A young Bermudian’s Christian faith has flourished into an example of openness to others.Former Gilbert Institute head girl Serjuntae Burgess now lives far from home in the UK but she’s bringing her Bermudian experience to the table through the Birmingham-based interfaith charity The Feast.“The Feast is a great organisation whose main goal is to bring young Christians and Muslims together and have them talk about their faiths openly, without feeling judged or worried that they might say the wrong thing,” the 13-year-old explained.Originally from Warwick, Serjuntae joined the group two years ago, when she moved overseas.Devout since childhood, she recalled growing up “listening to scriptures from my parents and grandparents”, and said she likes attending different churches to experience “the different ways that the word of God can be preached”.When it comes to The Feast, she said: “It simply gives young people the freedom to talk about their faiths and find not only differences but similarities.”The best thing, she added, is “you’re having fun at the same time”.The closeness between Serjuntae and her Muslim friend Bushra, was explored last year in a BBC programme.Last month, the two were sent by The Feast to Vienna, where the International Centre for Interreligious and Cultural Dialogue — known by the acronym KAICIID — was established last year by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah.“Just the thought of going to Vienna to show other organisations what work we’ve done in the past two years was mind-blowing and I was immediately on board,” Serjuntae said.“KAICIID was something I’ve never experienced before. I went there knowing everything that was going to happen and what we were going to talk about which was The Feast, our experiences in The Feast, and how it brings youths of different faiths together. But when I was actually there and everything was happening, I was so mesmerised by the amount of people whose goals were the same as ours. It’s not only The Feast that’s trying to make a difference. It’s thousands of people around this world who are trying to make peace.“I didn’t realise that before, because the media makes the world seem like it’s going downhill. But the people there made me realise that if there were more people in these types of organisations, the world would most definitely be at peace.”The two addressed the symposium on November 27, on the topic of friendship and getting to know one another.“My friend and I were the only young presenters of the 500 organisations — so it was nerve-racking but everyone loved us.”She hopes to return to the Island next summer and spread the message. Having an interfaith centre in Bermuda would be “fantastic”, she said.“Before this experience, I honestly didn't think it would matter if I knew about other faiths besides Christianity — but it does. Imagine how may other children are like how I was two years ago.“I’m not saying people should learn about a religion and convert; I’m just saying that if we knew more about other religions, we could see the differences and similarities. Furthermore, it’ll gives us a chance to meet new people that we probably judged before, and bring everyone together, not just people of the same faith.”Useful websites: www.thefeast.org.uk, www.kaiciid.org.