Stories from around the globe show how a united world is already in motion. This platform highlights experiences, initiatives, and projects from people and communities working for unity and peace. Explore what’s happening and get inspired.
<p><em>COMAI-sponsored debate on Francis October 19 in Rome</em></p> <p><strong>(ANSA) - Rome -</strong> The Association of Arab Communities in Italy (COMAI) will celebrate this year's Eid al-Adha, or the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice, with a debate in Rome on mutual cultural understanding and the possibilities for dialogue with Pope Francis.</p> <p><strong>The Eid festival begins Tuesday</strong>.COMAI will hold its debate on Saturday, October 19 in a hotel in the Italian capital.</p> <p><strong>"The Eid festival will be an occasion</strong> to meet and debate religious issues and the turning point represented by Pope Francis", COMAI President Foad Aodi explained.</p>
<p><em>Ten rules launched at the end of the Meeting "Learning Faternity" in Castelgandolfo<br /></em></p> <p><strong>During the conference-workshop</strong> about Education and Fraternity wich took place last mounth ( Castelgandolfo 6-8 September) the Project of Learning Fraternity continues with lot's of enthusiasm with the "Ten rules for a Fraternal Education" .</p> <p><strong>Fraternity: person-relationship</strong></p> <p><strong>1.</strong> Be true witnesses of fraternity. “Educate with one’s life”: offer a model based on the authenticity of the educator’s being, on trust, dialogue, unconditional acceptance.
<p><em>It will start in Berlin and will go through Moscow, Irkutsk, Beijing, Pyongyang, Seoul and Busan. A journey towards reunification of Koreas</em></p> <p><strong>A Peace Train has recently started its journey</strong> from Berlin, Germany through Russia and China to northeast Asia and the World Council of Churches (WCC) 10th assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea.<br />The train, which aims to raise awareness about the 60-year division of the Korean Peninsula, will travel through Moscow, Irkutsk, Beijing, Pyongyang and Seoul, and will finally arrive in Busan around the beginning of the assembly on 30 October.</p> <p><strong>The Peace Train is a project</strong> of the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Korean Host Committee for the WCC assembly.</p>
<p><em>A book written by a South Korean poet and nurse receives award from Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare. A story of fraternity</em></p> <p><strong>“My mother, in her eighties, has begun to make steps</strong> on the flowery path: gradually she no longer thought, and saw things with the heart. Finally, her heart gave in and her pure eyes were all that remained. She’s often a child of six or seven and asks about her small friends; sometimes she weeps because of her longing to see her Mamma and Papa;but then she trustfully smiles as she steps in and out of the flowery path.</p> <p><strong>Occasionally, following my Mother</strong>, I also step onto the flowery path, and the worrisome burdens of the world are turned into light clouds in the sky; I also become a mere flower within my mother’s secure enclosure.”</p>
<p><em>The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons awarded Prize amid Syria conflict</em></p> <p><strong>OSLO—The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons</strong> was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons."</p> <p><strong>The award, given in Oslo by the Norwegian Nobel Committee</strong>, comes as the intergovernmental OPCW is currently overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. The Netherlands-based group was launched in 1997 when the Chemical Weapons Convention arms control treaty took effect. The Convention has 189 signatories and Syria has applied to be the 190th.</p> <p> </p>
<p><em>The Nepalese government has launched an ambitious new programme which aims to eradicate illiteracy in the country by 2015</em></p> <p><br /><strong>The Literate Nepal Mission aims</strong> to ensure 1.38 million Nepalese people learn to read and write every year for three years, with an investment of Rs 3.95bn (£27.9m). According to the Ministry of Education (MoE), the country’s literacy rate currently stands at 70%.</p> <p><strong>In 2008, the literacy rate was 55.6%.</strong> A previous drive in 2009 – The Literacy Campaign – failed to meet its target of wiping out illiteracy, but has paved the way for this most recent programme.
<p><em>Likens Christianity to a symphony with different instruments</em></p> <p><strong>(ANSA) - Vatican City, October 9</strong> - Pope Francis on Wednesday called on the faithful to embrace diversity within Christianity at a general audience in which he spoke on the meaning of "catholic" as it pertains to the Church.</p> <p><strong>"The Church is catholic because it is home to everyone</strong>.</p> <p><strong>Everyone is a child of the Church and everyone is in that home</strong>," Pope Francis declared to a crowd of followers in St. Peter's Square estimated by the Vatican to number 60,000.
<p><em><em>An unprecedented high number of names being put forward this year.</em></em></p> <p><strong>The highly prestigious Nobel Prize for Peace</strong> is seeing an unprecedented high number of names being put forward this year. There are more than 250 candidates. The list is kept secret. But bookmakers are giving two to one odds that Malala Yousafzai wins it.</p> <p><strong>The 16-year-old was shot in the head and left</strong> for dead by Taliban attackers in her native Pakistan, but she survived. She had been actively campaigning for support for education for girls. If she were chosen, she would be the youngest laureate in the history of the Nobel awards.(...)
<p><em>The medical director of a clinic in Italy shares what touches her most when treating patients. During 18-19 October, in Padua, health professionals will gather together in a conference to share reflections and projects on patient-centred care.</em></p> <p><strong>“I was standing near a stretcher in the Emergency Room</strong> when I saw two perfectly dressed women at the end of the corridor. They were followed by a small child whose jumpsuit was a bit too big. He appeared hesitant with his astonished gaze as he clutched a small airplane close to his chest. I wondered who the boy’s mother was because he didn’t resemble either one of the two who, by the way, answered in unison to every question about the boy’s health. Meanwhile, Vito sat on a clinic couch, refusing to give his airplane to the nurse who wanted to take a blood sample.”</p> <p><strong>This is the story of Marina D’Antonio</strong>, an Italian doctor who says that she’s ‘in love’ with the Gospel. She has already racked up countless experiences with patients of all ages and backgrounds. And she says that she has always made an effort to set aside rules and impositions that often hide behind the white coat, and embrace the humanity of each patient that comes to her for treatment.In this story the main character is a child.</p>
Dialogue & Interculture
New Humanity NGO presented the M.E.D.I.T.erraNEW project — co-financed by the Erasmus Plus Program — to the Youth Section of UNESCO in Paris.
Peace & Human Rights
Amid the rubble of Syria, art becomes an act of resistance. Discover the story of Aeham Ahmad, the “The Pianist of Yarmouk”, who defied the horror of war with the invincible beauty of his musical notes.
Operation Mato Grosso is working on over 100 missions across Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, all rooted in education, hard work, and solidarity. Jacopo Manara, who has been a volunteer for years, tells us their story.
An interview on communication with Michele Zanzucchi, journalist and writer, former director of Città Nuova, professor of communication at Sophia University Institute and at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and author of around forty books.
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