Peter Riddell spoke on the theme ‘Healing Wounded Memories’ at a meeting of the Oxford City branch of the United Nations Association on 15 May 2012. The focus of the talk was on how wounded memories may be healed, illustrating it with the reconciliation process between English and Irish of which he has had personal experience, and the contribution of Irène Laure to post-war Franco-German reconciliation, which he believes is a foundational example for this kind of work.

Part conference, part training course, Tools for Change is an annual event hosted by Initiatives of Change which aims to equip changemakers with the skills, motivation and attitudes they need to be effective. Tools for Change KL 2012 took place in Petaling Jaya, 22-25 March.

‘The film One Word of Truth is like a prophecy of what is happening in Syria,’ said Syrian writer and blogger Wassim Al-Adel, speaking at a Greencoat film show in the UK Initiatives of Change centre in London, on 8 May. The film was introduced by its producer Patrick Colquhoun from Anglo-Nordic Productions and was followed by a testimonial by Al-Adel, who explained how the film’s message had helped him overcome his despair at the current situation in Syria.

Swiss Hotel Management School (SHMS), which rents the former Caux-Palace for much of the year from the Swiss Foundation, CAUX-Initiatives of Change, celebrated its 20th anniversary at the beginning of May. The Foundation and the hotel school publicly noted their excellent partnership.

"If we could model for the world what healing is, it would be a great thing,” said Gail Christopher, vice president for program strategy for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, at the national grantee conference, America Healing for Democracy, in New Orleans last month.

The Nairobi Chamber Chorus is in Britain to perform in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle, 10-12 May. On 6 May the Chorus performed in Slough, hosted by the Kenya Society. Among the speakers at the event were former Kenyan Attorney General Charles Njonjo, former British High Commissioner to Kenya Sir Jeffrey James, Mayor of Slough, Sukhjit Kaur Dhaliwal, senior Commissioner at the Kenyan High Commision, Dr Joe Sang and Dr Alan Channer from Initiatives of Change's FLTfilms.

Fifty-five young Cambodians and Thais took part in a youth camp in November 2011, part of the Cambodian Thai Exchange Programme, with the purpose of restoring and strengthening the relationship between Cambodia and Thailand. In April 2012 many of the participants met up again, this time in Thailand.

“Ukrainian Action: Healing the Past” project team runs a Dialogue Seminar for the Foundations for Freedom Teams that will take place on 17-20 May 2012 in Lviv region, Ukraine.

Canadian history is still handicapped by the way First Nations People have been treated since the arrival of the French and British colonizers. Deep wounds have been inflicted which are still today at the root of numerous social issues and difficult relationships within and between our communities.

Are you new to Initiatives of Change (IofC) and eager to understand what it is all about? Or have you been around IofC for some time but still find it hard to understand how it works in practice? Perhaps you have been engaged with it for many years and want to refresh your thinking and perspective? Join us for a week of vigorous dialogue in Caux (25-31 July) to explore ‘the essence of IofC’. More information