Dhaka: International interfaith workshop in Bangladesh affirms diversity
Twenty-four participants and six facilitators from Nine countries gathered at the YMCA Training Center in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from July 9 to 24, 2011, for the interfaith workshop, “Dialogue in Diversity” hosted by the National Council of YMCAs of Bangladesh and conducted by Interfaith Cooperation Forum (ICF), a joint program of the Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs (APAY) in Hong Kong and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The participants included Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and Christians from Cambodia, India, Laos, Pakistan and Thailand as well as Bangladesh. For the first time, an ICF program also included people from outside of Asia as seven participants from the YMCA in England took part as increasingly people of different faiths are finding themselves living in the same community, such as in Bradford.
On 9 July opening programme was chaired by Mr. Babu Markus Gomes, President of the National Council of YMCAs of Bangladesh and Father Benjamin Costa, CSC, Principal of the Notre Dame College was present as a chef guest. Max Ediger, Bruce Van Voorhis from ICF and Jose Varghese from APAY were attended as organizers. In the concluding ceremony Kohei Yamada, General Secretary of the Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs (APAY) attended as a Chief Guest.
