The Land of Morning Calm and Burning Dummies

by Mike Balcomb

Night and Day. Chalk and Cheese. Fire and Ice. However tired the old cliches about two places being so different may be, they certainly applied to the experiences of the PLA on tour in Japan and Korea.

Don't get me wrong. We had a great time in both countries, and accomplished a lot. But Korea was, well, different, starting even with the weather. Japan was hot and humid, in the 90s everyday. Korea was wet. It poured almost without ceasing from the moment we arrived till the end of the Seoul Rally.

And it wasn't just the weather that was opposite. So was the organizers' attitude toward time. For example, in Japan we went over and over the schedule again and again, looking for bottlenecks or delays. We came early -- sometimes too early -- for most everything. All that was to change in Korea.

We arrived in Pusan, Korea's second and southernmost city on the very same morning of our first rally. By the time we cleared customs and made the short journey to the rally site at Pusan Station, it was 10.50am and we were due to start at 11.00am. Many Americans and certainly all Japanese would be tearing their hair out at such a late arrival, but the Korean PLA hosts were unruffled.

"Good," said Young Shin Chang, Koran PLA President, "You're here in time. Now we have you down here as providing three speakers and two entertainment numbers. We have the rest covered. Ready? We are!" And they were, ready and well prepared. Fortified by some instant language lessons on the boat from some of our Korean American participants, we were soon able to join in a full throated chant "Chol dae sarang, chol dae soonkyol" (absolute love, absolute purity).

The next surprise came with the appearance of the "Free Sex Man," a casually dressed effigy of a playboy, Eastern style. Enthusiastic handlers doused the dummy with at least five gallons of kerosene and then, right there in front of the stage, set fire to it to the cheers of the onlookers. I remembered our cautious burning of the Playboy Bunny in Chicago last summer, but that was nothing. Flames twelve feet high shot upwards, temporarily making everyone forget the incessant downpour.

In fact, the PLA has been active and activist in Korea for almost two years. They've conducted Pure Love Seminars and pledge signing sessions in thousands of elementary and secondary schools throughout the country. A number of Korean students came out to the USA last year for Pure Love '97, and they made good use of their field experience in putting together this year's program.

That night in Pusan, each of the 200 international students was paired up with a Korean volunteer. Our hosts had put a lot of effort into preparing this simple ceremony, with all the Korean students bearing small gifts for their new friends. Some could speak English; most not. Yet when it was over we had ten mixed groups of 40, ready to board their ten buses the following morning for the ten hour drive to Seoul.

At least, that was the original plan, but a few days before the Korean PLA had proposed breaking up the trip with a rally-to-go performance in Taejon, an important industrial and university town south of Seoul. "Just driving all day is too boring," they said. "We should have some fun!" The fun turned out to be remarkably similar to the rest of the tour program. We marched through the downtown and held a sizzling rally on a blocked off city street. Right on cue, the heavens opened as the Free Sex Man (Taejon version) burst into flames at the end of the rally.

Arriving in Seoul in torrential rain, well after midnight, the participants gamely tried to grab a few precious hours of sleep before the final event of the tour, the Seoul rally. The venue was Daehangno, literally University Road, and the time was 11.00am on August 15th, Korea's Independence Day. More than 1,500 showed up for a charged and powerful event. Korean, American and Russian speakers vied with each other in intensity and passion. The march held up the traffic for many long minutes at a time, until the police gave in to the outraged horns of motorists and let the traffic flow briefly.

Finally, the marchers stormed into a private apartment complex where a desultory soccer game was in progress, and without missing a beat swept onto the field and up to the bleachers for a final cheer and call to action, led by President Robert Kittel and the Korean hosts. Sensing that the end of the tour was really there, the cheering went on and on, in English and Korean, the sound reverberating across the field and off the apartment buildings nearby. The Korean PLA Tour was over.

Well, not quite. In another stark contrast with Japan, the Korean mass media were very keen to cover the tour. Four national newspapers covered the Pusan rally, while three TV cameramen, including KBS National TV, jockeyed for position around the stage. A cable corporation released the footage in their seven major outlets that night, and the next day's newspapers carried good pictures and stories. The TV and Press were again out in force in Taejon, and in Seoul KBS sent their documentary team, interested in making a program about pure youth. News of the tour continued to spread even as we folded our banners and flags for the last time.

After so much frenetic activity, what do 400 teenagers and students do? Rest? You've got to be kidding. While older staff (yes, including me) entertained dreams of hot baths, beds and plane trips home, the volunteers charged out to take full advantage of Seoul's shopping, the bargain hunter's paradise. At the airport it seemed touch and go whether the plane could even accommodate all the extra stuff, but with what seemed like an extra shudder the 747 left the runway and the tour was finally over.

Next year? Pure Love '99, of course. Europe? South America? We don't know, but the first inquiries are already coming in. Sign up early if you want to be counted in!

The Divine Principle

Volume Two - Part Nine

What are the consequences of the Fall of Man? How has is affected our world? Certainly we can say that with Adam and Eve's failure to establish a true parenthood, throughout history their descendants have been unable to live as true brothers and sisters.

In other words, without true parental love we have not had true brotherly or sisterly love. but why is this so? What are the specific effects of the Fall? Let us examine some of the most basic ones.

If Adam and Eve had reached perfection, forming a four position foundation with God, they would have been able to love each other as husband and wife with God's love, and they would have borne children as expressions of that love.

But because our first parents fell, forming a four position foundation with Satan, God's love was not realized on earth. Adam and Eve created a family centered on false "love", and initiated a satanic lineage based on self-centered love.

