خبرة متطوع في حوار الحضارت

(مؤتمر"كلمة سواء" السنوي السادس: "حوار الحضارات")
(كلمات الجلسة الثانية)

I am here as a representative of Mennonite Central Committee. This is the relief, development, and service arm of the Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches of North America. Mennonites are a Protestant Christian group originating in the Reformation of 16th century Europe. The birth of this church was not easy. Believers were persecuted and many died for their faith. The Mennonite Church bases its beliefs on a close relationship to Jesus Christ and an attempt to follow the path that He followed.

The Mennonite Church is a traditional peace church. From the beginning, nonviolence has been a primary belief. This is more than nonparticipation in war, but is a way of relating to people you meet and within your own family.

The Mennonite Central Committee has more than 900 volunteers working in more than 50 countries. In Lebanon we have a history of work since 1978.

Our partnership with the Imam Sadr Foundation goes back to the late 1980s when a representative from MCC met Sadreddine Sadr in Iran. In Lebanon, we have worked together, and continue to work together on projects since the mid 1990s. In 1997, both organizations agreed to place an English teacher for one year at the Imam Sadr Foundation orphanage in Tyre. Julia Wagler arrived and lived in Tyre with Doctora Maha Abu Khalil.

One ofthe primary objectives ofthis placement was to change North American stereotypes of Muslims. It became clear during the year that this kind of learning went both directions. Sitt Rabab told our staff once that, "We don't see Julia as a Westerner. She is one of us."

The staff et the orphanage did their best to include Julia and I know that she felt like one of the family. Julia also placed a lot of emphasis on relationships with the staff at the school. She fasted during Ramadan and is still speaking in churches and conferences about her experience here. Recently, she introduced Sitt Rabab at an Imam Sadr Foundation conference in North America.

The title of this session is "The Other Within the Dialogue of Civilizations". Julia's experience has been mirrored by the experience of my family. Two of my three children were born in the Middle East; one in Cairo and one in Beirut. For five of the last eight years, I have been one of the "Others". At times this has been difficult, but there have been many humorous and learning experiences. I would like to share a few of these.

My wife, Suzanne, and I taught English to adults in the city of Port Fouad in Egypt. On our last night in Egypt before returning to Canada, we had a party for our friends. At the end of the party four young Muslim men stayed longer and obviously wanted to tell us something. They told us that now they knew there were good Western Christians different from what they had seen or heard before. We told them that now we knew about many good Muslims in the Middle East as well. We had had an experience together that broke these stereotypes.

I will always remember sitting on a balcony in Cairo and hearing the call of the muezzin coming from the mosques around us. It was an incredibly beautiful sound and something that I will always remember.

One of the lasting impressions I have of people I have met in the Middle East is the incredible hospitality. I think after five years, I have finally learned how to say no thanks to something. In Egypt, if you finish everything on the plate, the host will give you more. It took me so long to learn this, that I'm lucky I am not two hundred kilos. One of our friends went to North America and almost starved because as is the custom here he refused offers of food to be polite, even though he was very hungry.

To be an "other" and to be a host demands a strong sense of humor. It also involves the ability to take risks. It was a risk for the Imam Sadr Foundation to partner with us and for MCC to partner with the Imam Sadr Foundation. From that risk taking, has developed a strong personal friendship and mutual respect.

During this time after the September 1 1th attacks and the subsequent call that either you are "with us or against us" has to come the middle ground of condemnation of the use of violence and renewed initiatives to prove that cultures can live together. I honor the work of the Imam Sadr Foundation and others that we partner with who are committed to working together with others.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak and I will close with the words of Julia Wagler when she left Lebanon in 1998. Again, these are my thoughts as well.

I was the first Western Christian many of you had the experience of working with on a daily basis. You were the first Muslims I had the pleasure of becoming colleagues and friends with. Although I start with the above statement, I must underscore that I felt our religious backgrounds rarely prevented us from moving together in our common work of educating students. My assignment with you was termed an "experiment" by MCC for both our respective orgaruzations: to see whether we could build on a developing relationship between organizations, to learn to know more about each other's histories, backgrounds, faiths; to better understand and break down mutual stereotypes; to put into daily practice our common goals of education and cautious acceptance of a different culture and belief system. If I may be so bold I would state that the experiment has been a resounding success and that a door has been opened for future work and cooperation together, whether formally between organizations, or informally between individuals from each comoumi~. My tope is that we can continue to work together in small but important ways, that we can continue the friendships that have been started and also make new ones.

Although I considered myself open to living in an Islamic setting and an another culture different from my own past experiences, I admit that there were many experiences and conversations that changed, developed, and educated my understanding of what it means to be Lebanese and Muslim. There is much more to learn. I do not think I came with many rigid stereotypes or expectations of Lebanese society or your particular setting. However, I will not third; the same way again about the Middle East, Muslims, south Lebanon, scarved women, the Arabic language, educating children and especially orphans, and the list could go on and on. In a relatively short time I have been changed for life. I sincerely wish the same could happen to many of my colleagues, friends, and family both living here and in North America. For this past year's experience I am humbly thankful and would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Imam Sadr Foundation, Sitt llebab Sadr, Rehab el-Zahraa elementary school and its administration, teachers, staff, employees, and finally students. I will not easily forget my time with you, and I commit myself to sharing both my experience and something of your story and reality with the people and society from which I came and to which I now return.

Thank you