We have been holding online events, starting in 2020. We hope you enjoy the recorded version of these events.

Photo Editing Workshop

On May 17, 2020, Duncan McBride presented a dynamic interactive workshop on photo editing— something we can all use whether we use our mobile phones or cameras. Duncan is the leader of our Photography group and hopes some of you may be inspired to join. View the recording of the photo editing workshop.

Global Journey to Brazil

FFNCA members participated in a Global Journey to Fortaleza and the Amazon in November 2019. Mari Clarke gave a slide presentation and led a discussion among FFNCA members who participated in the trip, along with the journey coordinator from Sao Paolo and two participants from Canada. View the recording of this visit to Brazil.

Overcoming Spiritual Myopia: Expanding our Connections toward a Universal World View

• Overcoming Spiritual Myopia: A View Toward Peace Among the Religions, (WINNER Body, Mind, Spirit Book Award in Spiritual Psychology)
• Faith Beyond Belief: Stories of Good People Who Left Their Church Behind,  (GOLD WINNER of the 2013 Nautilus Book Award in Religion/Spirituality.)

View the recording of the Overcoming Spiritual Myopia Zoom session.

Wine Tasting: New Zealand Wines

FFNCA member and Vice President, Barbara Williams  led us on a happy hour  tasting of wines  from New Zealand along with photos from her  FFNCA Journey to New Zealand (homestays in Lake Taupo and Christ Church), featuring grapes and vineyards. The two wines are:

• 2019 Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region.
• Fern Ridge Pinot Noir, also from the Marlborough region.

View the recording of the New Zealand wine Zoom session.

International Peace Day: Sunshine Coast, Australia Journey

We celebrated International Peace Day with members of the Long Island Friendship Force Club and members from other clubs who joined the journey plus a few members from the Sunshine Coast Australia club on Monday September 21, 2020. We showed a video of the March 2020 journey to Sunshine Coast Australia prepared by the Sunshine Coast Club as well as slides of the pre-journey travel to Brisbane, including the Koala Bear Sanctuary, and to the Great Barrier Reef.

View the recording of the Sunshine Coast Zoom session.

A roving eye…or two: through the lens of Michael Kuchinsky. Part I

 Part 1 provides some personal information about me and my interests. Part 1 takes a broad look at travel photography, and how it can be complemented by other forms or themes. Monochrome photography, street photography, naturescapes (land, sea, and sky) and changes to some perspective, and the importance of people.  What I try to do or look for with these various forms of photographs, even while traveling, is part of the narrative. Each photo shown describes some of the aspects that I found appealing.

View the recording of the Michael Kuchinsky photography Zoom session.

Calgary presentation on their journey to Kiel

A Friendship Force journey to Kiel, Germany from Calgary, Canada included some FFNCA members as well as other Friendship Force members around the country. This presentation shared some of the highlights of that journey as well as information about the clubs involved.

View the recording of the Calgary Kiel Zoom session.

Documentary Film on Grundy, Virginia

Russell Belcher’s documentary film about his mountain home town of Grundy, in Southwest Virginia, which was demolished to make way for a flood control project in the Spring and Summer of 2006 and onward. There are poignant scenes of the town coming down and people talking about their lives as they watched the town being erased. The mountains and the river are central to the story about a part of the country most people know little about. There are also excerpts from the life story of Frank Newsome, an Old Regular Baptist minister from the county who won an NEA award for his acapella singing and sang in the Library of Congress in 2011.

View the recording of the Grundy, Virginia Zoom session.

Folklore Society Presentation

Amanda Muir, Secretary of the Folklore Society of Greater Washington (FSGW), provided background and shared video clips from the Orpheus Workshop Series that engages the audience in their own homes to learn new cultural styles with familiar instruments to develop existing skills and explore new artistic avenues. Cultural expressions covered in the Orpheus Workshops include instrumental music, dance, song, and art. 

View the recording of the Folklore Society Zoom session.