Reflecting this reality, the gospel of John reports Jesus as telling the people: "You are of your father the devil." (John 8:44)

In another passage from the New Testament, Paul deems Satan as the "god of this world." (II Corinthians 4:4)

To state that the world is under satanic dominion is to suggest that there are negative spiritual forces operating in our lives.

Although this reality is testified to almost unanimously by such spiritual teachers as Jesus, Paul, Buddha and Mohammed, it is questioned by some in the modern age. Ever since the Age of Reason there have been fewer and fewer educated Western people who have accepted the existence of malevolent or benevolent spiritual beings other than God and the immortal souls of departed humans.

Satan as deceiver

Someone, perhaps C.S. Lewis, has quipped that since Satan is the father of lies, his most effective deception has been to tell people he doesn't exist. If we are not looking for him, he can do his work without much fear of discovery. If physical objects can skip our notice simply because we are preoccupied with other matters, how much more difficult it is to perceive spiritual reality which we cannot easily see, hear or touch. This is particularly true in the modern age in which Western man has largely restricted his attention to the temporal rather than the eternal, the material rather than the spiritual, the human instead of the divine. Regardless of our awareness of spiritual forces, they are still realities.

It is nevertheless imperative to distinguish the actuality of Satanic forces from popular misconceptions handed down to us from folklore. For example, Satan is supposed to have horns and a tail, yet otherwise look like a human being. If we actually conceive Satan in such terms it would be highly unlikely that we will ever receive a visual confirmation of his existence.

It is important to recall that Satan is an expert of disguise and appears in a variety of ways depending at least in part upon what we expect. Baudelaire, the poet--and for a time a confirmed Satanist--reminds us, "The devil's first trick is his incognito." If he sometimes manifests himself in a manner which makes his identity crystal-clear, more often he appears masked in an attractive form.

Ultimately, the best teacher in these matters is experience itself. As one begins to walk a spiritual path, he will frequently encounter all kinds of disturbances, obstructions and temptations. It is such experiences as these which have led those who have gained a certain spiritual enlightenment to conclude there are satanic forces that work against individuals and that have contributed to the destructive nature of human history.

Satanic influences can affect a person only as long as he cooperates with them. Man is influenced by Satan only when he makes a base for him. Ultimately, each person is responsible for his own feelings, thoughts and actions.

Claims that "the devil made me do it" are futile. If one were to rid himself of the negative, destructive or evil elements he has within himself, Satan would become powerless.

What is good?

the argument may be made that since the actions of Lucifer, Adam and Eve were based on love, then they should have been all right. After all, love is good, isn't it?

From the point of view of Divine Principle, nothing is good or evil itself. All things are created neutral and their goodness or evilness depend on their purpose.

A person, for instance, may pursue a great deal of money. If, beyond providing for his personal needs, his goal is to use the money to provide for his family, serve his community, or help his nation, this is a good act. On the other hand, if his goal is purely selfish or even destructive--for example investing in a drug ring--then this action is evil.

This principle applies to human nature itself. For instance, human ambition is often considered evil, but in fact, is part of the original nature given to us by God. Without ambition, human history would be barren of great men and great events. Moses would never have led his people out of Egypt. Lincoln may never have seen his divided country united again. Edison may never have invented the light bulb.

All too often, however, human ambition has been directed to less public-minded purposes. Ambition directed toward selfish ends has led people to steal, dominate others and even to kill.

In this same way, man's capacity for love is neutral. When used in accordance with Godly ideals and principles, it is the most creative and constructive force in the world. Apart from such principles love can be selfish, destructive and merely and expression of lust.

The problem then is in defining what is good, or in arriving at a universal standard of goodness. However, ever since the Fall standards of good and evil have been relative.

At one time the values of one group predominate while at another time another party with entirely different values sets the standard.

Two hundred years ago in the United States perhaps the credo "all for one and one for all" expressed the dominant ethic. Today "doing your own thing" seems to be what is sanctioned by society's opinion leaders. Politically, for the communists, state ownership of all means of production is good. For capitalists, private ownership is what is most desirable.

As a result of such conflicts in standards, history has been filled with struggle. These conflicts will continue until a universal standard of goodness is found, restoring the standard that would have been established if the Fall had not occurred.

The emergence of sin

Although scholars and theologians have identified different types of sin, the sin of Adam and Eve is almost unanimously regarded as the primal, original one--the root all sin. For Divine Principle, it is the cause of the spiritual death that has beset humanity from time immemorial.

But what is sin? For different people, the word has slightly different meanings. The ancient Hebrew understood sin in terms going astray or missing the mark. Others stress that sin is an act separating a person from God. People wander from the path of righteousness, breaking the covenant binding God and mankind together. For Divine Principle, sin may be thought of as any act or thought which violates God's law and which inhibits negatively our own growth to perfection. Sin is thus never simply against God. It is also against ourselves, in that it violates our own deepest essence.

Even though we may not identify it as such, in one way or another, we all have the experience of sin. This fact is proclaimed in the apostle Paul's famous words "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) In a similar vein, Jesus' disciple John writes to the early Christian Church:

"If we say we have not sinned, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." (I John 1:18)

Next Month - Part Ten
Fallen Nature

Summer Programs at Camp Sunrise, NY, Hit the Spot

by Dr. Kathy Winings-NYC

Camp Sunrise was the scene of cheers and tears, challenging activities, fun and sun and, of course, God. The summer of 1998 may be over, but the memories linger on from this summer’s three youth ministry programs that were held at Camp Sunrise. Directed by the Second Generation Committee, Rev. Brian Sabourin, and Dr. Kathy Winings, all of the programs focused on encouraging the young men and women of the second generation to "Set the Standard."

