	Global PeaceWorks
	peace among religions is the key to world peace

PeaceWorkers of 2003

Zainab Bawa from Mumbai and Piyaratna Maharajan of Kathmandu visiting a family Jaffarabad, New Delhi.

Zainab Bawa
Mumbai, India

Zainab has worked in the area of conflict resolution, urban development, community issues, indegenous peoples and agriculture She has been involved in the Parliament of World Religions Youth program and is the founder of 'In Quest' - a student exchange program through which she brought 8 students to Kashmir in June 2003. She is actively working with learning more about Kashmiri communities and the issue of peace in this region.

Zainab has written a detailed, day-by-day journal of her experience at Global PeaceWorks which is reproduced here. This page includes a few excerpts from her journal.

Today, I broke bricks, separated the good bricks from the bad ones, dirtied my hands in the mud and felt yucky about mud, especially this mud since it was part sewage... Yet, I felt something indescribable. The joy of constructing together, building something together, it’s so marvelous.

Zainab (of Muslim heritage) passes bricks
to Umesh Singh of the Baha'i faith.

I decided to wash Gayatri’s feet. Gayatri and I had not spoken throughout the programme, each because of our own assumptions and misunderstandings [she is from a Hindu family and I a Muslim family]. This morning, just before the start of breakfast, we had begun to talk to each other. I felt that by washing Gayatri’s feet, I would not only atone for my doing, but would also clean the dust which had settled on my heart.

I led Gayatri by her hand as I washed her feet. I felt the love inside her through her feet. She was weeping. She lifted me up and said loudly, “I love you.” I could not repeat these words to her. It was too difficult to speak. She kept repeating “I love you, I love you!” And for all those moments, I could only feel our presence as we hugged each other and cried.

Heartfelt hugs were common throughout the experience of Global PeaceWorks.

From tomorrow, we are all going to move to our homes. What are we carrying back with us? I am carrying back with me a new understanding of myself, of people, of religion, of interfaith and interreligious communication and dialogue and a lot more than what I can write here now. Each one of us has experienced some change and each one of us will stay together inspite of the physical distances. We have created bonds, bonds which will not melt so easily with time and with distance.

I am growing …

read Zainab's complete journal of her experience online

or view/download the text only version in PDF format

Zainab Bawa is available for journal writing and creative writing assignments.
You can contact her directly via email bu clicking here

return to the PeaceWorkers 2003 overview page

return to the 2003 Project Report page

PeaceWorkers of 2003

Zainab Bawa Mumbai, India

Zainab Bawa
Mumbai, India