Interfaith youths unite in volunteerism
Day of service marks King's assassination
As a group of students grabbed rakes and spades to help clean up a neighborhood park in Jamaica Plain yesterday, Danyal Najmi knelt in quiet prayer on the sidewalk. An observant Muslim who prays five times a day, the Tufts University senior checked his compass to face Mecca before bowing his head.
Najmi's act of observance as a prelude to an afternoon of volunteer work crystallized the themes of yesterday's Day of Interfaith Youth Service, which brought together scores of teenagers and young adults across the religious spectrum to work on community service projects in Boston.
Student leaders, representing a number of races and religions, mailed books to prisoners, volunteered at a homeless shelter at Upham's Corner, and helped spruce up parks and reservations.
The local community service event united several interfaith coalitions, including Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries' Interfaith Youth Initiative, Sharon-based Interfaith Action, and interfaith groups from Tufts and Brandeis universities.
"This marks a major turning point for the youth interfaith movement in the Boston area," said Alexander Levering Kern, 37, who heads Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries and helped organize the volunteer event.
The day gave people of different faiths a chance to work together and support worthy causes, Kern said. Nationally, interfaith youth movements are gaining momentum at a time when current events are severely testing ecu menical relations, he added.
The day of service commemorated the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and began at Boston University's School of Theology, the alma mater of the slain civil rights leader. The group paused for a moment of silence in honor of King's "pursuit of justice and peace," Kern said.
"We are gathering across our faith traditions to show the world that violence is not the last word in young people's contributions to society," Kern told the audience.
Kern also urged students to sign petitions urging lawmakers to increase spending on initiatives aimed at curbing youth violence, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and promoting renewable energy.
Several participants then spoke briefly about what the day meant to them.
"The way to serve God is to serve others," said Najiba Akbar, 26, a Muslim who belongs to an interfaith alliance at Tufts.
Rachel Kincaid, a 19-year-old Quaker who attends Brandeis, said interfaith community service fulfilled a central and universal, spiritual belief.
"I believe God, regardless of which God that is, wants us to take care of each other," she said.
Other students sang and recited poetry to express their thoughts about King and his message of equality.
Latifa Ziyad, an organizer who hosts "Family Tree," a radio program on WRBB, said the students' sense of social justice would carry King's legacy forward.
"People who champion the right causes never die," she said. "They're immortal."
Ziyad, who addressed the students before they fanned out across Boston on their service projects, said she was impressed by their commitment.
"Students are where the world changes," she said. "It starts here but it can go anywhere."
Janet Penn, director of Interfaith Action's youth leadership program, said students take comfort in finding kindred spirits in social activism. It makes the problems of the world seem a little less daunting, and wanting to solve them a little less isolating, she said.
"With peace and justice work, you've got to have the fortitude for the long haul," she said. "This kind of work requires sustenance, because the problems are vast. For them to see there are other people who share their values, that's very important. Events like this can really ground kids."
In Jamaica Plain, Najmi prayed without apparent regard to a cold, bracing wind. A focused look in his eye, he seemed oblivious to the activity around him. Afterward, he hurried to catch up with his peers, who had headed into the park to clear brush and debris and pick up trash.
"It's an opportunity to help others, and share an experience with people of different faiths," he said. "That's a good afternoon."
