Our next caller is Balthazar from South Africa. Balthazar, how can we help you? Hey, what's up, guys? How are you doing? Good. What's happening? No, I'm doing well. So I just want to also question around, like, rap and set volume when training for strength. So just a bit of background. I'm about, I'm 25 years old. I'm about like 187 centimeters. I think that's six foot one. I'm not sure how the conversion is good. I'm not as good at that conversions, but I weigh around 196 pounds.  So I train cricket twice a week, and then I have a game on the weekend. And then I strength train five days a week. So since this needs you guys, I cut down significantly on my set volume and my rap volume. And my question is based around that. That's, I wanted to know, is it counterproductive to train for strength on your compound lifts? So like what between one and six reps and then for your hypertrophy for the other exercises on your exercise day, so between eight and 12 reps, especially if you're trying to gain strength. No, no, no. Not necessarily at all. That's actually a common strategy. So like someone will do like low reps for bench or overhead press or deadlift. And then they'll raise the reps a little bit for isolation movements like flies and curls and tricep extensions. And it's actually not a bad strategy because really low reps for certain single joint exercise really don't lend themselves well to it. So what you're doing is perfectly fine. I will say that now your goal, it sounds like your goal is to get stronger in the big three lifts. Is that correct? Yeah, I think for my size, I feel I'm not pulling and pushing like a lot of weight. I know it's not good to compare, but I feel like I can, like for my size, I should be, you know, doing a lot, like being able to like pull and push a lot more weight. How long you've been working out? Cause I'm going to give you a program, but I want to make sure I send you the right one. So I've been, so I've been probably strengths training for like a year and a half, but I've been playing sports since I was very little. So we had a little bit of strength training in between, but not a lot of focus on it, but properly for a year and a half outside. You're not going to go away from anabolic right now. Well, I was just going to say how intense are your practices, how intense of practice is for a cricket? Are they pretty like hard workouts? Three days a week? No, so it's not hard. Hard workouts is like around two hours and it's basically like it's almost like a baseball, I could say. So it's a lot of like throwing and a little bit of running, but on weekends our matches are like nine to 10 hours long. So I try to stay away from, you know, doing push workouts like on a Friday before the game because I don't want to do a overhead press and then my shoulders. Dude, cricket is the ultimate. It's the ultimate spectator sport for the dad who is like, sorry, honey, I got to watch the game. A whole day. He beats golf even, huh? I was going to say. So Balthazar, I'm going to send you maps and a ball. I think that's perfect for what you want and your current, you know, training regime with your sport. We also have something called maps power lift, although maps power lift is better run by itself without additional, you know, exercise and athletics. Maps and a ball like I think would be ideal. And you can choose two or three foundational workouts a week on it. I'd start you off on two. Do the two foundational workouts and then stick to your normal practice, do trigger sessions on some of the off days. And I wouldn't be surprised if your strength went through the roof. Yeah, power lift would probably get in the off season. You know, something where you're not like comboing that with your skills, sessions, what you're doing in practice and everything else. So you could just focus completely on, you know, getting strong in those core lifts.  So us all of a sudden coming in here and saying, okay, more than cut your strength training in half and your goals to get stronger, it's gonna sound counterproductive to what you're trying to do. But the truth is this is the direction you need to go. So you need to kind of trust the process. You need to recover to move forward. Yeah, I'm gonna make sure Doug puts you in the private forum that way too. We could yell at you if you don't listen to us over the next couple of months because this is the most tempting thing a young guy like you is gonna have. Okay, it totally can relate to this being 25 years old, full of piss and vinegar.  I'm also trying to build muscle. And the thought is the more I put into it, the more I'm gonna get out. But this is not true when it comes to building muscle and strength. There is a too much and a too little and I think you're leaning on too much if our goal is to get stronger week over week, just simply backing off to the two to three days of MAPS anabolic routine is gonna give you the results you want. You just gotta trust the process. They'll stick with it for a while. You don't even have to trust it for that long. I think if you follow it within the first two, three weeks, you'll see strength gains. So within the first few weeks, you'll know right away like, oh, this is definitely working for me. That's how confident we are in this kind of programming with what you're currently doing. But I would start with the two foundational. Don't go to three unless you stopped getting results from the two. And I'd be surprised if you probably did a whole three month cycle with two foundational workouts and add tremendous amounts of weight to your main lifts. Another way to use that, I think we gave this advice to someone the other day is for you to decide whether you go to or this is a beautiful thing about MAPS anabolic, you could have one week where you do two times a week. The next week you do three and then the week after that you go back to two. It doesn't mess up the programming. So you could kind of choose that if you like. And we gave this advice to someone who was in a similar situation. I believe she was like a volleyball player or something. I don't remember who it was. But if you can learn to read your own body and have the self-awareness to go like, oh, this week we really didn't practice that hard at cricket or the game was easier or my body just feels really good. Maybe I go to three days a week. And if it's a week where you know, you had a extra long game or practice was taxing or maybe you had a lot of work was kind of stressful. If it's kind of a higher stress week and you know that you've kind of taxed your body more than the week previous, then you dropped it too. So if you get good at kind of paying attention to those things, which I recommend you start paying attention to if you're not already and adjust the amount of training you're doing based off that, I think that works really well too. We'll send that over to you, okay? Balazar? Awesome. Can I maybe just ask two questions around that? If that's okay. Yeah, sure. So I kind of have like a history of like, I would say over training, like I really like training and I try to do it every day. But if let's say I can only do the two foundational workouts a week, how do I, you know, stop myself from doing something on that day? Is it something I can replace it with? Yeah, mobility trigger sessions. You get to trigger sessions, you could do mobility work, you could go outside and hike, you can go for walks, you can do yoga. I don't want you to not be active. Just load of moderate intensity. Yeah, I just don't want you to lift weights, you know, with high intensity every single day. When you get the program, you're gonna see that. So even though we're saying two to three foundational days, the other two days a week are trigger sessions. So you technically could be working out still four or five days. It's just a lot different intensity. Follow the trigger sessions as applied on there. And if you wanted to do more on top of that, I'd say some light mobility work with there and a great place to start for mobility. If you don't have any direction on that is if you go to the maps or is it primeprowebinar.com? Yes. Go to primeprowebinar.com. Literally follow that routine that I do on there. It's about a 50 minute routine.  I think that'll have tremendous benefit for you. Okay, great. Thank you. No problem, man. Thanks for calling. Yeah, thank you. And I just wanna thank you guys again for I know everyone says this, but since then you guys, my life has changed a lot. Oh, I appreciate that. And a personal and professional life, my relationship, everything has changed. Oh, thank you very much, man. I never get to talk to you. Thank you. Appreciate that, man. Appreciate that. You know, we've had a huge surge of listeners from South Africa recently. So it looks like we've kind of caught on over there which is kind of cool. Yeah. I love his name, dude. Balthazar. I know, right? Two things that are very interesting. One, I forgot that cricket was that long. I remember I had a buddy who played it and he said that sometimes they would stop a game and have to restart it later because it was, there's just so, I can go on for so long. That's crazy. Kind of wild. That baseball got like long and, you know, winded. Yeah. That has to be, like, to set the record. One of those episodes on bad sport had one of the, on cricket. And I'm like, I was, it gave me like the urge to wanna go figure it out because it's so frustrating for someone like me who likes sports to watch a sport and not know what's going on. Yeah, it's so confusing to me. I'm sure it's not that confusing. It's just so new to me. So I don't know. But yeah, back to, you know, kind of what he was talking about with his workouts and stuff. You know, the right dose is the right dose. And I know, I look, I get it, man. I do this all the time to myself. You wanna do more because you enjoy the process which is actually a good place to be. You just gotta be smart about it.  So, but yeah, if you enjoy the process, and I totally get it, you just wanna be constructive. So I'm glad he asked that second part, like, okay, what do I do? Cause I like to move. It's like, you can totally move.  Don't be smarter about it. I mean, that's really the key is to just know that there's the right dose there that's gonna propel you forward.  Totally.


