Representatives of the WEA visit the University of the Nations

At the invitation of the directors of the Center, Paul and Susi Childers, Thomas and Christine Schirrmacher visited the University of the Nations (UoN) in Kailua-Kona (Big Island/Hawaii) as representatives of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). In addition to a guided tour through all departments and discussions with staff, they also gave guest lectures on the subject of human trafficking and current developments in the Arab world.

The central flag and prayer place of the University of the Nations, Kailua-Kona (Hawaii) © BQ/Thomas Schirrmacher

Founded in 1978, the UoN is part of the missionary society ‘Youth with a Mission’ and has 20,000 students in 650 locations in 160 countries with 100 languages. Many of the students come to Hawaii for three-month courses. Hawaii benefits from its location between several continents.

The two German visitors were particularly impressed by the extensive gardens and facilities for environmental education. All students there learn not only how to think ecologically, but also how to produce ecologically clean drinking water and food in poor areas of the world using the simplest means available.

“I‘m almost certain that the tens of thousands of students who spent three months here in the afternoons learning about ecological thinking using practical examples are the world’s largest activity of its kind,” says Thomas Schirrmacher.

He was so impressed that he asked the WEA Sustainability Center (WEASC) in Bonn to send someone there immediately, who is currently in Kailua-Kona, to arrange closer cooperation.

Tags: Hawaii, Ökologie, sustain, Umweltschutz, Universitäten, University of the Nations (UoN), WEA Sustainability Center, Youth with a Mission