Sorry - late again with my post this week. I haven't had time to read your diaries yet, will post feedback next week. In the meantime enjoy this week's sessions and post your diaries here.
Francesca
Francesca
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Salve professoressa
RispondiEliminaVolevo chiederlo come devo gestire il lavoro finale di soliya
Grazie
Cordiali saluti
Giada
Dear Diary,
RispondiEliminaOn Monday 13th of April I had my sixth Soliya’s meeting and in one word I can define that session as surprisingly.
Initially only four of us plus our facilitators were connected because Paula, Najeh and Santasia were absent.
As first thing, Anee our facilitator, put on Soliya’s screen a big picture representing a geographical map with an ice berg on the top, where we could read eight different words like: values, observations, wounds, believes, intentions, positions and conclusions.
Anee asked us to share our thoughts about it, so most of us said that those words were related to Human Rights and how people can judge others without knowing them.
Next step was trying to give an own definition about what Human Rights are and all of we agreed that they are universal, indivisible and belong to everybody in the world.
We added that respect for Human Rights could help build strong communities based on equality and tolerance in which everyone has an opportunity to contribute.
Manar, the other facilitator, made an other important question then, asking us what could happen if Human Rights are violated.
First Meryem reported some example of Human Rights violation’s in the world like chemical weapons in Siria, sterilization’s women in Africa, women’s rape in India but also discrimination and racism in our daily life.
For all of us protect Human Rights means to realize and guarantee the basic conditions any individual needs in order to live a life in dignity.
Connected to Human Rights, facilitator made an other interesting question asking us if Human Rights begin before or after birth and Brian answered saying that life begin at the conception because when there’s an heart, there’s also an human life.
Our facilitator, after Brian’s answer, introduced abortion’s topic and we started talking about that.
Some of us consider abortion as a crime against an innocent life and a violation and abuse of Human Rights related to economic issues or rape many times.
Meryem and Bochra said that when there’s a pregnancy after a physical abuse, many women could see the child as something they remember it and should not blame the child and decide to abort.
Michaela, Brian and I instead think that deciding to abort is a very difficult choise for every woman in very condition and she should free to decide without prejudices because this should be a personal choise and we can’t force anyone to go against own will.
We talked about Human Rights for more than an hour because then we engaged one-on-one discussion with the other members of my group for the final project.
I could talk only with Michaela about gender discrimination and inequality so we summarized best topic we argued last two times.
We answered then about two questions that Paula made us the second time asking our thoughts about females president or lady in charge and how we could change genders roles.
About first question we agreed that when women are in decision making roles, political decisions are more inclusive and progressive.
Answering second question, we said that gender stereotypes continue limiting not only the access of women to certain types of jobs, but also the access of men to children’s area for example.
After we concluded saying that States could promote equality since the most tender age maybe teaching them Universal Declaration of Human Rights and European Charter of Right of Man.
After that, Manar invited us to come back to the main meeting room for final greetings and for deciding next week’s topics.
We concluded Soliya’s session saying that valuing our diverse culture is fundamental to respect others believes and ways of life and every State should support individuals in keeping their cultural traditions alive and respecting Human Rights because are an important part of how people interact with others at all level of society.
I’m looking forward to next Monday for an other constructive and positive new Soliya’s session.
Federica
Dear diary,
RispondiEliminaI finished my sixth session at Soliya and it was great, but, unfortunately, we had a lot of technical problems, so it was difficult to communicate among us.
My microphone didn't work very well, and I had to repeat the same phrases several times so that the others could hear me, or write in the chat.
Also, my fellow students who are from the Middle East and another American girl had difficulties with their microphones and their internet connection that came and went.
All this was annoying, because there were continual interruptions, and our conversation proceeded slowly.
There were 6 of us plus the facilitators and a new girl who is from Tunisia! It was her first time with us at Soliya, and we were very happy to meet her, but she had some difficulties getting a connection and she logged out half an hour before the end of the meeting. I'm so sorry for this inconvenience!
However I can say I'm rather satisfied, because we could go deeper into the question, despite technical problems.
As I mentioned, the topic of this session was life stories, and we could talk about influences or people in our life that had an important impact of us and made us who we are today. I won't write it here to respect privacy of my fellow students, but I could note that we consider our family very important and we were influenced by it. Some of us felt that some friends or teachers had an important role in their life, beyond the family.
I found it was very emotional and interesting!
We also spoke about what job we would like to do.
Then the facilitators asked each one of us to move to another meeting-room to continue one on one discussion for the final paper with the same student as before; it was our last time and, unfortunately, my partner was absent, so I joined other members of my group who are writing the final paper about politics.
