Iftar Dinner at Mothi Baba Dargah, Chennai
On 14 July 2015 Adv. Varadarajalu Rengapashyam, IARF Council member for India, held an Iftar Dinner (traditional meal eaten by followers of Islam on sunset during Ramadan, the month of fasting, which is often an occasion for inter-religious encounter) at Mothi Baba Dargah Interfaith Centre (you can read more about it here) attended by about 400 persons of different faiths.
Iftar Meal held in Chennai on 14 July 2015
New Office Administrator
Robert Papini, who has been the Office Administrator since 2003, has retired from the association as of this week. His duties were taken over by Łukasz Liniewicz, a resident of the Netherlands. Łukasz was appointed following a thorough recruitment procedure. Though we are sorry to see Robert go, and grateful for his contribution and support to our organization, we have great expectations and hopes concerning Łukasz’s work in IARF.
Below you will find a short bio note written by Łukasz and his contact details.
Łukasz Liniewicz
e-mail: luke[at]iarf.net, Skype: iarf_skype, Facebook: www.facebook.com/l.liniewicz
I am 25 years old, was born in Poland and currently live in the Netherlands, where I studied international (European) law at the University of Groningen and Christianity and Society in Tilburg. Besides my work as IARF’s Office Administrator I work as a freelance translator. I am a member of the Mennonite Church, which in the Netherlands is a liberal, progressive faith community. In the past I’ve worked in an administrative and coordinating capacity in church offices and faith organizations, and hope to use what I have learned to contribute to IARF, whose goals I wholeheartedly support, as well as to continue learning to live up to what is expected of me. Please don’t hesitate to contact me whenever I can be of assistance.
Kenya Chapter – Training of Trainers for Human Rights Education
Jerusalem Centre, Kitale, KENYA
10-12 April 2015
Host: Kenya Chapter President Bishop Michael Wafula
Facilitator- Mrs. Joyce N. Wamalwa
Co. Trainers- Sister Irene
Rev. Lawrence Adera
Bishop Martin Mwambu
Duncan Magero
There was a warm welcome from the participants. For few hours we were given sermons by the Chapter President, Bishop Michael, who introduced his team to the congregation.
There were about 33 people who were interested.
They were divided into two categories. This was done according how they have been participating on chapter event training for HRE that has been held all over the country.
The senior class had 15 students and the junior class had 18 students.
The first class was trained in Mt. Zion hall by the chapter lead trainer Mrs. Joyce. The materials she used in the training were from The Human Rights Education Handbook (Effective practices for learning, action and change)
The second class had 18 students. The majority has idea about HRE but had not gone a thorough training like the first class. They were trained at Jerusalem hall. They got their training in support of the book called Many Faiths, One Humanity.
The class was mentored by the other trainers under the supervision of the President and the secretary.
The training ended well with a ceremony awarding the first class with a participation certificate.
The training took two days. There were a few suggestions before it ended. The second class requested to have their final training on June this year, which shall be communicated later and shall depends on the availability of the funds.
The participants enjoyed a group photo at the end.
Rev. Lawrence Adera, IARK Kenya chapter Secretary
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Introductory Meeting of IARF – Kampala, Uganda, 10may2015
Introductory Meeting of IARF – Kampala, Uganda, 10 May 2015 (PDF 7 pages, illustrated)
Human Rights Education Facilitators’ Training Program
26 – 28 June, 2015
Venue: St. Ann’s Generalate
St. Ann’s Retreat cum Seminar Centre, H.No: 12-13-485, Nagarjunnagar Colony, Tarnaka, Secunderabad – 500017, Telangana State, India
HRE training Hyderabad 2015 (pdf 1 page) 
Kenya Chapter – Human Rights event, Bungoma
Human Right Sensitization Meeting
@Prayers Warriors Ministry Center, Bungoma, Western Kenya
1st March 2015
BUNGOMA IARF REPORT (PDF illustrated, 8 pages)
President’s New Year message 2015
Dear friends in IARF,
The IARF World Congress 2014 in Birmingham, United Kingdom, has marked the end of a transition period in which IARF came to grips with the fact that it is currently an organisation run almost entirely by volunteers.
We are fortunate to have retained financial support from many of our member groups, especially those from Japan, for the duration of the process. In 2015, we shall be entering a new era.