The first program, a two-week workshop from July 11 to July 25, gathered 95 teenagers together from around the globe. Our program began with a profound and heartfelt welcoming address by Hyun-Jin Nim Moon in which he set the tone for the workshop. Hyun-Jin Nim challenged the participants to understand clearly what the standard means-the establishment of an ideal family-and what it takes to create that standard through the practice of true love and living for the sake of others.

Starting then on Sunday morning, Rev. Ken Sudo began the first cycle of Divine Principle teaching sessions. Rev. Sudo emphasized the basics of God’s existence and nature, establishing a deep relationship with our Heavenly Father, the Fall of Humankind and its modern implications for the four realms of heart and love, and what is required today by God and True Parents to be a true son and daughter of God. The second cycle of Principle was taught by Rev. John Williams of IEF with support from Mr. Rollain Muanda of UTS. Rev. Williams focused on the second part of Principle with a deeper look at the need to develop a profound sense of faith and living that faith substantially as the next generation.

Of course, the workshop also included a wide variety of activities which were designed to support what was being taught in the mornings. Group discussions allowed the teens to talk about the Principle and their own questions and concerns of how to live it. A one-day service project allowed the participants to emphasize living for the sake of others through serving Harriman State Park. Teens were also able to hear inspiring testimonies from older second generation.

During the second week, the teens were led through the woods and hills of Harriman by Mr. Keith McMurty-a specialist in outdoor activities for youth. The group was also blessed to be able to spend two days in Gloucester, absorbing True Parents’ foundation of fishing and the ocean providence. Testimonies were shared by the Gloucester members and of course, everyone got to experience a one-day fishing expedition.

The program ended with two special events: an inspirational talk from Jin Hun Nim and a candlelight prayer walk and rededication/reflection time. Through the hard work of Matthew Jones, Jonathan Kirst and Dohi Ang, the workshop provided a good experience for these young men and women.

Second program

The second program, for younger teens, began right on the heels of the first program. This program was slightly larger in number with 145 participants in the camp. While the focus was the same, the content was very specific. We chose to create a program that taught both the character education material from IEF and some of the absolute sex material from PLA. Utilizing interactive learning and games, each lesson challenged the young teens to re-examine their own lives and standard and to remain pure and righteous for the sake of the future. Again, the standard of true family and true love was strongly emphasized.

Though the program was only one week long, it was varied and active with a full day service project, a challenge hike, special testimonies, and lots of fellowship. From Human Bingo, to Race for Life, to life in the Republic of Congo each teen had the opportunity to consider their lives, their goals, and their purpose.

The ending project for these participants was for each team to create an advertising campaign and strategy that could be used in their schools to encourage their own peers and friends to remain pure and to value God-centered families. The Thursday evening fellowship, purity pledge signing, and candlelight prayer walk was a high point in the program.

If that wasn’t enough, as soon as Program Two finished, the third and final program began on Saturday, August 1st with 180 children ages 9-11. This was by far one of our most challenging years because of the sheer size of the camp. Added to that was the fact that we were low on staff. However, because of God’s deep desire to guide and educate our young children, He motivated and encouraged many people to respond to our call for help and we ended up with an awesome staff of dedicated and caring counselors.

The vehicle for teaching about God’s standard in this camp was the Old Testament central figures along with Jesus and True Family. The theme of setting the standard was carried through each lesson with a clear emphasis on how we can learn to set the standard in our families and community. Teaching sessions were creative and interactive and really allowed the children to get into the concepts and look at them with fresh eyes.

The children also had the opportunity to do many exciting activities such as experience God’s creation through a nature hike, go on a service scavenger hunt, swim, learn new games and sports, and see how many new friends they could make in a week. The campers also had the blessing of participating in the Park's annual Regatta. Everyone who raced received a medal and Camp Sunrise received a trophy. Arts and crafts was also a highlight of this program with Mrs. Cynthia Toffey leading the children in their projects. Through an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, our concluding activity was to form an unbroken chain of second generation and parents around the lecture hall, which started with God and True Parents, and visually emphasized God’s hope that this chain remain unbroken and to recognize how precious each person in the chain is to God. The program ended with plays written by the children showing their newfound understanding of Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and a Completed Testament family. After a family worship service on Sunday, the Camp ended with tearful good-byes and a new set of memories and friends.

Each of the programs would not have been possible without the guidance, support and hard work of the Second Generation Committee, Brian Sabourin, the older second generation men and women, parents, and the Camp Sunrise staff led by Bruce and Debbie Grodner. This year we had the added blessing of guidance and support from Hyun-Jin Nim Moon in his capacity as the new international Vice President of FFWPU and leadership for the Second Generation.

The summer of 1998 certainly provided us with a great catalyst for the coming school year and all of our youth and family ministry events. We look forward to continuing our faith development activities through our children’s ministries and youth ministries around the country throughout this year.

Youth Ministry, in cooperation with IRFF, will conduct a service project during the Christmas break this year for teenagers. The location is in the process of being decided, however, we are looking at sites in Guatemala and Haiti. The project will involve painting and restoring either a school or orphanage. For further information, please contact Dr. Kathy Winings at: (914) 366-0558 or e-mail: IRFFint@aol.com.

Dr. Winings coordinates the Youth Ministry program nationwide and is the founder of Educare, an educational consulting firm..