When 15 minutes passed, we went back to the main meeting-room, and we decided what we'll discuss next Monday: gender stereotypes! I think it will be very interesting!
I sincerely hope that next time there will be less technical problems!
Omega
Dear diary,
RispondiEliminaOn Monday 13th I completed my sixth Soliya session. Last week I didn’t attend because it was Easter Holiday on Monday 6th .
This time I had some technical problems with my internet connection and during the session I had to refresh my computer many times.
If I could give a title to this session, I would call it “Girls session” because we were only four girls – Sushmita, Manar, Ketura and me – and we talked about Gender Policies. After Sushmita asked us about our Easter holiday, we started to talk about the role of women in society. Sushmita asked us what are some challenges we face as women in our society and this question was very important because we have been able to compare our cultures.
The condition of woman has changed a lot in the last years, first of all in western society, because there are new important laws acting in defense of women rights. Manar, which lives in Jordan, said that in the Middle East the condition of women has changed too; women are going out, they can decide if they want to work or not. Sushmita introduced the topic of stereotypes: in many cultures the idea is that a man’s role is to be the provider and a woman’s role is to be the home maker. Manar explained us that in her country men have a primary role and more responsibilities in everything; to understand better I asked her if she thought that it could be possible to have a family where the man stays at home with kids and woman goes to work. She told me that it rarely happens in Jordan. When Sushmita asked me about Italy, I answered that in Italy the problem is not so much about the gender differences; during this period of crisis the need to have a job is essential, independently from the fact you are a woman or a man.
I don’t personally feel discriminated because of my gender; I grew up in a family where men respect women's role and viceversa; it is possible that in a work environment women are paid less than men or women could have less chances of having a career and that, in my opinion, represents the main discriminations of gender in the society.
We all agreed that social and mass media are playing a huge role in the affirmation of female gender; women have more courage because the transformations of society gave them more confidence to be themselves and they are more self-aware.
In the last part of the session we talked about gender crimes. I explained to the other girls that in Italy a lot of men kill women for jealousy; we can define this crime “feminicide”. We discussed about rape and domestic abuse, especially about what causes rape. Manar said that in her opinion what women wear is important but I don’t think so; rape cannot be justified in any case and it does not matter what women wear! I think rapes are caused by a man's madness, by the desire to possess a woman. The patriarchal system gives us the idea that man must be the most important person in the family but now it is time to change this system; we can live in a society in which men and women respect themselves as citizens of the same society, with the same rights and the same duties.
I have been very excited to discuss with the others girls about this topic because gender policies represent one of the main issues on the agenda of international institutions. I hope next session will be exciting too.
Veronica
Dear Diary,
RispondiEliminaOn Monday, 13.th April I participated at another meeting of Solyia.
At this meeting there were seven people in addition two facilitators.
At the beginning of the meeting often our facilitators asked us how we were, how was your weekend and Easter holidays.
I consider my facilitators, Ivan and Kate, very friendly, smiling and available.
The first argument of Monday was what were the principal allergies in our countries, obviously all responded that the principal allergies are linked to food and change of season.
However the principal topic of the day was the idealism and the realism. The difference between what we think and how we do, and also, how our society influences our thinking.
These questions surprised me, I was in difficult and I didn’t have any idea to answer.
I think that the society influences the thinking of person and the way of acting, however it is very difficult to have values, ideas, ways of doing that are in opposition of the society where a person lives.
Sincerely I consider this question very difficult but stimulating and interesting.
After that we discussed about the final project.
My group, overall four people, decided ten questions for the interview. The main topic for the interview is Religion in society or governance.
I love to work in group. It is easy and I didn’t have any problem with my companions, but I prefer to write than to speak because the connection is not good, moreover I’m in difficult when an Arab talk because it is not easy to understand the pronunciation.
In general I am satisfied and I hope that the final project will be good.
Paolo
Dear diary,
RispondiEliminaLast Wednesday I had my sixth session of Soliya!
I’m very sad because this week ran by and I will participate only to two more sessions. I would like that this experience will continue for another month, because we are a very tight-knit group; indeed, during the last meeting Dom called us a ”family”. When I heard this word I understood that for me it is the same too, and all my peers confirmed that and said that they are enjoying the program a lot. Near the end of the session I perceived a true emotion coming from all of us, we were not able to speak to each other, we just kept looking at the video and smiled.
I’m sorry for the fact that there were only five people: Rafy, Dom, Rabin (called Ahmad by his friends), Amani and I, that's why I told them that I hope the next session all of us will be present because it is more interesting and funny.
Anyway, it was a very good session, we knew each other better and we talked about the experiences we had that changed us and our lives. Everyone talked louder than usual because speaking about personal experiences was difficult. In my opinion it is not right to write in a public blog our personal experiences, because I think that they are all confidences that have to stay inside our Soliya group. I’m sorry but this is a very delicate situation, and I don’t want to reveal our secrets.
