Look at the bright side of the Coronavirus II – By Garba Diallo, Director of Crossing Borders
Garba Diallo Director of Crossing Borders
Look at the Bright Side of the Coronavirus – By Garba Diallo, director of Crossing Borders
The CORONA Quarantine is not only limiting our mobility, bringing our everyday lives in turmoil and breaking down our social pursuits, but it might also expanding our imagination and compassion toward those millions of people whose daily lives in fact have been quarantine for decades, years, months for weeks by powerful people. Sadly, quarantining is an everyday reality The hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants currently held in slave concentration camps in Libya, in swamps and mosquito infested camps in South Sudan, on islands on Lesbos in Greece, on the Mexico-US border where a pregnant woman fell from the Trump wall and died on the spot today, refugee camps in Bangladesh, in the DRC, in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the jungles on the margins of rich cities in Europe and the indigenous people fighting for their survival (and ours) in Amazonia etc etc etc. Unlike the Coronavirus, the driving causes of those limitations are purely man-made out of greed, sometimes short sightedness or even unconsciousness and lack of compassion. Lack of understanding and respect for the fact that the wellbeing of people everywhere is inextricably interconnected to us – and our interconnectedness is inherent in the globalised world we have created. Thus, let’s turn the limitations the Coronavirus has imposed on us into opportunities – we can simply ask ourselves “how can we turn the situation we are in into an opportunity for something meaningful? How can we seize the extra time to reflect honestly and deeply on what the coronavisrus in fact is teaching us? What might it even teach us to let go of) Let’s seize the opportunity to reconnect with ourselves and those we love. Let’s take advantage of the online platforms to phone, email, chat with those we forgot or didn’t have time to reconnect with, because were too busy running around – to care for one another. Let’s also clear, clean and re-arrange our indoors, bookshelves, old CDs, clean, fold and give away the many clothes, the booths, the shoes, we know we will hardly have the time or the needs to use. Let’s clean our gardens (those who have the luxury), parks and other surrounding spaces to help it them be clean, healthy and beautiful. Let’s be creative in making and eating according to our needs to avoid hoarding food from the shops. Let’s go for a long and fresh walk and enjoy the opportunities while we consider and support those in need in our families, neighbours, friends, networks and other fellow humans and other beings we share this planet with. Let’s do some non-violent or non-competitive sports, like meditation, yoga, Thai-Chi and dances. Let’s read the books we did not have the chance to read and read again the books we read long time ago. Let’s listen to our favourite music while we open old photo albums and rejoice in and reflect upon the good old days when we were younger and our kids were babies, teens and parents were with us, younger and stronger Let’s recognise, appreciate and share the privileges we are blessed to have and enjoy. Let’s use our position of power and influence to consider, talk about and do something to help relieve the pains of and sufferings of those who have been unfortunate to find themselves in the wrong places, at the wrong time with wrong people in power shaping the circumstances of their lives. Finally, also remember that limiting our often-unnecessary mobility is good for Mother Earth as it reduces the severity, frequency and size of our footprints on Her body and soul I stop here and walk the talk by going for a long walk and do some of this I wrote about above Stay calm, safe and smiling Love and respect Garba
Women on the move – Celebrating International Women’s Day – Crossing Borders
Like, many other good people around the world, we celebrated International Women’s Day in true Crossing Borders way. in this CB way, some 150 people from many different backgrounds, nationalities, ages, genders, and professions came together under the same roof to shed light and height the lives of women on the move, who have made it against multiple odds. For this we had 8 amazing women from 8 different countries share 8 powerful stories, songs, and poems with delicious food prepared by 8 men 8 different countries. The hall was full of people, deep emotions and inspirations. People left the place with positive energy, smiles in their faces and tears in their eyes and determination to make the world a better place for all. A billion thanks to all those who came to be with us on this day, many thanks to the powerful speaker that gave us some food for thought, the poetries that we heard from Wanjiku Seest and Sarah Diallo were super powerful and made us think, the talks by Mozhdeh Ghasemiyani, Suzana Milovic, and Mary Consolata Namagambe opened our eyes on a lot of struggles that women still facing up to those days, and we don’t forget the very amazing music and powerful song words by Pernille Tolou Isedora Johansson that you are hearing in the video below. Special thanks go to our Vice-Chair of CB board, Rikke Rønholt for moderating the whole event and introducing the speakers, as well as a big thanks, go to our CB Board Chair, Vibeke Quaade for the event opening speech. You all have made our night unforgettable. We don’t forget the CB team and the great cooks who made the food, the great team that makes things happen, we feel so lucky to have such a team from different countries in one place, working on the same missions, to create a place where people could live in peace. Thank you dream team. Photos credit: The pictures are taken by one of our very own, the talanted photographer Kannan P Samy, Project manager and CB board member. Facebook: Kannan P Samy Instagram: Kannan P Samy
