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From Aid to
Education 10 October, 1998 Eckhart Riehl The Austrian IRFF-work "Forum Ost" developed out of our VOC (Victory over Communism) movement, founded as an association in 1984. As a natural step, after the breakdown of the "Iron Curtain" the time came for helping to overcome the remained disaster! Hence the Austrian IRFF-chapter always was linked to East Europe very close. At the beginning of July 1991 the new statutes of the association were passed unanimously. The following has been decided:
The communists pretended to have solved all problems and arrogant leaders didn't allow western aid organisations to become active. Nevertheless members of Forum Ost could pioneer a way to organize help for Romanian refugees in Hungary. After the breakdown of the Iron Curtain they delivered medical equipment, medicines, foodstuffs, scientific and school books and clothes to Romania and Bulgaria. In the autumn of 1991 Forum Ost started to transport food and medical supplies to the besieged Croatian town of Osijek, which was under continuous attack. For the past three years humanitarian aid has been brought to Croatia and been delivered to the refugees by IRFF Croatia. Through these activities good working relationships with the officials from the United Nations relief organisations and the Croatian government were established. In 1992 Forum Ost broadened its activities to include the education and development of character amongst youth in the former Eastern Bloc. Various seminars have been held for the education of students and teachers from Poland, the Czech and Slovaks Republics, Romania and Croatia. East-West-Academia In the beginning of 1993 Forum Ost founded the East-West-Academy as roof organisation of its educational projects The task is the reworking of the consequences resulting form the East-West conflict:
Youth Seminar with CARP The seminar activity of Forum Ost began in 1992 with the motto „Harmony in Variety". Since then this has continued within the frame of the East-West-Academy. In the same spirit we chose for 1993 the motto „Joy through giving" and 1994 „We fashion our own lives". Many internatinal friendships were made. 1995 the youth seminar took place in from July 16 - 23 and this Year 1996 from August 10 - 18 with the motto „New ways out of a caotic world". The children came from Croatia, Poland, Czecho and Romania. We could win CARP as coorganizer and as the seminar leader Susanne Benes, a sister who is a social pedagogic. Teacher Seminar Already by our first youth seminar the wish for a teachers' seminar became a reality. So since 1993 we have organized one once a year. Under the motto "Education for Peace" this has become a great help for pedagogics, who in an international circle want to acquire answers. 1994 from 1st - 7th August in the seminar center "Schmied an der Straß", Gaflenz, Upper Austria, 8 guests from Albania, Croatia, Poland and Slovenia attended an intensive programme. Alongside the possibility to visit a model community that has successfully established a "village renewal" programme, there were guest speakers on the topic of Waldorf and Montessori-pedagogic, the "Free Teens" programme and "The principle of existance and the potential of man". The seminar organized study groups on different themes, such as "requirements and hindrances for peace" and "education for peace" which were moderated by Kurt Sattlberger, seminar director. To close the seminar we took a tour through Vienna. Similar also in 1995 teacher and educators from Poland, Romania, Czecho and Austria met in Gaflenz from July 23 - 29. The education of children is from utmost importance how the future will be. On this seminar was discussed a basic new orientation of education. Besides knowledge and skills children should learn how to communicate and harmonize with each other. Also the transcendental realm and the connection of man with God the creator must not be neglected anymore. Agriculture and Shapeing of Life With this title the first agricultural seminar took place in January 1994. Today the farmers are no longer the ones how we understand them traditionally. But should they be agro-chemical industriel captains? Where lies a purposeful future for mankind? These are highly important and interesting questions that were discussed during this seminar. 6 farmers from Croatia and Poland took part from 3rd - 10th January this year in Seebenstein. A farmer from Austria, Mr. Fritz Quirgst, was seminar director. The staff consisted of 2 translaters and 4 Austrian Forum-Ost members to help with the gerneral running of the seminar and the needs of the guests. Besides the lectures, video presentations and discussions there were excursions to Eschenau, an ecological village and model agricultural plants.The seminar ended with a tour of Vienna. Similar 1995 we started with a seminar on „Agriculture and Shapeing of Life" for farmers from Poland, Croatia and Bulgaria. The schedule containes a good mixture of lectures and excursiones. On the base of last years' experiences we could improve the programme and offer even more qualified lectures. Relations to the agricultural highschool in Obersiebenbrunn, Lower Austria could be built which might be of vital importance for the future. An expert of the European Community