Welcome to Abraham Out of One Many, an engaging art exhibition brought to you by Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston and curated by Caravan, an international arts nonprofit that is recognized as a leader in using the arts to further the global quest for a more harmonious future, both with each other and with the earth. Interfaith Ministries is Houston's oldest interfaith service organization. Dialogue, collaboration and service have been at the heart of our work for over 50 years. Our programs fall into four areas. We are Texas's largest meals on wheels program and one of the top 10 largest meals on wheels programs in the country. We also have a strong refugee services resettlement program working with Episcopal migration ministries to help resettle refugees into the Houston area. Volunteer Houston connects individuals, groups and companies with nonprofit agencies to transform the Greater Houston community for good through volunteerism and interfaith relations and community partnerships fosters understanding, respect and engagement among people of all faiths and IRCP is thrilled to be able to host this exhibit. Please visit www.imgh.org to learn more about us. Between April 20th and May 21st we hosted Abraham Out of One Many, a virtual exhibit of 15 paintings by three celebrated artists from the Middle East. We had planned to host these paintings in person in our Brigitte and Bashar Kallai Plaza of Respect and Great Hall in April of 2020, but COVID derailed those plans. We were thrilled to work with Caravan to create a virtual gallery experience so that we were able to reschedule the exhibit. A virtual experience allowed for a wide variety of accessible programs including the program you're about to enjoy. We are grateful to the sponsors that made this event possible, especially our lead sponsors, Joni and David Andrews, Debbie and Floyd Kearns, Marion and Paul Cones and Carol and Frank Groon. This exhibit came to us through the incredible work of Caravan. Its mission is based on the belief that the arts can be one of the most effective mediums to heal our world and to creatively foster peace, harmony and wholeness and health in all its forms. Caravan originated out of an artistic bridge building initiative in Cairo, Egypt in 2009 that focused on addressing the then growing chasm of discord and misunderstanding between the peoples, cultures and creeds of the Middle East and the West. The nomadic Caravan theme comes out of the founding vision to encourage and facilitate those from diverse backgrounds and worldviews to journey together through the arts. We invite you to visit oncaravan.org to learn more. This exhibit, Abraham Out of One Many, is a timely artistic exploration of living harmoniously inspired by Abraham, the common ancestor of three celebrated contemporary artists of Middle Eastern heritage from Muslim, Christian and Jewish traditions. Today's event is a special one as we host a virtual event that brings four leaders from the exhibit together for a dialogue on the importance of this project. We welcome Paul Gordon Chandler, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming and founding president of Caravan along with the three artists, Sinan Hussein, Keisal Cindy and Shia Zule. From three time zones and two continents, let's join our conversation with the Reverend Dr. Tamla Wilson, a member of the board of Interfaith Ministries and vice chair of our Interfaith Relations and Community Partnerships Committee, introducing our speakers. So to introduce the artists and moderate the conversation, let me now welcome the right Reverend Paul Gordon Chandler, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming and president and founder of Caravan. Thank you. Thank you. And on behalf of Caravan, I want to thank all of you for attending this special artist panel of the participating artist in this Abraham Out of One Many exhibition that is actually on tour right now throughout the United States, both virtually and physically, virtually as it is in Houston in partnership with Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. This exhibition, I thought I'd give a little context for it before we introduce our various artists. This exhibition originally originated out of an observance of the rise of anti-Semitism and increasing anti-Muslim sentiment in the West. And also with the prejudice and stereotyping and discrimination and even misrepresentation, where we saw it was becoming more and more evident in today's climate. And of course, all of that can often lead to a dehumanizing of the other, whomever the other is, whether in worldviews or words or actions, whether related to color or faith or ethnicity, etc. And so this timely exhibition titled Abraham Out of One Many is really an artistic response to today's climate in all of that regard. Like never before, I think our day needs to be counteracted by creative initiatives that are based on our similarities and what we all hold in common. And so this exhibition really, in that sense, is a creative demonstration of dialogue. One of the things this exhibition does is it serves to remind us that in the midst of all the tensions and even polarization that exist, that Muslims, Christians and Jews all have the same family heritage through our ancestor Abraham or Ibrahim and Arabic or Avraham in Hebrew. Abraham is certainly the most jointly beloved spiritual figure by all those faiths that call themselves monotheistic, Jews, Christians, Muslims, even Druze and some of the other minority traditions in the Middle East. All of them, of course, are considered the Abrahamic faiths and they all see themselves as proud descendants of this one who we would say today is a southern Iraqi. And the followers of each of those traditions are of course referred to as children of Abraham. And these three faith traditions all see the figure of Abraham as a model of welcoming the stranger and embracing the other. And so in that way, Abraham can serve as a guide for all of us regardless of what cultural, religious or even non-religious tradition or ethnicity we come from. The exhibition focuses in on what we can learn from Abraham's story about living together more harmoniously. The title, of course, Abraham Out of One Many, plays off of that well-known Latin motto which is on the US presidential seal, E pluribus unum out of many one. The exhibition premiered its 24 month global tour in Rome. It was then showcased in Paris, France, and then it went to Edinburgh, Scotland. And now it's on tour throughout the United States, both physically and then virtually of course due to COVID. And as this important exhibition travels, it takes with it the fundamental message of intercultural and inter-religious harmony, focusing on how we can all live and work together harmoniously to jointly enhance our communities. And throughout the tour, the art really is a catalyst for the development of a whole exciting schedule of programs and events of which this is one to focus on greater understanding in dialogue and further education. And the foundation to this exhibition really is the belief that art can be a universal language that has the ability to dissolve the differences that divide us. There's no question that we have found that art can be one of the most effective mediums to enhance understanding, to bring about respect, to enable sharing, and to deepen friendship between those of different faiths and cultures. And if you will, it's in a sense art helps us put ourselves in the other's shoes. So in this sense, looking through an artistic lens at Abraham's life, this exhibition has the primary objective of helping us see the other with fresh eyes. And so for this exhibition, we invited three celebrated Middle Eastern contemporary visual artists to participate from the faith traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They were each commissioned to produce five paintings that interpret Abraham's life for us today, serving as a guide toward creating cultures of peace and of harmony and justice and healing, all as descendants of a shared heritage. The exhibition highlights five themes related Abraham's life that have profound implications on how we can live together harmoniously as one family. Those five themes are these, living as a pilgrim, welcoming the stranger, sacrificial love, compassion, and friend of God. And we'll amplify a little bit later as we go through what they mean. What can Abraham teach us today from freeing our world from any sectarian strife? That's the question this exhibition attempts to answer. The three artists are these, Shai Azulay, a renowned contemporary Jewish artist from Israel, K. Salcindi, an Iraqi artist from the Chaldean Assyrian Christian tradition, part of the ancient Nestorian tradition in the Middle East, and then Sinan Hussein, an Iraqi artist who is from Baghdad, currently living in Istanbul, who's from a Muslim background. And our criteria for selecting these three participating artists was really threefold. One, they had to be premier artists of international renown, and all three are award-winning artists and highly regarded in international art circles. Secondly, and more than anything else, we wanted to see that their artwork together would flow seamlessly in a joint exhibition that each's artistic approach would in a sense complement the others. And then much more profoundly than even those first two criteria is that they as artists embodied the spirit of this exhibition and really of Abraham in that regard of welcoming the stranger and embracing the other. Now for today's panel, we will ask each artist to share in some detail about one or two of their paintings in the exhibition. And then throughout it, including some conversation and dialogue, and feel free to ask your questions in the chat room as we go along. And we will do so in the order of their historical faith traditions. In other words, we will go with our Jewish artist first, and then Christian, and then Muslim. Shai Azulay. Shai Azulay is going to share about one or two actually of his paintings in the exhibition that mean most to him and really that in a way signify his message to all of us related to this figure of Abraham. A little more detail about Shai. Shai studied at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design where he received both his BFA and MFA degrees. In his painting, he creates a narrative abundant with figures and scenes that radiate human war warmth and compassion and some irony as well as you will see his work ranges from drawing and painting between the sophisticated and the naive, and between the omnipotent to the limited. Shai has held numerous solo exhibitions around the world, including of course in Israel, the Tel Aviv Museum. He's participated in the Frieze Art Fair. And then going all the way east to Tokyo, to the west of Rome, Paris, and the United States. He's a recipient of the Marasha Award from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Moses Prize from the Jerusalem Artist House, and his works are in renowned collections around the world. Interestingly, just a little tidbit, Shai's family name, Azulay, is a prominent Moroccan Jewish name. For example, the current senior advisor