Then we talked about the Final Project. The facilitators divided us into two groups: Rafy and Ahmad, and Amani, Dom and I. We talked for 20 minutes about our topics. I had already talked with Dom about Environment, but it was interesting to talk with Amani about it too, because she comes from Jordan and I wanted to understand if in her country there are Environment policies. She said that they recycle waste, specifically bans and plastic bottles, and that she always tries to take the bus and other public transports to limit pollution. After that we talked about Dom's topic, which is Poverty. it was interesting to know that in the United States there are more social differences than in Europe. Amani said that in Jordan social conditions are very similar to American ones: there isn’t too much poverty, and I didn’t know that, because when I think of Jordan I always think of it as a poor country, but I made a mistake. Amani’s topic is Typical Dress, and fashion in our countries. He asked us if in our countries there is a typical dress, or a religious dress. I said that in Italy we are obsessed with fashion and big brands like Armani, Valentino etc... But in the end we dress up as we prefer and in a way that makes us feel comfortable. Unfortunately we had only 20 minutes to talk about it and we had too many things to say, but luckily the facilitators told us that we can write an e-mail to someone of the group if we want to analyse a topic in a better way.
The two hours finished very fast, we greeted each other and we made a date to be present at next session: let’s see what will happen!
See you soon,
Lucia
Dear diary,
RispondiEliminaLast Wednesday I had my sixth session of Soliya. We were only four of us.
In this session we discussed the topic we voted last Wednesday: immigration laws and racism.
Our facilitators, last week, asked everyone to prepare two open questions about these issues.
My first question follows. In Italy many immigrants arrive to the south coast (especially in Sicilia). They arrive mostly from war areas on board old boats that often sink. We received in the past four days more than eight thousand people both immigrants and refugees. This produces for the country human and economic problems. I asked them what can Europe and the international community do to solve this problem.
Meghan knew about that and suggested that they can be employed in building & construction companies. Youness agreed and added anything whatever keeps them busy and self sustaining.
I agreed and disagreed at the same time with them because I think that before to implement that we need international laws which help people in their own country and enforcing of these laws.
Alex said the US problem is to decide if immigrants should stay in the country or be deported. So I asked him what should immigrants do in war situations and his reply was that it depends if they are allies or enemies of the US. Fortunately Italy has no enemies ! I disagree with Alex because I think that immigrants and refugees arrive in peace.
Then we discussed racism. Youness said that in Morocco they don’t have something called racism. But do racism-free countries exist? I can't answer this question. About minority groups in the country, Alex said that, for example in US, they suffer discrimination in the workplace and in the military. I explained them that in Italy a political group wants gypsies to go back their home country (mostly eastern Europe) because they keep a different lifestyle from ours. Hiba was surprised! Then we spoke about the different policies applied to immigration and refugees. The discussion focused on the issue of legal/illegal immigrants.
After that we had 20 minutes face to face meeting. I went in room number one with Alex and I asked him some question about freedom of speech.
Finally we came back to the main meeting room and we decided the topic for next session: human rights.
I'm happy because I have found this session very interesting and I hope that the next will be at least as interesting as this one.
See you soon
Marina
Diary: Tuesday, 14 April 2015
RispondiEliminaThis is my fifth session of Soliya. Last week I was on holiday with my family. I visited Mostar, a town in Bosnia, where Muslims and Christians live together in peace.
I thought, as I watched the mosques and churches of the city, the discussions made during Soliya’s program: the importance of respect for people and how culture develops on history, local traditions. I’m understanding how Soliya is been important for me; it gave me the opportunity to reflect on the topics proposed and to look them in different way.
The day of the meeting I was excited to see my group and tell about my trip. Unfortunately, even in this session I had connection problems but, thanks to technical, has been overcome in a short time.
After greetings and information about what are we doing, we started the debate on press freedom. A boy, Alkassem, reasoned on the words used by the media and he explained why didn’t describe what actually happened; also the way it’s worded really draw that attention to it. I told how sometimes in the newspapers there were data missed or mistakes and people would take those information as true. Moreover journalists follow the politicians with their statements because they do the news.
We should be free to talk about anything as long as we approach each other with respect.
Then Assel, asked us as we face the freedom of speech when it becomes incitement to hatred; a really hard question. He helped us reflect on situations or incidents where people are wrongfully accused or persecuted because they have freely expressed an opinion contrary to their politics or the religion in their country.
We remembered the story of Raif Badawy, a writer and activist. He insulted Islam and for this he was sentenced by a penalty of 10 years in prison and 1.000 lashes. I didn’t know what to say and the guys were shocked. We all agree that there is injustice in the world.
