KNOWING AND WELCOMING THE OTHER

"You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt" (Ex 22,20)

"The Lord, your god... it is he who sees justice done for the orphan and the widow, who loves the stranger and gives him food and clothing." (Dt 10,18)"

Why Openness and Hospitality

Our choice of making hospitality the main focus of our event this year sources in what we deem immediate and necessary call for change. In a world of prevalent ignorance, in its literal sense of lack of knowledge, diversity is used to sow the seeds of separation that yield nothing but conflicts and tensions. Knowledge, we believe is the remedy and the key to successful relations with oneself and with others.

To know is to understand, to listen, to observe, to respect and to accept something different from oneself.

This year 2009, our event in cooperation with the Jewish Community of Trieste and the Glocal Forum Italy Foundation as well as the "Giovanni XXIII" UNESCO Chair for Religious Pluralism and Peace, is of particular importance for us.

We will be there when the Jewish Community opens its doors, shares its spaces and calls for mutual exchange.

We will be there to hear the prayers unite.

We will be there to listen to leading figures from the worlds of culture, media, government, and religion meet to "reflect" and explain what the welcoming of others means for them.

We will be there when musicians who have explored, esteemed, boasted, and most of all, made art out of their traditions, come together to play, to fuse their sounds, their emotions, and their roots into something richer.

The City of Trieste undoubtedly is the right place for a launching pad for our "we do care" event with its theme of knowing and understanding. Trieste is among the most varied and fascinating cities in Europe, a melting pot of ethnicities, religions and cultures. it has a long lasting tradition of being a junction of cultures, a place of pluralism, coexistence and fusion.

This event is therefore only a first step along a path of explorations in which Trieste and the "actors" involved are only the very first protagonists.

Our aim is to foster openness and awareness amongst us all so more and more of us would be able to genuinely say "we do care".

For the WeDoCARE Association
Ron Fremder