Bring 24 young ambassadors together for peace

Thank you for supporting the work of Encompass Trust. We wanted to send you a report with a difference this time. You are supporting our international programmes, which bring together young people from five countries for tolerance, community cohesion and peacebuilding.

The next programme is a little way off yet, so we thought we’d update you about some of the amazing work our international alumni have been up to recently. Remember, all of these people have been on an Encompass international programme previously. Our long term goal as always is to maintain contact with young people in order to support them to develop their own community projects, long after their initial programme.

Thanks to you they have been very busy!

Global Round Up

Petungsewu Wildllife Education Center, Malang, Indonesia
The fourth Bhinneka (“peace”) camp brought 24 participants from all over Indonesia (including North Sumatra, West Borneo, West Papua and East Java) together for dialogue. Participants explored issues such as identity, stereotypes and conflict; overcoming challenges, and working together with others to promote multi-cultural understanding and tolerance in Indonesia. Enthusiasm from participants was high, and many reported that the programme opened their minds to ideas around tolerance, empathy, team work, solidarity and equality. Meanwhile, the ‘House of Understanding’, Encompass Indonesia’s multi-faith hub and meeting centre for community cohesion, carries on gathering momentum.

Tulkarem, Palestine
Palestinian participants from 3 different Encompass Journeys came together to run a workshop for young people in their home town of Tulkarem entitled ‘Creating the Story of Your Life’. Diala (Feb 16), Hend (Nov 12), Tamera (Feb 15) and Khaled (JoU hopeful and resident artist) led young people in a reflection and discussion on personal and community identity, creatively adapting workshops from the Journey of Understanding to suit a younger age group and drawing on the facilitation skills they learnt on the international programme.

Syracuse, USA
US participants ran an event on campus breaking down the stereotypes and misinformation around refugees. The event included a showing of the film “God Grew Tired of Us” about the Lost Boys of Sudan in their journey to become US Citizens, followed by a Q&A panel featuring John Bul Dau, one of the stars of the film and founder of the John Bul Dau Foundation, and Nicole Watts, founder of Hopeprint, a refugee help centre in the Syracuse area. The stories they told highlighted the struggles that refugees face on a daily basis, like being treated with suspicion because they look different or are wearing a hijab. “Events like these are the first step to creating an open conversation and stopping misconception and stereotyping between people and cultures.” Nicole Watts, Founder of Hopeprint

Jerusalem, Israel
Israeli alumni have been running workshops for young people with Kids4Peace and teaching Hebrew to Eritrean asylum seekers to help build connections between communities. Recently Nawshin, a British participant, visited the friends she made from Israel and Palestine, and had the opportunity to help set up an international, interfaith iftar on a rooftop in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Slough, UK
British participants from Slough are running a monthly event called Diversitea – a chance for young people in their area to meet new people and discuss pertinent issues over a cup of tea. Over 40 young people attended the inaugural event, the theme of which was “Refugee-hood”, run in partnership with Slough Refugee Support and Aik Saath.
Encompass participants Aisha and Sanah also teamed up Scouts (3rd Wexham branch) to host a Faith Trail, enabling over 50 youngsters to explore the rich religious diversity of their home town, with stops at the Jamia Masjid and Islamic Centre, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Gudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha.

Thank you again for your support and for making our work possible.