
Hope-Dealing: Father and Son
Towards an Inclusive Peace 2019
30/07/2019

Hasan Davis is a self-proclaimed ‘hope-dealer’, who has dedicated his life to engendering purpose, confidence and determination in young people across the United States and the globe. His son, Malcolm, himself an aspiring young leader, took part in this year’s Caux Scholars Program. Hasan, who is a Rockerfeller Fellow, spoke at the Caux Forum’s Towards an Inclusive Peace (TIP) conference on the importance of personal and community resilience in the face of violent extremism.
As a Caux Scholar, Malcolm facilitated some of the TIP sessions and so the pair had the chance to work, learn and grow together at the Caux Forum. This cross-generational collaboration was encouraging, at a time when intergenerational disparity and disillusionment are rife.
Hasan is committed to reforming the US juvenile prison system (achieving a monumental piece of legislation in his home state of Kentucky in 2014) and to the training and education of young people and their teachers and mentors. He sees the Initiatives of Change core values of honesty, love, purity of intention and unselfishness, along with the vulnerability which accompanies their application, as the cornerstones of his work. He promotes education programmes which offer young people the space to explore their idiosyncrasies, strengths and weaknesses in a safe and accommodating environment. The values fostered throughout the Caux Forum are fundamental to constructive intergenerational dialogue, Davis says, as they are founded upon trust and openness.
As Malcolm sits cross-legged on the floor looking up at his father addressing the Forum’s plenary, you can see the gleam of admiration in his eyes. Hasan is grateful that his son has made his own choice to work towards inclusive peace in his community, and is delighted at the way the Caux Scholars Programme has reinforced his sense of confidence and purpose. The mutual trust and respect which underpin their relationship was inspiring to see.
Text: Emma Beuster
Photos: Paula Mariane, Emma Beuster
related stories

Caux Forum 2023: Save the Date
We are excited to announce the Caux Forum will be back in Caux next summer! Find out more and save the date! ...

Arpan Yagnik: Mountains to climb
Arpan Yagnik, a participant of last year's Creative Leadership conference and team member of the IofC Hub 2021, talks to Mary Lean about creativity, fear and vocation. ...

Young Ambassadors Programme 2021: Learning to listen
When Indonesian law student Agustina Zahrotul Jannah discovered the Young Ambassadors Programme (YAP) on Google she felt both excited and hopeless: excited because she hoped it might give her the skil...

Sofia Syodorenko: A zero waste lifestyle is a mindful lifestyle
How did Sofia Syodorenko become involved in the zero waste movement, and what does it mean to her? Now Chair of Foundations for Freedom, she is also a representative of the Zero Waste Alliance Ukraine...

‘Where Grieving Begins – Building Bridges after the Brighton Bomb’: a live interview with Patrick Magee
The second in Tools for Changemakers’ series of Stories for Changemakers took place on 25 August 2021, with an interview with Patrick Magee, who planted a bomb at the Grand Hotel, Brighton, in 1984, w...

Forging a network of problem-solvers to build a secure and sustainable future
The Summer Academy on Climate, Land and Security 2021 brought together 29 participants from 20 countries. From Egypt and Senegal to the United States and Thailand, zoom windows opened for six hours ev...

Remaking a world in peril
The Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security (CDES) 2021 ran online from 20 July until 30 July, for the second consecutive year, comprising three open plenaries and seven workshops. This year’s discu...

A Journey from Uncertainty to Possibility
2021’s Creative Leadership conference took participants on a six-day journey ‘From Uncertainty to Possibility’. Between 25 to 31 July around 150 online participants living in over 50 countries engaged...

A pathway to peace and prosperity in West and Central Africa
In the context of their partnership, Initiatives of Change Switzerland (IofC) and the Peace and Human Rights division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs organised a webinar on the them...

Peacemakers in the making
‘I am super happy to have been part of the Learning to be a Peacemaker course – we learned the true colours of Islam!’ wrote 18-year-old high-school graduate Nma Dahir, from Erbil, capital of the Kurd...

Musical Stories from Caux
‘What a magnificent presentation of stories and music’, commented one of the participants of the second in-person, by invitation, event of this year's Caux Forum Online which took place on 1 August 20...

Sustainable businesses needs purpose beyond profit
Corporations and industries need a purpose beyond profit, says Sunil Mathur, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Siemens in India and South Asia. ‘Companies’ purposes are critical,’ he explai...

Opening Ceremony of the Caux Forum Online 2021: Swiss perspectives on peace
The Caux Forum Online 2021 opened on 5 July with a panel on ‘Swiss Perspectives on Peace – past, present and future’ to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Caux Conference and Seminar Centre as the ...

A closer look at links between environment and security
Food security is a key to understanding the complex connection between climate and security, Dhanasree Jayaram, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations Manipal...

'A better version of myself'
'The conference showed me how much I really love to socialize with people. The members of our dialogue group asked me questions I never been asked before. This made me think about lots of things, in n...