to King Mohammed VI of Morocco is Andrei Azulay, whose daughter, Audrey Azulay, is the current director general of UNESCO. So Shai's family heritage comes out of Morocco and his father immigrated there to Israel from Morocco in 1958. So carrying on that heritage, and I don't know if you'll be able to see it today, Shai often wears a traditional Moroccan hat, which is a beautiful blend actually of the two cultures. And Shai was with us for the opening of the exhibition in Paris, France. Shai, Azulay, welcome. It's wonderful to have you with us, and I'm going to turn it over to you. Shai, are you there? You're on mute, Shai. You're on mute. There you go. Now I'm on. Hello everyone. Now we can hear you. Now we can hear you. Hello. Good evening to everyone in Israel. Now it's noon, I think, in the other places. Thank you for the opportunity for this everything to happen, to make painting that are connected to the big spiritual soul of Abraham. And from the other hand, to meet other artists that are coming from different sources, but still the art is making the bridge to all of us. Actually, it's kind of a dream because I remember that the reason that I choose to start painting is because I couldn't speak so well. I mean that I was very shy, and it's amazing to see that paintings have no borders. They can fly, they can speak so many languages, and they can bring so many cultures in them. So I feel that this is the privilege and the quality of painting in this sense, to meet so many different opportunities with other artists and other projects. When Paul asked me to join this project, I felt that it's big to react to Abraham. It's like very big and challenging. And I was thinking that what will happen now, because usually the way that my process in doing is very simple.  And I was thinking now I had text and I had some kind of subtitles, and I had to react to them. And I felt that it took me a while to understand that I can do it. Paul knows that. And I'm very glad to have those images, these five images, that we are going to speak on maybe one or two of them. So can you please load one of those, Greg? Oh, yeah. This painting is... Hold on. That's yours, isn't it? This is mine, yeah. Yeah. This is not mine. Yeah, we stuck with this one. Second for sure, love. I was thinking... Greg, you need to put the circle one on. Yes, that's what I had. Okay, there we go. I don't see the circle one. I see the other one. Ah, okay. Currently, Shai, we have the circle one up and down. Oh, yeah, yeah. Great, great, great. So first of all, I was thinking of Abraham that he was so... It's amazing to think that Abraham was so open. He was so open to embrace everything and everyone in the circle. And I was thinking of a circle, energy circle, between people that people are meeting and they are dancing together. It's a very cultural thing. And I felt that kind of... I have to make the circle with so many colors, a grid of different colors in them, because people are... For me, they are like colors, different colors, different people meeting together. The combination is making things so special. And then you can see Abraham above them, like flying on the carpet, above them, the blessing of Abraham, that this thing that somebody is looking above you is the blessing of everything. Yes, this is what I can share and say about this painting. We can maybe see another image. Shai, before you change, could you share a little bit about circle dancing within Jewish culture? Oh, usually they are very... It's common, not only in a Jewish religious one. It's common to have circles in dancing, in folk music, Israeli folk music. Even in Hasid, the Orthodox are doing it the same. This is kind of a very tied circle together. This is something that is really happening. Common, it's normal. But I think that people are dancing in circles everywhere, no? Maybe it's only in my head. I don't know. And why do you have... Shai, why do you have the checkered background of different colors? The floor. Yeah, I was saying that I made this grid of colors because I felt that each color is a language, is a culture, is a place that you are coming from, it's a language, it's a taste, it's food. So many things. So as a painter, I see them in colors. Like this, my mind is doing this grid of colors. And I was thinking of doing kind of a blanket, full blanket of different colors that are combining together. This togetherness is abram. It's like to be able to meet so many different people and to connect them all together and to make one of all of them. Okay. Thank you. Paul, can I just ask one follow-up? Please. I have been giving kind of virtual tours to groups. And so this is a pleasure for me because I feel like I know you already because I have looked at your painting so many times. One of the things that I draw people's attention to are the details of the people. They have different clothing, even different colored hair. When you were painting each of these individuals, did you have something in mind about each of them, or were you just using colors and shapes? I think that it's like this privilege of doing painting from your head. You're letting all the demons coming out, all your unconscious things coming out. You make figures that maybe you met them on the bus. Maybe you saw them on the Facebook or maybe you spoke with somebody or you had it in your dreams.   You're telling it to my, usually to my art student. When you are doing a painting, you have to be in the painting. You have to be part of the painting. If you won't do it, the painting will be flat. You will be part of something that you won't touch no one. Yeah. Paul Gordon. The thing that maybe I answered your question. Yes. Greg, please feel free to ask the questions that are also in the chat room. Yes. There is a, there's a, maybe we could do shy this one as well. Again, many people have seen these paintings, but not the artists. So one question was asked was how, how do you prepare yourself to be creative? The, the question is how do you get into, we use in English, the creative zone. How do you position yourself to be creative? What goes on in your heart mind or your, or your soul? This is something that I would love to share because I'm really, I mean, I'm like a sportsman. I, I'm sleeping very early and I'm waking very early. Like I'm waking in like 4 a.m. and I'm studying, studying Torah Kabbalah a bit and then I'm, I'm going to seculate the nature for one hour in almost dark and then I'm going to pray and I feel that this, this thing is making me very clean when I'm coming to the studio. I'm, I'm getting to the studio at around 8 30 in the morning. And then I think that this thing is like keeping me very sharp and it keeping me like my, I'm a channel. It's like the channel is open in my channel is open. I'm not disturbing images to go out of me. And this is kind of a very simple, secret, secret way to be creative. You have to be clean. You have to be clean tool. The things will come out of you. Thank you. If you could, that, that would be a question I would love to, I think, and others would love for the other two artists. That's a great idea. Thank you. You want to go to your next painting? Shy? If we have time, if not, if we have time, we have, yeah, we have time. There we go. Let's go to the other one. I love, I love the other one as well. The one with the hands. We have it up now. Yeah. So it's like an open hand. Yeah. There is a blessing in the morning that you are blessing you should, that you should open your hand to get the bless.  When your hand is closed, nothing is coming to you. So there is a praying. Usually when, when you are praying from the, from the, from the, from the Torah, you have to, you have to react to the text. Sometimes you have to react physically to the text. So you're saying, so it's saying a sentence and then you have to open your hand to get the blessing. And this painting is about this thing. I think that you have, you have to choose in your life. If your hands is closed or your hands are open, it's a choice. If they're closed, don't be surprised when you're not, you will not get the blessing or you not get all the energy. When your hands are open, you should really, really, really expect all the good or the things that will come to you. So I was thinking of those figures that are flying. They are like kind of an angels that are the good angels, even if they are in dark, it's for the painting, but they are good angels. They are flying away. They are bringing good. They are, they are coming up and down. It's very simple actually to open your hand, open your hand, people. That's it. And Chai, you often have flying figures in your paintings. Can you give us a little background as to why? Flying figures, it's like to be high spiritually, I don't know, glad, happy, joyful. Sometimes you're so happy that you feel that you don't have balance, like you don't have any, any weight on your, you can fly. You're like an astronaut.  And I feel that usually when you are very light, it can happen to you. And when I'm, and when I'm doing flying figures in painting, painting is a very static thing. It's a very static thing. And when you are doing a flying figure, it's bringing some surprise into the painting. So I'm using these flying figures for me to be surprised. Maybe I want to fly as well. And of course, Chai, the background to this painting, the theme being a friend of God, is the idea of embracing all things, hence the open hands, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.  But it's not easy, you know, it's easy to say. It's maybe easy to paint it, but it's not easy to do it. We are fighting so much between all of us. We are fighting for everything. It's not only religious. It's for this COVID brought to the world. A very simple thing that we see each other in our home, in our inside. And we understand if we can't fight all the time. We have to live. Yeah. And I have to say, Chai, just the first time I met you, I very much felt that spirit from the moment that Charles de Gaulle airport there in Paris. And then, of course, seeing you with all of those at the opening there at the American Cathedral at Paris. So we're really grateful. And I would say that open handedness very much is one that actually describes you, you know. So I'm very grateful for that. I just had to add that it describes you as well, because you are so generous. And you are so open and you are so talented in the way that you are connected and believing in things. So I'm my privilege. I'm lucky to share this thing with you. Thank you. Thank you, Chai. Very kind. Let's move and we'll come back and we'll have some interaction later. But let's move to case. Case El Cindy. Let me tell you a little bit about our friend case. Case El Cindy was born in Baghdad in 1967. So he's three years younger than I am. And he has a BS degree in engineering. They were obtained in 1989, as well as a BFA and an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts at Baghdad University. He left Baghdad and the first place that he went was Amman Jordan, where he lived for four years. And while he was there, he taught art in in architectural engineering at the University of Applied Science there in Jordan in Amman. And beginning really with his first major exhibition, which was titled Letters Don't Burn, which was about the burning actually of the Iraqi, the famous Iraqi library. He has exhibited around the world on themes related to humanity and culture and civilization and has won numerous distinguished awards. He currently lives in San Diego. Case comes from the Chaldean Christian heritage, which traces their their own heritage back to the Nestorians, which was a very ancient church that was known to be very creative in its assembling of other cultures, which is you can, for example, you can go to China today and see pagodas, Christian pagodas, that are as a result of the Nestorian movement, Christian movement all the way east. Case will actually be here in Wyoming later this week for the opening of an exhibition here. He was with us at our opening in Edinburgh, Scotland, when the exhibition was still there in Europe. And he attended the opening and spoke at the opening in Omaha, Nebraska, and in Jacksonville, Florida as well. So, Case, it's wonderful to have you with us today. Thank you, Paul. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks for everybody here. All you are always amazed me in the way that you express your thoughts. It's my pleasure to be here. I'm very delighted. Just like before I start, like when the epidemic happened, I realized how important is this project of Abraham, because when the virus of corona, when it wants to get in any human being, the virus, the virus will not ask you, are you like Christian or are you like, are you Muslims or are you from any other faith? The virus will come right to you. Also, like when it's rain, the rain will not fall like for specific people. It will fall for everybody. That's why when Paul, when you approached me to be part of this exhibition, I was very enthusiastic to do so. And especially to try to destroy those fossil stereotyping, antiquated stereotyping about the ideas that we have about each other. And in this way, we'll be able to melt the iceberg that keep us away from each other. And this will help us also, as I mentioned many times in other occasions, that instead of throwing stones at each other, let's us like collect these stones and build a bridge. The exhibition of Abraham, it's one of the major like shows that I have in my life, because it has a lot of humanitarian, humanitarian aspects here, I wanted to share with you, like briefly about the sketches that I prepared. Can I start like sharing a file please, Greg? Yes, I have stopped my share and we are ready for you. Okay, that's supposed to be here. I'll make sure our settings are set. Let me try again. Is this one here? Anyways, I don't know why I can't see it here. It's in my computer, but I don't know if I'm allowed to share it here. I will double check my settings here. I apologize. I think you should be able to. There it is. I think we've got success. Okay. And here, when I started to do the exhibition, I started to do many, many sketches, as you see here, like an extroversionist and also an abstract extroversionist style to portray Abraham. And the way that this portrait of Abraham can reflect the normal human being, especially the human being in our region. You see, for example, this painting, this painting, it's the origin of the major, one of the major paintings, number three, which is, I type of, he is yours. And this case, you may, you may want to click on it so that we can see it in a larger way. I will. I will. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I will. And can you see it now? I think it's large right now, right? No, no. No. How about now? It's, it's working. Not quite here. Let's see. Let me stop sharing. Let's share another one here. Okay. Seems like it's not. Greg, are we sharing screen again? Let me see if he's. I have it here. I have it here. Okay. Let's see if this works. There we go. That looks much better. Yeah. And in this painting, I showed Abraham as an elderly people, like carrying his son Isaac, he is like sacrificing his son.  But this is the big sacrifice. I painted this like short palm tree. We showed that this sacrifice is bigger than the palm tree, which is what, which is one of the main trees in the south of Iraq, as you see here. And I want to share the video again. Now are you seeing the video or the picture? We're seeing the picture right now. Okay. I'll stop here and start the video again because I want to talk about how I could. Okay. Here we go. Okay. Now you see the video right? It looks like it's initiating. So let's see when we see it come up. Yes, we are ready for the video. Okay. And when I started this project, I wanted to like to add authenticity, originality to this project. That's why I asked one of my friends living in here, as you see in the video, this is like south of Iraq, in this city, which is the origin of Abraham. As you see here, here is the accurate of where this is the origin of Abraham. And now it's called Nasiriyah. I asked one of my friends living in this area to go to find a shepherd, an elderly shepherd, asking him to give away his pluck. The Iraqi people are very generous. Like when you ask somebody to give something away, he will be like more than happy to give this to you. And he was lucky, my friend, who was fortunate to find like one of the old shepherd in the desert of Nasiriyah, that means the dead desert of war. He was lucky to find someone who was like, he was were coming to give away his float, his coat. And I asked my friend to keep this float like as is, with the dust, with the odor of the sheep, with everything as dirty as it is, because I want to feel the sense or the smell of this area. It was a very like hectic and exhausted way to bring this float from Nasiriyah to Baghdad, from Baghdad to Amman, Jordan, and then to New York, and after that here in San Diego. When I received this float here in California, I cut this float like to small pieces, as you will see right now. This is the float, you see. I cut it like to small pieces and I started to paste those pieces on my painting. As you see here, when I pasted this on the clothes and the garment of Abraham, I told the story to the people who attended the exhibition, the people were thrown and wanted to feel the smell and the spirit and the soul of Abraham. That's why many of them approached the painting and started to smell it. And of course, this was before Corona. I don't think that somebody there like to smell the painting right now. Yeah, I started to smell it. And you see like these pieces, these pieces, it is something maybe imaginable or maybe like it's a kind of spiritual. I feel that the soul of Abraham is really there, is really in the dust, is really in the air there. When I bring this piece and paste it on the canvas, I felt I really got his spirit to be there. That's why the people interacted with it. And this was my main intention to get such interaction with the audience and with the crowd. And that was my major intention to get the interaction of the people, all in my other artworks, like the video art, the selections, the conceptual arts. I get the audience involved in my artwork. Even they smell it, they touch it, or sometimes they, let's say they taste it. I do all these things and the five senses of the human being work my artwork. Wonderful. Yes. And let's go back to share the painting again here. And you see here, this sacrifice, I believe that everybody of us has a duty and responsibility to sacrifice something in order to understand the other people. Because I believe that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism are such like three rivers are flowing and meeting in a lagoon, or in a sea, let's say, or a gulf. When you go to that gulf, the water of that gulf, you won't be able to recognize or distinguish what this water is coming from, which river, you know, you don't know which channel, because they are melting together, they are mixing together. And this is our target in this exhibition to show the people that there is no any differences between us, that we have to live harmoniously like between us. And this painting, this painting has this concept on it. The other painting I will talk about briefly is, let's stop sharing this one, and I will go to, let's see here. We have about two more minutes, case, and then we'll Yes. Yes. Yes. And the other one I have here is this one. And it's this one. Here also, as you see, like Abraham is embracing, like three kids. And these kids are like a brother, and with this long arm to show like his paternity, to show his passion about his kids. And you see here is the piece of the clothes, of the garment, of the clothes that I pasted on the painting. And you see that he has the passion of the father who is taking care of his kids. And this was the painting about Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament, when Abraham wanted to protect his people if he find righteous people, righteous people in the city. And I feel all of us will be righteous. We'll be good people if we believe in each other and respect each other. And I, I believe this is our humanity message that we have to share with each other. Thank you. Thank you, case. Greg made an interesting comment that from a distance, that last painting looks like a mountain in many ways. And so there's some symbolism in that as well. No question. Yes. And, and I have to say over and over again, throughout the tour of this exhibition, people have loved smelling that cloak on the, on all five paintings, you know, and touching it, you know, God forbid when, when, when we're not looking as well, you know, but it has added another dimension. So thank you for that. I will tell you something very quick before I, like one of our target also is to destroy the stereotypes that we have, you know, these stereotypes that we have. Like when I was teaching in the College of Engineering, like a technical architectural department, one of my students, I wasn't a man, Jordan, you know, and I didn't visit the States yet. One of my students who like was raised here in New York, she asked me a question.  And do you have really the flying carpet? You know, those stories from one night at night, you know, and she was believing that we use the cattle, the camels and our transportation. And I was laughing, why do you think so? She said that this is what the picture, which is the image that imprinted in my mind. And this is so funny, because each of us has such a stereotype, has such an initial image of the other. You have just to think out of the box. If you have a queue, we have just to flip over the queue to see the other side of this queue, because the queue has six faces, six surfaces, just we have to see the other part.  