Youth and Service
Paramaribo, Suriname - Participants in a Religious Youth Service project in Suriname Aug. 18-30, 2007, immersed themselves in the Muslim and Christian communities as they cleaned and cared for animals at a zoo and did landscaping and made new friends at a home for the elderly.
Ratnapura, Sri Lanka – RYS participants built a study hall and repaired and upgrade the existing play area of the local orphanage which houses 22 boys, all less than 12 years old.
RATNAPURA, SRI LANKA - A Religious Youth Service project in Ratnapura, Aug. 18-24, 2007, helped improve the lives of Tamil and Sinhalese children whose parents abandoned them or are in jail are sent by the government to the local orphanage.
IRFF "Discover True Friendship Service Tour: Asia Edition 2007" was held in Bangladesh July 10 - 25, 2007. The mission of the service tour was to construct the Jaigeer Peace Center, to make a brick road from the main road to the school, and to dig a tube well at the school site.
Newark, New Jersey, USA – RYS partnered with numerous non-profit and government organizations to street/sidewalk clean up (Olivier Street area, Broad Street area, Avon Avenue area), filling over 50 trash bags, totaling over 2000 gallons of trash. Participants also completed three peace/diversity mosaics that were donated to the City of Newark.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Thirty-four students were named as Collegiate Ambassadors for Peace in the first annual awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The event was jointly organized by two universities, the University of Malaya and the University of Utara Malaya. With the active collaboration of both universities, altogether 550 students from nine universities attended.
Utrecht, The Netherlands - Young people from different cultures and faiths joined in Utrecht, The Netherlands, for an interfaith service project July 28-Aug 6, 2007 to create peace mosaics at a playground and at a center for handicapped people.
An International Relief and Friendship Foundation representative visited Zambia to check on educational projects in Lusaka and Ndola July 17-August 1, 2007.
Utrecht, The Netherlands – 20 young people from different cultures and faiths gathered for a 10-day project to create a peace mosaic at a playground in Kanaleneiland, a neighborhood with a bad reputation in Utrecht, and also at De Paraplu, a center for handicapped people.
Sydney, Australia – RYS Global Management team member, Fazida Razak was invited with Sister Margaret Finlay and Sister Marie Theresa (both RYS alumni) to share at a conference attended by approximately 300 people from various ecumenical backgrounds and all walks of life including students, missionaries and NGOs.
Guyanan national junior 100 and 200-metre sprinter, Goddis Accra, returned home Thursday after winning the 200m and placing second in the 100m at the annual Inter-Religious Peace Sports festival in South Korea.
On July 6, 2007, the Interreligious Peace and Sports Festival (IPSF) presented a concert in the recently completed cultural center at Sun Moon University in Asan, Korea.