29 th CIF Conference “ GLOBAL SOCIETIES OF INCLUSION OR EXCLUSION?”

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International It is with great honour and happiness that I address everyone present, not present. omnipresent from “above”, in particular Martha Ollendorff, who has recently rejoined Henry, our founding Father. I know they are all watching over us through our hearts. An initial special thank you to Maria Cristopoulus and her team for making it all happen here in Cyprus.

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International I would like to get into the theme of the Conference immediately, by mentioning that I believe everything we are able to live and share today includes what came before us, guiding us in the present and in our future as CIF, in the always more globalized societies of our contemporary world.

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International Allow me to tell you about the new millennium story started in a not so far away land (Italy 2001), where a prequel question was discussed with the following conclusion :

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International “The answer to the question ‘Diversity: a Menace or a Resource for the Third Millennium Society?’ probably depends on other questions, as we have discussed these days. For example: how do we interpret life? How do we see life and ourselves? What is our perspective?”

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International Are we able to listen to others, to what seems different? If so, we might discover how rich we can become. To see in others part of ourselves, the part not yet shown. Only fear can stop this process, fear to discover who we are, maybe the biggest fear.

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International After this, “people” went on to talk about “The Evolving Family in the 21 st Century” (Goa – India 2003); “Building Bridges for Peace and Understanding” (Bonn – Germany 2005); “Training Builds Bridges for a Changing World, Transforming Lives, Transforming Communities, Transforming Yourself” (Cleveland – USA 2007); “Dialogue – a Means to Increase Mutual Understanding and Peace” (Kiljava –Finland 2009).

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International In August of 2010 these same people had a CIF International Symposium in Hamburg Germany celebrating “50 Years of Intercultural Social Work”, where one of the main concerns included how to adjust for the future and the younger generations.

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International The globalization process today influences our lives significantly, so how do we manage to include our families? Are we truly building bridges to include peace and understanding, through training as well? Are we using dialogue to include mutual understanding and peace? Are we able to include diversity as a resource? Are we really doing something to include the new generations?

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International Very challenging questions in the current socio-economic scenario that I think are crucial as we try to address the theme of this Conference, as individuals part of the wonderful CIF story, not only through words, but mostly by including actions…so keep your eyes and hearts open and make sure we act!

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International Let me wish you all a wonderful Conference, appreciative to CIF Cyprus for including us and making it all possible. Allow me to share with you, finally, an adaptation of the “CIF A RAINBOW” song that tries to include the feelings of the moment:

CIF RAINBOW CYPRUS SONG CIF a rainbow In the sky of life Yellow, black and white Then you’ll see the light! What’s the beauty of the rainbow? It’s inclusion of the colours! Are you keen on all the colours? Then your life can be a rainbow! Here in Cyprus all together At the Conference CIF It’s the sixth of the Millennium For exclusion or inclusion? It’s the question to discuss In our world of CIF Is inclusion in your nature? Think about this…CIF

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International A friend…left me these glasses, used in his workshop 10 years ago. They can be the glasses of our heart, if we have the ability and the courage to go beyond what appears and beyond ourselves. So, I will ask you to symbolically put them on…and you will see a rainbow… may it enlighten us at this Conference and guide us in the contribution that we can make in our lives by giving an answer as individuals and as CIF to the question: GLOBAL SOCIETIES OF INCLUSION OR EXCLUSION?...maybe even include help to...

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International HEAL THE WORLD (Micheal JACKSON)

There's a place in your heart /And I know that it is love And this place could be much / Brighter than tomorrow And if you really try /You'll Find There's No Need To Cry /In This Place You'll Feel There's No Hurt Or Sorrow There are ways /To get there /If you care enough For the living / Make a little space /Make a better place... Chorus: Heal the world /Make it a better place For you and for me / And the entire human race There are people dying / If you care enough For the living / Make a better place / For you and for me If you want to know why / There's a love that cannot lie Love is strong / It only cares for joyful giving If we try /We shall see / In this bliss we cannot feel Fear or dread / We stop existing and start living Then it feels that always / Love's enough for us growing Make a better world / so make a better world Chorus And the dream we were conceived in / Will reveal a joyful face And the world we once believed in / Will shine again in grace Then why do we keep strangling life / Wound this earth Crucify it's soul / Though it's plain to see This world is heavenly / Be God's glow We could fly so high Let our spirits never die In my heart I feel you are all my brothers Create a world with no fear Together we’ll cry happy tears / See the nations turn their swords into plowshares We could really get there If you cared enough for the living / Make a little space To make a better place... Chorus (Repeat) There are people dying If you care enough for the living /Make a better place For you and for me (Repeat) You and for me You and for me (Repeat to end)

CIF - Council of International Fellowship CIF International Can CIF be a way to get there…?! WELCOME TO the 29 th CIF CONFERENCE IN CYPRUS!