Second Generation Recreation Institute Established in Liberia

by Augustine S. Arkoi-Monrovia, Liberia

I am honored to you the 2nd Generation Recreation Institute of Liberia. As a result of the eight-year civil war in Liberia, the parents of many children were killed, leaving many homeless and in orphanages. Such children became a very serious problem for society, as they found their only means for survival by taking up guns (child-soldier), thus prolonging the war.

The 2nd Generation Recreation Institute was established three years ago based on the motivation of transforming and remodeling the lives of these destitute children into a desirable fashion benefiting society. It first started as a kindergarten school with less than 15 students, and was soon recognized and accredited by the Ministry of Education as a Middle School after just one year of excellent performance. The school now boasts about 400 students.

Since our Institute is not geared toward profiteering. We rely on donations from friends and sympathizers to run the Institute. We are right now making an emergency appeal to raise the sum of $4000 (four thousand dollars) for the effective running of the remaining 1998 and 1999 academic year.

Projects to be implemented include:

1. Balance two-year’s payment (of the five year lease agreement) for the building we are currently occupying.

2. Painting and renovation (roof leaks during rainfall) of the school.

3. Purchasing of new prescribed text books from the Education Ministry.

4. To subsidize teachers' salaries.

5. Introduction of the Korean Alphabet in our Institute (first of its kind in Liberia) beginning in the 1999 academic year.

Knowing of the economic hardship that is being experienced by Koreans during this era, coupled by supports that should rather be rendered to starving people in North Korea, we will wholeheartedly appreciate any little amount you can afford as an individual. We also encourage you to kindly extend our appeal to other friends and organizations that you are affiliated with.

All donations should be made through: Citi Bank N.A. New York (63007-0799). Account with bank: Liberia United Bank Inc, Monrovia Liberia, through Citi Bank 111 Wall St. New York NY 10043 ABA# 021000089. Beneficiary Customer: Acct #: 612000555.

Second Generation Recreation Institute , c/o Rita Arkoi, Co-founder/proprietor, Tel: 231-226016 / 226734.

For further information contact Augustine S. Arkoi: holangi@hotmail.com

We are kindly asking you to become a Special Patron of The 2nd Generation Recreation Institute. Please join us and become a sponsor for the education of our young future leaders. Many thanks in advance.

Religious Youth Service International: Slovenia '98

Building the Community Through Youth Service
by Simona Zbacnik and Edita Ibrahimovic-Bloke , Slovenia

Based on beautiful experiences from two RYS projects which Simona attended in Croatia '95 and Birmingham '97 (the last one together with Larisa Zmaher) the idea to make a project in Slovenia came about.

In February '98 Slovene RYS staff (Simona, Edita, Larisa) met for the first time. We were trying to understand how the RYS could best serve the needs of Slovene community. We decided the theme of the project ( "Building the Community Through Youth Service") and made the schedule.

We started to look for places to do the project and quite soon we made a contact with VITRA- Organisation for Sustainable Development, which is actively working in most underdeveloped southern part of Slovenia. We sent out a letter to different villages to apply for the project. For one month we were waiting for reply and we've got the answers from two communities (Slivnica and Velike Bloke).

Later on in April, Marshall de Souza (British RYS Co-ordinator) came to Slovenia in order to help us with starting the preparations for the project. We all felt that with his visit everything became more concrete. We went to visit the sites where we met with people from VITRA and explained the purpose of our project. Our main contact person became Tamara Krasevec, 21 years old student of management from Bloke. We got very good feeling about Vel. Bloke which later on became the place of our project.

We started to plan the accommodation, food and other important details. We made approximate financial plan, set responsibilities of staff and discussed about inter-religious co-operation. In days to come we sent out information and application forms to different countries. There were quite few challenges on our way. During the time of our preparations, the project was even cancelled one time, because of the problems with accommodation. We started to look for another project in northern part of Slovenia where the earthquake happened in that time.

But finally things worked out and we continued to work with community in Bloke. The other big challenge was to find sponsors. Slovenia is not very charitable country (yet), but on the other hand we ourselves didn't know how to deal with this kind of situation. We were trying to find sponsors in other countries as well. We got big support from Great Britain which was mobilised through Marshall de Souza.

After the Blessing in Bratislava, Simona went to London to help out with preparations. Apart from many donations which were given by different companies, University of Westminister Students Union in London, Sufi community in USA (Atlanta), UC members, etc., we made some fundraising event in London. One of them was a big Charity Bazaar, supported by many UC members who gave many donations in material and helped during the event itself. Next weekend we had two car-boot sales and during the week we worked on participants and preparations for the weekend. During that time the communication between Britain and Slovenia was intensive as on both sides we were very busy.

After all the efforts we got 2000 pounds of support from England. Apart from that the British team brought many other materials coming from England. Also in Slovenia some companies responded, specially with materials (paper, films for photo-camera, medicine for urgent cases, 500 DM from Slovene HQ, pens and telephone cards, and some donations from Slovene UC members (around 150 DM).

Janez Marinko contacted different religious groups inviting them specially for inter-religious seminar on Tuesday evening. There were many ups and downs, struggles and victories, but our inspiration and vision always moved us on. All of us had a strong desire to complete the project successfully. Finally the project came about- we felt great excitement and nervousness as well.

Our first feeling of RYS spirit came with the arrival of Dr. Sherry Hartman, professor from Mississippi and educational director during RYS project. For many years she has been supporting RYS with her whole heart and dedication. Soon after the British team arrived with mini-bus hired from British HARP. The very special part of this project was RYS Educational Training for RYS alumni. It started on 8th July and was attended by all RYS staff, everybody who wanted to learn how to lead RYS educational program. We were taught by Dr. Sherry Hartman who led us through social service learning program. As staff we really got deeply involved with each other which made a good foundation for participants to come.

