13.11.2010
Maastricht
Maastricht
Saturday, 13 November. The last day of the programme of this study trip. One of the participants said: “I thought it will be hard to remember everybody's name, now I am finding it even harder to forget any of you.” And yet, today we have to say goodbye for the first time, as some of our friends are already leaving in the morning. We all know what this means: tears, hugs, goodbye notes and promises to stay in touch and visit each other across Europe and beyond...
In the rain we set off to the location for our last workshop, the creation and discussion of follow-up projects and activities. In the rain we waited for the man with the keys. In the rain we went to the AEGEE office instead, since he didn’t show up. Yes, it rains a lot in Maastricht, hadn’t you heard?
Damp coats draped on chairs and wet umbrellas spread on the floor of the small attic where we huddled together for a presentation of the Youth In Action programme and an overview of the EuroArab-projects still in the pipeline. After a short brainstorming session we split into groups, based on our interests.
The first group brainstormed on a PR-strategy for the EuroArab-project as a whole, with the aim of creating a EuroArab brand which can be used by future projects such as the CSTs to Palestine and Egypt, or the final conference in Ankara. A second group discussed the study trip to Egypt and a third group looked at the trip to Palestine. The programme for this last project is currently up for funding approval and therefore we focused on a number of ways to optimise the value of the study trip for both organisers and participants. We talked about how to incorporate the Israeli occupation of Palestine in the programme and agreed on the principle of the glass of water covered with a layer of oil. While we can choose to only look at the oil and therefore turn away from the glass, we can also choose to look through the oil, which is after all only a layer underneath which the pureness of the water can still be found. This metaphor also helped to solve the argument whether to organise a study trip on global challenges to Palestine at all―as it was argued that the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories would be too peculiar to be of any relevance to the discussion on a global or even regional level. Turning away from the oil-covered water, however, would exactly play in the hands of the occupying aggressor. Therefore, it was settled to focus on the Palestinian challenges regarding Education, Water and Gender Equality―as caused or aggravated by the Israeli occupation―but to extend the scope of the discussion to the regional and global levels as well. Also the profile of the trainers and moderators was discussed, as their knowledge and experience would be of paramount importance to the success of the workshops and discussions in the volatile and passion-inspiring situation that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Once all groups had presented the results of their discussions, we returned to the hostel to prepare for the final evening, the moment we had all been awaiting for so long: Arabian Night. During dinner on the second day in Maastricht, the Arab participants had discussed the organisation of this evening of food, music and dance, in which we divided the tasks, appointed responsible for the different aspects of the programme and drafted grocery lists for the organisers. The aim of this elaborate meeting was to assure a perfect evening and though we started off with some hiccups―such as the loss of one of the Egyptian food bags―we can state that the evening was a full success! Sheltered from the heavy rain in the kitchen of a cosy students building, the Arab cooking team produced dish upon dish of delicious Egyptian and Palestinian specialties, such as kushary and makluba. On the beats of traditional Levantine music the Palestinian participants taught the rest of the group some dabkha moves and when delegations from AEGEE Maastricht and Aachen―including the AEGEE Aachen Bear―joined us, the party was complete...
