caux Summer conferences – being active participants, Caux Interns or conference organisers (as is with “Service, Responsibility and Leadership” for the last years). However we have not yet made a joint input into supporting Initiatives of Change conferences as a programme, offering something particular to the Mountain House community.

When realising the difficulties and challenges Caux Interns’ programme is dealing with, the idea of providing support and taking a part of their duties came quite naturally.

This was exactly what we could do as a united force and this role we, as Foundations for Freedom, could play – we have skills, knowledge, experience and people to offer and new skills, knowledge, experience to gain.

Altogether, six young people from Eastern Europe were invited to join this programme. All of them had some Some mentors this year

experience of leading workshops and had qualities to successfully fulfill their duties. All of them have gone through weeklong training led by Gordon Fuller, experienced Mentor and facilitator, before they met their Interns.

Each of them had different experience. Each had inner and outer challenges they had to work on. We have heard very positive and some negative comments from Caux Interns and friends about the way this programme was run and heard some very valuable suggestions for improving F4F Mentoring programme for the next year. The full assessment is still to come and if you are interested, please write to us.

This first challenge of practice, applying our experience in a totally different (yet similar) environment is over. Some lessons are to be learnt and praises said.

Thus, Foundations for Freedom would like to thank all of our Mentors for their amazing job, their efforts put into this initiative and their evaluation of its outcomes.

We would like to thank all our friends for supporting us in this first trial and supporting F4F financially, which made it possible for us to do this!

Anna Pozogina (Latvia/UK) *please read the reflections of one of F4F Mentors below

From Mentors ... to Caretakers Last year I came to Caux as an Intern. I cannot say it was an easy experience – there were some difficulties, misunderstandings and questions I had to deal with. So when I heard about the new programme of F4F Mentors I was very interested in participating there.

“There must be many young people who will come to Caux for the first time – I could be of use to them and not only in practical terms,” I thought to myself.

And so it was. When I first 3

saw the list of Caux Interns for the first period, which included 28 young people from all over the world – Mexico, Moldova, Latvia, Romania, India, Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, Ukraine, USA, Netherlands, I got a bit afraid. Most of them were older than me, and for many this was not their first time in Caux. I was thinking I should probably learn from them, not the other way around. This idea followed me all through the next month.

The first week of training in mentoring gave a lot in terms of theory. But the practice of the following four weeks cannot be compared to anything. I have defined two main learning points out of this time - teamwork with other Mentors and communication with Caux Interns themselves.

We had to build a team of five in the first place and then move into a team of three and build it (big and friendly) up again with the whole group of Interns. I cannot say we have constantly worked for this goal and that it all happened very naturally. The time of training, preparing for workshops, endless meetings, discussions… this feeling of unity in our goals and mission… at the end of the day, all of this gave the fruits.

My communication with Interns, my mentees in particular, is the most unforgettable part of my experience. I can say with assurance that I have learnt so much from these people, communication- and understanding-wise. I have learnt to listen deeply, when there are no disrupting thoughts in your head, comparisons, evaluation, and your head becomes empty, free of emotion and ready to perceive. This mentoring experience has taught me that MY opinion is only MINE and there is no need to express it so often. Giving answers to all questions is not enough for someone’s possibility for growth – all of have to search for the answers ourselves, no matter how long it takes. My task was to help in this search, but it was difficult at times as the desire to share my opinion and give advice was very strong.

I remember once we had a conversation with one of the Interns and could not find the answer to the question bugging her for a long time. I tried to lead her to the answer (which was quite obvious to me) in several ways, but all with no results. Finally I realised that the person did not accept more than she is ready to receive and her answer should not correspond with my understanding, nor satisfy me. I also thought of what could happen if I only shared my opinion on this question…The person could just accept it not really understanding that she has HER OWN answer.

This programme was also a step and lesson in unselfishness. I have never been to the place where you can feel needed and serve people in all meanings of this word. It is a breathtaking experience when you see a person who peels potatoes at 8 am – he might be sleepy and tired, but he smiles, shines and feels delighted to do this work and to have this possibility.

To sum up, I should say that in order to be mentor – a friend and a caring person, who helps and supports – you just have to be, with sincere heart and 4

aware of what you do.