stated very clearly that the agricultural problems of the Common Market could only be solved on a global level. Finally we had a presentation of the Completed Testament Age from Vienna's church leader Gert Schmidinger which was very well accepted. In 1997 the Agricultural Seminar was held for the first time in Kiev, Ukraine. It established a deep relationship with local farmers and representatives. Further cooperation and seminars are planed. Health Seminar In September 1994 the seminar opportunity was extended. The thought of an ethical and responsible way of ones dealing with his own body led to the idea of a health seminar with the motto "Harmony between Mind and Body" to organize for doctors from Eastern Europe. Doctors came from Yugoslavia, Rumania, Slovakia, Austria and Hungary. Altogether there were nine guests from 17th - 23rd September which came to the seminar centre in Seebenstein. Five Austrians took care of the running of the seminar. Dr. Wolfgang Czerny was the seminar director. He presented three lectures: "The Holistic View of Man", "The Origin of Sickness", "The Way to a Healthy Family and Healthy People". Excursions were made to complementary medical facilities as well as hospitals and a surgery. There were lectures of experts und inspiring discussions. Steps in the world of the future Until now we mainly invited East Europeans to our seminars and guides them to a certain level. Their questions and concerns are now the same as for people in the West. Everybody is interested in a good future. So we created a future workshop and a new type of seminar - the future seminar, which will be offered to people in East and West. The initial meeting took place in East Tyrol from April 29th - May 1st. First we wanted to look at and learn from examples in history. The early Christians were also confronted to build a new society based on the example of Jesus and his teachings about the kingdom of heaven. Prof. Frickel, a catholic theologian, gave an excellent lecture about this topic. Another expert, Dr. Dietrich Seidl - UTS-graduate - was dealing with the protestant vision of the kingdom of God and the attempts and problems in America while trying to realize this vision. Rudolf Dangl, the seminar leader, explained the original idea of the co-operative with Christian background. The goal was to substantialize in all parts of life - spiritual, social and economic - the idea of the kingdom of heaven on earth. To revive the idea of the co-operative in a new form was the main focus of the further discussion. Based on DP we want to search for solutions for today's problems in the fields of education, science, society and economy and strengthen our cooperation with IRF, PWPA and CARP. In follow up meetings study groups for the different fields were established in Vienna and Linz. The first result of our investment in the study groups is the new project „MITEINANDER" It is a kind of „Local Exchange Trading System" (LETS). We founded it as an initiative of blessed families in Austria on November 19th, 1995. It started to run with begin of 1996. This year we continued to held our „Future Seminar" in Osttirol from Mai 16th to 18th. Again Rudolf Dangl has been seminar leader and the topic was „Work of Future - Future of Work". Magazine Since 1984 we publish a quarterly
magazine named „Neue Perspektiven". Now the numbers
of the „Neue Perspektiven" appeared already in Internet:
Aid and International Cooperation
To Croatia Varazdin and Drnis: We are organizing together with IRFF-Croatia a christmas-party for refugees in Croatia on December 22nd,1995. In Vienna a local catholic community is collecting material for Christmas gifts for this event. It is also a follow up project for the RYS-95 in Varazdin and preparation for RYS-96 in Drnis. Religious Youth Service The RYS was a natural continuation and a highlight of our work in Croatia. It took place from April 6 - 17, 1995 and was a big success. All the contacts to Croatian officials and authorities were already established through our previous work so the preparations ran smoothly. In cooperation with the Austrian Women Federation for World Peace we collected money for the RYS and material for restoration work in a refugee camp in Varadin. Together with other IRFF chapters and the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace a few public meetings were organized in Zagreb and Varadin which found great interest. The Croatian television and the newspapers reported several times about this event. IRFF-Fish Powder Project Forum Ost supported a fish powder shipment to Croatia. On February 4th, 1996, 7,5 tons were unloaded in the refugee camp in Varadin. Further shipments to Africa and other parts of the world are planned. Agricultural Aid for Mali/Africa In 1997 we started a parntnership aid for Africa as IRFF and Women Federation for World Peace. We collected agricultural aid for Mali in order to help the people, who have a large potential in agricultural areas, with some irrigation development by the French, but without basic equipment to develop the land further. So we organized and supplied a tractor, fertiliser and rice-harvester, plough and other machines. Under the supervision of Rudolf Mayer, the aid is now used for the first harvest.
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Aid transports