28/06 – 18/07/2009 Encounter India
by Sebastiaan Debrouwere on 30/09/09 at 3:26 pm
From June 28th 2009 to July 18th, I have taken part in the “Encounter India” program, organized by the Mahindra United World College of India, which aims to offer an opportunity to participants from around the globe to come together, work in voluntary projects and work with various NGOs which work in rural grassroots development. Further to that, the program also offered the possibility to travel within India and discover its unique culture, hospitality and diversity. As a participant, this program enabled me to learn about India in depth, expose me to the various possibilities to deal with challenges in rural development and to celebrate and foster the ideals which underpin the UWC movement, of which both the United World College in Mostar and the Mahindra United World College of India (MUWCi) form a vital part.
During the program, I was involved in work with 3 NGOs in the valley in which MUWCi is based: Akshara, an educational project, Sadhana, a project involved with mentally challenged adults and with women’s empowerment, and Gomukh, a project involved with sustainable development in the valley. What united these NGOs was their strive to change the economical, social and ecological situation in the valley for the better.
In Akshara, which focuses on breaking the vicious cycle of poverty by creating conditions in which children from underprivileged rural communities can receive a vocational or professional education, we have taught English in an informal setting. Their improved knowledge of English is vital for their social improvement, as rural education in the state of Marahastra only teaches children Marahti, while English is the only language which offers them possibilities outside the agricultural sector of the Indian economy.
In the Sadhana home for mentally challenged adults, we tried to give the Special friends a feeling of being home, self-respect and dignity, the very three values Indian rural society cannot give them, while in the Sadhana women’s empowerment project, we attended meetings of ‘Women Empowerment Groups’. In these groups, women, who are the backbone of Indian rural society, meet to solve various problems, for example by taking group loans to invest in new infrastructure for the village. This gives them a feeling of independence, which is more than needed in a society where women are completely subjugated to their male partners.
In Gomukh, we were involved in a series of projects concerning sustainable water management, by helping to build a well, or by working on the land with farmers at dawn of Monsoon.
On the one-week travel through Northern-India by train, we visited Agra, the cultural capital of muslims in Northern-India, and the home to the world’s most famous postcard sight, the Taj Mahal. From there, the travel went on to the edge of the Himalayas to visite Dharamshala, where the Dalai Lama and the provisional Tibetan government are stationed since 1959. After that, finally, we travelled to Jodhpur, the legendary blue city which lays in a desert in the state of Rajasthan. This city is mythical for its many beautiful temples and palaces, in which many mythical Indian stories are set.
Throughout the Encounter India 2009 summer program, the discovery of the many virtues and oddities that the Indian culture withholds has consistently helped me to unveil some of the parts of my own identity that had previously remained hidden. Just as cultural exchange breeds cultural diversity, the mere encounter with a country is so different of my own has helped me to ascertain the values I cherish, the recognize and understand problems that were previously unknown to me, and to be inspired by opportunities that had never been presented to me before.
Concepts as women’s empowerment, education of children in rural villages or sustainable development suddenly made a step forward : as I previously knew them from books as Jeffrey Sachs’s “The End of Poverty”, they have now become so much more to me ; they have become faces, names, stories and places. They have become a strange consortium of tear-jerking moments, utterly serious moments and moments filled with nothing but endless laughter and fun. Meeting women that stand up to the classic patriarchal society in rural villages surrounding the college was as intense as teaching special friends the Macarena on a goodbye party. From now on, new values and ideas are taken into account when I discuss, and for the better, and I would most definitely dare to conclude that Encounter India has helped me to gain this awareness.
Finally, the stories that are connected to this three week travel oblige me to admit that, except for being useful and interesting, Encounter India 2009 has also been a lot of fun. Travelling with 20 participants,3 facilitating students and 3 coordinators has been an experience so intense that it is barely credible, and the unique atmosphere on these travels has nurtured many interesting discussions and many spells of random and absurd fun. In a way, this enjoyment and excitement has also made the culture shock digestible. Even more, it has made me hungry to discover more, not only in India, but over the whole world.