They arrived on 11th July in the evening after the Staff Orientation which took place on 10th-11th July. Around 30 participants and staff gathered from 13 different countries: England, Malta, Eritrea, France, Uganda, the Czech Rep., Slovakia, USA, Italy, Romania, Japan, Bosnia and Slovenia; representing the following religions: Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Unificationism.

From the very beginning we were warmly welcomed by the local community. We were invited to the local church where we could meet the local priest and very well known Slovene priest Mirko Zerjav who is at the same time world-wide known magician, hypnotist, bio-energyst etc. he was celebrating his 50th anniversary of being a priest. For that reason he came to Bloke, his home village. Behind his tricks he gave us very deep message about unity between different religions and races and our value as God's children.

Next day we met by chance in the local restaurant where we had our daily meals. He was celebrating with his family, relatives and some priests. We opened the big door which was dividing our rooms, brought the guitar and sang a popular song "More". We all were so moved by the wonderful atmosphere.

Finally Mr. Zerjav stood up, took his celebration cake and gave it to RYS participants. He again emphasised that no matter what religion we come from we will finally come to one God. We shared the delicious cake with beautiful roses and specially made host on the top after the inter-religious pilgrimage.

The project officially started on Sunday 12th of July with participant orientation which lasted two days. During the orientation the RYS vision and norms were discussed together with several other exercises which included sessions on Fears and Expectations, Listening Check, Character Building. All the participants had the opportunity to visit the work-site before the work started on 14th July.

We were working with the local community officials to paint windows and doors and clean up the compound of the church whose roof had been recently restored; at the village playground we painted the walls around the bowling alleys, finished off the walls of the playground hut and weeded the entire compound; we were able to paint all eleven street lamps; and completed painting the railings of the two pools in the village.

The opinion of the local people was that the work wouldn't have been completed for many years if we didn't come. All the materials and tools were provided by local community. Its president Mr. Brane Krasevec and his assistant Rajko Zakrajsek explained the work to us and led us through it with lots of care and concern. They were inspired by our work and accomplishments and we were inspired by their hospitality. Already through the work we could achieve great part of our project theme.

We were living in a military building and enjoyed delicious food in the nearby restaurant of family Moklavcic which treated us with so much attention and made us feel like at home. The work period ran each day from Tuesday till Friday (starting each day with morning meditation from different religions) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., which was lunch time.

Almost every afternoon and evening an educational or cultural program was organised. These included a presentation on the Bloke community given by local representative Mr. Skrabec; testimonies from previous RYS projects by RYS alumni, talk on Family Values, site-seeing of Ljubljana and Postojna cave.

We visited four homes of old people who were in need of help. We talked with them, sang songs, cleaned the house, chopped wood etc. We had two very special evenings which were for to the participants, but open also for the local community and others. On Tuesday, 14th of July we had inter-religious seminar. Representatives from various religions (Islam, Hare Krishna, Mormons, Unificationists and evangelical group New life) came to speak on the topic "Respecting Different Religious Traditions", followed by discussion. More than 60 people attended the seminar. We think this was a very special event for Slovenia regarding the fact that inter-religious co-operation in our country is very poor apart from meetings organised by the government four times per year.

In the afternoon before the inter-religious evening we had very interesting inter-religious pilgrimage which was held in our living place because of the rain. We were reading from the holy scriptures of 7 religions including prayers and other rituals.

On Friday more than 100 local people gathered in the church hall in the neighbouring village Nova Vas for the Cultural evening. All the evening was one big joyous and inspiring event. The special flavour was our MC- black brother Edward Mukasa whom people will never forget. Different songs, poems, skits, martial art presentation, Hindu dance, Japanese bells and other performances followed. From late news this was the first event of its kind in Bloke region.

One big connecting point with local people was also bye-bye picnic on Saturday evening. They wanted to show us their gratitude and appreciation for what we brought to their village. It was not just the accomplishment of work but also our genuine relationships. Women from the village baked all different kinds of sweets. We were not able to try all of them. When the darkness came we gathered under the playground light and sang songs to each other, exchanging songs from various cultures and danced together as well. We concluded with group picture hoping to see each other again.

The final part of the project was the reflection led by Massimo Trombin, Marshall de Souza and Simona Zbacnik. Reflection is very important part of RYS project. We were led into reviewing the goals, norms and what we had learned during the project. For some time we could reflect in the beautiful nature near Bloke. Massimo gave "World Vision" slide presentation showing the reality of today's world. After lunch everybody set new goals for the near future. We enjoyed together an exercise for building self-confidence by recognising the strengths of each one's character.

On Sunday we had a beautiful Universal Worship Service in the nature. Readings and prayers from all the religious traditions, present and not present were heard. Trevor Davies gave an inspiring sermon on Joy and Happiness. We closed the worship service with a Sufi song, which brought everyone even closer to each other.

We concluded with writing out the reflections. The official closing ceremony took place at lunch time that Sunday. It was attended by all participants and staff as well as by some special guests (our main contact person Tamara, her parents and Rajko. Following the delicious lunch we recognised the guests mentioned above, listened to organisers comments, participants' testimonies and delivered the certificates and gifts to participants. The local community prepared for each one of us a beautiful souvenir - wooden spoon saying: "Always welcome to Bloke!", postcard and Bloke brochure.