And then we will be more able to be open minded to receive the other. And that's what we want to do. Thank you. Thank you, Kase. I'm just a little disappointed, because I was going to ask you to bring your camel this coming weekend to Wyoming. But obviously, that's not going to happen. Thank you, Kase. Thank you. Our third artist here is Sinan Hussein. Sinan Hussein. I think Sinan, you're the youngest of all of us among the three, born in 1977. And of so much of his work relates to his Mesopotamian ancestors. He comes from Iraq as well as does Kase. And that vast civilization with its really splendorous history. Art started very young for Sinan at age 14. He started practicing and sketching portraits of his family. His father was a musician and an artist and saw that kind of innate inherent gift that he was given for art and encouraged that. And then eventually, of course, that was not only self-studying, but eventually more formalized. And he obtained his BFA at the University of Fine Arts in Baghdad. And then not long after graduation in 2004, he left Baghdad because of the war and a lot of the sectarian violence at that time. He ended up for a while in Kuwait. And he eventually settled in the United States, where he's actually now a US citizen. Though he is in the exotic city of Istanbul as we speak, which is kind of his first or second home now in that way. He's participated in numerous exhibitions around the world. He just actually one of a beautiful exhibition of his just opened in Beirut a few weeks ago. And I was envious that I couldn't be there for that opening. And he's collected by numerous Middle Eastern and art patrons, including a number from various royal families throughout the Middle East. Sinan comes from a Muslim background. Sinan spoke and was with us at the opening in Rome that was in participation with members of the Vatican. And it was a very special event. And Sinan, it's wonderful to have you with us today. You're on mute right now, but I'm going to turn it over to you and and ask you to share a little bit. Sinan, welcome. Sinan, you're on silence. You're on silence right now, Sinan. No, not you're still still on mute. There we go. Okay, okay. Thank you so much for everybody. Just today, I'm talking about myself. Okay. And my painting. Okay. You know, I come from Iraq. I left Iraq when I was 27. Okay. And I go to the Jordan. After that, I leave to Kuwait. I stay in Kuwait five years. After that, I go to America. I stay in America eight years. After that, I left America. And now I'm in Istanbul. Okay. Just I come from Beirut. You know, I have exhibition there in Beirut, solo exhibition. And sometimes I have another exhibition in Bahrain. Okay, but a group exhibition. It is named Sharnafa. Caterpillar. Caterpillar exhibition of the corona. Yes. Okay. And another not exhibition also in Ankara. Okay. And for the last month, you know, is that a lot, a lot is the work I have it. Okay. And a lot of trouble because I travel to Ankara after that to Iraq after that to Beirut. A lot of trouble. Okay. You know, I'm talking, now I'm talking about my painting. Okay. You know, my style is very much is the basic on the flying is separate from the people and people. Okay. Today I selected the painting title, sacrificial love to tell you more about it. It is the last painting in the booklet title, Abraham out of many. The reason why I saw this is the painting is that dares to my heart because this special event of the story is considered to be the most emotional and separate is virtual part of the story of Abraham. And the only part of story we still carry on until that the end of this day. But each Abrahamic religion carries on that event. Definitely also this very special event all Abrahamic religions carried on the tradition of sacrifice until this day to express a thing to God, Allah, praise and and applications also it is no no win for is the offering that sacrifice for the purpose of a church to fill it filling the pool. Moreover, the important of the event is carried in the message that is called within the sacrifice itself that matter how different we are. We come from the same father. We are considered to the cousins by blood and that's our blood ties is why more old and important that's what we think. That's great. Thank you, Sinan. Thank you. Thanks for you. Now, Sinan, one thing that everybody says about your work is they usually look at it and they go wow. Thank you. And they also are wondering all of these various symbols that of course immediately one doesn't know exactly you know what you're trying to what they represent. Like for example in this painting here what intrigued me is if you look right in the center of it, there's a black glove. You see Abraham wearing that black glove, right? Do you want to talk a little bit about that Sinan? Can you tell us what that black glove represents? Black, you know, black gloves, yes? Yes. Yeah.  For the just black okay. But and the other thing is the red color, red gloves. Okay. For is the blood sheet and urgency. Yeah. Okay. So the blood, the red is for the blood. One of the things I find very interesting about all of your works Sinan are the cones that are in there. And of course here you've got three different cones. But and I remember the first time talking to you about them and you were sharing that symbolically they represent a sacred moment, a kind of a private moment, a special moment, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. You know, Brent is not talking a lot about is the my painting. Just maybe I work a lot more than I talking. Okay. You know, I for is the not as the specific for is my painting for Abraham for another another painting. Right. I I make details about is the separate. Okay. Oh, it's virtual or souls. Okay. All of them I've been start when I make like this style. Okay. I make is the spirit I make is the souls. Okay. And fly in the world. Okay. And when you when you come and I'm talking to me about is the Abraham. I fall is this painting specific is the my my is the painting. I can do that because because is that that's that a lot details I feeling in my in my in my soul and my may have frozen there. Oh, you may have frozen. Okay. Oh, I think I think some connection. So now and I think we just had a small connection issue a problem. But now we can see you well again. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Okay. So now I just I have a question I would love to know from each of the three artists, what interests you or intrigues you or what you're impressed with and the other twos artwork. So shy, I'm going to start with you. Could you give me tell me what a little bit your thoughts and what what has fascinated you about cases and Sinan's work? I think that the thing that I was more felt there is a connection I found the connection. I found the connection in the sense of the colors and the brushstrokes between all of us. Even though the language is a bit different, sometimes it's more precise, sometimes the images are more sharp. But the brush stroke something with color. It's very Middle East. I don't know how to explain it. I don't know if there is a sense of it, but I feel that there is something very ballady, like something very basic in it in a in a very good way. And and I saw it on the painting. It's not a phlemic painting. It's a Middle East painting. Okay, there is something that I love to see when I saw the exhibition. I felt that there is something that like we are making the same music in a bit, maybe sometimes different twos, maybe different sounds, but it's almost the same music like it's the same festival. And this is what I felt that it was great. And from the other end, another thing is that they are very talented. Sinan and Cosis, very talented, very much. I'm proud to show with them. Thank you, Shai. One thing that I remember when I first saw the exhibition was when they all came together, some of the three, you know, the five, you know, pillars of the three paintings each, some of those three, the colors were just natural, you know, so like the theme of the compassionate, if you look, there's quite a bit of orange in actually each of your pieces, which is quite interesting. So case you want to reflect just briefly, very briefly on Shai and Sinan. Yes, what I like in Shai and Sinan, both of them, I see that when I see their paintings, their art works, I see that they are like, impacting dreams, they're depicting visions, like especially, I like the simplicity in Shai paintings, you know, very simple. And this like the dreams that I, when I was like kid, how is my dreams are? You know, this is very innocent, very imaginary and very, you know, very pure. This is what I like in Shai paintings, very direct, very honest of these dreams. And in Sinan, he's a very capable artist and he has very good like academic style. He reminds me of the images of divine comedy, of Dante, you know, that you dive in a lot of symbols and in a lot of figures that you open your mind for multiple layers to represent these concepts and the symbolism.  And this is what I like. And I think that dream is the area where we can live and we can accomplish, you know, accomplish what the things that we are unable to accomplish and achieve on the ground on their life. That's beautiful. Thank you, Case. Thank you. Sinan, just a little bit about what you think about Shai and Case's work. Both of work is the very, very, very good work. Okay. And I like is the both of work. Case, he's a professional. He's a very, very good artist. And he's a he's make a lot thinking about is the painting. More details. He's about is something different about me and about Shai. Okay. Very different, very special. I like it. Okay. He's he's a make is that exactly Abraham, Abraham, exactly story. Different me, different Shai. Okay, because me is that I put it is the my painting. I put it is the my thinking or my thoughts in in the painting. Okay. But is the case? No, he's read a lot. Make sketch a lot. Okay, about about it. He's also talking with me before before is the before make any any is the painting talking with me and talking about is the Abraham. He's interest more, more about it is more than me. Okay. Shai, he's also make it like me make is the painting like his painting. Okay. He's a have also is the details. Okay. And where when you see when you saw is the painting for Shai, you saw a lot is that he's religion. Okay. Not is the is the okay. He's he's he's a make is that specific is the religion or for is the Christianity. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And both both of them is that Shai and the case is make is that perfect and make is very, very good job. Thank you. Thank you. Let's see here now. I think it our time is up pretty much is up sadly. Right. So I want to thank the three of you for participating in this from various parts around the world. Thank you. And some of some of you are in context right now where there's a lot of conflict and it's not easy to have actually gotten online. So we're grateful that you could all get online. Yes. And it came together even though we've got various Wi-Fi connections and all of that. So we're very, very grateful. And it's wonderful to see the three of you all together in front of me on one screen. So very kind of you to give us this time together. And I'll turn it over to Greg. I'll just have a couple of closing remarks. Pardon us for going a little long, but just this is the first time I think the three of them have been live together since who knows when. So this was not only a artistic reunion, but also I think a family reunion. There was one question that we won't be able to answer. But I think it's a good closing question because it is really focuses on one of the intents of the of the of the exhibit. And the question is this, what role and commitment do you think religious communities, artists and men might have in creating a level playing field for girls and women to ensure all people have higher levels of education across the world, given the fact that more education women have the better that the better outcomes that people have. I think that's very, very important. I think it's also a question that indicates that this isn't just an artistic exercise, but this is as Reverend Bishop Chandler mentioned, how art is a creative way to change the world. And we are grateful on behalf of Interfaith Ministries that to be able to host this exhibit and to see how this art has can can change people's minds and hearts so that there can be change in the world. So on behalf of Interfaith Ministries, thank you to all of you for your time, Bishop Chandler. Thank you to you and to Caravan for your work.


