This summer the Dialogue Institute hosted 18 students from Iraq, India, Indonesia, Egypt, and Lebanon for another SUSI Religious Freedom program.
Students engaged in workshops, lectures, and team-building exercises, and were able to explore the city of Philadelphia and the mid-Atlantic region for 4.5 weeks.
Participants learned about issues of diversity, pluralism, and American culture in the Philadelphia area as well as in the greater United States. They learned from religious practitioners, law professionals, academics, civil servants, and community members throughout their visit. Our participants were able to visit Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Lancaster, PA in addition to their Philadelphia stay.
Some highlights of their program included a visit to the Amish in Lancaster, PA, celebrating Eid at the ADAMS center with DI board member Abdullah Antepli, meeting the Abrahamic house fellows in Washington, D.C., and being able to explore Philadelphia in the busy summertime. We were lucky enough to have several DI board and community members with us this summer to mentor, teach, and dialogue with our students. The DI gives a special thanks to Majid Alsayegh, Gity Banan- Etemad, Kay Yu, Nancy Krody, Dr. Rev. Mark Tyler, Abdullah Antepli, Rebecca Mays, and Sean Chambers who supported our students and made this year such a success. We also appreciate all of our volunteers and SUSI staff for all of their hard work.
Our SUSI program closed with the students presenting their community action plans which they created during their programing. Participant community action projects ranged from integrating pluralism in their home universities to hosting workshops for their own NGOs back home. It was clear our 2022 cohort learned a lot from their SUSI experience and while we were sad to see them go back home, we are excited to see all they will do in their home communities.
