We facilitate weekly supportive group conversations that help individuals and children find a meaningful connection between their spiritual and material pursuits. This is offered as part of a global empowerment programme by the Ruhi Institute, which, as at 2022, more than 2 million courses have been completed in neighbourhoods and villages in more than 200 countries, with more than 750,000 individuals completing the first module.
Service plays a crucial role in this programme as it fosters unity, creates a positive impact, offers mutual benefits, and provides spiritual fulfillment. By working together on community projects, participants can break down barriers, strengthen relationships, and contribute to a more just society. Additionally, service can lead to personal growth and development, as well as instill a deeper sense of meaning and purpose. Ultimately, service is a fundamental aspect of human experience that enriches our lives and helps us connect with others on a deeper level.
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Additionally, For 5 years between 2017 and 2022 through the covid years, on Friday evenings Have Hope hosted life-affirming conversations that uplifted hearts, illumined minds and refreshed our souls. for listing of our topics of conversations, please click http://havehope19.blogspot.com
We were often asked why we created this space and why did we do this week after week...
Our
media today is often filled with news that are focussed on the negative. But we know these are not the only things that are happening around us. So in 2017, we decided to create a grassroot space to counter the prevailing narrative. We created ‘Have Hope’ to host conversations among
friends on topics that will uplift our hearts and illumine our minds.
Every Friday evenings for 5 years, we hosted conversations to explore ways in which we
can move beyond a critique of our current social order, into constructive
concepts and practices that allow us to imagine, and to effect change at the
level of thought and attitudes. Through
our conversations, we endeavoured to make sense of what is happening around us,
and to elevate our understanding on their possible underlying causes - with the
hope that our perspectives might be broadened, which, in turn, might help to
shape our thoughts and our vocabulary. We
hoped that, for some, this might even lead to re-ordering our lives, and our
relationships with each other and nature.
In the
five years and over 200 sessions, we were blessed with subject matter
experts who shone the light on urgent issues and themes - from how social
enterprises are assisting vulnerable communities, or endangered species or our habitats,
to learning about SDGs and how we each can make a difference. We were blessed with speakers who generously shared their knowledge, skills and experience, always inspirational with their courage, compassion and resourcefulness, touched our hearts with their stories, leaving us grateful to have wonderful souls like them in our midst. As soon as covid broke, we had experts speak
to us about covid infections, mental health therapists counselled us,
microbiologists explained to us on the various types of vaccinations, and we
even learnt how to sew face masks.
Through
these sessions, we have been so inspired to see so many Malaysians,
particularly our youth, who do not solely measure success by financial and
business ventures, but instead choose to be a
force for social good. They are purposeful
and highly motivated to generate positive social change. They uphold collaboration and reciprocity as
the preferred pattern of interaction. Willing to risk it all, they stand for social
issues, make aims to effect changes to solve problems relating to culture, nature,
and society through their social enterprises. We are hopeful that the social-positive and nature-positive
influence of
this generation of
change makers dedicated
to serving the common good will soon become more prevalent and more main-stream for the
betterment of our society. And an audience who was ever encouraging and always appreciative.
Happily we made made wonderful friends too...
After 5 years, and with covid quite abated we felt it is time to move on. and so our last weekly session ended in June 2022
- Every weekday evening we hold spaces for meaningful conversations.
In these sessions,
we explore concepts and analyse processes that give shape to humanity’s
search for our collective prosperity, explore what empowerment of
individuals look like from the perspective of the individual, the individual
and the community, and the individual and the community, and learn about enhancing
our capacity for service to contribute effectively to the betterment of
humanity