I had a fabulous weekend at a retreat centre just outside of Birmingham. The conference was put on by Fellowship of Reconciliation, the group was about 30 people mostly in their 20s and 30s. The topic was Religious Rights and Wrongs in Contemporary Conflicts. They brought in really interesting speakers, one of which was a female Muslim councilor from the city of Birmingham. It was interesting to hear her reflections on what the Muslim community has been going through since the London bombings. My favorite part of the weekend was really just the chance to connect with the peace community throughout England. I had some really inspiring conversations. I would say that most of the people there were more towards the activist end of the spectrum when it comes to the peace movement, Corrymeela tends more towards the community development end. I love my work here, but was missing the activist energy. We looked a fair bit at inter-faith dialogue and the difficulties that accompany it, which is an area I would be interested in entering. I arrived back at Corrymeela tired and inspired. Many of the people from the conference I hope to keep in contact with. If you have any questions about the conference feel free to email me, we really enjoy hearing from everyone.
We're both off this week and this weekend I'm working with a Habitat for Humanity group that's preparing to go to Sri Lanka, doing mostly team building activities. It's getting colder here, but no snow yet.
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