Besides, I would like to thank all those who took an active part in this programme. Huge thanks to Gordon and to Minna for their wisdom, advice and lessons. Huge thanks to Sasha and Zoryana for their support and understanding. Thanks to my mentees also for their honesty, their openness, their love and all they have given to me. (I could go on and on…)

As for next year, I would probably name this programme differently. The existing name, F4F Mentors, somehow narrows and limits….I would probably call it F4F Care Takers! In this way it would include everything – mentoring, care, assistance, facilitation of workshops, and just friendship, smiles, understanding and endless conversations, etc.!

Tatyana (aka Nicole) Minbaeva (Russia)

The 4th Young Politicians Forum On July 7-13, 2005 the Centre for Political Education held the Fourth Young Politicians Forum at the Caux International Conference Centre (Switzerland), which gathered 24 participants from 14 countries (Ukraine, Brazil, Russia, France, Switzerland, Serbia and Montenegro, Australia, Latvia, Moldova, Burundi, Portugal, UK, Netherlands and Albania).During the sessions participants discussed such issues as youth responsibility in modern society, the future of moral values in politics and the development of political parties to serve citizens, as well as problems of European identity.

One of the first discussion topics was devoted to the responsibility of young people in modern society. The participants noted that young leaders are responsible for the development of foundations for freedom and establishment of democracies, the rise of awareness and bringing the truth to the new generation, and for sustainable development and protection of the environment.

Within the session on moral values in politics, participants also discussed the problems and the nature of inter-ethnic conflicts observed in Crimea (Ukraine), Latvia and Serbia and Montenegro. Young activists summarised

Forum participants

that tolerance, the ability to understand and fortitude in decision-making are the principal features that should be relevant to politicians who are holding the decision-making power over complex issues of intercultural dialogue.

Participants had a chance to meet Mr Mario Soares, former President of Portugal, who told his life story of thirty years of struggle with the dictatorship regime in his country, twelve times in prison, deportations and banishment. Mr Soares shared his vision of values in politics, and emphasised that he was always personally convinced that political activity was not the way to earn money or a possibility for career growth. Rather, for him it was an ideal model of unselfish service in the name of peace, ending the colonial wars, establishing democratic values, integrating Portugal into Europe and the World, and – above all – strengthening freedom. Mr Soares compared the new generations with

to the defence of common European values, to a Europe responsible for its own future and the future of the whole world.

At the end, the Forum participants outlined the importance of the development of dialogue between young activists from different countries and expressed their interest in the next year’s Forum meeting.

For the fourth time the Young Politicians Forum has gathered young people from different countries, who believe that political leadership should be based upon principles of trust, responsibility, transparency and partnership. The first Forum was held in 2002 with the participation of 20 activists from seven countries; in 2003 and 2004 the Forum meetings gathered young people from ten countries (see www.cpe.org.ua for more information).

Foundations for Freedom (www.f-4-f.org), which assists in the development of the values of democracy and freedom in CEE countries, provided support in arranging the Forum by covering the travels costs and accommodation fees of representatives from the countries of Eastern and Central Europe.

Things I’ve done, Things I’ve learned Mario Soares speaks at YPF wine, which could turn out to be good one year, but the next year be awful. Each new generation could reveal itself and make a breakthrough or could bring nothing useful for social development. He said that he looks at young people today with hope. He underlined that they could reach self-realisation and make the world better.

One of the Forum discussions was devoted to the issues of the civil responsibility of political parties. Participants identified the principles of partnership, transparency, teamwork and civil service as the key components in the development of responsible parties. Young activists shared the experience their countries have achieved in terms of the participation of women and youth in public and political activity.

The discussion “Europe: a home we have in common – what does it mean to be a European?” was attended by Mr Michel Koechlin, representative of Initiatives of Change International in the Council of Europe, who gave a short input on this topic. Mr Koechlin has dedicated his whole life to the building of mutual understanding between the European nations. He shared his impressions about the last events around the referendum on the European Constitution and emphasised that, for him, to be a European means to respect the diversity of European nations, to serve the nations of Europe and to search for common goals. Michel underlined that today’s Europe needs fighters, so-called “European kamikazes”, who are ready to devote their life

Imagine that you have to give away all of your senses and leave just one. What would you leave?!

