Ejna Fleury is an enrolled member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, South Dakota, and is their first Tribal Peace Ambassador. She is a Mystic, Visionary & Ceremonialist. She is the co-founder of Healing Hearts at Wounded Knee and the Wounded Knee Global Ceremonies to heal the multi-generational and multi-lineal effects of massacre, holocaust, and war upon humanity, other species, and our beloved planetary home.
Visolela Rosalinda "Rosa" Namises is a social, gender equality and human rights activist and chief of the /Khomanin people in Namibia. She was a co-founder and director of Women’s Solidarity Namibia, a women’s organization combating gender-based violence in Namibia from 1989 – 2004. Visolela also served as a Member of Parliament from 1999-2005 and again in 2010.
Jake Jay-Lewin grew up in the Findhorn Ecovillage and Spiritual Community, Scotland, and has been active in the Ecovillage movement since 2013. He co-developped the youth-arm of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), NextGEN and was recently elected to GEN-Europe’s Council and Board of Trustees.
Sunday 19 June 2022 saw crowds of visitors and local people gathering in the park of the Caux Palace for the inauguration of a ‘Caux Belle Epoque’ self-guided walk.
Eliane and Andrew Stallybrass with Jacqueline Coté,
president of IofC Switzerland
Some 150 people heard Olivier Gfeller, the Mayor of Montreux, officially open the nine information stands. These carry texts and photos in three languages, with QR codes leading to an audio-guide with further information, texts, photos and film clips.
The tour starts at Caux station, with the construction of the railway line, and continues with the Caux Palace and its clientele, the chapels and restaurants of the village, winter sports (bobsleigh, curling, skiing and skating), the Grand Hotel (where the Empress Sissi of Austria stayed), and ends in Haut-de-Caux, just above the Caux Palace.
The Belle Epoque, from the start of the 20th century up to the outbreak of the First World War, was the hamlet’s most glorious period, when it attracted a world elite and many of those days' rich and famous.
Many of the villagers manning the food stand and offering guided tours were in period costume, and, after the official speeches, a local group offered period dances and music, also in costume. Some 60 people took the opportunity to join guided tours of the period’s two most important constructions: the Caux Palace and the Grand Hotel. The day ended with a performance of Brahms’ ‘Ein Deutsches Requiem’ in the Caux Palace’s theatre as part of the Caux Musical Season.
The day marked a further strengthening of the sense of shared purpose and destiny between the local community and political authorities and IofC Switzerland, who have owned the Caux Palace since 1946, when they saved it from demolition by turning it into a conference centre.
On the terrace of the Caux Palace (photo: Adrien Giovannelli)
In its current edition, the top real estate magazine in French-speaking Switzerland, immobilier.ch, showcases the Caux Palace as one of five positive examples of how historic buildings can be preserve...
When the first Ukrainians arrived at the Caux Refuge, Eliane and Andrew Stallybrass were amongst the first volunteers to welcome them at the Villa Maria and to offer their support. Eliane knew that le...
What happens when 26 IofC trainers and facilitators from 12 countries embark on a three-day learning journey in Caux on designing and facilitating participatory learning experiences? At the opening se...
Christine Beerli will step down as President of the Foundation of Initiatives of Change Switzerland in April 2022, after four years in the role. Jacqueline Coté, former Director of Public Relations at...
Former President of the Council of IofC Switzerland, Antoine Jaulmes, interviews Andrew Lancaster from Australia, who has just stepped down from the Council after 16 years....
Nick Foster, until now Caux Forum Director, will take over the role of Co-Director of IofC Switzerland, alongside Stephanie Buri. After nine years with Initiatives of Change (IofC) and one year as the...
Germany was in ruins. Europe was in ruins. Millions had been killed; millions more wounded and displaced. There were also ruins of the mind, deep collective trauma in desperate need of healing. In the...
‘At that time, even a dog would have refused a bit of bread from the hand of a German,’ remembered Peter Petersen, one of 150 Germans who the Allies allowed to come to Caux in 1947. They were some of ...
"Deep down inside, I blamed the rich, I held them responsible for so many people’s unhappiness. I couldn’t accept that some could have everything they wanted without having to lift a little finger, wh...
"My story is not special, or mine. It belongs to this conference centre. It is 75 years long and contains hundreds of thousands of train rides, walks, talks, teas, conversations, and quiet moments of ...
We are committed to inspire, equip and connect you to support you on your journey from personal to global change. But we need your help to see how we can do this best!...
Usually, Swiss National Day on 1 August is an opportunity for Caux Forum participants to discover some Swiss traditions, including cheese fondue. This year, it looked like the Caux Palace would be emp...
Sofia Mariscal (Chihuahua, Mexico 1984) is a contemporary art curator and cultural manager who lives and works between Madrid, Mexico City and the northern Sierra Madre of Chihuahua State.
Irina (Bolivia/France) is a 5-years-old French-Bolivian. She loves drawing and everything linked to horses. Irina is very concerned about the future of children, especially because she sees so much waste in the streets of her city.
Maruee Pahuja is a visual artist, an advanced intermodal expressive arts therapy practitioner, an arts-informed ecotherapy practitioner and researcher at the Step Ahead Institute, Berlin. She also works as an ocularist and contact lens consultant. Part time she works as the creative trainings co-lead for People Beyond Borders. She is part of the Creative Leadership organizing team and driven by the curiosity to find intersections in the fields of arts and science.
Maria Belén Paz (Bolivia)is the director of ACT2gether Latin America. She is passionate about Human Rights and Peacebuilding, promoting inclusive participation of children and the youth. She worked for Initiatives of Change France as the Field Coordinator of the Education for Peace Programme in Paris for five years before she joined the CATS - Children as Actors for Transforming Society core team.
Rodrigo Martinez Romero (Mexico) has been a proud member of Initiatives of Change Mexico since 2010. He is also co-founder of the Spiritual Politics Lab and the School of Conscious Politics (SCP) where he collaborates with trainers, artists, spiritual leaders, and researchers to test, innovate and experiment w