True Love Builds Bridges at CARP Workshop in Nigeria
The Nigerian chapter of CARP brought students from both Christian and Muslim backgrounds to a seven-day Divine Principle workshop.
The workshop took place from December 18 to 25, 2016, at the FFWPU-Nigeria national headquarters in the capital, Abuja. It was held under the theme “Become Global Leaders Who Are Representatives of True Parents”—the same theme as a previous seven-day workshop held in September.
The 25 participants were 17 students from the University of Abuja community and eight core CARP staff members.
Nigeria is one of the most ethnically diverse nations in Africa, with over 250 ethnic groups. It has an equal percentage of Christians and Muslims; 48 percent of its citizens belong to one of these two religions, while the remaining 4 percent either follow indigenous religions or are non-believers.
Unificationists in Nigeria have long desired to bring people of these two major religions together and convey to them the ideals of true love and unity. This was the second seven-day workshop to which CARP-Nigeria invited students from both Christian and Islamic backgrounds with the goal of enabling them to build a new Nigeria.
Another major intention of this workshop was to give these young people the experience of sharing, working together in unity and accepting each other, irrespective of individual differences, religious diversity and ethnic differences.
As in the previous workshop, the participants were grouped into four teams, each team named for a letter from the word “C-A-R-P.” Each team had five or six participants and a team leader who was usually a member of the core staff.
A typical workshop day began with Hoon Dok Hwe (scripture study) at 6 a.m., followed by morning exercises and dancing. Then participants cleaned up and moved in for breakfast. By 9 a.m., the first lecture session of the day commenced. Each day had three or four lectures on the Divine Principle.
We had great lecturers who gave mind-blowing presentations on the Principle. Rev. Moses Akaahan lectured on the entire Part 1, Rev. Sunday Uke delivered great presentations on the second part, and Rev. Shang Seong Park taught True Parents’ life course and the significance of the Marriage Blessing.
The schedule also gave room each day for at least one special recreational activity to help participants ease out lecture stress: either indoor games, team sports, a movie night, a STEP UP session or family night with open mic and team entertainment performances.
A major challenge to putting on this workshop was paying for it, which the CARP core staff met by going fundraising for about 40 days before the workshop started. It really did seem like a herculean task to meet the financial requirements of the seminar, especially in a nation currently faced with economic recession. But it only took the dedication of our core staff, headed by Mr. Bok Jin Lee, Nigeria’s youth special envoy (a Universal Peace Academy cadet), to make sure that we realized the budget required to make this workshop a reality.
Another challenge was the thought of having a religiously diverse audience for the first time in a CARP workshop. It was difficult to predict the final impression of the participants, especially those from the Islamic faith. However, to our great surprise, the Muslim students gave some of the best testimonies we had ever heard.
One testimony from a Muslim student:
“People might think that the Divine Principle is some kind of religion, but what I understood about it is that it is much closer to peace than religion and it tries to bring religions together to achieve global unification. It should be spread around the world. When I came here first, I just expected some activities about youth empowerment, and normally I don’t get emotional. But the people I met here made me feel the relationship as brothers and sisters. Even though we come from different religions and cultures, there was no fighting and everybody understood each other like one family. Yesterday, when we had True Love Sharing, I shed tears. They really touched my heart. Now I’m going to try my best to not just keep this experience for myself. I will share it with other people and try to bring them closer to CARP and let them understand Divine Principle.”
Indeed, the True Love Sharing ceremony, held on the final evening, was a major highlight of the workshop. This activity had all the participants divided into three groups in which the first group sat on the floor in a circle with their eyes closed, surrounding a group of candles lit at the center of the room. Then the other two groups stood, surrounding the seated first group in a circle and proceeded to show love to the seated participants through non-verbal gestures such as hugs, pats on the back and brief shoulder massages, while following the directions of an emcee with emotional music playing in the background. This process repeated itself until everyone was appreciated. A lot of tears were shed, as the participants had never experienced such an activity before.
Another high point was the down-to-earth lectures given by Rev. Shang Seong Park about the significance of the Marriage Blessing in the realization of world peace and unification. The participants were moved by Rev. Park’s clear emphasis on sexual purity as a prerequisite to receiving the Marriage Blessing and his explanation of how Christians and Muslims could come together to demonstrate the power of their faith in God through participating in Religious Youth Service (RYS) service projects.
Other participant reflections:
“My impression was that I had the opportunity to know that the Messiah has come. Actually, ever since I was born on this earth, I’ve been hearing that the Messiah is coming. I didn’t believe it before, but due to the explanations and some proof, I got to know that it is true. I’m also happy to be here because I got to know some things that I didn’t know before. Spiritually and physically, I got to know more about the Scripture (Bible). Reading the Holy Bible has been one of my challenges, but I think I have a very good reason why I should read my Bible: so as to know more about the things I have learned here. It’s a very good thing that I’m here to know the new truth, Divine Principle. Thank you.”
“The workshop was great. I was inspired. The coordination was very good. The exposure to a new idea was a bit of a shock. Though I don’t fully believe, I hope to make research and pray about it. I appreciate the opportunity to learn something new and distinct from what I have known for a very long time. The idea of love, and the three great blessings, are what I intend to start working on, so that I can live a life worth celebrating, promoting peace.”
“Wonderful always, but this particular seven-day workshop actually changed my life completely. I think I have been able to make the right decisions, having seen, listened to, read and watched True Parents’ life history. Honestly Rev. Moon is a great and true leader to follow and work with. Also his life is a history lived just for the sake of others. Not for him and his family alone. Nobody can do that like him. Thank you, True Parents. I promise to follow your path.”
“I learned many things during the last seven-day workshop and in this workshop too. In fact, during the workshop I learned how to appreciate God and all that He created as well as how to show love to others. I was privileged to teach Divine Principle to other young people prior to now. I felt right and I am so happy about it. I always reflect on my biggest dream, which is to serve God and work for Him and also make Him happy. I don’t regret studying Divine Principle. I want to be a global leader and live a selfless life. Also I want to teach people the Divine Principle.”
We realized that we have no excuse to not spread positivity and true love to other young people around the country as they express their intentions to spread the Divine Principle to other young people of both Christian and Islamic backgrounds.
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