The ability to see, to hear or to feel?! Personally, I think I’d keep memory. (However, it may not be amongst the human senses.) Why? Most probably, because it’s a certain archivefile of our life, where all gathered information is stored – all that ever happened to us is there.

It’s raining cats and dogs in Novosibirsk, there is no sun and everything has become dull, but my memory is stormed by sunny summer recollections.

I was lucky enough to visit my friends in Crimea and Moldova this summer. Such friendly visits are very healthy, to my mind. They not only strengthen personal relationships, but positively influence the whole Network.

Personally, I not only had a good rest in the Crimean Summer camp – got to know some new people and re-explored people I met before (in this very personal, leisured atmosphere), but also managed to take part in the Training of Trainers organised for the Moldovan team.

What has this Training given to me? Certainly, it is quite hard to become a professional trainer in these couple of days. I also believe that the main goal was not to make professional trainers at the end of it, but rather to motivate participants and help them to become one. I have realised that although the Changing course is quite a specific one, it very much depends on the team who prepares it.

After seeing the overall picture of the course and understanding its structure, I started to look at it not only from a participant’s point of view (as it was before), but 5

also as a potential member of junior faculty realising the responsibility one has towards possible course participants.

Training of Trainers is a very useful and needed event, though it only deals with the theory. Changing Course is the practice. As to my plans, although I wanted to take part in a faculty before, I was not very confident about my skills and, therefore, kept silent. After Training of Trainers, my selfconfidence has grown and I believe that, if I really want to, I can change the situation. Besides, being a part of faculty brings you even more learning!

Anna Bokk (Russia)

Rejoice of Changes My last two months were filled with joy, happiness and fun. Thanks to my friends I realised and felt once again that F4F community is more like a family to me.

All of my best friends have F4F background. One of them experienced a great change in her life recently - a baby! THE Baby! First IofC child in Ukraine! I felt so excited and thrilled but at the same time sad and terrified…Nothing will be the same any more. But isn’t the change a thing we are fighting for?! So, rejoice! And that is something I do while looking at a new life in the hands of a friend I love so dearly.

Besides that, some happiness was brought by the visit of Angela/Anna team to Ukraine and the chance to talk to my best friends and share my birthday with them.

I got a lot of excitement from witnessing how people I care about prepare for and start their travelling and learning.

I love travelling myself and support it in others in all possible ways. So it was a pleasure to know that some of F4F curious people will join IofC programs all over the world, and to give them spiritual support in some of preparation for these changes in their lives.

The rest of my joy comes from two events which I cannot but mention…This is something almost every girl, sooner or later, thinks and dreams of…WEDDING! :) This year was filled with love and affection for many people, but for some it resulted in a nice party with lots of music, dancing, wine, beauty, fun and something more intangible and sacred, which is called marriage.

Both weddings I have been at were unbelievably beautiful, unexpectedly well organised, both in Moldova and both promising to last forever!

And that is not the end. I am getting ready to travel again, this time to the Western part of my own country, to experience the change again. Change in my community, my family - wedding of my dear friend Ulyana Utrisko. And again, as with any change, I feel both sad and happy at the same time…Nothing will be the same again.

My family is growing and changing. The time has come when our F4F generation faces new questions and 6

challenges - not on the global changes world’s scale, but on the global scale of life changes. And it is not easier, but so exciting!

Sasha Shimina (Ukraine)

Romanian Welcome In May, 2005 I was meant to go to Baia Mare, Romania to lead a Changing course (the first one to lead on my own with Kees and Marina Scheijgrond as my overlooking faculty) as well as to support the team there and to see my friends. Funny enough (or not funny) none of the courses planned from autumn 2004 to spring 2005 (which was the time when Anna Pozhogina and myself have become F4F co-ordinators) took place in the announced time due to different reasons. By now most of them have already happened. The same destiny applied to the Romanian course as well. So, in the end I went to Romania for two latter reasons, which actually relieved me quite a lot, cause I was too scared to lead a course and felt that I wasn’t ready to do it yet. So, God was gracious to me as usually! Lena Kashkareva (Crimea, Ukraine) and Sergio Costas (Moldova) have joined me in this trip.

The time was full of meetings, chill-outs, conversations, sharing and learning on both parts. We’ve met a few new people, friends of our F4F friends, had a big team meeting.