What's going on, if in a family come back to another video, it's your girl Janice. If you guys are new to the channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button and join the family. So guys, today I am going to be pranking Isaiah. Now right now Isaiah is in the bathroom, he's getting ready for the day, showering and doing what he has to do because he wants to take some Instagram pictures today.


Now, it is my pleasure to invite Assistant Director-General for Education, Mr. Kien-Tang, to take the floor. Madam Director-General, your excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, I'm pleased to be here with you today for the launch of the UNESCO Commonwealth's Learning Guidelines for Open Educational Resources for Higher Education. This document is the results of the very fruitful partnership between UNESCO and the Commonwealth's Learning. So once again, I welcome Sir John Daniel, President of the Commonwealth's Learning, and also 10 years ago he was my boss when he was an ADG education in this house. As you know, information and communication technologies are dramatically increasing the rate of transfer of information through global communication systems leading to more sharing of knowledge. And thanks to the wide array of ICT-based programs available to us, we are able to create and share an enormous number of learning resources. This means more students and a more diverse student body. However, the changes are not only related to access. ICT is also transforming learning and teaching practices contributing to better quality education. And early today, I attend the Education Commission for the whole day. And during that meeting, we ask our Member State what are the major challenges for our priorities, for their country's education and development. Representatives of 50 countries took floor this morning. Many of them, I say at least 40 of them, mentioned using ICT in education is a top priority for them to expand access to education and to improve the quality of their education system. So UNESCO Commonwealth's Learning guidelines are part of UNESCO's fall-up to the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education and the new Dynamics of Higher Education Research for Social Change and Development. This major conference we took place here at headquarters in July 2009, underlined the role of ICTs in widening access to quality education. And these guidelines were developed after broad consultations with stakeholders throughout the world and can be used by governments, by higher education institutions, other providers, academic staff, student bodies, and quality assurance accreditation and recognition bodies. They provide policy advice on using OERs to support quality teaching and learning, setting out a key suggestion for integrating them into higher education. This will not only help improve the quality of programs and teaching, but also reduce costs. I'm sure you will find the guidelines extremely useful and interesting, and hope you will be moved to share them with all the relevant stakeholders in your own countries. Thank you. Thank you, Ken, for these remarks. And now it is my pleasure to invite Sir John Daniel to launch the UNESCO and COLE OER policy guidelines. Sir John, you have a floor. Thank you, Janice. Deputy Minister, Mr. Sanly Simatar, Assistant Director General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's a pleasure to be with you again for this launch of UNESCO's Open Educational Resources Platform and the UNESCO COLE guidelines for Open Educational Resources in Higher Education. The common thread that runs through yesterday's and today's launches is the conviction that ICT information and communications technology can make a major difference to education, training and learning generally. Indeed, the Commonwealth of Learning was established by the Commonwealth Heads of Government over 20 years ago because they believed that the mass media and ICT were far too important to be left to the entertainment industry. And furthermore, I remember when I started getting interested in educational technology in the 1970s and 80s, UNESCO was a powerhouse of international thinking on this topic through the leadership of R. E. J. Z. Over recent decades, tremendous progress has been made, and in particular by building on a succession of new media and technology, open and distance learning has advanced in spectacular strides so that tens of millions of people worldwide are now furthering their education as distance learners using a wide variety of technologies. New institutions have grown rapidly to meet this need and some have become so large that they enroll more than a million students each. But there is a problem. Institutions dedicated solely to technology-mediated learning are doing well. However, the introduction of ICT into teaching in conventional institutions, school classrooms and university campuses has been much less successful. It has been less successful because of two fundamental problems. First, ICT cannot improve education in classroom settings unless teachers know how to use them. Second, teachers cannot use ICT effectively unless they have appropriate learning materials to use with the hardware. Yesterday's and today's launches have addressed these two issues in turn. Last evening, UNESCO's ICT Competency Framework for Teachers demonstrated a solution to the issue of teacher training, and Col is now working with UNESCO and the Commonwealth Secretariat to implement this competency framework in the Caribbean, Southern Africa and other parts of the Commonwealth. Tonight our focus is on the second issue, the lack of materials for use with ICT, and our topic is Open Educational Resources, OER. Educators have long desired to share teaching and learning materials, but until recently sharing has encountered three obstacles. First, there is the Not Invented Here syndrome. Thankfully, the rich resources of the internet and social software are steadily curing that affliction because most teachers no longer want to spend their time reinventing the wheel. Second, until materials development went digital, sharing them was tiresome. And third, intellectual property rights were problematic. Copyrighted material was often buried in learning materials alleged to be free of restriction. OER remove these last obstacles. First, they're easy to exchange and adapt, and second, open licenses for sharing OER allow you to distribute and adapt them with confidence. And finally, very importantly for UNESCO, OER can facilitate exchanges that are genuinely multi-directional and multinational. At the OER session at the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education here, the University of South Africa's Barney Pityana crossed swords with his fellow South African, Brenda Gawley, of the UK Open University, with Barney Pityana arguing that OER could promote a form of intellectual neocolonialism. Happily, that is not the reality. In the Programme for Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa, TESA, 13 African universities are working together to produce and use OER. And last year, 320,000 African teachers in 10 countries adapted and used these OERs, which are available in Arabic, English, French and Kiswahili. So OER are spreading through Africa and around the world. But we must face the fact that OER have not yet fully entered the bloodstream of education. For that to happen, OER must feature in the policies of governments and institutions. And this was the challenge that UNESCO and Coal took up two years ago after the 2009 UNESCO General Conference of our project, taking OER beyond the OER community policy and capacity for developing countries. We organised a series of seven workshops on OER for senior educational decision makers in Africa and Asia, and have prepared two documents to support the next stage of the campaign. The first is a basic guide to OER written by South Africa's Neil Butcher and the editorial guidance of Asher Kanwar of Coal and Stemenko-Uvalich Trumbich of UNESCO. The second document, which we launched this evening, is Guidelines for OER in Higher Education, which were drafted by Zennett Vroglu of UNESCO and Trudy van Vijk of Coal with the aid of an international committee and online consultation. The format of these guidelines for OER was loosely modelled on the guidelines for quality provision in cross-border higher education that UNESCO published with the OECD in 2005. In the next phase of the project, for which we are grateful for support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, we shall focus particularly on cultivating government support for OER. In the period between now and the World Congress on OER at UNESCO next June, we shall interact with governments worldwide in order to develop an inventory of their current practices and policies for increasing access to educational material. These OER guidelines, especially those addressed to governments, will illuminate the drafting of a declaration for next June's World Congress on OER. We hope for a declaration that will express government support for the principle that when educationally useful material is developed with public funds, it should be made freely available. We're fortunate to have Stamenko Ruvlitsch Trumbich as the principal consultant for this project because she has the perfect background for the task. In 2005, she organised the process that led to the UNESCO OECD guidelines on quality provision in cross-border higher education, and in 2009, she was the Executive Secretary of UNESCO's 2009 World Conference on Higher Education that flagged the importance of OER. She's thoroughly familiar with COLE, with the OECD, and, of course, with UNESCO, from which she retired two months ago as head of higher education. Today, we launch the guidelines for OER in higher education in the two languages of UNESCO headquarters, English and French, but I'm delighted to learn that funds are now available from UNESCO to translate them into the other UN languages and Portuguese. So colleagues, colleagues proud to launch these guidelines with you this evening and looks forward to working closely with UNESCO to foster support from governments for the important tool for educational development that OER represent. Thank you.