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Chatting with Garba – By Owen Savage
I spoke to Garba Diallo – the managing director of Copenhagen-based NGO Crossing Borders and self-proclaimed citizen of Globalistan – about how the organisation was created, the value of education and dialogue and his nomadic origins in West Africa. Garba explained the normality of human movement, the dangers of “Hygge Democracy” and, most importantly, why Jeff Bezos doesn’t own any cows… “I come from a nomad culture in West Africa. We don’t really see borders. I am a part of an ethnic group spread over 25 countries. We are not settled people. You know, we are always crossing borders, we don’t really give a damn up to today about them – if it’s green on the other side, then…!” Garba Diallo is from a community named the Fulanis who constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa, despite being spread across 25 different countries. They usually find themselves marginalised due to the fact that they are, by nature, unsettled minorities. Before setting off on a journey that would eventually see him settle in Denmark, Garba grew up as a cowboy in Mauritania. As a teenager, he went to a local school he said he felt was a prison: “I ran away after a few months because it was not a school but a torture camp. Our languages were banned and our culture was not respected. We only learnt about French history. Vive la France! What you gained at that school did not make up for what you lost!” He escaped this place and returned to his village, where at the age of 19 he decided to pursue his own education and begin his journey across the world. In doing so, he achieved fluency in French, Danish, Arabic, Norwegian, Swedish and English as well as his native tongue of Fulani. Using any transport he could, he made his way to Libya and later received a scholarship to study and work for two years in Qatar. It was from here that Garba swapped the barren heat of Asia for the bleak cold of Norway to study his dream subject of International Relations and Development Studies. After I asked him about his experiences as a migrant here in Denmark, Garba was quick to correct me: “First of all, I am not a ‘migrant’, I am an expat! I was invited as an expert from the North (from Norway) and landed here in little Denmark. The expat should be white! Normally it’s a contradiction to be black and to be an expat!”. Crossing Borders’ activities began in 1999 with a project that brought 60 people from Israel and Palestine together to debate and produce articles. According to Garba, changing formal education and the curriculum isn’t easy. “In all the arab textbooks, Israel doesn’t exist!” he says, “And in all the Israeli textbooks, Palestine doesn’t exist! Then I joked with them and said, well then, there is no problem!” It is instead through informal education and the media that change can be achieved. The Israelis and Palestinians produced articles together and exchanged roles during debates: the Palestinians became part of the mainstream zionist movement, the Israelis the Palestinian Liberation Organization. “No one is born Jewish or Muslim or communist or capitalist. It is society that makes you into that. And education. From the school, the home, the media. We felt the key was education, but informal education. The formal one is a no go. You go from A to Z, studying what is decided by the authorities. There is space, with extra-curricular and informal education, where you can influence.” Crossing Borders is clear about its motivations – to produce dialogue in society and in the process create active global citizens. Garba says that this now occurs in the context of a battle over information in modern society, where data is fast becoming our most precious resource. “Information is not only power but money. Powerful people in the world are producing information, there are no cows running around belonging to Jeff Basos”. Now based in Ubuntu House right in the centre of Copenhagen, CB coordinates over ten international projects in a variety of locations from Uganda to the Caucasus; they all aim to promote dialogue in society. Here in DK, Crossing Borders has a school workshops program, aiming to bring the world into Danish classrooms and bring Danish classrooms into the world. Crossing Borders views maintaining authenticity as extremely important and when it goes into schools and creates dialogue among young Danes, it isn’t Danes who convey the message. “We use people who are part of this story, we use migrants, we use refugees to talk about refugee issues and immigration issues, we use people actually who are suffering from climate change, from Somalia and the Middle East, where water is running out, or certain parts of the African Sahel, to talk about climate change”. In Garba’s view, Denmark offers great opportunities if you have the vision and knowhow to carry out your ideas and funding is plentiful. However, he also discussed how hard it is to be an expat in a country with such a tight knit population. He railed against a phenomenon he cheekily brands ‘Hygge Democracy’ – what he sees in Denmark as a kind society ready to take care of each other, but simultaneously excluding those who are different. In a challenge to such thinking, Garba takes pride in the sheer diversity of his organisation. Crossing Borders has volunteers and employees from 20 different countries in the central office in Copenhagen alone, and many more among its representatives across the world. Time has run out, but Garba feels he needs to sum things up: “We are united as human beings, as people who have the energy, will and vision to create a world that they want and deserve to live in. Crossing Borders is there for you and you are welcome to join. All ideas are welcome, nobody is dismissed and we are ready to go out learning and
