Building relationships.

YOUNG CAMBODIANS have launched an initiative to build bridges with young Vietnamese, archaeology graduate Phlong Pisith told a recent Life Matters course run by lofC in Melbourne, Australia.

'We are the younger generation of Cambodians, born to parents who continue to bear hatred in their hearts and show, by their behaviour, feelings they have harboured for decades,' he said. He believed that the youth of the two countries, which had had a turbulent relationship through history, could make a difference. The first 'relationship-building dialogue' had taken place in Vietnam in November; the second was due to take place in Cambodia.

Another Cambodian on the course described how she had begun to build a relationship with her father, who had estranged himself from her for 18 years.

A Chinese artist spoke of how he wanted to use his gifts to raise awareness of the environmental issues facing his homeland. To do this, he realized, he had to live with integrity. As one step, he had decided to ask forgiveness of two women who had been his girlfriends for the same year, without knowing of each other's existence!