To celebrate the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, Interfaith Glasgow, Cape Town Interfaith Initiative, and the Interfaith Center of New York invite you to join with people of all faiths and none as we share and reflect on poems from diverse cultures, faiths, and wisdom traditions that bring solace and joy. The program will feature poetry readings from the US, Scotland, and South Africa, as well as small group discussions where participants can share their own favourite poems with neighbours near and far. This event will continue to build the sense of global community which arose from our 2021 World Interfaith Harmony Week collaboration. You are warmly encouraged to bring along a short poem to share in a small group, although it is equally fine if you would prefer not to!   The program will be held on Zoom. All registered participants will receive the Zoom link and password by email closer to the date.  

Speakers (left to right):

Elzana October (Cape Town, South Africa) Elzana October, native to the Western Cape of South Africa, was born in the apartheid era. Full-time mother, self-employed photographer, and founder of a company called "Inhairitance". She is a creative who has been writing since the age of 15. Her work is aimed at uplifting historically disadvantaged members of the community, women, and youth and supporting grassroot community projects. Elzana will be performing a poem she composed specially for this event.   Sheikh Mohammad Pakdin (Glasgow, Scotland) Sheikh Mohammad Pakdin is a researcher and lecturer on Islamic Studies. Since 2013, he has been working as a researcher and writer on Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Social Studies at the Risalat International Institute, located at Qom, Iran. His educational background on Islamic Studies dates back to 2001, when he entered the Islamic Seminary of Qom. In 2018, he graduated from the International Institute for Islamic Studies with a Master’s Degree on Islamic Studies. He is the Imam of Ahl Al Bait Society Scotland based in Glasgow and has in his short time of just two years galvanised educational services within the centre and engaged in several intra and interfaith programs.   Aminta Kilawan-Narine (New York, USA) Aminta Kilawan-Narine is a lawyer, community organizer, and writer. She is a co-founder of Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus, an organization founded in 2010 and dedicated to merging the values at the heart of Hinduism with those at the heart of social justice. In this role, Aminta has fostered ecological stewardship through beach cleanups, promoted immigrant rights through know your rights workshops, and fostered gender equity through a feminist faith lens. Aminta is also the founder and director of South Queens Women's March, a gender justice movement-building organization with a mission to meet women, girls, and gender fluid people where they are and connect them to the tools necessary to thrive. Aminta is a columnist for her local newspaper, The West Indian, as well as for Brown Girl Magazine. Professionally, she is Senior Legislative Counsel at the New York City Council with a portfolio including homelessness, public benefits and child welfare.   Rabbi Emma Gottlieb (Cape Town, South Africa) Rabbi Emma Gottlieb is from Toronto, Canada and is the newest member of Temple Israel’s rabbinic team. Rabbi Emma received ordination from Hebrew Union College, at the New York campus in 2010 and subsequently held pulpits in small congregations in New York, Boston and Toronto. Rabbi Emma brings her infectious energy and love for Torah, music, teaching and prayer to the Rabbinic team. It has been particularly meaningful to Rabbi Emma to be one of the first women rabbis in South Africa – to present a different perspective on what a rabbi is, does and looks like.   Trishna Singh OBE (Edinburgh, Scotland) Trishna is the Founder/Director of Sikh Sanjog the only Sikh Family Support charity in Scotland and Punjabi Junction Social Enterprise the first Sikh women’s Social Enterprise in Scotland. She has over 30 years’ experience working in the Voluntary sector. Graduated from Glasgow University with a degree in Community Learning and Development in 2007, in recognition of her services to the community, she is the first Sikh woman in Scotland to have received an OBE in 2014. Her work is centred on the thematic areas of Community Development Gender- Social Justice, Civic Engagement, Race Equality and Human Rights. She represents Sikh women on a number of committees and organisations at local and National level.   Ryan Hill (New York, USA) Ryan Hill is a board member of LGBT Faith Leaders of African Descent, and also volunteers as a faith leader with Equality New York, advocating for policies that benefit Black and Brown LGBT communities. Following a 15+ year career in finance, he is now working to integrate the physical, spiritual, emotional, and financial dimensions of life into a practice offering holistic services to the disenfranchised. A lover of music, art, and the human spirit, Ryan brings together the arts and spirituality to foster an environment where people can heal. He has been a poet for decades -- initially writing as a means of catharsis. He uses his poetry to speak for communities, as he often writes concerning shared experiences, and has been commissioned to write for events and for a film.