One of our gap participants, Fiona, has just returned from Switzerland. Read on to hear about her journey.

“I was fortunate enough to have opportunity to attend the Caux Peace and Leadership Program earlier this month in Caux, Switzerland. Nestled high in the Swiss mountains lies a Palace where true magic happens. Imagine spending one month completely free of worries and concerns. One month where every moment, every opportunity for dialogue and discussion leaves you completely in awe of the potential we have as humans to build cohesive societies when given the space to do so.

The Caux Forum run by the organisation Initiatives Of Change is a series of conferences and programs run every summer bringing together people from all over the globe with the aim to empower and equip participants with tools to build trust across cultural, religious, political and economic divides. Born after WWII where citizens of a war-torn Europe wanted to create a safe space for reconciliation this network has spread all over the world aiming to build common ground across divides and thus a more just, peaceful, sustainable world.

The experience completely blew me away. Not for the fact that each day was filled attending training sessions, keeping the conference centre running as well having time for self-reflection. The biggest takeaway is of all the people I met and got to know. 40+ countries were represented amongst the 80 young people on my program. Each of us with our own story coming together to contribute ideas, experiences and for all our differences creating a global family of love, respect, trust and honesty toward another. After 30 days together I can safely say each and every person had wormed their way into my heart and given me so much hope for humanity. I am so grateful for this experience and opportunity to represent our small nation on the world stage. I will remember it for many years to come”