Netusha Naidu - Malaysia
"I learned to not only engage in productive and intellectually stimulating dialogue, but also how to create an environment in which dialogue can flourish."
Winter 2016 Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative / Study of the U.S. Institute on
Religious Pluralism in the United States
"The time I spent (in the SUSI/YSEALI program) was an extremely rewarding experience. When one grows accustomed to an environment that isn't as friendly to free speech, it often internalizes into expression of self-censorship. Attending (the SUSI program) with the Dialogue Institute liberated me from this notion. As much as it felt uncomfortable yet relieving simultaneously, the entire course of the program was a breath of fresh air to me as it challenged a lot of boundaries that have been in place, growing up in Malaysia—especially when it concerns religion. I learned to not only engage in productive and intellectually stimulating dialogue, but also how to create an environment in which dialogue can flourish. Being educated on the diversity of religions affected me on a personal as well as professional level. Having always been a more a-religious person, my strongly rooted passion for freethinking allowed me to appreciate the collective spiritual essence that all religions inherently share, which improved my knowledge and understanding to embrace inclusivity. Due to my scholarly interest, learning about religious pluralism further deepened my curiosity to indulge in this area much further. Through this, I hope I will be able to contribute positively to the political religious discourse in my country in a manner that propagates humanistic values of peace, justice and egalitarianism."
Prior to her SUSI/YSEALI experience, Netusha was involved in a six-month intensive program with Universiti Kaki Lima (or in English, "Sidewalk University"), an initiative aimed at cultivating research culture beyond the walls of academia. Netusha's interest in exploring spirituality and religion led to a referral to and her interest in applying for the DI's program.
When she returned to Malaysia following her summer in the U.S., she and a friend (who was also a research fellow at Islamic Renaissance Front, a Malaysia think-tank) decided to start an alternative history project called Imagined Malaysia, focused on making marginalized and oppressed narratives of Malaysia's history more popular, and promoting greater historical literacy among Malaysia's youth.
We'am Khattar - Lebanon
"The (DI's SUSI program) made me more open to different opinions and has widened my perspective about the world."
Summer 2012 Study of the U.S. Institute on
Religious Pluralism in the United States
"Through my participation in the SUSI program, I was introduced to a new kind of diversity that I could never find in my country—different cultures, religions, perspectives and mentalities. It made me more open to different opinions and has widened my perspective about the world. It has challenged me to tolerate ideas that might not only be different, but be completely against mine."
After his participation in the SUSI program, We'am took the opportunity to further enrich his training in the field of dialogue back in Lebanon.
He first got involved with Dialogue for Life and Reconciliation, a non-governmental organization founded by fellow DI program alum Dr. Ziad Fahed and fellow SUSI alum Ramzi Merhej, among others. He participated with DLR's "Shadow Ambassadors" project, and later became a facilitator with DLR's "Let's Play" project, working to promote dialogue through soccer (football) games for high school students.
During the following summers, as he finished up his studies in Communication Arts (Radio/TV) at Notre Dame University - Louiaze', We'am participated in "International Work & Study Camps" run by the Forum of Development, Culture & Dialogue. The first summer focused on the theme of "Promoting Peace Through Interreligious Dialogue," and the second on "Dialogue and Religious Diversity Facing Extremism." He also completed a training of trainers on "Public Speaking & Psychology of Extremism" through the same organization.
More recently, Weam participated in a one-month training in Finland with the European Voluntary Service, focused on intercultural interaction with youth from different countries around the world to promote understanding, tolerance and peace.
Abdalla Aljubori - Iraq
"The whole concept of keeping my faith while understanding, respecting and actually listening to the other side through a dialogue has since shaped the person I am today."
Summer 2013 - Study of the U.S. Institute on Religious Pluralism in the United States
"SUSI was an exceptional program, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I continue to live everyday with its memories and moral teachings. I absolutely did not know what to expect when I first applied to the SUSI program, but the one thing I knew was that I was eager to travel and discover new religions. The program gave me the opportunity to visit religious sites that I would never have dreamed of visiting back in Iraq. But the one thing I am forever grateful that I learned from this program is the practice of interfaith dialogue. That whole concept of keeping my faith while understanding, respecting and actually listening to the other side through a dialogue has since shaped the person I am today. Interfaith dialogue was the key to how I could approach others around certain misconceptions and generalizations. The Dialogue Institute allowed me to know my own value through the power of dialogue, where I overcome my fears and prejudgments with an open heart looking for peace in this world."
