Dear friends and members of IALRW,

My name is Esther R. Suter. I live in Switzerland, I am pastor in the Swiss Reformed Church, and I work as a free lance journalist. Like some of you, I had a chance to participate in the IALRW Congress in Kochi, India, 2010, at its Centennial Jubilee. I was lucky to be elected into the IALRW-board as 3rd Secretary, for Europe.

On the way back from Delhi, India, I arrived at Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 11, 2012.  I then enjoyed breakfast at the comfortable Prince Hotel, set amidst the skyscrapers of the central city, including Petras towers.

I experienced warm and humid weather (it rained three out of my four days) in Kuala Lumpur, but I loved the soft air, extensive greenery all around in the city, and the warm welcome from IALRW friends and acquaintances.

A big lunch at a local restaurant was organized by Kamar-sensei, (Professor Kamar Oniah Kamaruzaman, whom I call “sensei,” which means honored teacher in Japanese) for our IALRW members and others. 

It was lovely to meet again Prof. Embong, who had visited IALRW members in Tokyo, where I live, in 2011--and a contingent of sisters who came up from Singapore (many whom I had met in Kochi, Kerala, India, in 2010).  About 15 of us got together. 

Dear IALRW Members:

One of our Past Presidents (from the U.S.), Gladys McNatt, served as our President from 1990 to 1993.  She will be celebrating her 94th Birthday on April 15, 2012!!!  We would love to share Birthday Greetings from our members to our friend Gladys, whom I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time, and visiting at her home last year!  

Please send your Birthday Greetings to me, Judy Highfill ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or to the IALRW Facebook page, and I will have them printed and then "snail" mail copies to Gladys at her home.  PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE APRIL 9, so we can print and mail them to her in time for her to receive them before her birthday on Sunday, April 15.

IALRW Members:

Take a look at the most recent IARF-U.S. Newsletter (Click on "Resources" - IARF-U.S. International Association for Religious Freedom) and it will take you to their website.  

I attended their recent meeting in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and had a wonderful time meeting old and new friends, and learning more about this parent group of the IALRW.  It was also fun to once again tip my toes in the Atlantic Ocean...the weather was warm and sunny...and it was a nice change from the winter (though unusually mild) we are experiencing in the midwestern U.S.

The IARF-U.S. Newsletter also notes that a group from the U.S. is going to Japan for a visit in October, 2012....and that at a meeting in Japan in April, the LOCATION of our NEXT (2014) IALRW Meeting will be determined!  I'm looking forward to finding out WHERE and WHEN we will all be able to meet again!

Here's a poem from their Newsletter, which makes me think of the coming spring:

“You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest, 
and I smile, and am silent, 
and even my soul is quiet: 
it lives in the other world which no one owns. 
The peach trees blossom, 
The water flows.”                      Li Po

"Think Spring!"  And I hope to see you all at the 2014 IALRW meeting, WHEREVER it will be held.  And we will put that info on this website as soon as it is available. Namaste and Blessed Be to you all.

Judy Highfill, IALRW website & Newsletter Editor