Al Amana Centre Newsletter 05/2025

Director’s corner

The world feels very unsettled at the moment, yet a few things have given me hope through our work at Al Amana Centre. 

1. Oman remains a stable place for people to meet each other across different religions and cultures. Even as I write this, Oman is hosting peace talks between the U.S. and Iran. 
2. I have recently travelled to the US twice in the last few months to bring with me people from the region. An Omani Muslim woman committed to helping people with disabilities and a Lebanese Christian scholar committed to peace in the region. Both of them were received graciously by the people in West Michigan whom we encountered.

Even as much of the news is filled with conflict, we get to witness the small stories of peace. I hope that we can still hear these small stories and not be overwhelmed by the large, noisy stories that capture the headlines.

Rev. Justin Meyers

Executive Director

Reflections from participants

One of the solutions Al Amana Centre offers the world is a path from tolerance toward salam/shalom. Through short-term and long-term experiential

learning experiences, the Centre provides transformative learning that helps participants journey

on a path from tolerance to mutual understanding, empathy toward respect and reconciliation that leads to Shalom/Salam.

Hear from our recent April participants: 

Having experienced a bit of what it’s like to be part of a minority in a country/community that is structured much differently and has different (- and many similar) values/culture/religion, I will be actively reassessing some of the information I read/see/hear, stereotypes and day to day interactions to see how my new knowledge fits in. Tariro Chingosho 

I learned many things, in the religious field and especially in the social one, that had a big impact on me and that I’ll keep with me and consider in my future life. Participant

It changed my perspective completely. I am willing to initiate contacts with Austrian people. Randa Abdulla

Program Highlights and Events 

In the month of April, a group of students from the College of Interreligious studies in Munich spent a week with us in Oman. During the week we visited places of worship, the German Embassy, had an overnight stay in the desert, attended a class at Sultan Qaboos University and many other things. We spent time with new Omani friends and had a fun week learning about Oman, ourselves and getting to know people from different faiths and cultures, engaging in meaningful conversations, as you can read from some of the participants’ reflections above. 

Now we are preparing for summer and the coming fall with a lot of exciting programs – stay tuned for more updates!