I wonder how to describe those last ten days, between 7th and 15th February 2019, of my life with words, and although I have not even started, I know now that it will be very difficult. I went to the study visit Respect for diversity - everyone's business. And I took it straight, since I went to the capital of Lebanon, to Beirut. In ten days, I have got so many experiences and encounter so many new universes, that I know, there is no way back now. It will never repeat with its uniqueness and depth again. What I have taken from the project has changed my life. It has changed me, my values and my view of human being. And it was pretty good.
I spent Thursday in Prague, where I went with my friends for lunch, coffee and some shopping. I had a two-hours long flight to Istanbul, where I took in a short while another flight to Beirut after midnight. There I arrived two hours after midnight local time (which is curiously less than this plus one hour in Istanbul, even though it is geographically more eastward from us, so the hours should increase). The line for visa checks was endless. Mainly because there were only a few officers at night, so it took me three quarters of an hour to get through. Visas in Lebanon are easily obtainable for tourists by filling out a simple paper form at the airport. I had a printed confirmation from the hotel that I would stay for another week, but in the end, no one wanted me to prove it. When I finally got out of the airport, the kind organizers waited for me to take me to the hotel. Which is good, because in general, there is not much public transport in Lebanon. For example, there is no line at the airport at all. So whoever wants to get there, must use either a taxi or a shared taxi or some private car.
After four hours of sleep I finally met at breakfast and with the others. Twenty-four youth workers from seven countries - Lebanon, Estonia, Latvia, Jordan, Morocco, Poland and the Czech Republic - were in training. That is a mix of professionals from Europe and the Mediterranean region. Which, on the one hand, brought to the group interesting insights from the experience of each of us, but also the cultural background of the whole was very diverse, which brought interesting insights into our cultures, religions and customs.
On the first day, we devoted ourselves to knowing each other, remembering sometimes very tumultuous names, and finding out who is doing what and why we came at the first place. We also touched topics of prejudices and stereotypes and started with some introduction to non-formal education (because not everyone was familiar with this concept and its subjects before arrival). In the afternoon, we engaged in team-building activities, where we were divided into four "families" with whom we then shared and reflected our experiences throughout the course. And as our first common task, we should go out, explore the surroundings and get acquainted with the local people. For example, we had to find some street art and take pictures of it with ten other people, find a place to meet young people and find out, what brings them fun and what are their possibilities, find out what makes the Lebanese beautiful or find three examples, what the Lebanese are proud of in their country (food, beautiful women, and the arts to stand up for their cause). As a challenge, we asked a group of young ladies to tell us whether they would sing us something in thier native language. What they would immediately go without a shame and sing to us a song Edaysh Kan fi Nas by the artist Fairoz. We have found that most people are very open, with warm hearts and an immediate offer of help. That almost everyone speaks English, regardless of their age. And that a lot of people share a profound optimistic life expectancy because of an unstable political situation, and they would not want to move from here (or for example they did, but then they came back again). The three key words from our group's experiences were identity, spirit, and helpfulness.
In the evening we perform funny theatrical representation of different movies as a competition. My team was the best in terms of theatre, because I have not laughed that much for a long time. We did not play for victory, but for amusement and learning to be together, and to share ourselves with each other.
Saturday morning began so. Moving discussions open basic themes throughout the week, as a culture, diversity, dialogue, migration, radicalization and others. By that time, we have touched many sensitive things when we were thinking about the posed questions, whether they are true or not and under in which conditions: People coming from another culture must accept local culture and customs - respect and tolerance. We have no right to say what is good or bad about different cultures (linking to the themes of values and the position of viewing the group from the inside and the outside). Human rights are universal (human life like treasure, death penalty - violence generates violence, where the second chance go - who are we to judge - potential mistakes). Getting on time always is an important part of expressing respect (respecting rules, 15-minute academic delays). A couple of the same sex should be able to adopt a child. Abortion is a murder.
In the afternoon, we have plunged into the presentations of national groups as they prepared at home about cultural diversity and their reality with youth work.
We have learned, for example, that more than 30% of Latvia citizens are Russians, who does not speak any Lithuanian, which causes considerable difficulties.
In Estonia, the Russian minority is even 40% of the population, and even here it is the law that even at Russian schools at least 65% of the subjects must be taught in Estonian.
In Poland, the power of minorities generally does not exist, except for many Ukrainians.
In Jordan, on the contrary, is home to over four million refugees from neighbouring countries (Palestine, Iraq, Syria and others.). Which is problematic in terms of economy and securing those people who themselves do not share any resources, therefore it is necessary for them to look for help elsewhere, that the state was able to ensure. It's problematic.