Full Story8/9 – 12/9/2009 – Economic Forum of Young Leaders
Mostar, 21/09/09
From 8 to 12 September 2009, I had the extraordinary opportunity to take part in the “4th Economic Forum of Young Leaders” in Nowy Sacz, Poland, a summit where over 250 of young Europeans from over 30 countries conferred about the crucial and historical challenges for the European project at the dawn of the 21st Century. These participants, most of whom were between 22 and 25, represented a wide array of projects in nations of the EU and in the EU’s neighboring countries. This myriad of unique backgrounds gave the Forum’s debates a unique ‘touch of internationalism’ , of the kind that is very recognizable for the average UWC student.
The discussions, which explicitly focused on the role and capacities of Europe’s younger generations in tackling the social and economic challenges of the future, were all led and moderated by truly outstanding politicians, economists and entrepreneurs of today, and dealt with issues ranging from EU neighborhood policy over transatlantic relationships to the competitiveness or the economy. Throughout many of the sessions, special emphasis was given to issues specific for Central and Eastern-European and South-East European states, which were well-represented. I would be lying if I’d deny that such a focus was very interesting for a citizen of Belgium, one of the Western-European founders of the EU, who lives in Bosnia-Herzegovina, a South-East European candidate state for the European Union.
My ‘dual identity’ also shone through on the forum, where I represented both the Belgian government, through which I was chosen, as UWCiM, which I had chosen to represent. Perhaps it is because of this dual identity that many of the participants were very interested in this ‘Benjamin of the forum’, as I was nicknamed. I got to meet many interesting young people representing different social, political and non-governmental organizations, which will undoubtedly prove to be vital contacts in the future.
As if that were not enough, I also got the unique opportunity to meet some excellent European leaders of today, including Jose Maria Aznar, the controversial but highly interesting former Prime Minister of Spain, who governed from 1996 to 2004, or Dick Roche, the current Irish Minister of State for European Affairs, who is currently preparing the second Irish referendum to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. This referendum is an event of great importance for the whole European Union, as a “Yes” vote would remove the last obstacle for the EU’s own constitution, the prelude to a new era for the EU , an era in which the EU consolidates as an important world power, and as a haven of peace and freedom.
The forum was visited by a stream of prominent leaders of today, who participated in panel discussions with us, the participants: Waldemar Pawlak (Deputy Prime Minister of Poland, “Challenges for European economy in the globalized world”), José María Aznar (former Prime Minister of Spain, “Challenges for Europe: society, economy, politics”) , Dick Roche (Minister of State for European Affairs of Ireland, “Europe in the 21st century – how to make a European project more attractive for young people?”), Leszek Balcerowicz (Polish economist and head of the Bruegel think-tank, “Europe and the world facing the crisis – which reforms should be reinforced to overcome the crisis?” , Radosław Sikorski, (Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, “What kind of Europe? Polish view point”), etc.
The panel discussions with those prominent speakers did not only increase my personal awareness and sharpen my view on Europe’s future, but they also introduced me to new concepts, which are vital when considering the future of the European project. I was amazed, for example, to hear about the unique track record of the young Polish state, with which a fell in an indescribable love. The Polish state, one of the leading states in the Central and Eastern Europe block of countries, can best be described as a proud and motivated state, with a strong vision for the future of the CEE countries. I also became a strong supporter of these CEE-countries, which have a great potential, and I was strengthened in my beliefs concerning European expansion in both the Balkans as in the former states of the Soviet Union.
Above all, from the point-of-view of an inhabitant of Mostar, a main feature of my personal identity, my positive outlook for Bosnia-Herzegovina has been confirmed and intensified: I have become an even stronger believer in the perspectives of this beautiful country, which is now also a bit my country. A country I soon see as a member of the European Union. When one sees how much willpower and belief in own capacities can do for a country as Poland, which was in the ban of communism a mere 20 years ago, it becomes apparent how countries can maximize their assets in the framework of the European project , a project that carries genuine greatness in itself, the which is the seed to every success. UWCiM, and its positive attitude of internationalism and the spreading of peace, also carries these essential seeds. I can only but look forward to the future of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Projects as ours really do make a difference, and will continue to make a difference. We have started a process which cannot and may not be stopped anymore. A process of which I am more than proud to form a part of, and a process of which, above all, I become more and more convinced every day.
