Feb 22 / My Experience of a Lifetime

by Suad Rashid, Ghana 07-08
hosted in Hood River, OR

The Civilization Exchange and Cooperation Foundation conference is one of the experiences I will never forget in my life. The goal of the conference was to foster cooperation among different religions and cultures. In order to achieve this goal, the conference consisted of 43 high school students from 21 different countries. It was a very diverse conference and I learnt a lot from it and made friends from even some countries that I’d never heard of before.

For the inter-faith aspect of the conference, we visited a mosque and an Imam gave a presentation about Islam. We got to ask him questions about Islam and at the end we understood more about the religion. We also visited a synagogue, which is a house of worship place for Jews. We met a Rabbi who talked to us about their beliefs, and the way they worship and then we visited a church, where a Reverend talked to us about Christianity. After all these visits, we had an Imam, a Rabbi and a Reverend all sit down at one place for us to ask them questions. They also discussed their similarities and differences. I thought it was very interesting because never in my life had I thought I would ever visit a synagogue or learn about the Jewish religion. At the end of the day, I realized that all these religions have something in common which is they all want peace in the world and that is what we the youth should try to promote in future.

On the main conference day, there were a lot of presentations which talked about stereotyping and its effects. Students from Egypt, India, Ukraine, Serbia and Ghana (me) made presentations about our countries which was very educational. There was also a presentation about showing leadership among youth and how the youth can promote peace in the world. This session was very inspirational because the one who made the presentation used her own life to make it. She talked about how she reached where she is today. We made a discussion about leaders and heroes of the world and the most inspirational part was that we did a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of ourselves, and with this I realized who I really am. In the end, I realized I can be a leader at any place I find myself and I told her I want to be a hero to the world.

On the last day of the conference, there was a banquet and then a social worker gave a speech about how we should learn about different countries and not only our country. She talked to us about the number of countries she has visited and I was very impressed. She has traveled to almost every continent. She talked about how it felt and it made me feel I wanted to travel to a lot of countries in order to experience what she has experienced.

After her speech, there was a presentation by a student from Afghanistan who talked about his country; how the war affected his country and the situation the country is in now. He talked about his project to build a library in his community and how organizations here are helping him do that and that the project has already started. I realized his parents and his community would be proud of him. I also felt like doing something for my country too. Since I came back from the conference, I have been thinking about what I can also do for my country.

Disney World was also a fun and amazing part of the conference. I was really surprised and amazed by what I saw and having so much fun in just four days. The rides, the fireworks and the beauty of the place were all something different for me. But I thought that what made it a lot more fun was that we were with students who were from different parts of the world, and for whom that was also a new experience. And so we all had something in common.

I know my CECF conference and the time I spent in Disneyworld will always be a memorable part of my life because I never imagined being a part of such a fun and inspirational event. To me this was an experience of a lifetime and I will never forget it.