Following his SUSI experience, Abdalla returned to Iraq to start implementing his action plan, what he called The Humanity Republic. With an observed rise in atheism, agnosticism, sectarianism and religious extremism, his goal was to bring together youth in Iraq, regardless of their faith background or identity, into small dialogue activities across the country—with a focus on Kurdistan.
However, after a few months, Abdalla had an opportunity to go back to the United States and finish his bachelor's degree in accounting at New Jersey City University (which he did in 2015). He immediately contacted the Dialogue Institute upon his return, eager to stay connected to the SUSI program that had meant so much to him. He is still living and working in the U.S., and has been serving ever since as both a volunteer and a paid program associate.
Abdalla remains eager for any and every opportunity to advance his understanding of other religions and interfaith dialogue, and he continues to advocate for religious minority groups and against religious extremism in the Middle East through various non-governmental organizations, as well as through social media.
Sarah Shmaitilly - Lebanon
"As a result of my SUSI experience, I certainly have a better understanding of others and a greater interest in their traditions."
Summer 2010 - Study of the U.S. Institute on Religious Pluralism in the United States
"I was only 19 when I attended SUSI. I was enthusiastic and, like many people at that age, I wanted to change the world! I’m 25 now, and I’ve learned to channel my enthusiasm to more realistic and goal-oriented outcomes. And I can safely say that SUSI had played a role in this, especially with the workshops on leadership and management that I participated in that summer. SUSI inspired me in so many ways and had a great impact on my life. I certainly have a better understanding of others and a greater interest in their traditions. When I returned home I took a few elective courses on Eastern and Western religions. I’m also a better listener, and I’m more empathetic. This helps on all levels."
Sarah returned home to Lebanon after SUSI to finish her studies in psychology and political science at Haigazian University in Beirut. She graduated in 2013 and went on to start, along with her colleague, Kareem Chehayeb, Beirut Syndrome—a self-funded online forum which covers a range of political, cultural and socioeconomic topics in Lebanon, as well as arts and culture. Content ranges from commentary and analytical pieces to feature stories and reviews.
Partly inspired by the dialogue training Sarah received during the DI's SUSI program, Beirut Syndrome now hosts an ongoing series called "Beirut Syndrome Discussions," trying as often as possible to take the online conversation offline, inviting people from different backgrounds to discuss a certain issue within the Lebanese community.
Sarah and Kareem visited the DI in March of 2016 as part of a multi-city, multi-college U.S. tour sharing their work with Beirut Syndrome. They led a discussion at Temple University on Lebanon's uprising, its socio-political impact and the ensuing emergence of grassroots journalism. Click here for details.
Moussa Serge Traore - Brazil
"The DI program provided me with a tool, a methodology for training others. It is my experience with the DI that inspired me to create a center for interreligious and intercultural dialogue within the Catholic University of Salvador."
2008 Fulbright Interfaith Community Action Program
"I learned a lot about the reflections and actions on interreligious dialogue from the American context. Before (the program), I tended to value more interreligious actions but the formation at the DI helped me to combine intellectual and academic thinking and research in interreligious dialogue and pratical dialogue. Although I was trained in interreligious dialogue, the DI program provided me with a tool, a methodology for training others. It is my experience with the DI that inspired me to create a center for interreligious and intercultural dialogue within the Catholic University of Salvador."
Serge is a Catholic priest who belongs to the Society of Missionaries of Africa, an order itself dedicated to interreligious and intercultural dialogue. His FICAP experienced marked the beginning of a life of study and research into interreligious dialogue.
Following his FICAP experience in 2008, he worked at the Missionary Center in Kigali, Rwanda, teaching Interreligious Dialogue and World Religions at The Institute of Religious Studies of Butare, from 2009 to 2011. In 2010 he was also invited to join the African Christian and Islam Project, a scholarly project aimed at reflecting on a "truly African" and "truly Christian" theological approach to Muslim-Christian dialogue. As part of that work, he helped to organize two international conferences, one in Ghana (2010) and one in Kenya (2012).
From 2011 to 2012, Serge lived and conducted research among Muslims in the desert of Mauritania, and since 2012 has been living and working in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, researching the African roots of Afro-Brazilian spirituality. There he helped to found the Cardinal Lavigerie Center of Studies and Research for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, based at the Catholic University of Salvador. He is currently the Center's director.