In Morocco, there is a problem of transit between the South and the North, because Morocco is known as the "door" to Europe. So, if people most of the Sub-Saharan Africa trying get to Europe for any reason and they stop at the border, they usually stay in Morocco. In addition, more than 80% of state bodies operate only in French (not Arabic), thus creating further procedural difficulties.
In Turkey, especially in its southern part, up to 80% of the refugee population is in some cities. Which requires great help and coordination to help and secure these people. The state of course helps, but it is far from enough, so it is up to local and incoming to create a self-help system.
Lebanon has a large percentage of refugees, especially from neighbouring Syria, where war is raging since 2011. But Lebanon itself is not even politically stable today, there are many shucks and some places are a place of disputes, so there is almost no state aid to the local or the incoming. That is why there are many projects that focus on the social and health sector on a non-profit or community basis. One of these organizations is Amel, our hosting organization. It has twenty-four centres throughout Lebanon and are providing health, educational and social assistance to all those who need it (regardless of their origin). Assistance is not entirely free, but their beneficiaries must pay a small fee for mediated services or, on the contrary, they can help with some of their products or time for volunteer work where their assistance is repaired. Amel does not provide funds, it is very rare. Even with material help, it is worse, because meeting such a great need is simply beyond their capabilities in terms of both capacity and financial possibilities. We also learned from the two participants, both Syrian refugees living permanently in Beirut, the process of war in Syria. But I will not declare it here, because it would be too long and confused (because it is not a smooth and simple conflict), but mainly because you can read it anywhere else. The Amel motto is:
„Positive thinking, permanent optimism.“
On Sunday, we chose a location for our morning activities. It was as close as possible to each other to share our cultural and professional experiences. My group set off to the historic town of Byblos north of Beirut. It is a beautiful small town on the Mediterranean coast, whose roots extend to 6,000 BC. We visited the local castle, ruins of ancient monuments and went to see the Christian Mass in Arabic. But because it started to rain in the course of time, we also enjoyed genuine Turkish coffee and local beer, sharing the cultural similarities and differences.
In the afternoon we went to the depths of the multicultural learning theory with coach Ieva, and we found details of identity complexity models, the model of people and groups glacier, intercultural dialogue, Hofstede cultural dimension, model of prejudices and stereotypes, hate pyramid, No hate! movement, hate-speech (hate-speech), the impact of hatred on young people, inclusion, and others.
The next day we were waiting for a day program outside Beirut. We went to the southeast of the country. We visited the town of Kiam where Amel has one of its branches where it provides its services (health, social, educational, etc.) both to local people and to people from nearby refugee camps. We personally visited both the centre and one of the refugee camps.
The local Amel centre provides a program for the elderly - a gardening course and the basics of agriculture; an educational program for children - education for those who do not go to school, support for informal and informal education; health - regular activities and outings to emergency situations (especially related to natural disasters); community work - trust and professionalism; social work - gender equality and family planning programmes.
In the refugee camp we had a program for children for about an hour. But when we saw their enthusiasm, our visit stretched to nearly three hours. We played both with children, so we also visited their parents and learned the basic conditions of how they live. I was very sad at first. To see so many suffering children who did not have, even though they were 10 ° C, wearing nothing but short trousers and slacks, my heart was shaking. But when we started to play with them more, run around, play hunched, or just joke, I saw they were used to it and were happy to be there with them. Some of them have already been born in the camp, as this clan has been in Lebanon for six years. At one point, even the parents of one of them invited us for tea. In general, all camp residents have little power. There are tents, where up to six people live together, some kitchen equipment, clothes, blankets, outdoor toilet somewhere nearby, and perhaps at two places I've seen several hens. But their hospitality did not stop them to make us a tea, at least. And we did not allow ourselves to do not accept this warm gesture of kindness, even if we were afraid of our intestines (and here I must note, that the boiled water with sugar makes miracles, because there was nothing to anyone afterwards). Children gave us some candies and took us to their homes to introduce us to our parents. We also had to take pictures of everybody, that they can send it back to Syria to their friends and family, about what a precious visit from Europe they had.
And then we went to the former detention centre. It was a place, where detained and abused Lebanese people joined the enemy side, was kept and tortured. The site was fortunately bombed in 2006, so the long-suffering and the miseries of the detainees ended. Unfortunately, many of them, paid the high cost of their lives. It was sad and gloomy. Everywhere debris, artefacts from combat (military vehicles, weapons, aids to torture, etc.) and scepticism. And our guide who passed through this hell as one of the detainees, did not add any cheers to it, because his interpretation contained a lot of details and sometimes a very vivid show of how the interrogations and punishments were carried out (using involuntary volunteers, using sound and other methods). I was very shaken then. And the view of the nearby Golan Heights did not help. I had the feeling that the more I'm trying to understand the conflict, the less I really know, and my sadness and depression are growing more and more, so that innocent people are dying...