At the same time tears of happiness and sadness filled up our eyes. We didn't want to say good-bye. But we knew these experiences connected us in our hearts forever.

Most of us left Bloke on Sunday and some stayed to do final clean up in the place we were staying. As staff we are reflecting upon the project and it seems it didn't end yet. It is still going on in our hearts. Man cannot forget all the joy, inspiration and all the beautiful friendships which were born during the project. We deeply feel that RYS is bringing vision for the future through dialogue and action. It gives a rebirth experience to so many young people. A lot of effort was made to accomplish the project but all the worries and difficulties were forgotten by wonderful and unique experiences.

Together we stand, divided we fall! God bless RYS!

Pure Love Rally in US Sparks Rally in Britain

by M. Zaccarelli-London, UK

We, five young sisters from HARP UK, met the Pure Love 97 Tour in New York and joined them for the last couple of weeks across the East Coast of the USA. It was an amazingly powerful group of 300 Second Generation, CARP members and guests going from city to city in huge buses holding dynamic rallies and marches promoting Absolute Sex, Pure Love, abstinence before marriage and fidelity within marriage-it was amazing!

Purity Among 2nd Generation & Youth

Father had directed Jin Hun Nim, the World CARP leader, to address the problem of immorality within youth in America through the Pure Love Alliance, and Mother had earnestly asked him to educate the Second Generation about sexual purity. So the tour was a combination of the two, where the Second Generation-with a strong conviction of sexual purity-encouraged people in the main cities to save sex for marriage. When we arrived in New York, the tour was having a "rest day" at the Unification Theological Seminary, giving us the opportunity to overcome our jet lag. We were assigned to our different groups, in which we practiced a three-minute Absolute Sex speech for street preaching. We were introduced to everyone after dinner as the sisters from Britain and we received welcoming applause. Everyone was so friendly and embracing. The atmosphere was beautiful.

The First Day

Our first taste of actual rallying was in Albany, where we all piled out of the buses and instantly formed an organized formation of two long lines. We made our way to the capital steps, shouting in perfect unison chants like: "One Love! One Life! One MAN! One WIFE!" and "Dont need promiscuity, we uphold our dignity!" "Love is good and sex is great, If you care youll want to wait!"

I was in the group at the front and it was absolutely amazing to look back at this huge snaking line of white and gray tee-shirt clad teenagers passionately preaching purity to stunned passersby.

In each city we marched and chanted for nearly an hour, and in most of them we stopped at the rally site where there was a program of performers and speakers, and then marched back to the buses.

The performers included dancers, choir songs and rock songs accompanied by many energetic sketches, Won Hwa Do demonstrations and most intriguing of all: the dancing STDs-Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Genital Warts. The media generally liked those a lot. Usually after the rallies we would split up into our groups to do a fund-raising signature drive called "A Dollar For Decency." Occasionally you would meet someone dodgy who would laugh at you or say they had four wives or that they were homosexual. But the number of people who did support us, with occasional $20 donations, was surprising. We seemed to stir their original minds quite a bit.

Pure Love Day

After Albany, we went to Boston, Bridgeport, New York City twice (since we did not get enough media coverage the first time around and Jin Hun Nim was not having that, Philadelphia, Richmond, Atlanta, Baltimore and Washington DC. In most cities, it was declared Pure Love Day in honor of our message, and we received a lot of support from Congressmen and Senators. In Washington DC the mayor asked if the Pure Love Alliance could teach pure love in their schools.

We stayed in church centers where meeting rooms and dining areas transformed into bedrooms at night. Brothers slept in tents and suffered ruthless attacks from fire ants and mosquitoes. Once or twice we were privileged enough to stay at a hotel, where everyone was finally blessed with access to a shower.

By the time we arrived at the final city, Washington DC, our number had grown to 500. The Washington Times fed us a banquet dinner the night before and we hit the streets for the last time, rallying passionately in Freedom Plaza. We were on five TV channels and a radio station interviewed Abigail German, one of the British contingent. We ended the rally by marching up to the White House where Mike Balcolm led us shouting and clapping "Keep it sure! Make it pure!" back and forth along the long stretch of pavement in front of President Clintons residence. It was hot and we were tired and thirsty. But we just continued this crazy marching. After about an hour and seven circuits, there was still no sign of Clinton. We thought we would stop but Mike kept saying "Just once more!" and we continued until the police told us to go away. Although Pres. Clinton did not come out, he definitely heard us together with the other 10 million people throughout the tour, with all the TV, newspaper and radio coverage we attracted.

Back in England

The amazing thing is that it did not stop there. As soon as we got back to England, there was a seven-day HARP workshop in Cleeve House, Wiltshire. After showing the British Second Generation videos of the mind-altering achievements in America and teaching them some of the chants, we were set up and ready to march into Bristol with the message of "Absolute Sex!" We spent a whole afternoon, the day before, practicing in the large grounds of Cleeve House achieving a sense of unity which is all-important when marching. We were all a little apprehensive about the next day knowing that we would be in the public eye; nonetheless we felt this was a test of our faith and we must succeed.

Although there were only about 30 of us, aged between 12 and 17 years, compared to Americas 300, equipped with only saucepans and spoons with less preparation and a lot more persecution, we had even more passion and enthusiasm-shouting, singing and preaching at these bemused people of Bristol. Jeremy Speller and Maria Miller gave powerful speeches in one of the main squares in the town shopping center and the Western Daily Press wrote an article about us.

