Religious Youth Service
UPF chapters organize Religious Youth Service projects that offer service-learning opportunities with a special focus on developing personal leadership and peacemaking skills. Through living together and providing altruistic service in a community, participants demonstrate that it is possible for our global human family to come together in peace for our mutual well being.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS-Guatemala
Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala—Religious Youth Service Guatemala 2004, took place in the beautiful lakeside town of Santiago Atitlan. This was the 19th Friendship Americas Project and its main focus and theme was “The Role of Youth in the Creation of Global Peace.”
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS-Guyana
Georgetown, Guyana—Guyana, while hosting its first RYS, provided a warm welcome for participants at the City Hall through the cooperation of Mayor Hamilton Green and the Interfaith Council of Guyana. Majority of the work surrounded around fence construction, painting homes, and environmental cleanup.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS-Mongolia
Bayan-Ulgii, Western Mongolia—The 3rd RYS project in Mongolia focused on promoting cooperation between the Muslim and Buddhist population in Bayan Ulgii, located in the Western part of the country.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS-South Korea
ChunAn, Asan, DMZ, South Korea—The Interreligious Peace Sports Festival (IPSF), a unique and exciting project that has developed as an outgrowth of the Religious Youth Service (RYS). The program utilizes sports as a vehicle to promote interreligious interaction and understanding.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS-Solomon Islands
Tenaru, Solomon Islands—The RYS held its first project in the Solomon Islands from June 30 to July 6. The work was spread out over four worksites where participants were involved in construction, furniture assembly, painting and restoration.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS-Malaysia
Bethany House, Perale, Malaysia—The 8th RYS project to be hosted in Malaysia was held on May 5-9 at Bethay Home in Perak, Malaysia. The theme, which was “Service to Humanity – the Path to Peace and Unity” was expressed through a program of education and action that was guided by Ms. Sharifah Shakirah.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS-Sri Lanka
Bambarabedda, Sri Lanka—RYS participants were eager to take on the task of providing the children of the countryside a library as part of the local Buddhist monastery and community school. Technicians guided the volunteers through the different stages of construction.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: Charlotte Chie, Taiwan; Miss University 2003
When I close my eyes, I can still smell the air of Colombo. It was a fantastic experience. I’m so honored to represent all the delegates from Mr. and Miss University and participate in the service project held by Religious Youth Service (RYS) in Sri Lanka.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS - Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is one of the places where Religious Youth Service has invested heavily since 1992. Having embarked on peacebuilding initiatives during the civil war period, we could not attract any youth from the North or East for the first project because of the fierce fighting that had been going on between Tamil militant groups and the government forces for almost two decades.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS-Thailand
Klongtomtai, Krabi, Thailand—Seven RYS alumni organized a 3-day local RYS project in Klongtomtai, Krabi on March 21-24, 2004. The main project was Tree Planting co-hosted by Klongtomtai Sub District Local Government in Krabi Province and WFWP-Thailand.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: Religious Youth Service-Ghana
The Religious Youth Service has been active in Ghana since 1992, so during the January 13 –25, 2004 project the focus was on participants from Accra, the capital. Thirty-five participants from four nations id cleaning and offered personal care to hospital patients.
- Religious Youth Service
- Written by: RYS-Ghana
Accra, Ghana—This interreligious youth community bonded during their daily experiences of eating together, serving the needs of patients at the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital Adecta, cleaning the environment and meeting with patients.