School students from Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand are part of the Asian Young Leaders for Human Fraternity
Students at Assumption English School (AES) of Singapore and their newly-minted foreign friends making human fraternity real at Asian Young Leaders for Human Fraternity. (Photo: AES)
School students from several Asian nations came together in Singapore to launch an international fraternity to propagate the ideals of the human fraternity document signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in 2019.
The Asian Young Leaders for Human Fraternity (AYLHF) was launched during the 70th founding anniversary of the Catholic-run Assumption English School (AES), Singapore archdiocese-run news website Catholic News reported early May.
The fort meeting of the ecumenical initiative brought together 84 students and 12 teachers from Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand. It aims to promote peace among people of various faiths, religions, and cultures in Asia.
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It was inspired by the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb in Feb 2019.
The document was signed in Abu Dhabi during the pope’s visit to the United Arab Emirates. Hence, the document is also known as the Abu Dhabi Declaration.
This celebrated document is considered a Christian-Muslim manifesto for peace among all people in the world.
Benjamin Kwok, principal of AES school pointed out that the region’s first-ever initiative was aimed to help students promote peace.
“Through the AYLHF platform, we hope to provide our students with the opportunity to reach out to our Asian neighbors to promote peace and respect for everyone regardless of race, language, and religion,” Kwok said.
The official launch of the AYLHF was on March 30 at the AES school hall which included cultural performances by each of the participating schools.
Lawrence Chong, consultor on the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, and Janet Ang, Singapore’s non-resident ambassador to the Holy See also attended the event.
Ang lauded the initiative stating that young people and their teachers got a platform to “engage in connecting across cultures to build human fraternity of hope, love, and peace.”
Jullie Anne De La Cruz Tupaz, a student who hosted the event, pointed out that the initiative helped her to make new friends.
“At first, we didn’t really understand each other due to language differences. However, when we finally struck up conversations together, I realized how similar our interests were, such as anime, sushi, and soba,” Tupaz said.
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