The Hague, Netherlands, 10 Oktober 2016
Sarah Freitag, member of the President’s Council United Religions Initiative (URI) from San Francisco, met with members of the following:
- CC Steering Committee Netherlands
- Ari van Buuren, Bart ten Broek, Duncan Wielzen, Hanna Mitra Rambaran, Janakinatha Dasa
- CC Interreligious Council Segbroek, The Hague (Interreligieus Beraad Segbroek, Den Haag)
- Bart ten Broek, Hans Pronk; Duncan Wielzen; Wilfred Ruempol; Hanna Mitra Rambaran; Yadin Karabulut; Kris Rangoe; Janakinatha dasa; Aynur Dogan
- CC Intercultural Progressive Foundation (Interculturele Progressieve Stichting)
- Saeed Shafaq and friend
- Good connections of CC IBS The Hague
- Willem Jansen; Mhamd Aznai; Marie Louise Dutilh
Ari van Buuren, president of “Steering Committee the Netherlands” Cooperation Circle, brings Sarah from Amsterdam to The Hague. The hosts in “Het Dialooghuis” are Bart en Broek (secretary CC URI Netherlands, president of CC IBS The Hague and member of the URI’s Global Council) and Yadin Karabulut (Founder of “Het Dialooghuis” and treasurer of CC IBS The Hague).
“Het Dialooghuis” included a meeting with the following persons:
Ari van Buuren was in Oxford (GB) to speak with William Swing and other people from Europe about the possibilities to found URI. He is a protestant minister. Together with Bart ten Broek, he prepared “CC Steering Committee The Netherlands” around 2002/2003. Since that time, he has been president of this CC. He was also a member of the URI Global Council.
He is active in several organizations in Amsterdam en Netherlands. He was the leader of an interreligious team of spiritual leaders in an academic hospital.
Bart ten Broek was the leader of a protestant Christian school which developed itself as a school for Christians and Muslim people, with an interreligious board. He is member of a board the Interreligiöse Arbeitsstelle (INTRºA) in Germany, and member of a jury for a yearly winner of an interreligious project, and also active in several local and national consultation organizations. He is also a member of the Global Council of URI.
Hanna Mitra Rambaran lives in The Hague. She is very active in the areas of politic and society. She is member of the CC Steering Committee and CC IBS. For CC IBS she works in a local LGTB platform. She is member of the Moravian brethren.
Janakinatha Dasa is also present in the Steering Committee and in CC IBS. He is active for ISKCON. Therefore he is regularly in India (for example, Mayapur) and Surinam. He is living in The Hague.
Duncan Wielzen is a Catholic pastor and university academic in The Hague. He works in the Steering Committee and the CC IBS. For URI, he works on editing a book about Interfaith Education.
Hans Pronk is a member of CC IBS. He is active in several local society groups and he takes pictures of the activities of the CC.
Wilfred Ruempol organizes, with Hans Pronk and Rita Poetoe, members of IBS, monthly meetings with occupants of the home for older and disabled people, Jonker Frans. He is also a confidential person.
Kris Rangoe is a pundit. He is also a confidential person for the IBS and very active in his community and social work.
Aynur Dogan has been, for some weeks, the coordinator of the confidential persons for a special project to look for people in society who need help.
Saeed Shafaq is president of CC IPS. Together with a friend, they work for people from Pakistan and surroundings in Dutch society and work together against blasphemy, especially in Pakistan.
Willem Jansen works for Initiatives of Change. He was a missionary minister in a diaconal centre in The Hague and one of the founders of IBS. He asked Bart ten Broek to be his advisor. He worked within Pakistan, and after his time in The Hague he worked with his wife in a university in Kenya. When he came back to the Hague, he was looking for IBS again and we work together in some projects.
Mhamed Aznai is the president of the foundation Al Masar, for people with a Moroccan origin. Together with Bart ten Broek (IBS,) he works in a program against Islamophobia and radicalization. They presented a report, in which they talked with people in the religious organizations (“grassroots”) about the wish they have to create a tolerant and open society between several traditions.
Marie Louise Dutilh was for the first time in a meeting of URI. She is very interested in the activities if URI and special in CC IBS. She works as a remonstrant minister and has also partnered in the board of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) for about a year.
Yadin Karabulut is the founder of t”Het Dialooghuis”. He is a social enterpriser. He has a travel office. He is very active for several foundations in the area and also a member of CC IBS.
Remarks:
The CC Steering Committee is organizing general themes for Dutch society, to support and create new Cooperation Circles, and has connections with ministries and other interfaith organizations like IARF and Religions for Peace. At this moment, a new CC for women is being realized in Amsterdam.
The CC IBS works on the grassroots of the town part Segbroek of the The Hague (City for Justice and Peace). In the last few years, IBS has been more and more supported by the community of the Hague. We got support for a course of confidential persons. They are volunteers and have consulting hours on several places. We also got support for a program against Islamophobia and radicalization.
The next activity on 27 October 2016 is a presentation of the Hadj. One of our members of Surinam origin was in Mekka. A female imam will sing songs of Andalusia and recite Koran verses.
IBS has 20 confidential persons. We are busy helping them to start their own Cooperation Circle.
CC IBS has put up a light art called “The Happy Man” in the Silence Centre of Jonker Frans, which is a home for older and disabled people. It is created by the German light artist Leo Lebendig. He is living in Dortmund and is an individual member of URI Germany.
In the Hague, many people are living from Surinam, with Muslim and Hindu backgrounds.
The Hague,
Bart ten Broek, 19 October 2016
