A Model City of PEACE AND HARMONY

MUHAMMED HANIFF ABDUL RAZAK, Coordinator at the Multi-Faith Multicultural Center and Pure Land Learning College, shares how their organization has been involved in building social and cultural harmony in diversity in the city of Toowoomba in Australia. Their vision for peace is practical and based on the vision of the Venerable Master Chin Kung A.M. who founded their organization.

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Toowoomba is a regional city to the west of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has several heritage façades, many parks, and a population of about 200,000. In 2001, the Venerable Master Chin Kung A.M. decided to make this city the home for Pure Land Learning College Association Inc. Since that time, as well as being a Buddhist Center, it has also become a Peace Advocate Center that brings everyone together, building a shared future for a better world to live in. In June 2013, Toowoomba was declared by the Mayor, Paul Antonio, a Refugee Welcome Zone.

Today Toowoomba is a city proud to have residents from eighty different ethnicities, beliefs, customs, and cultures, coming from Germany, the British Isles, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, Korea Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, Congo, Iraq, South Africa, Sri Lanka, China, Somalia, Libya, and Pakistan, just to name a few of those making Toowoomba their home. We have a school where 26 languages are spoken daily.

It is a mini-United Nation in Australia. And the demographics are growing. This has sparked the eminent Venerable Master Chin Kung to have the vision of making Toowoomba a model city of peace and harmony.

How the journey began: Friendship Dinners since 2001

What sparks a community initiative from this seemingly simple gathering over meals and sharing stories? Allow us to reflect some understanding of the basic fundamentals that have helped us to make this journey possible. We hold on to the principles that:

• Humans are bundles of potential.

• The basic building blocks of life are relationships.

• Educate and communicate, don't teach.

• Technology cannot replace human conversation.

• Leadership remindsauthority tells.