ROM Southeast Europe Trail of Friendship 2012 Slideshow

The 2012 ROM Trail of Friendship across Southeast Europe, throughout the month of July, was the most amazing trip undertaken by the Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation (FLR) and Renewing Our Minds (ROM) team consisting of Martha S. Weiss, Brett McMichael, Minela Pervanovic, Mihaela Kovacs, Bojan Ruvarac, Marko Stupar and Tihomir Kukolja. The purpose of the journey was to meet the ROM and EDS (Economic Diplomacy Seminar) alumni, and their families and friends, as well as to meet new friends; and to be a source of encouragement to all of them. Likewise, our intention was to receive a valuable input from former ROM and EDS participants about the impact ROM and EDS (Economic Diplomacy Seminar) still has on their lives. All the travelling team members felt that the trip was actually a ROM Gathering taking place in a different way. We called the trip – “Brining ROM to our friends where they are”. The 25 days of travelling were crowded with amazing experiences, joy, excitement and good surprises. We met 200 friends, eat with them, talked with them, asked them many questions, visited them at their places of work and service, and stayed in the homes of some of them. We were warmly received by everyone we had visited, and enjoyed great acts of hospitality where we went. Plus, we would occasionally have some unexpected experiences and encounters that spiced our journey with humor and surprise. This album features a photo essay covering our journey across the Southeast Europe in 25 days, between Sunday July 1 and Monday July 9, during which time we visited Zagreb and Osijek in Croatia; Novi Sad and Belgrade in Serbia; and Timisoara, Sigishoara, Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest and Romania; Sofia in Bulgaria; Leskovac in Serba; Sarajevo and Tuzla in Bosnia-Herzegovina; Pristina, Mitrovica and Prizren in Kosovo; Skopje, Tetovo and Ohrid in Macedonia; Tirana in Albania; Orahovac, Kotor, Niksic and Podgorica in Montenegro; and finally Fuzine in Croatia.

REFLECTIONS ON 2012 ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY AND INTEGRITY FORUM

Justin Kagin, Economic Diplomacy and Integrity Forum Director, and the EDI 2012 team members Leo van Doesburg, Mihaela Kovacs, and Christian and Eunice Vatran, reflect on the Economic Diplomacy and Integrity Forum 2012 that was completed on Saturday, August 11, 2012 in Fuzine, Croatia.

Hundreds of Roma Refugees in Montenegro Homeless

Watch the video ...

Dear Friends,

Let me share a brief account of a very dramatic event our Renewing Our Minds Team witnessed at the very end of our Southeast European Trial of Friendship 2012.

On Tuesday July 24, 2012 we were in Podgorica, Montenegro, and our plan was to visit two Roma camps (Konak 1 and Konak 2) crowded with refugees from Kosovo, who sought their refuge in Montenegro in 1999. The two refugee camps were supposed to be their temporary shelter till a permanent solution was to be found. However over the past 13 years the two camps has become their permanent home, neglected by the Montenegrin Government, abandoned by international humanitarian agencies, and treated as a nuisance by the local population. In short hundreds of Roma families living in the two camps under appalling conditions are stuck in poverty, with no prospect of a more dignified life conditions in the future.

Sinisa Nadazdin, who has committed the past ten years of his life to helping and serving Roma refugees in those two camps, took us on Tuesday to the camps, only to become unwilling witnesses of an outstanding tragedy. On the morning of our visit fire broke out, most likely caused by accident, in the biggest Roma camp of the two (Konak 1). Extreme heat that has visited the entire region for more than a month made the wooden Roma homes an easy pray to the fire that in no time consumed up to 80% of all homes in the camp Konak 1. Only a few homes were spared. One thousand Romas lost their homes and everything they possessed to the flames.

Our team witnessed children, young people and old, trying to rescue whatever they could - not much really. We saw children and Roma families wondering confused and lost, trying to make sense out of the tragedy.  I heard some of them saying that "it would have been better had they died in the fire than to have lost their modest homes and the few possessions they had. None of us in the team could keep our eyes dry as we pondered helplessly at the overwhelming consequences of the disaster that struck so many Roma families in Podgorica that Tuesday morning.

And yet, in the middle of the tragedy that plunged close to one thousand of Romas in Podgorica into a new stage of miserable existence, we witnessed something beautiful that none of us in the team would ever forget. Sinisa Nadazdin, who is also a leader of a small but growing Roma church community, invited us to their Roma church house for a special prayer service. In no time the small room was filled with Romas, more than twenty, some of who lost all their possessions, which for two hours worshiped the Lord through prayer, music and sharing times in the most beautiful way. The honesty of their prayers, sincerity of the spirit and the simplicity of their faith was a powerful witness to what it means to trust in the Lord even at the time of a great tragedy. A more meaningful worship I have not experienced for a very long time.