His published works include two books, The Truth in Islam (2010) and Retrouver l’Harmonie (2014), among a host of academic articles.
F. Çağdaş İslim - Turkey
"I have more respect for everyone to live as they wish. And I'm fighting every day to ensure that's the case in my own country. Different cultures, religions and political opinions should be able to live together."
Summer 2015 - Study of the U.S. Institute on Religious Pluralism in the United States
"Before going to America to participate in the SUSI program, I had no friends who lived in (other parts) of the Middle East. Now I can honestly say that in Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, I have friends with different political views, who have different religious beliefs. It's really a great pleasure for me. We broke down our prejudices against each other during our five weeks together. After participating in the program with people with different worldviews I can say that I communicate better. While discussing just about any topic I can say now that I will have more experience and control. People speaking with me know that I'm listening and trying to understand them more. I have more respect for everyone to live as they wish. And I'm fighting every day to ensure that's the case in my own country. Different cultures, religions and political opinions should be able to live together.
Çağdaş returned to Turkey to complete his law studies at İstanbul Bilgi University. As part of his action plan developed during the SUSI program, he immediately got involved in helping to organize the 10th Istanbul Gathering for Freedom of Expression, a conference for activists, lawyers, artists, journalists and students—held April 9-10, 2016. The conference, held at İstanbul Bilgi University, is supported by Amnesty International, Transparency International, Reporters Without Borders and the Human Rights Law Research Center of İstanbul Bilgi University, among other organizations.
Çağdaş invited several of his new SUSI friends from Egypt and Lebanon to participate, with some financial assistance provided by the DI. He is eager to build on the success of the conference, establishing a stronger link between Turkey and other Middle Eastern countries through these relationships, and brainstorming possible collaborative projects to advance freedom of expression and dialogue.
Ramzi Merhej - Lebanon
"The SUSI program was the main turning point in my life, shifting from being a closed-minded person who believed in one rigid identity toward a person who is always willing to learn about himself through the different 'other.'"
Summer 2010 Study of the U.S. Institutes on Religious Pluralism in the United States
"The SUSI program was the main turning point in my life, shifting my life's journey from being a
closed-minded person who believed in one rigid identity toward a person who is always willing to learn about himself through the different 'other,' while building my own complex identities. I wanted to change the world and make everybody another copy of me; however, I ended up changing myself because I was able to appreciate and discover
the beauty of being different."
Ramzi was part of the DI's very first SUSI program in the summer of 2010. When he returned to Lebanon he worked to complete his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering but felt inspired to pursue further education in the field of peace and conflict studies (he is set to graduate with a master's degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from Philips University in Germany in August 2017).
With Dr. Ziad Fahed (another alum of the DI's dialogue training) and other SUSI alumni, Ramzi helped to found and develop Dialogue for Life and Reconciliation, a non-governmental organization promoting interfaith dialogue and building bridges between different communities. He is currently serving in a volunteer capacity as DLR's Vice-President and Program Manager.
Ramzi has also worked as a project officer with a Lebanese organization called Alef - Act for Human Rights. In that work he co-created a board game on interpersonal conflict transformation and worked on its development and testing. Later he managed two different projects with Search for Common Ground - Lebanon (SFCG). One project was to empower conflict local responses mechanism between Syrian refugees and Lebanese host Community in North Lebanon, and the other project was building bridges between Lebanese host community youth and Syrian youth refugees through arts in the Bekaa, North and South Lebanon.
Yada Chuaychamnak - Thailand
"(My SUSI experience) totally changed my personal life and mindset. I am more open-minded for religion pluralism and I am interested more in studying about religions. "
Winter 2015 Study of the U.S. Institute on Religious Pluralism in the United States / Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative
"(My SUSI experience) totally changed my personal life and mindset. I am more open-minded for religion pluralism and I am interested more in studying about religions. Interfaith dialogue is another thing I can use for my work. Being patient, open-minded, reasonable and more are important keywords I have learned from the program, and that I am now using in the real world."
Back home in Thailand, Yada's daily life—living in an area that is mixed Thai Buddhist and Malay Muslim—gives her regular opportunity to engage the interreligious and intercultural dialogue skills she learned from the DI.