At the World Congress, we have shown our potential in human resource and vision. Now, we shall have to capitalise on this. It will be my aim to bring IARF from a period of recapitulation and reflection into an era of renewed action.
Friends, when we parted in Birmingham I made an appeal to you not to stop there, but to continue on our path of religious freedom.
In 2015, let us share our vision of a world where diversity is enjoyed, where every religion is equally respected, and where peace emanates from the spirituality essentially carried within all human beings.
I wish you all a happy new year.
Wytske Dijkstra,
IARF president
India Chapter Chennai branch Human Rights Day event
10 December 2014
@Quaide – Milleth College for Men, Medavakkam, Chennai
PROGRAM:
Invocation: – Students
Welcome Address: Dr. D. Ayub Khan Dawood, QMC for men, Chennai-100
Presidential Address: Dr. A. Rafi, M.Com. M.Phil., Ph.D., Principal, QMC for men, Chennai-100
Inaugural address & Power point on UDHR: K. Ramachandran National Vice-President, IARF, India Chapter
Sharing experience with IARF: Dr. Prof. Rajaram, Principal, Sri Karpaga Vinayagar College of Education, Kamuthakudi. Ramnad District
Special Address on Human Values & Ethics: Dr. Latha Subramanian, Assistant Professor, Dept. Of Criminology, University of Madras
Street Play on Human Rights violations & Remedy: College students
Distribution of Certificates: Mr. J.M. Naidu, Chairman, Anna Nagar west extn. Branch IARF, Chennai
Vote of Thanks: Mrs. K. Yasmin, Asst. Professor and Program Officer NSS Unit, the Quaide Milleth College for Men
IARF-HRE Invitation for Human values & ethics 10.12.2014-1 at QMC, Medavakkam (Invitation doc)
Human Rights Awareness Drive by young adults, S. India
Awareness Drive on the Universal “Human Rights”
Place: Bangalore & Chennai, India
Date : 16th November 2014
Regional coordinators : Fareena Maria (Bangalore) & Vijay Sarathy (Chennai)
On a Sunday morning when most people tend to sleep in and while away their time, a few young adults joined hands to step up and make a difference. The RFYN team from south-India decided to have an awareness drive on human rights as the majority of people in our country are unaware about it.
The awareness drive mainly involved people from 2 cities – Bangalore and Chennai. The drive was a 2 day event where people from both cities were educated using different means.
On Saturday (15th November 2014), a group of 25+ young adults gathered to make up banners and posters depicting the 30 articles as mentioned in the universal charter for human rights. These banners were then kept on display for people to see and learn. These banners were also shared with people using social media. In this digital age, this was the most fastest and efficient means to increase curiosity among the youngsters. A lot of people wanted to know more about how they can do their bit to help others as well as how to manage when they witness a human rights violation.
On Sunday (16th November 2014), a group of 100+ young adults did a silent rally by holding up the banners. The march was for a period of 1 Hr 45 minutes and was on the shores of Marina Beach (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) from the labor statue to the Gandhi statue. The whole rally was lead by RFYN (Fareena, Vijay, Sowmya, Satya, Sri ram and Satish) from both the cities. All the participants were given free tshirts with the quote “Keep calm and give everyone equal rights” so as to encourage participation. We had police vans driving alongside us for protection which also garnered extra attention for our cause. The public was intrigued and clicked pictures while a lot of them congratulated our efforts.
This event marked the beginning of many greater things yet to come. A small initiative that was taken by us to do whatever little we could to help ourselves and those around us.
See photos of the event on Facebook
Reported by –
Fareena Maria & Vijay Sarathy
German Unitarian General Assembly 2015 (The 29th ‘Unitariertag’)
WHEN: Pentecost 2015 (22 to 25 May 2015 )
WHERE: Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany ( city of the Niebelungs, vineyards, and the roots of the Free Protestant–Unitarian movement )
Flyer_Unitariertag2015_english
Flyer_Unitariertag2015_deutsch
The Unitariertag is a unique chance to meet about 250 Unitarians and the independent Youth Group “Bund Deutsch Unitarischer Jugend, BDUJ“.
We want to discuss in workshops and during the meeting the needs of our members living in Germany and those in the diaspora who are challenged with a moving society leaving the mainstream Churches (Roman Catholic and Lutheran) and finding very often their answers to their questions in esoteric, humanistic and non-confessional communities.
Examples of Information Desk and Stalls from Indianapolis 1996
