Community Conversations About Love Spark New Relationships

Talking about love didn’t end in February or after Valentines Day for KETC. In fact, February was just the beginning of conversations being held as part of The Campaign for Love and Forgiveness. KETC has begun exploring the concept of love through community conversations as part of The Campaign for Love and Forgiveness. This multi-year project is designed to encourage dialogue between native St. Louisans and the St. Louis Bosnian community.

Four sets of conversations were held at three separate locations in the St. Louis area: Plato Café, Affton White Rodgers Community Center and the Aboussie Pavillion (a senior housing unit). The phrase, Družimo se! has been used to express and encourage the Bosnian community members to participate in the conversations. Loosely translated it means “let’s get together and chat.” More than half the participants attending the conversations have been Bosnian. When asked why they decided to attend, many said they were curious. One gentleman said he hoped to let Americans know more about what Bosnians are really like. The conversations have been rich with dialogue, including the comment that, “we are all more alike than different.” Laughter has been shared when someone makes a joke or tells a funny story in response to a question. A senior gentleman jokingly asked, “Will there be weddings after this?” There were many more somber moments as participants reflected on incidences from the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and leaving a friends and country they loved.

New relationships have formed now as some of the New Americans and native St. Louis residents have gotten to know each other and talk about the many aspects of love. Conversations were focused on love and friendship, unconditional love, brotherly love and love and altruism. Several participants have vowed to continue to gather and chat even though the scheduled conversations for the first year have ended. The conversations for the second year of the project will focus on forgiveness and use clips from the upcoming documentary The Power of Forgiveness.

To see photos from the gatherings, click the images below:

If you are interested in arranging for your own group/organization to hold conversations about love and forgiveness, please call 314-512-9139 to get more information.