Most of the conversations that we had were about the course that didn’t happen and the reasons for that. The team really needed the course and so many of them put their hearts into the preparation, but still the reasons like not enough communication and lack of experience in organizing a Changing Course, not enough explanation documents and help provided for that played their part. A learning point was to see that even though it was very hard to raise money in Romania, the team there is a part of a big network of people with experience, who we hope are ready to help their friends in whatever ways possible. Another issue to discuss was the role of a team in F4F/IofC. Some teams, like Romanian, feel that their team is a very young one that needs to learn from others where to go and what shape to take. And even though it is true that there are some ‘older’ teams of F4F in the region with a bit more experience, their experience is just their experience. The main role of F4F (as it was originally set) was to enable young people to become self-starters and initiators of change through courses and other activities. We don’t have a follow-up programme worked out and some may see it as a downfall of F4F. But that is how we have worked so far, that enabled so many teams and individuals to find or make an effort in searching their own calling and to follow it the way they believed was right. Having said that I would encourage each one of us to see how our knowledge and experience can be helpful to

different teams and to find ways to share it with them.

My time with Romanian team confirmed my own notion that in F4F we don’t have a hierarchy or age of teams, we have the diversity that allows each team to be a valuable and equal part of a bigger team working for the benefit of the whole family.

That is exactly how I felt being looked after by my Romanian friends. There have always been somebody taking care of us in Baia Mare. The diversity of what we were able to experience due to it there was also good. We had some religious experience: Norbert Goia and Andrei Breban took us to the monastery on the hill overlooking Baia Mare, then we observed candle making for Orthodox churches in the basement of Father Milan’s house. Cultural experience enriched us all the way through thanks to Diana Damsa and Andrei Breban, whose houses we stayed in. A special tour in the museum and parks of Baia Mare was offered by Olympia Pop, who was patiently answering all our questions about Romanian culture. We managed to hear stories of how our friends, most of whom are teachers in Romanian schools, use experience gained during F4F courses in their teaching practise, impressing teaching Committees with exercises and heart in what they do.

It was also interesting to do some special shopping (also useful experience) with Diana Barbu, who showed us some factories producing clothing for foreign designer shops and famous brands, but obviously the prices there are much cheaper. So, now I can show off with some designer clothing sold in famous UK shops (where I don’t usually go to because they are too expensive for me). Our friends and their parents very nicely cooked traditional Romanian food for us that provided us with a good mood. The last meal was barbecue with traditional drink “Zyika”(I’m too weak to drink it J) in Father Milan’s garden.

All that cohesion of cultural experience, food, learning points, discoveries about F4F, support received and provided, friendships and care made it a worthwhile experience for all of us. Very grateful to my Romanian friends, who put their heart in hosting us, Angela Starovoitova (Ukraine/UK)

religions.

For Marina and me it all started in Romania just over a year ago. We facilitated an anti-corruption seminar in Baia Mare, organized by our Romanian F4F friends. At the opening day some senior Danish IC friends from Copenhagen came as guests. They had heard about F4F, but this was their first introduction. They enjoyed every minute of it. Shortly afterwards we received a telephone call: “Can you come to Sierra Leone to help with a training programme for the entire RSL armed forces and police? The programme would have the shape of a massive training in the ‘Moral Foundations for Democracy’ for thousands of officers of the Sierra Leonean Police and Armed Forces over the next couple of years.” A couple of months later we hesitantly decided to say “yes”.

By now we know much more. It all started with a refugee from Sierra Leone, who had met IC in the asylum seekers centre near Copenhagen. John Bangura is now in his forties and works as a bus driver in the Danish capital.

When he came to Denmark twelve years ago he was a bitter, lonely man. Nine members of his family were murdered in the terrible civil war, which was devastating his country.

His parents were amongst them. John was filled with hatred and wanted to go back to his country one more time to take revenge and to kill the people who had killed his family. It was during his first visit to Caux that he was challenged: “John, why should you bring more misery to your warntorn country? Why don’t you use your energy and money to do something positive for your country?” A year later he was invited to attend an IC conference in Tanzania. There it happened! One morning, when he was sitting under a tree, having a quiet time, he heard this voice: “John, your country is on fire, your people are dying, you must do something about it!” From that moment John was a different man. With the help of his Danish friends, the same ones Marina and I had met in Romania, he founded “Hope Sierra Leone”, an organisation which is now present in the four main cities.

