DESS Summer School reflections

Kirjoittanut Sally Zohney — kirjoitettu: maanantai 29. elokuuta 2011, 10.41 — viimeisin muutos: maanantai 29. elokuuta 2011, 10.44

Moving from Tahrir square, the heart of the Egyptian revolution where non stop protests toppled a 30-year-old dictatorship, thus challenging everything Egypt ever knew about political activism, education, citizenship and leadership, to the welcoming, diverse, development oriented and creative program in Petays resort in the serene nature of Northern Finland, gave me the chance to make friends as well as work with and learn from the most dedicated minds I’ve ever met.

Bobby McCormak, one of my favorite facilitators during the summer school, told us during our first hour “this program is not to educate you, it’s to challenge you. Confusion is your friend here”. I have to admit, I was frustrated, I wanted answers to my questions on development issues, yet as time passed these words became a motivating and engaging challenge for me. From morning thematic discussions engaging all of the participants on planning, implementation and evaluation in development education to smaller working groups to analyze deeper various topics, we had no time to breathe.

I do consider myself to be very lucky being part of the working group on “Campaigning and Advocacy”. In our group, the day starts with energizing and fun activities, soft music, includes personal experiences of each participant, success stories and campaigns. If you look around the room at the end of the summer school, you will be amazed by all the graphs, quotes, drawings, and presentations on the walls summarizing our discussions and our learning experiences, not just from the facilitator but from each other as well.

On a more personal note, I enjoyed the most meeting great minds from Australia, Malta, Spain, Sweden, Ghana and so many other backgrounds, listening to each other’s stories, and learning about each other’s cultures at the cultural evening. The Finns and Eastern Europeans taught me boat rowing, ice swimming and how to enjoy the sauna, the Latvians taught me to enjoy fresh berries by the lake, the Spanish took bike riding everyday, the Danish participant gave us daily morning yoga exercises, and the Latins gave us daily salsa classes!  It was beautifully intense.  I returned home charged with so much energy to apply what I learned in the summer school, to introduce my circles of friends and colleagues to the new concepts we discussed and assure them that “confusion is your friend”, and I had made real friends from over 70 countries, bearing in mind that I might have been the youngest in the program. 

Sally Zohney, UN WOMEN Youth Specialist

Egypt

The writer took part in The Development Education Summer School (DESS) held in Finland last summer.