On Dialogue: Notes from the estuary

I am not the first person to be captivated by the Dyfi Estuary, but perhaps(!?) I am the first interfaith practitioner to sit here and wonder what this place might tell me about my own practice.

Reflections on my UNAOC Fellowship experience

It is five years since I traveled to Morocco, Egypt, Qatar and Bosnia for my Fellowship experience, so I thought I would dig out some of the posts which I wrote back then.

The role of Interfaith Education in Promoting Religious Tolerance

Remarks made at the OSCE‘s (organisation for security and Co-operation in Europe) Human Security Committee meeting, Vienna, Austria – 5 June, 2018. Your Excellencies, distinguished participants, thank you for the invitation…. I read with interest the concept note which was circulated prior to this meeting, the emphasis on preventing intolerance stood out and gave me

Nine months in the life of Three Faiths Forum

Who would have thought that nine months could go by so quickly! It seems like only yesterday that Rachel Silveira and I were discussing her hand over to me, and now, well, now the roles are reversed and come early September Rachel will be back in post as Deputy Director. One of the things that

Working for change locally and internationally

Last month I was fortunate to be a delegate at the seventh annual United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Global Forum having been selected to share my reflections of the UNAOC Fellowship programme of which I am an alum and you can read about my travels at my blog, here. The Global Forum is an

Bound for Baku, Azerbaijan

I am sitting in Istanbul airport sipping cherry juice (from a can, nothing too exotic or decedent), waiting for my connecting flight to Baku. It should be leaving in about two hours. I am on my way to the grandly named Baku Forum which is an initiative of the UNAOC (it’s the seventh of these

Qatar – Through the Looking Glass

I had no expectations for Qatar, which was lucky because whatever expectations I might have had were nowhere near the actual level of bizarreness of the society which I found. As a group we had joked about being described as “emerging young leaders” so it is possible to understand the smiles on our faces as

Cairo Sand

Azhar Mosque in Cairo is currently undergoing renovations. When I visited just before Friday evening prayers, the main plaza was full of people meeting and greeting each other, children played, people sat quietly around and reflected privately. Inside the main prayer hall one immediately notices the works underway. One cannot be sure, but it is

Cairo = Pyramids, Anthony and Cleopatra, Tutenkamum, Nefertiti, Agatha Christie, Sphinx

London is a big city, New York is a big city, Cairo is a really big city. None of the ideas that I had of Cairo prepared me for the scale of the city. Driving in from the airport last night via freeways and highways was akin at times to images of a dystopian future

Rain and Drought

We have been in Rabat for the first rains of the season. First rain. Not a phrase one uses in London particularly, however, here, by all accounts it has significance. Firstly, Morocco is dependent on the rain at a fundamental level for food, especially in rural areas where market gardening remains both an important source