Absolute Sex Tradition

As we marched through the streets, I was filled with absolute pride and happiness to be leading this strong and righteous group of Gods children. We were continuing the Absolute Sex tradition set by Jin Hun Nim, bringing Pure Love to Britain. I could feel God cheering for joy with us as we ended with three Manseis on the street.

After it was all over we returned to our workshop venue feeling absolutely elated. We had done what we wet out to do and we had shown that we could demonstrate our faith. This is such an important issue to be airing in public and we could understand why True Father is so eager to get people talking about Pure Love. It was truly amazing and I hope you can all join us at our next rally in the summer of 1998 perhaps, in Trafalgar Square. "Well blow Britains brain away!"

M. Zaccarelli is the HARP Student Leader in the UK. Reprinted from The European.

Pure Love Alliance's 1998 Japan and Korea Tour

Miwa Krishnek

My experiences on the Pure Love Alliance's 1998 Japan and Korea tour was very different from those I had on last year’s national tour.

From the beginning I really felt that God didn’t want me to remain the "silly little girl" that I was last year, but wanted to use the tour to prepare me to be a leader of the future, as True Father wants us all to be. For instance, the day after I arrived at the LA CARP center from Seattle, I was asked by the central figure of the center to give a 10 minute testimony about my experiences on the Pure Love 97 Tour. I very vividly remember giving my life testimony on a bumpy bus as we drove on across America last year; my palms were clammy, my elbows down to my knees shook uncontrollably and I talked so fast that a majority of my listeners couldn’t understand a word I was saying. Yet, in that center in LA, something pushed me to agree to give a testimony and although my hands shook a little, I was confident, managed to convey all my points, and I didn’t talk that fast. Also when we arrived in Japan, I was shocked to find out that not only was I a team assistant, but I was also the youngest team assistant by at least a year and a half. Although it may not seem like a huge deal, being a team assistant was definitely a major jump from being the incapable, youngest girl on last year’s tour.

Externally the tour was also very different from last year’s tour. The humidity in Japan was unbelievable and it took a lot to overcome the heat. Fortunately, come rally or march time, the weather was always bearable thanks to rain before or during the rally.

The rallies were fun (I was one of the dancing sexually transmitted diseases!) and the marches were huge, and although our media coverage was close to nonexistent in Japan, I know the PLA made a lot of progress with major educational leaders.

In Korea the K-PLA has already been influencing a lot of schools so the situation wasn’t quite as serious. During our visits to the 3 Korean cities, it rained constantly but the Korean PLA participants were so bright, bouncy and energized that the rest of us didn’t have time to reflect upon our soaked condition. Although our marches were a tad unorganized, we still had plenty of media coverage and lots of fun. One great thing about the Korean portion of our tour was having our "Korean Matching"; each of the World PLA members had the opportunity to be paired with a member of the Korean PLA whom they got to know and spend time with. It was a sad day when we separated from our partners to go to Chung Pyung, even a few tears were shed.

Chung Pyung was a very wonderful way for the tour to end and it was my personal highlight of the summer. When I first arrived at the site, although we were surrounded by lush forests and rivers, my stomach was in knots, and when I saw the inside of the site those knots became even tighter as my fear-controlled imagination compared the place to a concentration camp. But, even then I was awed by the determination and inspiration that shone on everybody’s faces. As I listened to lectures about the spirit world and the importance of ridding evil spirits from our body to liberate them and ourselves, I really began to feel inspired. I could feel the angels helping and guiding me through the many Ah Soo sessions and Dae Mo Nim’s scolding lectures brought forth many tears of repentance and gratitude.

In conclusion, I’d like to thank Jin Hun Nim, all the PLA staff and all the Japanese and Korean members for supporting and helping us so much and for making the Pure Love 1998 Tour of Japan and Korea possible. It was GREAT.

Pure Love Alliance Goes International

by Allen Shaw-NYC

With the success of last summer’s 26-city tour behind them, the Pure Love Alliance headed for Japan and Korea in August. It is now the largest international abstinence organization in the world.

Over 200 youth from around the world, together with more than 2,000 local participants, gathered August 4 in Tokyo’s Shibuya district to begin an 8-city tour of rallies, marches and demonstrations. Their aim was to encourage youth sexual purity and offer an alternative to Western pop culture’s typical portrayal of casual sex.

"We respect our sexual purity," said college sophomore Bo Jones, this time on his second Pure Love tour. "And we are fed up with a world that disrespects our purity, a world that brings sex down to the lowest level, that tells our children that sex is nothing more than fun and games."

The core participants in Japan were about 300 students, the youngest 14 years old. The tour began in Tokyo and moved through four more of Japan’s largest cities-Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima and Fukuoka-where rally participation ran as high as 2,500 people. In Korea the number rose to 400 students, traveling together to rallies in three cities: Pusan, Tae-Jon, and Seoul.

In Tokyo, thousands of supporters rallied to see a rousing performance by rock and rap acts, dance troupes, and singers, as well as appearances by political leaders and professors from local universities. Dancing in the sweltering heat, one rally-goer says he almost fainted twice before the humidity turned to rain and soaked the crowd.

One participant went because he expected a "tour of Japan and Korea." But these youth clearly were not vacationing. Over the next two weeks these young people would spend most of their days marching in either sweltering sun, rain showers, or a fog-like blanket of humidity. Mornings usually involved packing and toting luggage, often more than the buses were meant for, and nights meant unloading, toting again, and unpacking. Sleeping was in close quarters as a matter of routine, air-conditioned on occasion. (At one stop, they discovered after two days that the heat kicked in automatically after midnight.)