But to get rid of all these gloomy thoughts, we went for lunch, which then lasted for the rest of the afternoon. It was a buffet where everybody could take what he wanted, and the waiters always brought new and new dishes. And there was really everything from grilled meats, through humus, to vegetables, and there was also a dessert with strong coffee. And in the afternoon, it could not have ended in any other way, than the dance debke to improve our mood. Which stayed with us, so all the way to Beirut we listened to a very cheerful loud Arabic music on the bus and danced in the aisle and the seats (which is quite a safe risk, but it is not so easy because one must first keep a balance, and then only to think over steps and dance positions, which makes it all quite thrilling unique experience). But I must admit, that this party bus was a real cherry on the cake. In the evening, we had only a light dinner, and we all broke up in the small groups to discuss the experience. I must note that as we gradually fell from stress and sadness, not all our eyes stayed dry at the end of the evening.
The next day, we all went under the supervision of our lecturer and got some points from our experience that enriched us. Shared was the approach that sometimes-small stories of specific people are stronger than numbers and statistics. But often the words are not enough, action is needed. But only by honouring values, which, in such extreme conditions, can come into conflict with reality. "Become a wave that will smooth the stone."
In the afternoon, we shared good practices and tools with our own communities and our own youth work that we brought with us for homework. We learned about immersive journalism, narrative art, the model of the pyramid of loving as opposed to the pyramid of hate, sharing circles. We all had room to discuss in small groups and to share our insights, opinions and ideas.
Sharing activities continued the second day of the morning, when the themes were a simulation game, refugee boots (telling the story of someone else's own words), the practice of working with youth, non-profit initiatives from Morocco and the art of narration with the involvement of other senses. The time before lunch we then devoted our preparations for afternoon activities.
Because we went to a visit to Amel’s Haret Hreik in southern Beirut. Here we could see all their activities - medical centre, kindergarten, children's afterschool programme, cooking workshop, sewing (want a knitted swimming suit?), computers, hairdressing, electrification, etc. And we have prepared for the beneficiaries of the centre little activities to know our countries. Just like them, they could get involved in a living library, if they wanted to. In each of the several rooms, someone from the local community sat and told their story to incoming guests. I heard the story of an Iraqi journalist who was expelled for his professional encounter with the government, the story of a Syrian refugee living in Beirut with his brother who wanted to return to his homeland, but because he and his brother had only one residence permit together considering it as a family, he cannot do it, and the story of a lady whose grandfather died just a week ago for cancer, and she told us what it was like and what funeral rituals are in Islam in general. But there were a lot more to choose from. From the story of people working in Amel, after the story of a man who had to change his name. Everything was just as interesting as inspiring. Pity we did not have more time. We were also expecting a small treat and a joint dance debke with the people. But it was late, so we went back to the hotel.
And that was the last day of our project, when it was necessary to summarize everything, evaluate and save it in our heads. We completed the evaluation form, devised follow-up activities to expand what we learned during our stay in Lebanon, among our acquaintances, colleagues and other interested parties, and we planned to keep in touch because such interconnections of cultures are now like much seen.
We came to see Dr. Kamel Mohanna, founder of Amel organisation, who told us about his life's misfortunes that brought him to starting the centre. And because it was St. Valentine's Day, we got a flower from him, which was very nice. The waste of the day before dinner was a day off, so we could still talk to each other about the events, buy the necessary souvenirs, and catch up the sights in the city centre. But it all began to run very fast, and the whole evening, we spent at karaoke, ran away like a finger snap.
On my way back I was sleeping at the airport in Istanbul and I had half a day to explore the city. I headed for the mosque of sultan Ahmed (the so-called blue mosque), Hagia Sofia and the Grand Bazaar. It was a perfect dot for exploring such cultures different from ours as I might wish.
I also recommend looking at the Facebook page Humans of diversity promoting intercultural dialogue and understanding.
I am extremely grateful to TOM Dumánci and Erasmus+ for this unique life changing experience. It has been an incredible ten days. And I just want to be able to transmit and distribute the message to me as Amel does. Naturally and with ease.
The flower does not ask for water, but if you do not water it, it will dry out.
A woman does not ask for love, ...
(wisdom of Arabic habibi songs)