During the past three years HSL has initiated several interesting peace-building initiatives, such as a tree-planting ceremony with hundreds of former opponents in the civil war, and a farming project, where former enemies run the farm

Moving to Sierra Leone Foundations for Freedom has taken Marina and me to a tropical, warm and humid country called Sierra Leone in West Africa, which is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is only twice as big as our own country, The Netherlands. Five million people live there with 60% Muslims, 10 % Christians and 30 % animistic

Kees and Marina in Sierra Leone 7

jointly.

John started to realise that the bad relationships between the security forces and the complete lack of trust in civil society, which was caused by the atrocities during the civil war, were blocking all possibilities of bringing social, political and eventually economic stability back to the country. One morning during a visit to Freetown, he got the idea to call a senior police officer, Deputy General Oliver Somassa. He told the officer what had happened to him and how his entire outlook on life had changed. Then he invited him with a small delegation, including some army officers and representatives of Hope Sierra Leone to attend the “Agenda for Reconciliation” conference in Caux. This was in the summer of 2003.

It was in Caux that Oliver Somassa saw that he was driven by feelings of revenge as well. He too became a different man. That opened the way to a new challenging idea.

Why not offer the entire police force the opportunity for a similar experience? So the idea of a massive training programme was born.

When we came on board, the idea had matured, but needed to be worked on still quite a bit. We were requested to help with our F4F experience. That led to the outline of a training programme called “Moral Foundations for Democracy, a course for reconciliation and change in Sierra Leone”. The syllabus of the MFD course is now built on four main modules: 1) character building (with all the main subjects of the F4F Changing Course); 2) Trauma healing and conflict transformation; 3) Teamwork and cooperation; 4) Standing against corruption (STAC).

During the process it also became clear that, as well as the Army and Police, civil society should be equally represented in the MFD programme. It should be Tripartite.

So in January we had two pilot courses of seven days each. Courses were a bit different from Changing Courses with regard to the participants - 36 in each course, slightly older in age, mainly men and all volunteers to become trainers themselves. The atmosphere was very much

At the pilot course 8

the same as in Novosibirsk or Rozluch or Bixad, or wherever F4F is at work. And as always it is the experience of R&D time (quiet time) which is appreciated most and makes all the difference.

In the meantime the structure of the entire training programme had become clear. Our IC role is to train some 30 SL trainers, who from 2006 onwards would start an intensive training programme involving some 4,000 participant trainees in five years’ time. Preparing a trainer manual is part of the project, as are follow-up and support visits.

For coordination purposes a so-called Tripartite office will be set up in Freetown. Here all three parties – Police, Military and Civil Society represented by Hope Sierra Leone will coordinate the programme with the HSL representative as chair.

One of the advantages of a clearly structured project is the possibility of funding. Applications have gone out to the Dutch development programme, Cordaid. After thoroughly studying our proposal they have agreed to support the present Training of Trainers phase financially. Also a wellknown Danish institution is prepared to offer support. But that can be only for the beginning. The bulk of the programme, which will take place during the next five years, requires much more money. In January we went to see the Freetown UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) representative. After we had told him about the programme, he exclaimed: “This is what we have been looking for! If nothing is done to address the moral roots of the conflict, the chances are great that – once the UN peacekeeping forces have moved out - it will start all over again.”

The project in Sierra Leone is only at the beginning.

But it looks as if F4F training and experience, that has been developed over the past years, is showing its full potential in this West African context.

In September there will be another MFD course in Freetown. It is only a short course of four days. It has been added to the programme recently after a request from senior representatives of the three parties. “We have heard about this course from the January participants. Now, before we get involved in important decisions regarding the continuation, we want to experience first hand what it is all about.”

In November/December there will be a Training of Trainers course for some 40 potential trainers, who have participated last January. More to follow in the next Newsletter!