She herself was raised Buddhist (though she currently espouses no particular religious tradition), and recently worked as a fixer for a foreign journalist and a film maker who are interested in daily life and interaction between Muslim and Buddhist communities in Southern Border provinces, a conflict area in Thailand. She was responsible for arranging individual interviews and focus groups, as well as providing English interpretation.
Since SUSI, Yada has also worked as a research assistant for a project focused on developing a broadcasting model to counter violent extremism in Thailand. For that work she conducted focus groups with Muslim communities in all regions of Thailand, and collected information from surveys, bringing her deeply into conversations with Muslims she'd never imagined having before.
Yada is currently working with an organization which supports disadvantaged women in Bangkok.
I Gede Pandu Wirawan - Indonesia
"The SUSI program helped me to find my passion, which is religious pluralism, including conflict resolution."
Winter 2012 Study of the U.S. Institute on Religious Pluralism in the United States
"Through the SUSI program I learned about how people in the United States could live harmoniously with a diversity of religions and beliefs even when they faced misunderstanding among them. The SUSI program helped me to find my passion, which is religious pluralism, including conflict resolution. I have a plan to make my community more professional in doing work, not only with the Interfaith Youth Forum but also with research and conflict resolution."
Pandu took his SUSI experience back to Indonesia and ran with it!
Along with fellow SUSI alumna, Agus Burniat, he founded and continues to serve as president of Youth Interfaith Community (YIC). Among other activities, YIC organizes a now-annual Interfaith Youth Forum (IYF) in different regions of Indonesia, designed to help young Indonesian leaders build their capacity with respect to tolerance and interfaith dialogue. Begun in 2012, the most recent IYF was held in Surabaya in August of 2015, using the theme of "Rujak: Harmony in Diversity." The DI has been proud to co-sponsor these forums which help support a growing network of SUSI alumni/ae and others in Indonesia committed to this work.
After graduating from Universitas Nasional Jakarta in 2013, Pandu also worked for Global Peace Foundation Indonesia, an international non-governmental organization focused on peace issues, including interfaith cooperation. As Program Director, he helped put together the 2014 International Multi-faith Youth Assembly in Jakarta.
Pandu is currently working as Program Coordinator at Trade Union Rights Centre, focused on a program to empower Indonesia women out of poverty. He is hoping to return to school to get his Master's in Conflict Resolution.
Ziad Fahed - Lebanon
"My experience with the DI and my collegial relationships with its staff are my point of reference in this work to promote religious pluralism."
2008 Fulbright Interfaith Community Action Program
"I am intimately aware of the high quality and sustainability of the Dialogue Institute's work from two perspectives: I myself as a participant, and as a faculty member in Lebanon, sending students to the DI's SUSI program since 2010.
(My Fulbright experience) offered me the chance to discover the rich field of interreligious dialogue that the DI exists to encourage and sponsor. I met people and scholars who are now part of my network in this good work. The fruits of my experience with the DI are ongoing; I am active as a State Department alumnus, and both my students and I have received State Department grants for work that we can largely thank the DI for inspiring and encouraging. My experience with the DI and my collegial relationships with its staff are my point of reference in this work to promote religious pluralism. I can say that my experience in this field would not have been complete without the Dialogue Institute. We in conflict zones in this dangerous world need such role models of applied as well as theoretical interreligious dialogue and outreach."
In addition to participating in the DI's orientation training for the 2008 Fulbright Interfaith Community Action Program, Dr. Ziad Fahed has sent numerous Lebanese students to participate in the DI's Study of the U.S. Institutes on Religious Pluralism.
He went on to establish the Interreligious Academy in Lebanon in 2010, and also founded—along with some of those students, including Ramzi Merhej—and continues to serve as President of the Dialogue for Life and Reconciliation in Beirut, a non-governmental organization which is extremely active in promoting interfaith dialogue and building interactive bridges among several different communities in Lebanon—mainly among the youth.
Ziad is currently Dean of Students and Professor at Notre Dame University-Louaize, Lebanon. He is a board member for World Vision (Lebanon), and also a member of the American Academy of Religion, the International Association of Sociology of Religion, the International Society for the Sociology of Religion and the Justice and Charity Movement, whose main mission is to study the social doctrine of the Church in the Middle East, as well as several NGOs working on sectarianism.
In 2014, the DI honored Ziad with its “Outstanding Leader in Interreligious Dialogue."