After training to be a teacher Hennie de Pous-de Jonge worked for five years with MRA in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. On her return to the Netherlands she became editor of Nieuw Wereld Nieuws, later called Ander Nieuws, the Dutch MRA/IofC publication. She has with her husband organised programmes and conferences for families and youth both in the Netherlands and in Caux. From 1980 till 1990 she held different positions in the Christian Democratic Party (CDA) both national and local. From 1990 till 2000 she taught in a primary school in a multicultural area in the centre of The Hague. Since 2000 she has been involved in intercultrual and interreligious dialogue in The Netherlands resulting in several conferences in Caux on the Spiritual Factor in Secular Society and A Heart and A Soul for Europe. She is also involved in the programme for Peace and Trust Building Initiatives with IofC. She is author of the book ' Reiken naar een nieuwe wereld' (Reaching out for a new world), which deals with the history of Oxford Group, Moral Rearmament and Initiatives of Change in the Netherland since 1924. The book, published by the renowned Dutch publisher Kok in Kampen, takes an honest look at the development of the movement and its ideas against the historical background. She is married to Johannes de Pous. They have three grown up children.

Indonesia and the Netherlands: ‘We have a common heritage of 350 years, and we need to look after it. To be able to do that together we need to know and learn from the past and appreciate the viewpoint of the other.’

Visiting Israel recently, we were struck by the enormous pressure under which both Israelis and Palestinians live.

Politicians, journalists, opinion leaders, all of us are challenged to look further, listen better and think deeper before we offer our opinion.

If we as Western Europeans are prepared to understand, we can also ask for understanding. That understanding is about the meaning of freedom.

A Dutch Initiatives of Change worker and author looks at some of the movement's mistakes.

The Netherlands has been in turmoil since Theo van Gogh, a controversial filmmaker and outspoken critic of Islam, was murdered in Amsterdam. We have been woken up.