Hello everybody, welcome back to another episode of Anabaptist Perspectives. I'm here in Queens, New York City with Joel Yoder and you've been involved with, wow, you've been involved in ministry for quite a while, doing different things, a lot of trainings, this and that, I know you served overseas for a while. A big one that I feel we just don't talk enough about, especially cross-cultural engagement and ministry is burnout and dealing with that and what is burnout? So my question is, have you experienced burnout personally and then what does that look like in a cross-cultural setting? It's a good question and I do agree with you that I don't think we talk about it near enough. I don't think we prepare workers enough for it. Have I experienced burnout personally? No I haven't, but I've been pretty close. In 2017, I think was when I was the closest to burnout and some of the things that led up to that were an unhealthy desire to be viewed as competent. This feeling that if I said no to requests that would come in, my teammates would say, oh he's not competent and as I look back I realized that that was not true. My teammates praised me, they recognized the things that I did and I'm grateful for my team. I had a great team that I was working with, but part of my sin nature I guess I kept taking on more responsibilities because I was afraid to say no and I looked later on at one of the ways to avoid burnout is to learn how to say no and I didn't know how to say no well. So I kept taking on much more than what I was, even what I knew I could sustain and it got to the point where I was very close to burnout. Fortunately, I didn't go over the edge. I was able to get some help. I recognized some of the warning signs and I was able to get help and pass off some responsibilities to other people so I didn't actually go over that edge. What does burnout look like? I think it looks different for different people but I'll give a few of the warning signs and that might help in describing burnout. I think one of the things that it can look like is when you start to disengage emotionally. So like when you're thinking I just can't handle this anymore and you just start to withdraw. Almost like just shutting it down. Yeah. And it's actually your body is doing that. It's a mechanism that God has designed in our body to keep us from dying. If we didn't burn out the emotional overload could kill us. Like literally it could kill us. So God has actually given us a mechanism that we start to emotionally disengage because we can't handle all of that. But if you see that and I did, I started to emotionally disengage and I knew that was a sign that I was approaching the edge of burnout. Another warning sign of burnout is when you don't enjoy the things that you used to enjoy. And for me one of the things I used to love prior to this approaching this edge of burnout, one of the things that I used to love was hosting youth groups here in New York City for a weekend. They'd come in for a weekend. Your group was one of those. Yeah. I forget which year it was but your group was one of those. We have missions classes. We go out on the street. We have evangelism and it's a tremendous opportunity to impact young people for the gospel. I got to the point where I was looking ahead at the calendar and I would see we have a group schedule and I was like I don't want to see them. I don't want them to come. And I knew that that was one of the warning signs of burnout. Did you just kind of push through then? Or how did you yeah because you know you're not enjoying it and you're just like I dread this. It was it was kind of strange in some ways. I dreaded them coming. I did. I dreaded it. But when they actually got here I was able to push through and I think God gave me the strength that I needed to keep on going and I enjoyed it. I loved the groups when they were here but I actually dreaded them coming and that was not healthy. It was not a healthy place to be in ministry. It's not a fun place to be in ministry because the joy in it was gone. And I don't want people to lose their joy in ministry because one of the things that helps sustain us is when we do have joy in what we're doing, when we love what we do, then we can push through a lot. Yeah. And I really do love what I'm doing is just in that period in my life I was very close to burnout and I don't want other people to go through that. It's not something we talk about that much. Honestly it's I'm guessing a number of our audience have never even heard of the concept of burnout. So just kind of off the top of your head what would how common would you say it is for people to be burned out when they're doing you know wherever it may be like in your case here in New York City or somewhere overseas? I don't have statistics on that. So you said off the top of my head. Yeah. I don't have statistics. So I'm not going to try to give any but I would say that I think it's way too often or it's way too common in our circles. There are a lot of different factors that play into it and I'm not sure that I have a set answer for all those factors. I think some of them is simply the scope of the work or the volume of what could be done in the amount of workers that are available to do it. And one of the aspects about ministry is no matter how much you do there's always more that could be done. People see the magnitude of the of the work that could be done and because it's good thing it's ministry it's working with people it's pointing people to Christ it's like well we have to keep doing more and more and more and I think it's far too common even if people don't recognize it as burnout they might not be medically burned out but their joy is gone and they're going through the motions and they're not as effective as they could be if they were learned to pace themselves a bit more. Yeah so maybe maybe we're not very good at teaching people where the line is like where their limits are and pacing yourself for a marathon but instead we're training them to do a sprint and and you just can't sustain it. You actually touched on something else that I care a lot about and that was training. I think too often we send people without any training and I think that's recipe for disaster number one. You're exactly right in that often ministry is viewed or we view it as a sprint instead of a marathon. A lot of ministry is just ordinary long work it continues on and it's not something that you're gonna jump in and fix these problems and point people to Christ and then pack up quickly and go somewhere else.  Would you say burnout and disillusionment or just losing the vision? Would you say those two things are different or similar? I would say they're very similar maybe the disillusionment comes after you start to emotionally disengage that was actually one of the warning signs or maybe the results of burnout. I was gonna say a warning sign of burnout I think it's probably more like a result of burnout is that often people will get disillusioned with missions as a whole. They're like it didn't turn out the way I thought I'll give it to you now I'm gonna give it later on as well I believe but one of the ways to avoid burnout is to link your work with serving your Heavenly Father it's not technically or ultimately my work in ministry is because I love God and I and he's the one who's called me to do this and so if I can link my work to serving God then how the people respond is in one way insignificant or irrelevant of course we want the results of people coming to Christ that's what we want and that's why we get involved in ministry to some degree but ultimately ministry missions is for God John Piper says missions exist because worship doesn't and I know people use that quote a lot but he's exactly right ultimately missions is for the glory of God and so if I can link my work to serving God it can avoid burnout because I'm not technically doing it for the people themselves and then if they don't respond the way I want it's disappointing we do get disappointed we do sometimes get even disillusioned to some degree with the effectiveness of our ministry and there are times we need to check our strategies and adjust the strategies if we're not seeing the results that we would like to see if our work is almost too small if you know what I mean to where oh so-and-so rejected what we're trying to do to help in whatever situation and it's just crushing to us and devastating to us instead of stepping back and seeing the big picture of what God actually wants I like that and another aspect about this whole thing of how to avoid burnout or like our work in ministry and how do you know how to pace yourself and things like that no matter when we stop to some degree it's always arbitrary and I mean by this yeah it's actually that that thought comes from Dr. Richard Swenson in his book titled the overload syndrome he says no matter when you stop it's always arbitrary so if you work until midnight and I show up at your doorstep at midnight and I say so how was the day today and you're like oh it's a great day it was exhausting a work 17 hours but I'm done and I'm like so why are you stopping now you're like well it's midnight and I'm like yeah but surely there are people you could go visit yet or there's a lot of encouragement to write or you could send someone an email or like there's something else you could do right and you're like well give me a break it's midnight and like yeah that's kind of my point is like yeah when you stop there's still work that's not done and the cool thing about this or rather the comforting thing about this uh-huh is Jesus did that too as in he stopped even when the work was not done how do you decide though like how did he decide I guess