The Roma victims in Podgorica, Montenegro who have lost their homes and all belongings need our help. The Government of Montenegro is slow again to provide any meaningful assistance. And yet those people and their families need urgently portable homes, tents, mattresses, blankets, urgent humanitarian aid to sustain their lives at this time. Would you know a person, church community or an organization that could help? Maybe you too can do something too to help?

Information or further questions related to the nature of the most immediate help that could make a difference in the lives of the hundreds of homeless Romas in Podgorica at this time could be obtained from Sinisa Nadazdin, our friend and Romate, who is very well known and respected in the Roma communities in Podgorica. His contact details are: nadazdin@t-com.me , mobile number if +38269352052. Please, ask Sinisa about what you can do to elevate the suffering of the homeless Roma families in Podgorica, Montenegro.

Thank you for whatever you can do. Remember the words of Jesus: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matt. 25:40.

Tihomir Kukolja

Renewing Our Minds, Director

Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation, Executive Director

WELCOME TO ROM REGATHERING OF FRIENDS 2012

Photo: 

Last ROM Regathering of Friends in Ohrid, Macedonia in the autumn of 2006

Dear Family of Friends,

It is with great joy that we invite you to attend the ROM REGATHERING OF FRIENDS 2012 in Ohrid, Naselba Sveti Stefan Macedonia at Hotel Klimetica , 26th September to 1st October 2012.

ROM REGATHERING OF FRIENDS will take place in Ohrid, one of the most historic, picturesque and pleasant towns of Macedonia, next to the Lake Ohrid. The Regathering will start with the afternoon registration and dinner on Wednesday, 26th September, and close with breakfast on Monday morning, 1st October 2012.

If you have not received the letter of invitation and registration form please let us know ASAP by writing to forumforleadership@gmail.com. Please read the entire letter of invitation and registration form coming to you by email.

To help us get everything organized and on time we would ask you to send us the completed form as soon as possible, and no later than Monday, 20th August 2012. If you have any questions concerning the cost, or if you are able to attend only for a part of the Regathering, or if you have any other questions please let us know as soon as possible.

Send your completed REGATHERING REGISTRATION FORM to forumforleadership@gmail.com by 20th August 2012, or earlier.

The leadership team of Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation is looking forward to receiving your registration and seeing you in Ohrid this September.

Love and blessings.

Tihomir Kukolja

Renewing Our Minds, Director

Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation, Executive Director

+1-281-515-3707

Facebook - Let us know that you are coming

EDI Forum This Summer

Economic Diplomacy and Integrity (EDI) is a new initiative designed to support the development of young professionals and students in the areas of economics, business and politics which are based in the life and teachings of Jesus. EDI Forum 2012 will take place in Fuzine, Croatia, 31^st July – 11^th August, 2012. A similar seminar took place in Fuzine, Croatia, in the summer of 2011. Watch this video.

IN ORDER TO DO MORE

Released by:

Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation, Board of Directors, Seattle WA

Dear Friends,

The Forum for Leadership and Development (FLR) Board met last week in Seattle at its 2012 Spring planning session to evaluate the FLR work so far, revisit the program plans for this summer and the remaining months of the year. Our Board has been meeting in Seattle, WA on a regular basis for three days every second month. This has been our fourth season of meetings since November 2011.

Our frequent meetings at this time demonstrate the attitude of commitment to see that the Renewing Our Minds (ROM) and Economic Diplomacy and Integrity (EDI) initiatives serve the international community well, equipped and broader than in the past. Our primary mission at this time is to provide sustainable home and effective governance that will lead and guard ROM and EDI initiatives in the future. We have become a registered non-profit corporation, have our bylaws in place, and are now completing the final stage of registration needed to become fully equipped for our service.

Fundraising however is the area of our work that requires additional patience and diligence on our part at this time. We believe that we need to adjust our plans for the current year in a way that would put the available funds to their maximum use. The FLR Board prayerfully sought a way by which we could do more for less in the coming months; always respecting the principle that the funds allocated to ROM ought to be used to advance the mission of ROM in 2012. It was also the desire of the FLR Board to be good stewards of the entrusted funds.

This is what we believe would make the effective use of available funds in the coming months:

1. BRINGING ROM TO THE BALKAN ROM COMMUNITY. Instead of having a costly two week ROM Gathering, our team will undertake a three week long regional journey of visits to ROM community across the Balkans in July. Our objective is to have a series of smaller meetings and gatherings with the ROM alumni in their countries and towns. The purpose of “Bringing ROM to the ROM Community” is to affirm, strengthen, and spiritually refresh and mentor ROM community in the Balkans; as well as for the travelling team to listen, learn and gain invaluable information that will help the FLR in providing an effective service to young leaders in the Balkans and elsewhere in the future.

2. ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY AND INTEGRITY FORUM will take place in Fuzine, Croatia as planned; between July 31 and August 11, 2012. We are planning to limit the attendance at EDI 2012 to 30 participants, including team members.

3. ROM REGATHERING 2012, a five day ROM gathering at the end of September in Ohrid, Macedonia (September 26 – October 1, 2012), will take the central place in the ROM 2012 calendar. We are expecting about one hundred participants, ROM alumni, from twenty countries to attend. The purpose of the ROM Regathering will be to strengthen, affirm, and spiritually refresh. The ROM Core team will use the Regathering opportunity to assess the short and long term impact of the ROM experience on the ROM participants in the past twelve years.

4. FACTS FINDING AND DEVELOPMENT TASK MISSION TO A NEW TERRITORY in November 2012. An international organization has already designated the needed funds for a team of two or three to visit a country with the most likely possibility to see a new ROM emerging in the next couple of years.

In summary, the FLR board believes that the funds available for or committed to the ROM Gathering this year, though not sufficient for the implementation of the full ROM-Gathering event, will be adequate for projects that aim at consolidating and strengthening the existing ROM community in the Balkans, and for setting a stage for the further growth of ROM in the Balkans and the new territories. The FLR is pressing forward with confidence. The momentary challenges with funds we see as an opportunity, rather than as a weakness. We would like to reassure you friends that we are ready and eager to move forward with a big picture of ROM and EDI, in the Balkans, new regions in the world and in the USA, as soon as the Lord leads us in expanding our donors’ base.  With this in mind we continue with fundraising.

Thank you for your understanding of the situation. If you have a good advice or guidance that might help us as we press on looking for new donors feel free to share it with us.

Thank you for your understanding. Trusting in the Lord’s guidance we stay sincerely yours.

Love and blessings. For the FLR Board of Directors

Tihomir Kukolja, Executive Director

Martha S. Weiss, Chairwoman

Ana Elfers, Education and Leadership

Tom Garren, Development and Resources

Neil Quist, Finances and Secretary

Video Reflection on ROM Gathering 2011

They said .... "This event was unlike any other I've ever attended", "These two weeks really changed me." These and similar comments followed 2011 Renewing Our Minds Gathering (ROM), a two-week reconciliation, peace building and leadership gathering, held for the 13th time in the picturesque township of Fuzine, Croatia, from July 16th through July 31st. We were an international group of fifty participants, facilitators and speakers from fifteen countries "ROM is something that provokes you to push your limits. It takes you out of your comfort zone. ROM means a turning point. For some it is a beginning of a healing process, while for others a beginning of a long lasting change."

They Were Loving Each Other Despite Their Differences

A Story of ROM

Author:

Mark Casey

Trac5 – A Bold Path to Peace

Director of Education and Programs

Speaker at Renewing Our Minds Gathering 2009

I’ve just returned from a 10-day speaking engagement in Croatia. The event is called ROM which stands for 'Renewing Our Minds.' It was a young leadership event that focuses primarily on the Balkan countries, but draws from around the world. There were 15 countries represented in the eclectic gathering representing diverse religious backgrounds ranging from Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical, Atheist and Muslim.

I felt privileged to share with this group of sharp emerging leaders that included those who lost family members in the Balkan wars, children of elected officials and ambassadors, Palestinians, a gypsy and even a Member of Parliament for a Balkan state. Everyone who attended the gathering knew we were going to discuss reconciliation and leadership based on the example of Jesus of Nazareth. I was blown away by the interaction particularly in our small groups.

After I taught in one of the main sessions on how Jesus is represented in both the Bible and the Qur’an, it stirred up some interesting discussion. I looked across on the sofa at three women sitting side-by-side in my small group as they shared their stories. The first was a Turkish Muslim woman who had to flee Turkey because of death threats on her mother’s life after a brief political career. She lives her faith out visibly by the way she dresses and covers, and these are outward symbols of a deep conviction that she lives out daily through devotion to prayer and modesty. The next woman on the couch was an Irish Protestant who dated a Pakistani Muslim seriously for seven years before calling it off because of religious differences. She spoke graciously of the man, but felt deep in her heart that they were in very different places with their respective faiths and the relationship could not continue. The third woman was a Bosnian Christian who told the story of how she grew up in a Muslim family. At a young age she was drawn to the person of Jesus and so she began learning from an older lady who spoke beautifully of Jesus. Though her father died during the war, she told a happy story of how her whole family now follows Jesus.