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Peace with me – Training Course ( 21-29 March, Oradea, Romania)
Hello there! Since you’re reading this file, we will consider that you’re inner voice is whispering a soft melody that animates you to discover some new facets of the non-formal learning’ universe. Hopefully, you are heading to a learning journey that fulfills this objective; we will at least try to bring you in such a setting. We are sure that a magic conductor baton asked your inner voice to whisper that melody, directing you to an educational experience connected to the concept of violence prevention. Peace with me is a 7-day training course which aims to support a network of youth workers that promote a preventive approach on conflicts and violence among their beneficiaries. We see this project as a follow-up initiative which creates added value for the participants in terms of a deeper understanding of violence and a strengthened international cooperation in this field. The project’s concept emerged from several international youth projects where IPTA provided expertise on working with violence and interpersonal conflicts. With this project, we intend to approach the need of an exhaustive understanding of different types of violence and how the sources of conflicts are creating aggression, abuse and battering. As being engaged with a large variety of groups, at both local and international level, the promoters of this project identified that a large part of the activities delivered for young people are not including a preventive dimension against abusive and violent behavioral patterns. Violence can outburst in many different facets among the youngsters, with a huge impact on the groups if it prevented. The methodology prepared involves three dimensions of the learning process: acquiring knowledge, practical experience and reflective evaluation. Encouraging a systemic thinking, the process will propose three perspectives of understanding violence: visualizing its complexity, verbalizing and expressing its complexity, and exploring the reality of the topic in many aspects. Expect to have an intense working week with a wide range of methods, from research-based tasks to fully artistic sessions, guided in a safe learning space. We will mix text reading, meditation, contact making improvisation, body expressivity and communication, analysis, reflection, theatre, emotional introspection, trust making and trust challenges, and many other. Be ready to share, give and reflect on the experience every day, 24/7. Objectives of the project • Equipping 24 youth workers with relevant competences for understanding and preventing the occurrence of interpersonal conflicts generated by abusive and violent behavioral patterns; • Incorporating in the participants’ work a preventive approach against violence manifestations by creating a personalized plan to fit each organization; • A better understanding for the participants of the principles and benefits of using holistic facilitation as a working principle; • Strengthen the cooperation between the partner organizations by creating an international network of youth workers motivated to initiate new actions connected with this topic. Who is this project for? The project was designed for youth workers, volunteers and other people who work with people with fewer opportunities on a daily basis. We designed a methodology which is helpful for persons who are active in the field of youth, education, social services, public youth services, religious based organizations or any other entity that is engaged with youngsters. Also, we expect to have a group of participants who are eager to transfer the methodology in a practical way in their groups of youngsters, and also to promote the concept of preventive education in their daily work. We will be working on the transferability of the results during the whole week, as each participant will prepare a homework before attending the event. We strongly encourage the sharing dimension of the learning process, so be ready to bring with you real examples from your work. The minimum age limit is 18, without any other limitation. We aim to have an overall number of 24 participants from the following countries: Romania, Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, Turkey, North Macedonia, UK and Italy. Each country will be represented by three participants. Also, we expect the participants to: – bring their input for the concept of the application, by proposing the concepts they need to explore in their current work; – express their learning needs regarding: some topics, the use of holistic facilitation and preventing the occurrence of violent acts; – take part in the promotion of the concept and being involved in the dissemination schemes; – committ themselves to stay involved in follow-up activities since they want to explore and continue working in the youth field. Some logistics The training course will be organized in the city of Oradea, located in the west side of Romania. The project will cover 100% of accommodation and material costs during the training course. Travelling costs are covered due to the Erasmus+ KA1 rules: 275 EUR for each non-RO participant. The location of our training course will be a lovely venue located in Oradea. Posticum is a multi- cultural space designed for educational and artistic programs for the local and regional community, with a polyvalent destination, used also as a Christian chapel in some private events. More details about the logistics to come once you are selected to participate in the training course. How to apply? If you are interested in this program, please send an email to tatjana@crossingborders.dk in order to be directed the application form.
