Do good leadership skills have to go hand in hand with experience of life? While young people complain about not being given a chance to show initiative and leadership, many of the older generation say they feel marginalized by an increasingly 'ageist' society.

These views and the problems created by the generation gap were just some of the topics tackled at the 'Service, Responsibility and Leadership' conference, which opened the summer at Caux. It was run by a group of East Europeans who proved that being young is no barrier to organizing a highly successful, week-long event.

At the welcome session, Ukrainian Kostyantyn Ploskyy, one of the organizers, talked about the struggle for young people to make their own decisions, find their own way and realize their own potential.

On a wider level, he described how ordinary Ukrainians realized they could influence events in their country, when they stood in their thousands in the central square in Kiev in December to demand a recount in the presidential elections. 'Is it only possible in extraordinary situations for people to wake up?' asked Ploskyy. This was a question that was to be heard many times throughout the week, particularly in relation to terrorism, since the London bombings occurred on the first day of the conference.

DIVERSITY AND HOPE