cleveland, october 2010 the middle east i live in: a journey of peace and dialogue by jean-paul...

Cleveland, October 2010

The Middle East I live in: A journey of peace and dialogue

By Jean-Paul Chami

¡ MissionWorks !

Introduction

• Validating your experiences and sharing some of mine• On Lebanon

1. Story of the creation of Lebanon 2. A Mosaic of different cultures and faiths3. A power vacuum in the region

Introduction

• What is FDCD?1. New mission, vision and values2. Youth and women3. Program 1: Interfaith dialogue (i.e. Int’l Work and Study Camp)

4. Program 2: Peacebuilding (i.e. Conflict Resolution in Iraq)

5. Program 3: Human rights and citizenship

Introduction

Personal Experiences

“The conflicts that we are able to handle the best

are our own…”

- Davin Bremmer -

Personal experiences

1989: “My daily routine” during the Christian civil war in Beirut

“a healing experience…”

- Story of Ziad from Iraq -

Personal experiences

“a momentum for reconciliation”

- Story of Khaled from Iraq -

Personal experiences

“a chance for changing perspectives…”

- Story of Mohammed from Lebanon -

Personal experiences

Lessons from the field

“Go to the people, Live with themLearn from them , Love themStart with what they know Build with what they have

But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say: "We have done this ourselves”

- Lao Tzu-

Lessons from the field

“A frog’s eye view versus a bird’s eye view…”

- Kai Jacobsen -

Lessons from the field

“We do not learn from experiences…We learn from reflecting on experiences.”

- John Dewey -

Lessons from the field

“Let your actions speak so loud that no one can hear your words”

- Mary Levy -

Lessons from the field

“We can discover more about a person during one hour of play than in one year of

conversation”

- Plato -

Lessons from the field

“Don’t do anything unless it’s play”

- Marshall Rosenberg -

On interfaith dialogue

On interfaith dialogue

Video Time !

On interfaith dialogue

1) Interfaith dialogue is a WAY OF LIFE and a LEARNING JOURNEY1) Deeper understanding of one’s own faith2) Improved communication skills

2) Interfaith dialogue WORKS ! 3) Interfaith dialogue is about empathy4) Interfaith dialogue is NOT about the content as much as it is

about the process of dialoguing 5) Interfaith dialogue is not the melting of religions into one but

the affirmation of the specificities of each religion and learning to accept it

Interfaith Dialogue is…Interfaith Dialogue is NOT…

“Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature”

- George Bernard Shaw -

On interfaith dialogue

Extremism versus the silent masses

Religions: philosophy versus practice:

“The Cat that that was tethered”

- Swami Sukhabodhananda -

On interfaith dialogue

Philosophy versus Rituals

“With tolerance comes hesitation”

- A friend -

On interfaith dialogue

“Where there is complete truth, there is no peace. And

where there is peace, there is no complete truth”

- Babylonian heritage -

Thank You

Jean-Paul Chami T: +961-1-399-133M: +961-3-721-801jp.fdcd@gmail.com