"It’s not like a holiday or something that you’d want to do just for fun to enjoy yourself," said Margaret Hill, one of the tour’s performers and a second-year participant. "It’s very taxing physically: You’re marching in the hot sun, chanting until you get hoarse. But then being able to see the participants, to see them become really strong on what they believe and working out a lot of things in their own lives. . . I think that to me makes it worth it."

That was the kind of experience rally organizers were hoping for. Joni Choi, assistant tour coordinator and "tour mother" explained just before the first rally, "My hope for the tour is not only that we can have a positive impact on the people in Japan, in the streets and in the media, but that we can change ourselves through doing this. We should really come to realize what purity is, in ourselves and as a group. Once you’re empowered with that, you’re no longer influenced by all the junk that people put forward."

Like many on the tour, Eri Hashimoto says friends often challenge her stance on sexual purity. "Some of them told me to change," she says. " They said, ‘Hey, what’s the problem with you?’ " Despite her determination to remain pure, she says it was difficult always to "be sure if what I believe in was really right." Joining the tour, though, she discovered that "people all around the world, from America, from Russia, from Europe, from Asia, they all believe in pure love, they all believe in pure love, Absolute Sex instead of free sex. And it gives me confidence and courage to keep on going and believing and doing what’s right."

Eri is not the only one with such a story. Others, like Japanese-American Naokimi Ushiroda and Yemi Pickard of Pleasantville, New York, also say they’re better off for having come. "It really helps," says Yemi, "to know that you’re not the only one." Naokimi says that with the experience of the tour behind him, "When I go back to college I can really speak out with a stronger conviction" for the value of purity.

To the public eye, however, the purpose of this tour was to be accomplished on a larger scale, in working with public educators and in utilizing the mass media.

In Japan, Pure Love Alliance leaders met with scores of educators and representatives from national, prefectural and local ministries of education. Some were surprised at the PLA’s approach to sex education. The Minister of Education in Chiba Prefecture, for example, offered apologies to American PLA president Robert Kittel for Japan’s being, as he said, behind the United States in sex education. He offered assurance that his schools would soon be instituting comprehensive (condom-based) safe-sex education.

"I told them," Mr. Kittel reported to the tour later, " ‘Please, do not introduce comprehensive sex education into your schools. You will destroy your children.’ "

As a result of such meetings, Mr. Kittel says that educational leaders in Japan have "responded positively" to the Alliance’s absolute sex curriculum, wanting to introduce it into the schools in place of comprehensive sex education. He says that Japanese educators were amazed that US citizens were coming to point out the failures of the American education system with concern that those mistakes not be repeated in Japan.

In Korea, where the Pure Love Alliance is already working with the public education system, rallies were covered on prime time national television and cable television news broadcasts, as well as in newspapers in every city the tour visited. The nation’s top media outlet, KBS, has plans to feature the PLA in an upcoming documentary of the worldwide youth movement for purity.

Why An Asian Pure Love Tour?

Some participants from last year’s tour, familiar with the popular Hollywood image of sex without consequences, wondered at first over the need for a Pure Love tour in Asia. They were surprised to discover the negative impact of Western culture in Japan and Korea.

There’s a growing trend in Japan’s major cities known as enjo kosai. Simply put, it’s freelance teen prostitution. With the help of commercial "telephone clubs," middle-aged men receive phone calls from junior-high and high-school girls who are willing to give one evening-often including sex -- in exchange for gifts or spending money. Their aim, they say, is high-priced high-fashion brand goods: Gucci, Prada, Fendi, and the like, Western designer labels whose handbags, for example, sell regularly for $500 and $800. Such finery is otherwise unaffordable to these 12- to 16- years old girls.

No one suggests that sexual immorality began with Western society. But the validating power of American culture is a powerful part of what the tour sought to address. There’s a common understanding among tour participants, Asian and Western alike, that American pop culture is being absorbed en masse by Koreans and Japanese. English text-with or without any meaning at all-appears regularly on clothing, notebooks, billboards, virtually anything intended for a young audience. In most urban areas, American fast food chains, from KFC to Subway to Mr. Donuts, seem always to be within walking distance. Western faces (or blond-haired, green-eyed Asian ones) are found advertising almost everything from shaving cream to long distance service.

Advertisers have discovered that the way to attract customers to a product is to associate it with America or the West. Combining that with American advertisers’ and entertainers’ reliance on casual sex as a marketing tool yields the ideal formula for rapid social decline in Asia. It is worth noting that in Japan, out-of-wedlock pregnancies, the availability of pornography, sexually transmitted diseases, and divorce are all on the rise, along with a corresponding frequency of homelessness, graffiti, gang violence, and drug use among youth. With all the goods America exports to the East, it is our endorsement of free sex that has made the deepest and most damaging impact.

"We owe it to Asia and Japan," says Joni Choi, "to come here and show them a different image, show them that not everyone in America is like that, and we are sorry that we’ve exported such bad things here."

What remains for the Pure Love Alliance in these two countries is to further the success of the contacts already made with educators and community leaders. In Korea PLA curriculum has already been taught in over 900 schools, and thousands of students have taken the Pure Love Pledge. Organizers now hope to reach out to religious institutions and social action groups to reach a wider audience.

In Japan, educational leaders requested detailed information from America regarding the dangers of pre-marital sex and the importance of marriage and family. They were especially interested in learning more about the benefits of stable, committed family life for the well-being of children and society in general; and conversely the consequences of broken dysfunctional families Plans are being made for a conference of concerned Japanese and American educators, to be held in the spring of next year.