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Scholarship opportunity for an outstanding student from Muslim countries to attend Crossing Borders fall 2020
Crossing Borders at Nordfyns is inviting highly qualified and committed youth from Muslim countries to submit applications for scholarship to attend the Crossing Borders Global Studies in the fall 2020 semester 09 August – 19 December 2020. The Crossing Borders Global Studies is a unique programme designed for internationally and socially-committed applicants from around the world. The programme focuses on the institutional, cross-cultural communication, climate/environmental, conflict, media and citizenship dimensions of globalization, including the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. The programme includes elective courses on personal development and leadership and Danish culture plus the possibility for internship at Crossing Borders NGO. For more information: About the course About Nordfyns Højskole About Crossing Borders What does the scholarship cover? The scholarship covers full tuition, full board, accommodation in double room and two-week sustainability study tour in Denmark plus participation in the democracy festival on the Danish island of Bornholm. The scholarship does NOT cover visa fees, flight tickets, travel insurance or pocket money. Who is the scholarship for? To be considered, scholarship applicants must be from one of the Muslim countries with clear learning goal and personal development plans aged between 20 and 30 years old active in youth, grassroots or civil society organizations in their countries interested in contributing to the peaceful development of their communities eager to share their culture with students from around the world Able to take care of their visa, flight tickets, insurance costs to and pocket money while in Denmark. The scholarship covers study, accommodation in 2 person shared room, food and 2 week study tours. How to apply Fill out the online application form Send by email a motivation letter of 250-300 words to garba@nordfyns.nu together with 2 recommendation letters from two different youth, public or civil society organizations and an update CV. Application deadline: 15 February 2020 for more infomration: Garba Diallo, tel +45 21639432 Crossing Borders Global Studies Nordfyns Hojskole, Denmark
Eastern Encounters – 5 days Training in Poland
Erasmus Plus Youth Mobility Project “Eastern Encounters”2018-1-DE04-KA105-016247 Krakow, Poland 17th – 22nd February, 2020 FACTS ABOUT THE PROJECT: PLACE AND DATE: Krakow, Poland 17th – 22nd, February, 2020 PARTICIPANTS: 48 COUNTRIES: Germany, Denmark, Russian Federation, Poland, Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia. LANGUAGE:The official language of the project is English. SUMMARY The project represents a 4-phases dialogue process among 4 partners from the EU and 4 partners from the EaP region. During the first action, the participants will go through a high-quality training about peacebuilding and conflict management. In this training participants will confront topics like conflict analysis, advocacy, reconciliation and project management. This will be powered by a controlled multiplication event that will be implemented with a youth exchange. The former participants will act as team leaders for the national delegations in the exchange and they will also facilitate the workshop they had previously devised and will implement in the youth exchange. ACTIVITIES AND METHODS: The training will be conducted with non-formal educational activities. We will give presentations to deal with the more complicated and theoretical concepts while also setting up games to experience peacebuilding related aspects first-hand. Upon taking part in our peacebuilding training, the participants will enter our peacebuilding community. This will contribute to a network capable of sharing experiences and best practices on peacebuilding realities all around the world. The Participants will have the possibility to develop practical knowledge of peacebuilding coming from field experience a deep theoretical knowledge of the topic. The topics of the training will include (but not be limited to) training conflict analysis, conflict resolution, the NGO role in peacebuilding activities, negotiation and mediation etc. During the week the participants will enjoy a series of social events that will help them build up relations and professional networks. PARTNER The Organizer The Comparative Research Network was founded in 2007 and worked since then in the field of adult education and research. The CRN Network is specialized in training activities within the fields of intercultural