On February 9, 2008 (Saturday) the United Religions Initiative Southeast Asia-Pacific (URI-SEAP) Regional Office, in cooperation with The Peacemakers' Circle Foundation, Inc. gathered 18 youths from different organizations, schools and faith backgrounds for a Youth Orientation on Creating a Culture of Peace through Interfaith Friendships.
The Peacemakers' Interfaith Dialogue Center played host to the meeting attended by representatives from the Catholic Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Wiccan and Indigenous faiths, and belonging to various organizations and institutions, namely: Y4U (Youth for Unity) interfaith circle; Generation Peace Network; PeaceTech; Xaverian Missionaries; Young Peace Society; Phil. Wiccan Society; St. Scholastica's College; New Horizon Integrated School, and the Youth Peace Camp. The afternoon started with a showing of the URI introductory video while participants came in, registered and waited for others to arrive. The program then opened with silent prayers and a warm welcome by URI-SEAP regional coordinator, Dr. Shakuntala Vaswani. This was followed by viewing of some short video clips courtesy of URI. These focused on Religiously- Motivated Violence, Hope, and the work of URI as a global interfaith grassroots community.
After watching the videos, the participants got the chance to introduce themselves one by one as they also shared about what struck them most about the films they viewed. As always, the most favorite and striking for them was the seven-minute, semi-animated film entitled "Hope". The young crowd agreed that it is a creative and captivating production that, despite the absence of words, it has expressively put across profound messages of universal wisdom for peace and healing of the world. While having snacks the group was treated to another video on the 2002 URI Rio de Janeiro Assembly and a slide show of the first interfaith youth encounter of 2006 held in Manila which gave birth to the Y4U (Youth for Unity) interfaith circle.
Having seen enough videos for the afternoon, the participants were then engaged in a processing/planning on what to do next. This was led by Peacemakers' Circle member, peace educator and youth peace camp facilitator, Ms. Angge Pacifico-Herrera, who animated the discussion. Starting with limbering exercises to warm up the body and perk up the mind, she invited each one to draw images on the white board to illustrate: one thing that they wanted to change or remove from the world, and one thing they wanted to see in the world. Next, she asked the group to think of a step or action one could take in order to realize that which each one aspired for. The enthusiastic youths were then invited to share their passion and talents to create a culture of peace through interfaith friendships in the global URI network .
Since it was the first meeting the group did not expect to immediately lay out big projects but at least the seeds of inspiration and hope were planted in the hearts and consciousness. So much so that the next gathering was already set up for next month which the group decided to hold outdoors (amidst nature) with the theme on: Relaxation and Unwinding while planning for the whole year's program.