is maybe the right I think he gives us a clue actually I think he gives us the answer in Luke chapter 5 Luke chapter 5 verses about 12 to 16 Luke gives us the account Jesus is in a certain city doesn't say what city does and he heals a leper the man is grateful and he goes out and he tells everyone that Jesus healed him and it says that great multitude started coming together to be healed by Jesus and then in verse 16 I think it says Jesus withdrew himself and went out into the wilderness and prayed time and again we have record where Jesus went out and spent time with his father even when there were people that wanted healing in Luke 5 he left people that came to him for healing he left them and he went out and he prayed so I think he the answer is spending time with God asking God what am I supposed to do what are my limits what can I do so I can be effective in ministry and avoid burnout yeah because some of the situations I've been involved in with the refugee crisis it is so hard because you have and it's right there in front of you and you just say oh we just have to help every last person that we can you know because the situation is so desperate and so yeah it's really hard to know like where do you actually stop and having said that I'm not giving a reason or an excuse for non-involvement or for laziness not at all like we are called to work brother Alan Roth says that ministry should make us tired like it is hard work and if you never get tired when you're involved in ministry you probably aren't working enough but running yourself to where you're totally exhausted and can't keep on that works for a sprint for a few days a few weeks maybe even a few months but if you're going to sustain in ministry for the long haul for a year after year after year you have to find a pace that you can live with I remember a wise man told me years ago you cannot live from one vacation to the next you have to find a pace that you can live with and keep on going that's a really good way I put in it actually I think there's a lot of people just in general in everyday life they're kind of living either for the weekend or that next vacation because they're just dreading the day today and I've always thought that would be a horrible way to live you know and I'm fortunate that I don't have that I've never known what that felt like really which is a huge blessing but especially if you're doing that in ministry it's way too easy to fall into though I'm telling you it's way too easy to get so busy because there's so much to do to where you're saying if I can just hold on like in two months then we get our next vacation yeah that's not where I want workers to be because it robs your joy and if you're not careful you can even start resenting the very people that you're going to try to serve so then how can we as believers help support our brothers and sisters who are serving and I'm thinking specifically if we're looking in a situation say hey that that looks like you're gonna hit hit a brick wall do you like try to pull them back or yeah how do you help keep them from getting too far gone pray for them I think is the first thing and then let them know that you're praying for them you can send them a what's that message and say hey I was praying for you today just felt this urge to pray what were you going through I care about you I there have been times where I've had people let me know that they were praying for me at the right time when I was going through difficult spots and that that means a lot another way that you can help is by keeping them accountable depending if they're on your team depending on the situation if they're on the same team as you maybe you can give some warnings like and I think you're taking on too much I had a team member that I had to check with before I took on more responsibilities or more things that I love doing and part of me resented that and I was like I want to do this I love doing it but I know looking back I know that they cared enough about me to try to pull me back a little bit so I didn't take on too many responsibilities more than what I was able to do. Another thing that you can do if you're working on the same team is you can try to lighten each other's load think it's Wayne Cudero in his book titled leading on empty he gives the thought of each team member writing down the five things that they're doing that they enjoy the most that kind of recharge them you know there's some things that we do that we get involved in ministry that get us excited like we come out it's like I'm pumped I'm so happy that I get to do this and then there's also things that we do that drain us and we kind of dread we get up in the morning we've been pushing them off as long as we can list those top five things that drain your tank and then compare lists so you do your list and I do mine and we look at them and and there's some things we can't get away from we can't avoid doing some things that drain us but maybe you're doing something that you're dreading and I look at your list and I'm like I would love to do that let's trade I'll gladly take that I get energized by doing that and you look at one of mine is like you see something that I'm doing that I'm dreading but you actually enjoy so by lightening each other's load that's one way that we can spread the work around and continue on and help each other avoid burnout sometimes I think our churches are sending churches or mission organizations can look on and say you just need time off we're gonna send you off I and I don't want you to spend time doing PR I don't want you to spend time you know feel like you need to take on speaking engagements we want you to spend time just relaxing and recharging maybe spending time reading good book I in ministry we're constantly giving out and I think it's important to fill we need to fill ourselves back up again as well and often burnout is a result of gradually over a long period of time just taking out a little bit more than what we can actually sustain like you don't typically go from being perfectly fine one day to burned out the next right it's a gradual process but the recharging process is just as gradual that's okay that's a yeah yeah there oh makes the point that he says it should take a minimum of six weeks if someone is almost on the edge of burnout you're not going to just say take a two or three days off and you're good to go two or three days helps but he says just like you're you became burned out by gradually over a long period of time that's how you recharge like a trickle charger not a fast charger we don't like doing things slowly we like super charger charge your phone in 15 minutes and things like that yeah when it comes to our bodies it doesn't recharge that fast that's a really profound thought because I've often thought that when I've been working myself really hard like I'll just take a day and I'll be I'll be good and go you know and you know it helps sure but it's not it's just not the same one of the things that our churches can do is as they're looking on they can say hey we're gonna send you away for even a couple days is better than nothing I'm not saying that the only time you can get recharges if you take six weeks off sometimes missionaries or workers in cross-cultural settings they don't go away because they can't afford it and if a church is looking on or someone else that cares looks on and says hey we'd love to give you some time off you know here we reserve the spot for you for a week and we want you to hear some good books that you might enjoy reading and take some time off just to recharge a bit we see that you're taking on too much you've been pulling a heavy load and it's and take some time to to recharge your batteries again so to speak well that's the last question that I had but is there anything else you would like to share in this episode I'd like to give one example of a person who burned out to the point that it killed him and I'd like to think of what this man could have accomplished he accomplished a tremendous amount his name was Robert McChaney he was a 19th century preacher he graduated from Edenburg College at age of 14 in 1827 and by the time he was 20 age 23 he was leading a congregation of over a thousand people he died at age 29 and before he died he said God has given me a message to deliver and a horse to ride alas I've killed the horse and I can no longer deliver the message he accomplished a lot in 29 years technically 15 years from the time he graduated at 14 to the time he died at 29 but I like to think of what he could have accomplished had he lived lived to be 79 years old instead of 29 if he could have paced himself out a little bit I think he could have gotten a whole lot more accomplished and he recognized that I'm not trying to be critical looking on he recognized that himself just before he died and I don't want to see people certainly don't want to see him falling over dying at 29 but just as devastating is when they're emotionally burned out and they become disillusioned with missions as a whole and sometimes even with God I don't want to see that happen


So we're going to quantitatively describe a single moving point and this means we need to keep track of its location in both time and space Now as a word in English time can mean a few different things. It can mean a point in time such as what time is it? Or it can mean a duration as in how much time does it take me to swim 50 meters? In physics we write the symbol t to mean a point in time and the symbol delta t to mean a duration Now this delta t is just a single symbol. It's not two different symbols multiplying together. It's just a single thing And we calculate delta t as the end time point minus the beginning time point