Kees and Marina Scheijgrond (The Netherlands)

F4F Community News “Three Weddings and the Baby” organisations. They have come back One said that F4F community to UK on September 18th and have shared their imis growing up and you can pressions with certainly feel this. This year F4F UK Comhas blessed F4F commumittee. nity with three weddings – two in Moldova and one in Training of Ukraine. And that’s only Trainers until October’05! launched in Anastasia Moldova Clipicova and Alexei David Curtis Kulikovsky got married on th has arrived in August 13 in Chisinau, folMoldova at the lowed by the weeding of end of August to Christina Cojocaru and Cristina & Erik launch a Eric Parsons on September nd “Changing 2 . Ulyana Utrisko and Course” Training of Trainers (ToT) for Yuriy Fedirishin (in Lviv) have their th Moldovan team. The aim of this ToT wedding on September 24 .

Besides, the F4F community was to introduce the participants, who have had a previous facilitator’s experience, to the main structure and approach of Foundations for Freedom course and give them skills to apply during the next Changing Course taking place in Moldova from September 17th- 26th. Moldovan participants were joined by Anna Bokk from Novosibirsk (read her article in this issue).

Alexei & Anastasia (particularly, the one in Crimea) has received another member – he is very little yet, but highly anticipated one! His name is Nikita and he was born on August 20th, 2005. The happy parents Anna Bondarenko and Aleksandr Poltorakov thank everybody for the support and congratulations they have received!

Peter and Rosemary Thwaites visit Ukraine Peter and Rosemary have visited Ukraine and three of its teams – in Kiev, Crimea and Lviv. Besides meeting with F4F team members, Thwaites’ have met with old IofC friends, visited a number of educational institutions and

F4F Website to be developed Foundations for Freedom have started to restructure the old website.

New F4F website will include more areas of interest for visitors with updated information and opportunities for getting involved, as well as M e m b e r Nikita & his parents Area, where F4F Network members can download pictures, participate in discussions and get access to essential documents of Foun-

dations for Freedom. The site will be launched under the general IofC website “family” with the help of IofC webteam.

Sheffield Community is organising the “Garage sale” for AFL-3 participants David Curtis and Sheffield’s IofC community this Saturday, September 24 th, are organising “Garage sale” to help raise funds for participants joining Action for Life -3 in India and South-East Asia this year.

Altogether, there are 7 people from Eastern Europe joining this programme and there are more than 30 participants from all over the world. The programme starts on November 1st in Panchgani, at IofC Centre in India.

F4F Crimean Summer Camp The Annual Crimean Summer camp took place on August 17th – 30th in one of Crimean resorts “The Quiet Bay”. The camp had gathered around 25 people from 7 places (Kharkiv, Kiev, Lviv, Crimea, Latvia, Russia and Moldova).

As always – it was a brilliant opportunity for friends to come together in an informal setting and to spend fabulous time hiking, swimming, talking, singing, cooking and getting sun tan!

This year camp has welcomed old friends and new people, who were not related to any of F4F community.

We had a chance to talk about Foundations for Freedom and Initiatives of Change, clean the beach form rubbish (in the framework of local action campaign initiated by Lviv girls) and learn more about each other through co-living.

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Summer Camp in Crimea

F4F Diary Calendar of Events: 19-20 October - F4F Committee Meeting in Sheffield 21-23 October - IofC European Saeima planning meeting in Kiev, Ukraine 1 November - Action for Life 3 starts in Panchgani, India 28 November – 4 December - Changing Course in Kharkiv, Ukraine December 2005 - Changing Course in Chernigiv, Ukraine (to be confirmed) December 2005 - Angela moves from UK to Crimea January 2006 - Changing Course in Novosibirsk (to be confirmed)

News from the Treasurer...

Generous gifts, both regular and surprises have been given to us since April for the work of F4F, including ÂŁ3900 pounds from South Africa!! After Caux, and looking forward to the courses in Kiev and Moldova, and the training trainers in Moldova, we will be about zero pounds by the end of the year. This is amazing as we continue to some how manage to find the resources for what we need to do. Gratitude and thanks go to all the effort of those who think, pray, and send us gifts.

Bhavesh Patel & Gordon Fuller

F4F crowd at Geneva Lake 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 editors Oleg Ermurati at oleg@blueyonder.co.uk, Angela Starovoitova at angelas@crimeainfo.com or Anna Pozogina at annapozogina@gmail.com.

Thank you.

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