Internationaler
Familientag der UNO
Vienna - Austria, May 15th
2010
On the occasion of the International Day of Families
UPF-Austria in cooperation with the Viennese Family Federation held a
Conference on the topic: “The Impact of Migration on Families around the
World”. Various speakers, experts on the topic, as well as couples with
intercultural marriage experience, gave presentations, followed by round-table
discussions.
The first session was opened by Mrs. Elisabeth Cook of
UPF-Austria. First she read out UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s message for
this year’s International Day of Families. Then she gave an explanation of
UPF’s viewpoint on the Family, as it had been summarized in a resolution for
this Family day adding her own experiences and thoughts about the role of the family
in building world peace. The second speaker was Mrs. Petruska Krcmar, director
of an organisation called “FIBEL”, an
NGO which supports bi-cultural couples in Vienna.
As a person who was warmly welcomed in Austria
as a refugee from Czechoslovakia
in 1980, being then a supporter of Charta 77, she lamented a general worsening
of the legal situation for couples with a partner of non European Union
nationality during the last few years. She also stressed the fact that 25% of
marriages in Austria
today have partners with two different nationalities. Then Mrs. Angelita
Hussein, a Christian nurse from the Philippines
who is married to a Muslim journalist from Egypt made a strong appeal not to
neglect the spiritual power coming from a relationship to God. She witnessed
how this helped her in dealing with all kind of problems which arise during her
marriage especially when differences in cultures, religious regulations and
traditions as well as personal shortcomings have to be dealt with.
The second session was opened by two pieces of piano
music presented by Mrs. Yoshiko Noguchi from Japan, who recently participated in
a World Peace blessing together with her newly-wed Austro-Korean husband. As a
first speaker Mr. Roland Bösel, a psychotherapist, presented the Imago therapy for couples and
between parents and children. He explained that looking face to face into one
another’s eyes for just a few minutes a day has a healing effect. He made a
strong point that changing the partner will not solve problems in a marriage
partnership but understanding and supporting each other will. Then the
relationship transforms into a new, rich and complete love. He related
this method to our Federation’s aim for World Peace, making a point that peace
has to begin in the family.
Then Mrs. Jing Gatke,
a Chinese musician living in Vienna, spoke about
different facets of cultural misunderstandings she encountered when she was
meeting her German husband as a student in Vienna more than 20 years ago. Mr. Dinesh
Nayak, a native of India
living in Austria since his
student days, explained the vastness of differences in customs even within India.
He explained the four stages of life as seen in the Hindu culture and stressed
that family life is still the core of all their traditions. Mr. Karl Ebinger,
who runs an internet magazine called “Familienperspektiven” explained how the magazine developed to a resource
database on family matters relating to the individual, relationships within and
beyond the family. To conclude the presentations Mrs. Zena Eggough, who
originally comes from a Caribbean island
explained how prayer is helpful for herself and for many of her friends in
managing all matters of life surrounding the challenges a family faces every
day.
As a finale the audience was invited to the
performance of a Bosnian dance group, which ended with a circle dance for peace
of all participant of the conference led by the director of the Intercultural
Initiative Vienna, Mr. Ismet Mehmedovic. A buffet of international food and
many inspired interactions concluded the program, which lasted from the early afternoon
to the evening.
(Peter Haider und Mag. Elisabeth Cook)
Links: Internationaler
Familientag der UNO 2009
Wien: 1.
Interkultureller Familientag
Wien: 2.
Interkultureller Familientag
Linz:
Interkultureller Familientag