Learning to be change-makers and trust-builders, young people from 11 countries spread out across Asia. Carole Khakula from Kenya is one of them:

Carole Khakula (centre) with Mushtaq from India, Song-Hee from Korea and Biplab from India at an institute for development for women in Gujarat. (Photo: Suresh Khatri)Professor Bandukwala seemed weary but resolute. Thrice his home had been ransacked and thrice he had landed in prison for his efforts on behalf of his community. ‘Muslims in Gujarat live in a state of fear,’ he told us. ‘This alienation is dangerous.’

Years ago, the retired nuclear physicist returned from America with a commitment to bridge the gap between the minority Muslim community and Hindus in his home state. In 2002, religious riots ripped through Gujarat. Hindu pilgrims, returning from the sacred city of Ayodhya, where in 1992 militants had razed the Babri Masjid mosque, provoked Muslims on the journey. As they neared their destination, their railway car was set on fire and 58 Hindus were burned alive. For several days, some 10,000 Hindus rampaged through Ahmedabad, looting and torching homes. Approximately 2,000 Muslims died there and across Gujarat.

Since then, many like Bandukwala have committed themselves to restoring these relationships, as well as what was lost in the Muslim community. He established the Zidni Imla Charitable Trust to bring quality education to Muslims in Gujarat.

This was but one of many encounters with people building trust, that those of us on the Action for Life programme have experienced during the past four months as we wove in and out of the different states across India. Others in this unique IofC programme learned about non-violence from Tibetan Buddhists in Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama in north India, while another group met those working for reconciliation and justice among tribal people in north-east India on the borders with Burma and China. In south India, a group found themselves interacting with orphans whose parents had died from AIDS or who had been abandoned.

Action for Life (AfL) is an IofC leadership training programme that aims to develop change-makers for the 21st century, equipped with integrity and faith, and committed to transformation in the world by starting with themselves. Now on its fourth seven-month course, it uses a combination of interactive training and experiential fieldwork to expand the capacity of each participant. Distinctively, the 21 participants and 14 staff come from different generations, nations and faiths, forming a diverse learning community which aims to demonstrate how our globalized world could live together – to ‘be the change you want to see in the world’, in Gandhi’s words.

The Action for Life 2009 group (Photo: Mark Thomas )Most of the participants are already part of trustbuilding initiatives in their own countries. The AfL experience continues to add value to their vision as they gather a myriad of skills and learning to take home.

Mushtaq Mohamed Malla is challenged by Professor Bandukwala’s story of persecution, as he reflects on his own situation in conflict-torn Kashmir. Together with young social workers and lawyers in the IofC Kashmir team, he has already embarked on a road of finding non-violent solutions, and he questions what more he could do. Even though conflict is the biggest problem, he believes that other problems – if given enough focus – could be critical to any solution: tackling massive corruption, individualism, the decline of moral standards, a loss of brotherhood…

‘Professor Bandukwala opened my eyes to see that to bring change in our society we should use the language of the people, which mostly is religion,’ says Mushtaq. ‘He said that the conflicts between Muslims, Jews and Christians can only be resolved by going back to our history. In doing so, we will realize that we all have the same ancestry. We should, in fact, be closer to each other. This changed my attitude towards Christians. I was otherwise negative towards them since I saw that most conflicts were between the Christians and Muslims.’

Miftahul Huda, another AfL participant, comes from Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population. Indonesia continues to experience divisions on ethnic, religious, political and social grounds.

But Huda strongly expresses hope: ‘Through IofC Indonesia, we are reaching out to this diverse community by making friendships and building trust. We have struck up friendships with the Chinese community and students at a Christian University. This way we can solve conflicts like friends.

‘Like Indonesia, India is diverse in religion. While on fieldwork, I met Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu leaders who are working for humanity. This opened my mind. What counts is how all these religions can contribute to the country’s welfare. An Islamic teaching speaks of the best people being those who give meaning to others’ lives. The diversity of religion, ethnicity and culture is the source of a country’s strength.’

In June 2008, Huda was part of the organizing team for an International Youth Forum in which young people from different countries converged to discuss the role of youth in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

While preparing for the coming visit by an AfL team to Cambodia, one of the AfL support staff painted a grotesque picture of the communist rule under the Khmer Rouge which caused the deaths of one fifth of the country’s total population through execution, torture, starvation and forced labour. We learned how in 1979 Vietnam invaded Cambodia and removed the Khmer Rouge regime from power.

The 10-year Vietnamese occupation, however, created animosities between the two peoples. In response to this bitter history, young IofC teams in each country created a Cambodia–Vietnam Dialogue, which seeks to heal the past and bring these two countries together.

Thanh Tam Phan from Vietnam now speaks of taking this dialogue to another level. ‘I want to understand where the hate is coming from,’ she says, ‘so that the two countries can care for each other. On AfL, I have had ideas from various IofC programmes, such as Family Workshops, Peace Circles and Vietnam I Care, which could strengthen the dialogue.’

Ann Njeri’s conviction for peace-building found expression through organizing similar programmes in her native Kenya. Her passion was tested during the recent post-election violence that saw approximately 1,500 killed and 600,000 displaced, as the largest constituent tribes – the Kikuyu and Luo – were pitted against each other. Years ago, Njeri’s family was a victim of tribal clashes when they were kicked out of their home.

Njeri speaks passionately of her conviction: ‘Forgiveness, embracing our diversity, understanding the other and respecting our differences is my message and part of my life. A campaign is under way and I have made a commitment to remain in the front line to fight the monster of tribalism. If the right steps are not taken, there could be more deaths, suffering and pain. AfL is giving me different perspectives which are strengthening my vision.’

Action for Life has been planned and coordinated by a ‘core team’ consisting mainly of graduates from previous AfL programmes. Tatiana Minbaeva, for instance, came back from Russia to help run AfL because, ‘I was touched by how the core team had cared for and supported us. To think and care for others is the biggest stretch in my life and, so far, the most satisfying.’

Four AfL teams have now left India for other parts of Asia, continuing our journey of discovery into change and trust-building before taking its lessons back into our own situations after our graduation in May 2009.