Staff The Core Team is currently working on preparations for Action for Life 4. During the seven months of AfL a larger support team takes responsibility for the practical running of the programme, as well as caring for and mentoring the participants. Core Team Alexander Birnberg Country: Australia/Belgium Education/Profession: BA Arts/ IofC Full Time Volunteer Previously I worked within the government administration in Australia. By the criteria of my society and culture I was a success, yet I was deeply unhappy. It was through AfL3 that I found new energy, new purpose and vision. This led me to the realisation that the next Action for Life program needed to happen – it is such an important opportunity in developing the young leaders who can really make a difference. Being on the core team is turning my conviction into a reality. Chris Breitenberg Country: USA Education/Profession: BA Religion/ Teacher and Conference Manager Currently, I'm working as a teacher in leadership studies with an organization in the US as I prepare to join the rest of the core team for AfL. I'm coming on AfL4 because I'm completely convinced of the need to create more leaders that will put people on the right path forward, in their relationships and in their communities. So its time to respond with my own life. My previous experience with AfL opened up a whole new world for me, in mind, heart and soul and I want to be part of making that experience available to a new crew of dynamic young leaders. Engaging as a member of the core team for AfL4 will allow me to do that. I am extremely excited to get started with AfL4 and I look forward to working in leadership development for many more years to come. Nigel Heywood Country: Australia Education/Profession: BA in Fine Arts/ IofC Full Time Volunteer I have been involved with three Action for Life communities. On the first AfL I had my world flipped upside down, I was challenged in my lifestyle so dramatically I stopped drinking and returned money for things I had stolen. With the other AfL's I have been continually challenged and stretched being a part of this complex community/ program where I see amazing changes in people. This grass roots change has created a growing network of faith based leaders who from this common experience together have remained as firm friends. People changed, families changed, situations changed, and in doing AfL4 I am passionate to see where this could grow in a world with so many needs. Leena and Suresh Khatri Country: Fiji/India Profession: IofC Full Time Volunteers Suresh: I am with AfL as I believe there is no other programme of this kind anywhere else. This programme helps leadership blossom from within individuals from varied countries, religious, and spiritual traditions. AfL knits the next generation of change makers into a committed team of long term friends found through personal transformation and deeper, inner inspiration. I trust AfL4 will produce yet the best crop of change makers for the fragile world and its future. Leena: I am with AfL because I want to invest my energy in working with, learning from, and encouraging the next generation of change makers. The inter-generational teamwork developing through AfL 1, 2, and 3 has inspired me to work with AfL 4 as well. Han Ting Pan Country: Taiwan Education/Profession: BA Arts/ IofC Full Time Volunteer With the bachelor degree of Sociology, she dreamt of changing the world – yet she didn’t know where to start with. Challenged by IofC’s ideology, she realized that the best place to make the change is “myself”. She then apologized to her mother, whom she didn’t share good relationship with, for her part of the responsibility. It was the first step of rebuilding trust and intimacy within her family. This experience of change inspires her to carry on working with IofC and to contribute to the transformation of young people’s lives. Support Staff Mike and Jean Brown Country: Australia Profession: IofC Full Time Volunteers We have been with MRA-IofC since setting out in our student days in the Sixties with idealism and passion to ‘change the world’. And, along with many failures and times of sheer inspiration, we are still at it! Having been involved in many programmes and challenges around the world for over four decades, we happily plunge into this our fourth AfL programme because we know the energy, faith and vision it brings not only to each of us who take part (participants and others), but into the whole network of IofC around the world. Peter Heyes Country: Canada Profession: Teacher Most of our lives are spent in a safe environment, doing familiar things and surrounded by familiar faces. Action for Life gives us a chance to spread our wings, to do things we’ve never done before; to experience situations we would most likely try to avoid back home. We learn to be more tolerant, our thinking becomes global and, in our long absence away from home and family, we begin to appreciate those things we always took for granted. Pamela Jenner Country: England Education/Profession: Diploma in Counselling, Diploma in Journalism, Certificate in Youth Work/ Counsellor and Journalist I am a journalist, counsellor and youth worker and in my spare time enjoy acting and directing plays in my home city of Cambridge. I have worked at a centre for the disabled in Tamil Nadu, counselling young women and with slum dwellers in Pune, where I gave advice on their publicity material. My son is married to a Bengali girl from Calcutta and I have one grandson. I may be a grandmother but I have always been a bit of a rebel: I believe in standing up for what I believe in! I look forward to be inspired by the young people in the team and to us all working together and learning from each other. Rob Lancaster Country: Australia Education: BA (French/International Relations)/LLB (Hons) Having devoted six and half years to the business of graduating from university, the time has arrived to translate something of what I’ve learned into action (for life). From November last year to February this year, I spent two and a half months volunteering with Initiatives of Change at Asia Plateau, India, and the challenges and encounters of that time encouraged me to be available after finishing university to continue working with IofC for a period. And so it’s with a great sense of excitement, as well as some apprehension, that I’m looking forward to the adventure of AfL 4 and the huge potential that lies in the experience. Hsiao-Yun Liu Country: Taiwan Education/Profession: BA (Dance)/ Dance teacher I took one year off from my university to take part in AfL2. Before I joined this program I was easily influenced by other people and their actions. I cared about what other people thought about me. After this program I got to know better who I was. I found out it was more important to think about how I looked and thought about myself. This program has not only opened my eyes to the bigger world, it has also helped me to find confidence within myself. John and Helen Mills Country: Australia Profession: IofC Full Time Volunteers Helen: Having thought of, prayed for and read with fascination and delight from afar of the exploits and journeyings of the last three AfL programmes we feel it is hightime we had a face-to-face experience. India had been pivotal in changing my life's course many years ago. I expect it will be no different this time. John: I have been involved with AfL since its inception. I believe in AfL and the role it plays in offering this next generation a chance to find a deeper spiritual effectiveness in their lives and a purpose that sustains and satisfies. Tatiana Minbaeva - Finance Coordinator Country: Khazakstan/Russia Education/Profession: International Business/ Tenant Supervisor Almost two years after AfL3 I am working in a commercial organisation, which is a much different world! Nevertheless I practice every single day all the essential things I have learned in Asia, and can see how much difference it makes. I feel this should not be my personal treasure, but a resource for anyone who is brave enough to take on this adventure in prayer and faith. I am extremely excited about AfL4 and it is a big honour for me to be of service.