This date, established by the United Nations, highlights the commitment to promote understanding among cultures and peoples, and emphasizes that “a diversity of religions, languages, cultures and ethnicities in the world is not a pretext for conflict, but rather a treasure that enriches everyone.”
Seeking to promote a safe and peaceful space that contributes to the promotion of tolerance, valuing cultures and fraternity among indigenous Brazilians, immigrants, and refugees and the host community, the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF), in partnership with Operation Welcome, created the Indigenous Cultural and Training Centre(CCFI), headquartered in Boa Vista, Roraima.
The CCFI provides an opportunity for the building of a more dignified life, having as a foundation the development of livelihoods that foster lasting solutions through professional courses, learning the Portuguese language and IT, and entrepreneur workshops, among others.
The coordinator of the CCFI, Imer, emphasizes that “a peaceful coexistence among indigenous peoples generates possibilities for the genuine manifestation of their cultures, and strengthens their customs and traditions, thus ensuring the rights of individuals, groups and the community that takes in all these people.”
“Among the attributes and values of the HumanitarianFraternity (FIHF) expressed in the CCFI are the possibility of people understanding that we all have a potential inherent in the human being and that if we make the effort and strengthen our will, we can discover, develop and empower those skills so as to be able to be part of society and contribute to a better and more just world,” points out Imer.
Friar Thomas, Regional Coordination assistant of the Roraima Mission, points out that the Humanitarian Fraternity (FIHF) understands humanity to be a single human family. For this reason, it holds to principles of fraternity among peoples, selfless service to others and the building of a planetary culture of peace as its foundation.
Concerning the CCFI mission, Friar Thomas emphasizes that “all the projects seek to value the native culture while at the same time, bring forward necessary learning for a social integration with the modern world. Today, the CCFI has transformed into an inter-ethnic meeting place, since indigenous Brazilians also come for the courses and projects offered there.”
Tolerance, a vital virtue in times of conflict
On the International Day for Tolerance, the UN reminds us that the world is experiencing an “era of growing extremism and violence and that the conflicts are ever broader, characterized by a fundamental contempt for human life”; for this reason, “tolerance has never been a more vital virtue”.
In this global geopolitical scenario, in which conflicts are intensifying, the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) is carrying out the Poland Humanitarian Mission, the objective of which is to provide assistance to people affected by the war who, according to the UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR), has already forced the displacement of more than 11 million people from the Ukraine into the countries of the European Union, Poland being the main destination country. Women and children represent more than 90% of the profile of people who reach that country.
Rafael Corbeta, coordinator of the Poland Humanitarian Mission, emphasizes that “tolerance within the context of humanitarian missions is directly connected to the principles of impartiality and neutrality, present in the code of conduct of the Fraternity – HumanitarianMissions (FIHM), once the humanitarian aid volunteers, through fraternal and selfless service, seek to bring relief and dignity in the contexts of social or humanitarian crises, with no discrimination due to race, gender, beliefs, religions, nationality or political convictions, regardless of what side they are on.”
The humanitarian aid volunteer, Ricardo Treno, assesses that “within the scenario of intense conflict in Eastern Europe, the Poland Humanitarian Mission is the contribution which the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) can give to alleviate the suffering that is leaving deep scars between sister countries. Our aspiration is to be able to carry a drop of fraternity to wounded hearts, so that beings not forget that we are all part of a large human family”.
Watch the videos on the Poland Humanitarian Mission.
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