"I am very excited; I want to be a part and make a difference. I want to speak for our communities and create change."

From April 24-25, 2004, 60 religiously diverse young people ages 12 to 35 took part in an Interfaith Youth Action Retreat in the San Francisco Bay Area - Global Healing with Youthful Hands: Diminishing Biases Through Faith and Service. This retreat was one of twenty interfaith youth service projects that took place in cities and college campuses across the USA for the National Day of Interfaith Youth Service.

Saturday's community and capacity building activities included:

• Workshops on Cultural Perceptions, Diminishing Biases and Intercultural Resolutions for Peace -giving tools in peaceful mediation of conflicts
• A cultural festival over lunch featuring African drummers, Islamic chanters, Calligraphy of Thought - Sufi poets, spoken word, martial artists, and a folk band
• Small group activities from the URI Interfaith Peacebuilding Guide  including "I Thought You'd Never Ask," a chance to ask and answer youth of diverse traditions about their beliefs and practices
• The co-creation of a public platform of action and 25 art posters, to be taken to the state and city legislature by the ongoing Bay Area Interfaith Youth Council
• Sharing of sacred practices including Muslim prayer and a Veriditas labyrinth walk

Sunday's day of interfaith youth service took place at the EcoVillage Farm Learning Center in Richmond, whose mission is to provide residents of the San Francisco East Bay with practical knowledge and skills through a wide range of participatory experiences, that will help them live more sustainable and healthier lives, and to better protect the Earth's natural resources and ecosystems for present and future generations. Service projects included:

• laying out drip irrigation to help preserve water and topsoil
• weeding and feeding the weeds to the sheep and goats
• insulating the chicken coop with bales of hay
• building the frame of a greenhouse

Participant Testimonials:
"The EcoVillage service project was great! I believe it really connected all of the youth and volunteers together in a common goal of service."

"I learned more about Muslims and other branches of my own religion. I will acknowledge culture instead of neglect difference. I am very excited about the platform [of action] and praying for a good outcome."

"I am very excited; I want to be a part and make a difference. I want to speak for our communities and create change."

"I am happy with the anti-bias platform. I do feel it reflects the group?s voice as well as my own. I am extremely excited to present the platform to legislators."

"[I learned] how not to judge people by the first appearance - I am very excited because I think that we can really make a difference in my community."

"I learned not to judge people and get the most knowledge about other cultures."

"I learned about religions I didn't know existed."

 "I learned that even if you are one person you can still make a difference."

Parent Testimonial: 
One of the youth participants from the Konko tradition remarked to her mother afterward about how impressed she was by the depth of faith and understanding of their tradition that was shared by the Muslim young people she met at the retreat. She said it inspired her to learn more about her own faith tradition as a result. Her mother writes, "Your retreat opened up good dialogue within our family about faith traditions, sharing ourselves with others, and further growth and development of our own faith.  [My daughter] was blessed to get so much and meet so many wonderful people!  Domo Arigato."

Workshop Presenters:
Mujaheed Ramadan of the National Conference of Community & Justice
Michelle Myles-Chambers, San Francisco Foundation FAITHS Initiative
Professor Beth Roy, UC Berkeley's Peace & Conflict Studies Department
Shyaam Shabaka, Director of the EcoVillage Farm Learning Center
Imam Faheem Shuaibe, Director of Masjidul Waritheen
Lisa Ripner, teacher from the Richmond Art Center
Veriditas Labyrinth facilitator

Retreat Organizers:
United Religions Initiative, the United Youth Leadership Council, San Francisco Foundation FAITHS Initiative, Dharma Realm Buddhist Youth, Sufi Youth International, Partners in Peace, Pathways to Peace, CharityFocus, Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Saint Aidan's Episcopal Diocese of California, California Peace Action Committee and EcoVillage Farm Learning Center. The project was funded by the Chevron-Texaco Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation.

Plans for Ongoing and Future Activities:

• Ongoing Youth Council Meetings, bringing the youth participants in to design and facilitate future activities of the United Youth Leadership Council (first ever Bay Area youth interfaith council), beginning June 20th, 2004. To participate or find out more, contact Shahidah Sharif of the United Youth Leadership Council - This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or +1-510-434-0604
• Further development of the political platform, to be taken with the art signs and youth voices to city and state legislatures
• Organizing an interfaith service project / youth retreat for the National Day of Interfaith Youth Service, April 9-10, 2005