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Middle East. This is causing social. political, ecu nomical and religious tensions in soAt ety. The reality of these tensions hit home Friday, March 20 when l read a teletype communication in a hotel lobby. it read "One Christian woman killed, 25 Christians injured and so Muslims were arrested during a clash between Mus- lims and Christians outside of Port Said, Thursday, March 19." Port Said is a two-hour drive from Cairo. More seriously, these tensions lead to wars! The unfortunate reality of this is evident in Beirut, Iran, Chad, Sudan and Iraq. The sad part of it all is that religious differences are used by the power hungry and fanatics to break down social order. In fact, I got the sincere feeling that both Muslims and Christians want to co-exist in harmony. Their religions are 90 per cent similar and there was complete coexistence at the Cairo YMCA where membership was 50 per cent Muslim, 50 per cent Christian. One speaker identified that the major difference was that one prayed on Fridays and one prayed on Sundays. onetheless, there are sensitive issues facing the YMCA of the Middle East and their Christian belie . Given that the Middle East was the birth of both civilization and reli- gion, these issues could also impact the rest of the world. The Middle East Committee is aware of this so they extended an invitation to the World Alliance of YMCAs for international re- presentation. Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Sudan, the U.S.A. and Egypt represented the Middle East. International represents tion came from Canada, Malaysia, Brazil and Tanzania. My involvement comes from the YMCA of Kitchener-Wa- terloo’s involvement in International Development. Locally, the Kitchener-Waterloo YMCA has two parallel and intertwined responsibilities in International Devel- opment. Working as partners with YMCAs in Surinam, Zimbabwe, Gaza and Uganda, the Y here (Waterloo) raises funds to help the partner Y in the Third World deliver its services to its community. This includes day care, vocational and leadership training. Often equipment is requested rather than money. This has resulted in yarn and wool, a copier machine. typewriter, paper and written resources being sent to Partner Ys. The other responsibility is to improve International understanding locally. To this end, informative newsletters and displays are produced and a variety of events with speakers, audio-visual re- sources and discussion are organized. Trip to Middle East _ emotional, enlightening and entertaining for local YMCA ambassador, The ooh-no. to the Ann“ YMCA kt Egypt. The existence of YMCAs in over 90 countries facilitates communication and ensures effective networking and ac- countability to regional coordinating bodies. In addition. the international structure provides support to Organiza- tions needing to draw on human and other resources from other parts of the world. Children of the “not in old Cairo. world. I realized very quickly that we have no problems in Canada. I would like to share a few international Stories with you, so you get an idea of what I mean. The Beirut Y in Lebanon used to have a full Y facility with the only heated pool in the city. They provided sports and fitness program, vocational training and a variety of youth activities. Now mission moveit from social recreation to providing relief work to their war tom city. - - - -- _ .. .. .. Working out of an office building. they handle $4-5 million worth of relief work a year and coordinate all government supplies. Their mission is now to provide medicine, food, clothes and shelter for their community. . “Ki iiGUtGe"y have to crawl on the floor and huddle ln 3 comer while bomb shells pass overhead. Then they get up WAN SititeSM., WY. MAY s. "or -Paq"