Musings: Australian Trip

Having just returned from a full two-week trip to Australia I can safely say that I am officially on cloud nine.
This was my fifth annual trip to Australia, and the fourth with my brother and partner in TKF, Ples Felix. We started in Brisbane where we gave a presentation to 400 students at the Trinity Lutheran College. After the school presentation we participated in an impromptu round table conversation with the teachers, the Vice Principal Janette Salmi and some of the senior management faculty from the central office of the Trinity Lutheran schools in Queensland. It was an amazingly rich conversation as seeds were planted for upcoming years as we expand our message to all 20 schools within the Lutheran system.In particular we were blessed to have Monique and Barry Sheppard as part of the discussion. Inspired by the TKF story of forgiveness, Monique forgave the killer of her father and reached out to the killer and the killer’s father in prison in order to complete her forgiveness journey. It was an amazing sharing of courage, will and compassion that shifted the entire room. I believe we will be doing a lot more work in Queensland.

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Afterwards, we flew to Perth, Australia where Ples and I did two separate presentations. The first – at the All Saints College – included 10th graders. We were hosted there by Helen Augiar and she remembered last year’s presentations which were also very well received by the students. Interestingly the principal of Seymour College – Belinda Provis, a cheerleader of our work – will be taking over as Principal of All Saints in Perth in May of 2013, so we are confident we will have more opportunity for further impact. In the evening we presented to the public forum which was organized by Peter Thomson and The Compassionate Friends, an international non-profit organization that supports parents who have lost children. Peter’s son was murdered in Zimbabwe. TCF sees forgiveness as a possible unifying theme in all their chapters. This will prove to be a great opportunity to join forces for the good of all here.

We left Perth and flew into Adelaide where we were hosted by Seymour College, where we have presented for the last four years. We did several presentations there and then also presented to Trinity Anglican Schools in Blakeview and Gawler, and Sacred Heart College. All the presentations in South Australia were very well received with a sense of zeal and enthusiasm for next year.

Ples, Lynn and Azim

None of this would have happened without the firm commitment of Seymour College, its Principal Belinda Provis, and its brilliant Director of Service Learning Lynne Moten. Lynne has been a passionate force of our work in Australia and has given many hours to organize these annual trips. Thank you Lynne from the bottom of my heart – without you this would not be possible. All in all we reached 2,500 students in a span of eight days.

Ples left Adelaide after the school presentations, and I stayed behind to do a 2.5 day intensive Train The Trainer (TTT) Forgiveness Workshop for 11 participants … all of whom grew by leaps and bounds. By design these workshops are kept to no more than 14 participants as they are highly intensive. (Testimonials found below). Everyone in the room was educated and highly experienced in their field so this provided a rich and meaningful sharing and discussion. I do strongly feel that this is seminal work and much needed to get more people teaching forgiveness in the world so we can create a peaceful world, and transformation in all participants.

Graduates of TTT

Continuing on this daily journal, I returned to Adelaide Sunday evening. Monday saw a short presentation in Lynne’s class followed by a delightful meeting with the senior Youth Court Judge Steve McEwen, a man very committed in helping bring the CANEI program to South Australia. We made much progress in this meeting with plans to launch a pilot CANEI program in SA in the near future. To more meetings Monday – Belinda Provis and Lynne – and the trip was complete.

A very full and inspiring trip! A trip I look forward to every year. For every year, it means a trip to a beautiful country with beautiful people where the forgiveness and peace work can go beyond our borders. May we create more forgiving leaders who can turn conflict into love and unity, and in turn create a peaceful planet.