competences, intergenerational learning, mobilities and migration. Additionally, the CRN is specialized in creating and performing evaluation and dissemination processes. CRN lately gained various projects both as coordinator and participant expertise in game design in education, storytelling and community reporting, where the network is currently carrying out training for several target groups. Due to CRN being organized as a transnational network, it has an international scope. At the moment, it employs 4 permanent and around 10 freelance staff, and has a network of more than 120 members located in almost every European country. As an NGO, CRN is non-profit oriented and performs a crucial part of its work on a voluntary basis. Major target groups of the CRN, besides trainers, are marginalized groups, such as persons living in remote rural areas, seniors and unemployed. Generally, CRN is seeking to link social science with civil society actions – that is why CRN joined various local, national and transnational networks. In its European Work as an adult training provider, CRN coordinated already 4 Erasmus Plus Partnerships and participated in two more. During our intercultural training courses, more than 200 facilitators (teachers and trainers) from all programme countries participated in the past three years. In the research department CRN participated as impact partner and facilitators in a few FP5-7 and Horizon 2020 projects. CRN has an outreach to more than 30 universities across Europe. As the latest achievement CRN started to edit and publish scientific and educational papers and books. All publication receives ISBN but are accessible open source and free of charge. Our Homepage: www.crnonline.de The project will host 48 participants from the following countries Country Organization Germany Comparative Research Network e.V. (Coordinator) www.crnonline.de Denmark Crossing Borders https://crossingborders.dk/ Russian Federation Academy of innovation http://academy-of-innovation.com Georgia International center for peace and integration (ICPI) https://www.icpi.ge/ Poland CZESTOCHOWSKIE STOWARZYSZENIE ROZWOJU MALEJ PRZEDSIEBIORCZOSCI http://www.csrmp.pl/o_nas.html Armenia World Independent Youth Union http://www.wiyu.org/ Ukraine Alliance for Civil Rights Germany NGO Nest Berlin http://ngonest.weebly.com/ TRAVEL COSTS According to new Erasmus Plus rules, the reimbursement of travel costs will be calculated using a specific program called Distance Calculator: Country No. of Participants Maximum amount refundable per participant Denmark 6 275.00 EUR Russian Federation 6 275.00 EUR Georgia 6 360.00 EUR Poland 6 20.00 EUR Armenia 6 360.00 EUR Ukraine 6 275.00 EUR Germany 6 275.00 EUR Germany 6 275.00 EUR After sending their tickets and boarding cards, participants will receive the reimbursement of their travel costs once the hosting organization receives the first tranche of payment by German national agency. Food, accommodation and local transports for activities will be fully covered by the project. DO NOT PURCHASE ANY TICKETS WITHOUT CONSULTING CRN AND RECEIVING AN OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION BY EMAIL TO PROCEED WITH TICKET PURCHASING. RESPONSIBILITIES Reimbursement of travel costs will only be done upon full attendance in the training programme (up to 80%) and presentation of the original tickets with BOARDING PASSES and RECEIPT/INVOICES. Missing tickets will not be reimbursed. Following the guidelines of the Erasmus + programme the direct travel must be realized by the participants within maximum 2 days before or after the project (these days ARE NOT COVERED BY THE PROJECT). In case of longer stays or indirect travelling (holiday travel etc.) there is no chance of reimbursement of travel costs. Please note if you bought your ticket in your local currency which might be different than EUR, we will calculate your travel costs according to the exchange rates from the official European Commission website for the month of ticket purchase http://ec.europa.eu/budget/inforeuro/index.cfm?Language=en ORGANIZERS AND FACILITATORS The main organizers and facilitators of the Training course are from the Comparative Research Network Team. [[IMP]] Youth Exchange Rules Put in mind that this part is a youth exchange so the age for participants should be less than 30 years old except for one per each organization as a team leader can be open age. Please make sure of this because national agency conducts the money after the report if in a youth exchange, we have two participants more than 30 in the same team of youth exchange program. Schedule of the YE Eastern
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