09.08.2022
Caring for others, respect, cooperation, dialogue: these are some of the values of the project I, Ambassador of Peace, which AMU (Action for a United World) is promoting in Egypt. For this reason, thirty volunteers took part in a series of training sessions. The aim? To return to a culture of peace.
Source: Action for a United World
In recent years, Egyptian society has undergone profound changes, with a deterioration in the spirit of solidarity and respect for differences that used to characterize it, and with an increased prevalence of violence, particularly towards women and children, in the home and school environment. Terrorist events are only the most extreme manifestations of this climate.
Between February and March 2022, the Associazione Azione per un Mondo Unito Onlus (Association Action for a United World Onlus) launched the project Io, ambassador of peace, to help promote and build a widespread culture of peace, rediscovering dialogue, caring for others, overcoming the various forms of indifference and social hatred.
“Teaching these values is effective especially right now, in Egypt,” says Noura, one of the girls selected to follow the course, “because there are many children who have grown up in an environment where the only objective is to get food, and their parents have no interest in passing on values that they themselves know nothing about”.
The project was implemented in collaboration with local partner United World Foundation (UWF), which has been working since 2007 to transmit the culture of universal brotherhood through development and human promotion projects.
In the first phase, entitled Training of Trainers, participants were trained as volunteers capable of spreading a culture of peace and dialogue, respecting differences.
Introducing the course, UWF President Saad Ihsan illustrated the foundation’s action and projects and detailed the specific activities and objectives of I, Ambassador of Peace, aimed at a wide audience of possible final beneficiaries: children, teachers, parents, community leaders, professionals.
Thirty volunteers who had already worked in contact with children took part in the training. They showed passion and willingness in plunging into this new adventure, selected on the basis of diversity of experience, culture and age.
Mushira says she wanted to participate because of a personal need: “My children had grown up and I had unused energy and time. So, she dedicated herself to this new experience, which was very useful for her: “It made me read more and think about how I can help Egyptian children”. For Eman, taking part in Training of Trainers was also important: “I learnt a lot about the world, about myself and about others. I like the idea of communicating these values and having discovered that I can pass on what I have learnt to others, helping them to acquire skills and tools”.
The next step, the second phase of the training, involves implementing what has been learnt, working with children, parents and teachers to transmit to them the values of the project I, Ambassador of Peace