Here were three different ladies from three different parts of the world who were as different as they could be, but at this moment in time as they shared their heartfelt stories they were relating to each other around the person of Jesus Christ. They did not all share the same views, but they were talking and they loved each other despite their differences. What amazing Kingdom work God allowed me to be a part of in the beautiful country of Croatia.

Mark Casey, USA, Director of Education and Programs, Trac5 – A Bold Path to Peace

EDI – ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY AND INTEGRITY FORUM THIS SUMMER

Building an Economic, Business and Political Community On the Principles of Jesus

Economic Diplomacy and Integrity (EDI) is a new initiative designed to support the development of young professionals and students in the areas of economics, business and politics which are based in the life and teachings of Jesus. We believe that the best way to fight against unhealthy rivalry among and within nations is to establish an economic and political community based on the principles of Jesus. 

EDI was established on the foundations of the 13-year peace building initiative Renewing our Minds (ROM) and later the 5 years of the Economic Diplomacy Seminar (EDS).  ROM evolved out of the need to heal relationships among ethnic groups after the wars in Southeast Europe applying Jesus’ principles as a platform for establishing friendship, forgiveness, reconciliation and lasting peace in the region.  From 2006-2011, the Economic Diplomacy Seminar (EDS) hosted over 200 participants, continuing where ROM left off, by adding economic and diplomatic principles.

This summer EDI is planning to invite 25 participants, and 15 staff and instructors for series of lectures, seminars, workshops and mentoring events.  Participants will be selected based on recognized leadership in their communities and recommendations of those involved with the program.

The program will be led by Justin Kagin, Director of Economic Diplomacy and Integrity, Leo van Doesburg, East European Representative of the European Christian Political Movement (ECPM), Tihomir Kukolja, Executive Director of the Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation (FLR) and ROM, Mihaela Kovac, Director of Baraca, and the executive team from FLR.

RDI objectives are: a) To engage young professionals and students (ages 18-35) primarily from the Balkan region; b) To facilitate the formation of new business plans and projects and assist in their implementation by developing a plan, working on logistics, and creating a network of support; c) To support professional networks by connecting current participants with former participants, and leaders in EDI and ROM; d) To practically apply the principles of Jesus through regional and community outreach of various kinds; and e) To highlight successful leaders in the region and create a space for them to share and invest themselves in a new generation of leaders.

The 2012 program content will include international speakers and seminars; small groups and mentors; workshops; field trips, and social events.

Economic Diplomacy and Integrity Forum 2012 will take place in Fuzine, Croatia, July 31 – August 11, 2012.

Introducing ROM - Renewing Our Minds

Since 1999, ROM has been encouraging young leaders in Southeast Europe and around the world to adopt a new paradigm – one of forgiveness, reconciliation, peacemaking and humanity, shaped in the image of God. ROM is an intentional community where loving one’s neighbor, and leadership with integrity and service are taught and practiced, and where all teaching is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ. Many who have attended ROM in the past have become leaders of influence in their own countries, or have founded new socially transformative movements and organizations.

ROM is designed as a two or three week transformational gathering to which young leaders from the polarized Balkan region are invited to learn to accept each other and develop lasting friendships, despite their religious, national and ethnic differences. Participants attending ROM often say that a time spent in an intentional community of diverse people, often previously considered enemies, is a life-defining experience. ROM has become a meeting place appreciated by Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, agnostics and atheists. To date, hundreds of young leaders from over 50 countries have attended ROM gathering. That has inspired the creation of numerous other movements, NGOs, organizations and socially transformative groups.

In 2012, the Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation, in partnership with Life Center International, Croatia, is planning the 13^th international ROM Gathering in Fuzine, Croatia.  It is expected that about sixty young leaders from up to 20 countries will take part in a two-week journey of learning and empowerment to become effective leaders equipped to forgive, lead in the process of reconciliation, and make a difference in their communities through sacrificial service and example. The ROM Gathering 2012 has a two-fold purpose: to help build a reconciled, transformed and connected community of leaders with integrity in Southeast Europe, and to mentor young leaders beyond the Balkans in setting new leadership and reconciliation initiatives in other parts of the world. A group of twenty experienced facilitators and speakers will lead the gathering.

Since 1999, ROM’s home has been in Fuzine, Croatia, a charming and friendly town, situated among the mountain peaks, lakes, caves and breathtaking forests of Gorski Kotar, only a short distance from the Adriatic Coast. The Gorski Kotar Region in Croatia has a history of advancing peace and reconciliation. During the wars of the 1990s, Gorski Kotar was the only region in Croatia populated by Croats and Serbs, that was spared the conflict thanks to the deliberate effort of local leaders on both sides to keep the peace and maintain good relationships between the two communities.

Renewing Our Minds 2012 Gathering will take place in Fuzine, Croatia, July 14 – July 29, 2012.