FOWPAL visited Turkish campus, teachers and students jointly signed "The Declaration of World Day of the Power of Hope"
FOWPAL visited Adem Ceylan Final Technical School and received a big applause from teachers and students by giving the performance of oriental martial arts.
Travel around the world and promoted love and peace through cultural exchanges, the Federation of World Peace and Love (FOWPAL) set foot in Türkiye for the fourth time. On February 19, 2024, FOWPAL international volunteers visited the Private Adem Ceylan Final Technical and Vocational High School (Özel Adem Ceylan Final Teknik Koleji). They held the 2024 International Youth Forum for Love and Peace with the theme ‘Fostering a Sustainable World with Conscience and the Power of Hope’ and put on performances such as oriental martial arts. Warmly welcomed by teachers and students.
Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze specially presented the “Compass Clock of Conscience”, hoping that through the actions of conscience, we can encourage each other to work together for world peace and sustainability. (From left: Headmaster Murat Taşçı, General Manager Oğuzhan Ceylan, Dr. Hong, and Representative of Marmara Group Mustafa Ercan Ergin)
This is the first time for the international volunteers of FOWPAL to visit the Turkish campus and invite everyone to sign the "Declaration of World Day of the Power of Hope". Through sharing, they convey the wishes and actions of conscience and exchange messages of love and peace with local students to write an inspiring new page in history.
On the youth forum featuring theme of ‘Fostering a Sustainable World with Conscience and the Power of Hope’, participants including students and young volunteers expressed their views on love, peace and conscience. At the end of the forum, everyone took a group photo.
Oğuzhan Ceylan, the general manager of the school, and Murat Taşçı, the principal of the school, led more than ten teachers to warmly welcome the delegation. Participating students included not only high school students from 14 to 18 years old, but also cute little ones as young as 5 and 6 years old, and the atmosphere was full of warmth and joy.
With smiles and dances, all energy boys & energy girls brought an inspiring power to the audience.
The event conveyed the importance of following one’s conscience through the beautiful voices of the South Island aborigines in the song ‘Children from Heaven’. The guidance of conscience can change the world for the better. Subsequently, Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze, the president of FOWPAL, led the teachers and students in a one-minute meditation to pray for themselves and the world.
Young volunteers dressed as knights, expressing awe and respect for nature with Xingyi Quan.
Oğuzhan Ceylan delivered a speech and talked about the importance of peace. Peace, he said, is a life in which people do not harm each other, do not fight, do not shed blood and do not use violence. In societies where peace prevails, there is no fear or anxiety; people look to the future with hope and become more peaceful and productive. He emphasized that all individuals must take responsibility and be in favor of peace. Problems should be resolved through negotiation in a more democratic, peaceful, and respectful of human rights environment. After all, "peace" is the virtue of civilizations, while war is the crime of civilizations.
The sword dance symbolizes the reversal of the universe, bringing warmth and stability to the world.
Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze delivered a brilliant speech on the topic of "Creating Technology of Spirit with Love".
He indicated how to be a wise “digital citizen” in an environment where the virtual and the real worlds are either distinct or integrated, and be a creator of the new diversity multi-technology era. He emphasized that facing an ever-accelerating pace of the world, it’s more important than ever to strengthen and balance our internal. We can achieve this by following our conscience, which guides us to care for the beautiful aspects of human nature, and the motivation for reflection and self-correction. He proposed several methods to maintain the balance of the spirit: taking a moment of silence each day and applying the wisdom of “one, two, three”: review, amend, and act again. Courageously face the good and bad within ourselves through daily self-reflection, with a quiet heart, listen to the inner voice of conscience while using wisdom to explore the value of life.
Immediately following, Mustafa Ercan Ergin, the Representative of Marmara Group, welcomed all the participants at the event, especially the FOWPAL members. He said that in a world full of division and discord. It's crucial to remember the profound significance of these guiding principles of "peace and love". Together, let us foster an environment where peace and love flourish. Let us reach out to those in need, embrace diversity, and cherish the connections that unite us as one human family.
Before the forum began, a video was played to introduce the fruitful achievements of FOWPAL, which has traveled to more than 300 cities in 103 countries around the world to promote a culture of conscience, love and peace.
Yalçın özcan, a 16 year-old student of the school, emphasized the importance of spreading love among teenagers, saying: "Love is one of the most important thing that affects and contributes positively to human life. Love unites people, fulfills both psychological and mental needs, generally makes us a more positive individual in all fields of our lives.” So the younger generation should be taught how to be kind to each other.
Arda Güler, an 18-year-old student of the school, spoke on the topic of "Love, Peace, and Societal Values". Türkiye culture hosts a rich heritage with deep roots spanning thousands of years, he said, One of the most significant elements of this heritage is the value of love and peace. He mentioned, world peace and sustainability are interdependent concepts. As sustainability is achieved, creating the necessary environment for world peace becomes easier, and likewise, as world peace is achieved, reaching sustainability goals becomes more feasible.
The international young volunteers of FOWPAL shared how their conscience and the power of hope have changed in them.
Kiki Ho who works in the jewelry industry stated that the jewelry trade is currently highly affected by wars, epidemics, and global changes, and many other difficulties.
Dr. Hong, Tao-Tze once gave her three words through a story: ‘to let go, harmony, gratitude’, which gave her the opportunity to change.
In her career, ‘to let go’ allows her not to care about gains and losses, and honesty and integrity are her daily principles; when communicating with others, she learns to treat people with ‘harmony’; she views every day with a ‘gratitude’ mindset. These three words, which originate from the conscience, have greatly helped her personal growth and career.
Allen Tai, a university student, mentioned that November 2022 was his first time to travel abroad with Dr. Hong to promote love and peace in India. He found a bit of distance with people at the first time. ‘However, as I actually participated, I found that as long as “I am willing to”, things will go smoothly.’
Ashley Huang, who just graduated from college last year, shared that the ‘Declaration of World Day of the Power of Hope’ emphasizes daily self-reflection and selfless pray, which has brought positive impacts to her current internship and made her persist in actions guided by conscience. When facing children’s learning problems, many parents may feel hard to accept or think that the teacher is causing trouble. However, this doesn’t make Ashley choose to ignore their problem , instead, she conveys professional advice to parents with a sincere and peaceful attitude, in order to seize the golden period of treatment.
The volunteers gave a series of amazing performances impressed all the teachers and students: a sword dance symbolizing the stabilizing power of the world situation, bringing warmth and stability to the world. The performance of martial arts expresses awe and respect for nature, traditional opera sang out the peace wish.
Finally, the Energy Boys & Energy Girls with their smiles and dances brought an inspiring power to the audience. Their positive energy infected the teachers and students who all stood up and danced joyfully together on the scene.
The students were very surprised by the performance of FOWPAL. Ali riza öner would like to thank all volunteers look like sweet brothers and sisters. He was impressed by the performance of energy boys and girls. In the 1 min pray, he also hoped the world to be more peaceful, and people pay more attention to human rights.
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