Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen Movement

 I am Susan Mapchail from North Carolina. If I still have the right phrase this time, “doydum”, and (laughs). This has been a very full week, very intense. It has been a transformative experience for me in many ways. I agree that it was exhausting but I think that’s part of the process that I got so exhausted that parts of my natural defenses kind of were melted away (laughs)… I learned a lot about all the religions, even my own religion. I felt I came to a deeper understanding.

My parents are both professors of Islamic studies so I had grown up hearing a lot about Islam but from this trip I feel this is the first time that I really understood it: From seeing it practiced on a daily basis, seeing people worship, seeing how they live their lives. Using the principles I really gained a much deeper appreciation for the religion. I felt truly cared for the whole time we were here, every need that any of us had was met by the people on the team. Ali had everything unbelievably choreographed, very well thought out, from the selection of the people, having people from a lot of different faiths different backgrounds together. The mix of activities; the way they built upon each other.  Probably I was most impressed by the schools. That’s something as a mother that’s very important to me. In the US, I have my children at a Friend School, a Quaker School, where they are taught about conflict, nonviolence from very, from the time they are three; they teach them how to resolve a conflict. I think it is very important to the future of the world how we raise this next generation. So I was very inspired by what I saw in the schools that we visited. I really think it is exactly what we need.  I think after 9/11 I became a little discouraged by the image of Muslims and Arabs in the West. I think there needs to be more education about this (Gulen) movement … encountering a lot of the stereotypes that we have in the West. The more we can talk the people the better. I really liked the story that Ali told us about you know what you do makes a difference, and rescuing a starfish from the because a lot of times it does seem overwhelming, and it doesn’t seem like what you are going to do is; you know, how can I make that much of an impact, but what I came to really understand this week is: we each have to what we can with the gift set that God gave to us and just keep moving forward.