I recently returned from serving as a 2011 Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar in India. For 20 years, I dreamt about being a Fulbrighter. It seemed the time was never right to apply – starting a new job, going to grad school, getting married, moving, having kids – but finally I just did it! I left my job after six years at the Omaha Community Foundation and this turned out to be a life-changing opportunity to grow personally, professionally and spiritually.

I was born, brought up, and most often voted Republican. Recently in Arizona, our Republicans have become very unlike the ones I remember, such as my father, Senator Wadsworth, Senator Saltonstall, Senator Dirksen, Senator Goldwater, and President Reagan.

Former Caux Scholar (2009) Nnaemeka Ikegwuoku, from the Delta region of Nigeria, won the Young Person of the Year award at the Future Awards 2011 presentation in Lagos. Adebola Williams, who is the event’s operations director, said. “We are ready to show anyone that there is a new generation that has integrity, that is not corrupt and that is ready to build this nation."

Yoko Hisano, originally from Japan, now works in the field of interational education in the USA. She writes about what she learned through the Life Matters course and how it has affected the way she lives now.

When I was in college, I found out about IofC Japan. I took part in several youth gatherings, conferences, and leadership trainings and met many amazing people from all over the world who came together because they all shared a common goal: a hope, a wish, a conviction to make this world a more peaceful place.

When I left my home in the North I was full of hostility and enmity; I saw myself as one of the oppressed. I learned that the oppressed have the choice of revenge or forgiving and working for a new beginning for everyone. This has led me to make more than thirty visits to North Korea since 1978 in efforts to bring about reconciliation.

A 95-minute DVD of the concert given by the Colwell Brothers and Herb Allen at Caux, Switzerland on August 14, 2010 is now available for $20 (plus shipping & handling). The film, shot with four cameras, makes you feel like you were there! To order from Initiatives of Change, please email.

Former Caux Scholar, Jeanné Isler, recently accepted a position as Project Director of "Search for Common Ground on Race." Hope in the Cities was part of the Racial Healing Working Group convened by Search for Common Ground (SFCG) and the Faith and Politics Institute in July of 2009.

”What does Initiatives of Change (IofC) do?” I've heard a number of opinions on this topic and certainly offered some of my own. But it wasn't until I asked myself a simple question, “What did IofC do for me?”, that I really found an answer.