Ear to the ground.

Bagpipes at dawn

Dawn on a mountain top in India's Western Ghats. We had climbed up in silence and now watched as the sun teetered behind the clouds, gathering itself to climb into the sky.

Many had brought symbolic burdens to throw off the cliff. As some sat in contemplation, and others performed the yoga Salutation to the Sun, bagpipes wheezed triumphantly into life.

The depth and the cultural contrasts were typical of the `global Hoho' at the MRA/Initiatives of Change centre at Asia Plateau, Panchgani, last January. Over its three weeks some 200 people from 35 countries took part. Nearly half were under 40, and perhaps a third from the global South--come to `share deeply, search creatively and commit together' to new initiatives to bring justice and healing to a fragmented world.

Look, no hands!

The peace of the setting was a relief after the chaos of Mumbai airport and the excitements of the eight-hour bus journey south to Panchgani. Driving was a two-man operation--one at the steering wheel and the other in charge of sounding the horn and watching the nearside of the bus. He came into his own when his colleague overtook on precipitous hairpin bends.

India's drivers can judge distance to a hair's breadth in the dodgem-car anarchy of streets teeming with cars, buses, bicycles, motorbikes and rickshaws. Our driver on the return journey had an alarming tendency to take his hands off the steering wheel and clap. But we didn't see a single accident.

Ribbons of hope

Even in the peace of the mountains, there was no escaping the reality of the world. A young Pakistani American, who has spent the last five summers working in Afghan refugee camps, gave us heart-rending statistics. The life expectancy of Afghan women is 39, and one in four babies dies before the age of five.

A Baptist yoga-teacher from wartorn Nagaland, now living in Australia, wept as he told us that two of his nephews had died of AIDS, while a third had been murdered. A young Indian woman had lost 40 of her schoolmates in inter-communal riots in 1992. A Scandinavian spoke of the pain she carried every day because of the disappearance of her niece.

On arrival, each participant tied a prayer ribbon onto the branches of a sapling which was later planted outside the conference centre. Each ribbon seemed frail and inadequate on its own, but, joined with the others, presented a powerful image of longing, aspiration and commitment.

Bribe-free businesses

The participants were living evidence of another reality: the power of individuals to make a difference.

A Mumbai businessman described how he employs two lawyers fulltime to deal with the lawsuits which result from his refusal to pay bribes, while Kenyans spoke of their campaign for clean elections and an end to corruption in their country. One was part of a network of 675 businessmen committed to keeping honest tax accounts. Later in the conference, Africans from seven countries pledged themselves to launch a continent-wide Clean Africa Campaign to tackle poverty, corruption and HIV/AIDS.

God's messengers

With tensions between India and Pakistan, and with the events of 11 September and the Afghan war vivid in people's minds, interfaith issues were high on the agenda.

Two distinguished Muslims from Delhi visited the Hobo to share their concerns and insights. `I do not accept "the clash of civilizations",' said one. `Civilized people do not clash.'

They quoted the Qur'an in support of religious tolerance and humanity: `There is no competition in religion'; `To you your religion, to me mine'; `He is not a Muslim if anyone in his neighbourhood sleeps hungry that night.'

Hindus, too, took the chance to share the riches of their faith with participants from other religions. `What I find beautiful in Hinduism is its inclusiveness,' said one, quoting a text which reads, `The truth is one--it can be expressed in different languages'. India is thought to be the only country in the world which has never persecuted the Jews.

Out of these exchanges came the idea of calling on people around the world to open their hearts and homes on 1 June 2002 to a person, family or group from a community with whom they would not normally interact. Linked to this, perhaps, was the thought that refugees in the West could be drawn on as `God's messengers' to awaken the `rich' world to global realities.

Mary Lean, Panchgani, India