Russia and Orthodox Easter

Paul Gesalman has visited Russia numerous times in the past ten years and has visited all but three of the former Soviet Republics. Those visits include leading two Friendship Force journeys to Russia and one to Azerbaijan. He spoke on life in those countries and how they were affected by the Soviet era. The religions of the region and particularly the importance of the Russian Orthodox Church and its celebration of Easter were a special focus of the presentation.

View the recording of the Russia and Orthodox Easter Zoom session.

Including People with Hearing Challenges

This workshop focuses on how we can welcome and include people with hearing loss. We all have friends and family who have difficulty hearing speakers and personal conversations. Some of us have hearing issues of our own. This workshop will help us take measures to ensure that our members and visiting Ambassadors who have hearing challenges are fully included in our activities.These measures will also be helpful in communicating with friends and families with hearing challenges. 

View the recording of the Zoom session on including people with hearing challenges.

Rumi Forum Overview and Study Trips to Turkey

Ibrahim Anli, Executive Director of the Rumi Forum, provided an overview of the Rumi Forum and its work fostering intercultural understanding and interfaith dialogue. He also shared photos and information about Rumi Forum study trips to Turkey.

View the recording of the Rumi Forum Zoom session.

International Peace Day Program

We celebrated International Peace Peace Day with a Zoom social hour. We discussed what peace means to us in the context of the FFI mission of building peace one friendship at a time. David Fishman highlighted some of Rotary International’s past and present peace activities.

The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Two decades later, in 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to designate the day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire. Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The UN General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.

View the recording of the International Peace Day Zoom session.

FF Greater Seattle Shares Photos of their Visit to FFNCA

We enjoyed a Zoom visit with our friends from Seattle and Harrisburg. The Seattle club shared their photos from their journey with FFNCA and Harrisburg FF. It was a great to reconnect with friends from Seattle and from Harrisburg (from our Gettysburg outing in July) and share memories.

View the recording of the Zoom session with Seattle.

Choosing Life: a film journey from Hollywood to Hiroshima

Leslie Sussan’s presentation will introduce the true story of Leslie’s father’s crew, which shot the only color film footage of the aftermath of the atomic bombings and its suppression by the U.S. Government for decades. Rather than arguing about past decisions, she focuses on the way the bombing and films affected survivors (known as hibakusha) and played out through generations of her own family. We can think together about what legacies we receive from our parents’ lives and how we pass the stories to our children. You can read more about her book at her website and find it at https://store.bookbaby.com/book/choosing-life or wherever books are sold.

View the recording of Leslie Sussan’s presentation.

Empowering Women to Build a More Equitable Future

Mari Clarke’s presentation on her work on a World Bank rural roads project in Vietnam described a project to engage ethnic minority women in road maintenance. She also include photos from the trip that she took in Northern Vietnam. This will give you images from many parts of Vietnam as well as a sense of what it is that Mari does on gender issues for road projects.

View the recording of Mari Clarke’s presentation.

Visit to Oman with Marsha Gold

Marsha Gold made a presentation on her travels in Oman earlier this year. In addition to photographs from the trip, the Marsha provided the historical and cultural details of the place she visited. 

View the recording of Marsha Gold’s presentation.

Sadiki Educational Safari by Lydia Curtis

Lydia Curtis spoke about Sadiki Educational Safari, the foundation that she started celebrating and empowering youth through the art, history, and culture of Africa.

View the recording of Lydia Curtis’s presentation.

Training for Prospective Journey Coordinators

View the recording of the journey coordinator training.

View the slides from the journey coordinator training (see download link below).

Presentation on the 2023 World Conference in Dubrovnik

Several FFNCA members participated in the 2023 World Conference in Dubrovnik. This conference was a wonderful experience with representatives from many countries.  The presentation also discusses a one-day island clean up excursion (among many options available) and the 10-day Balkans post-conference tour organized by FFI after the conference.

View the recording of the presentation about the World Conference.