Then there's the prison camp of Guantanamo: the president of the United States, Barack Obama, has done a lot of good things concerning the Guantanamo case but this prison is still open.
These topics were very interesting but also very difficult to make a speech because they affect my feelings and make me feel powerless against the many injustices and evil deeds of men.
At the conclusion of meeting our facilitators have explained briefly how to prepare the final project.
See you next week!
Dear diary,
RispondiEliminalast week the session began with the story of our Easter holiday, using seven words we had to describe our holidays. my seven words were: skiing, mountain, sun, falls, fire, friends and parties with alcohol, most of the others have used words like family, food, rest, fun, chocolate. after this coordinators have asked to name three things or events that have helped shape the people we are today. I have indicated the illness of my mother, the books and my current relationship. each of the other guys made me more specific questions to better understand these three things and I've done the same with them. one of them talked about the death of his mother, and then I was particularly impressed. after this we again gathered in pairs to talk about the final work but I could not because jenan was not present at the session, I hope that next week she is present. Finally, the last half hour we talked about the Iranian nuclear crisis wlast week, the sessihich was the topic of the day. The comments of my colleagues have shown that in spite of their geographical proximity the issue does not seem to be relevant unlike America where instead the issue is much discussed. I spoke a bit of Italian and European position towards Iran.
See you next week
Giada
Dear diary
RispondiEliminaI participated at new meeting of Soliya project.
We were in seven to participate in addition our facilitators.
As in all the meetings the first argument is a simple question to talk between us, the question was to indicate a city to visit and a particular food to eat in our country.
Sami suggested to visit Petra in Lebanon, and I hope to visit this site one day, moreover one day I hope to visit New York and eat street food as advised Kate.
I suggested to visit Venice and eating spaghetti allo scoglio, obviously I have explained what are spaghetti allo scoglio. They are particular nuddels with fish and mollusks, that every Italian eat at see.
Before the meeting our facilitators delivered by mail an article that talks about media, How influences our thinking, lifestyle, fashion and how it affects young people.
The second, and the principal topic of meeting was how the media can influence our society.
More of our group see the media in negative way, as manipulators, liars. The media don’t show the whole reality.
Personally I don’t completely agree, however I live in a country less complex of USA or Palestine or Arabia.
A point where everyone agreed is that it’s important to read different type of journals and news. We should be informed from all points of view to have a correct opinion. It is important to learn, look other sources to get the truth about a news, even if they are in foreign journals.
Internet facilitates us to have more info from different journals.
Furthermore some boys of Arab origin say that sometimes the information of Arab media isn’t always complete. It is filtered, inaccurate much more than in the west.
Unfortunately still the sound level of certain people in the meeting is not very good and this obviously produces in me discomfort.
However I’m happy and satisfied of this meeting, always the facilitators offer good arguments of discussion.
Paolo.
Dear diary,
RispondiEliminaAlso this week, I attended Soliya.
Initially I had problems with the microphone. Thanks to the help of the "technical support" I solved the problem.
The week began pointing to the name of some ethnic food, belonging to our culture. At that time, the first thing that came to my mind was the pizza. Everyone knew “pizza”. The boys have listed the ethnic foods, I do not know any of these. I really liked the "Mansaf" typical Indian food.
The next step, for the music. The Dutch girl has shared with us a song. Although I did not understand the Dutch language, the song was beautiful.
Of the same opinion, were the other members of the group. The song had been a great success.
The other topic was ISIS. One of the facilitators asked what we think, Muslims are often associated with this terrorist organization (especially by Americans).
The debate is open. The boys of Islamic religion condemned ISIS. None of them is identified in this group.
Even people belonging to another faith, have stated that this is not Islam. Islam is not ISIS.
Public opinion on many occasions does not make this distinction, even the media have a negative effect.
The facilitator told us of an event that happened in Germany. The population has expressed against Muslims, associating these ISIS.
In my point of view, the media often act in a negative way. They are only interested in the high plays, not to tell the truth. Of the same opinion were the other members of the group.
The media do not want to spend their money and their time, profit is important in this case. The boys of the Islamic faith, claim that the Koran teaches peace, does not teach violence.
The Koran is not a tool of war, Isis uses it as a tool.
The boy of Pakistan supports, these terrorist organizations use fear. According to him, this is the strategy.
In my point of view, the Europeans are scared, they fail to make a distinction.
Regarding the members of these organizations, most of us, argues that they participate because they are paid. Even in my opinion, these fighters were paid.
Members of ISIS are mercenaries, organization of people, as opposed to a regular army.
The last issue addressed concerns the "drones", the US military uses this new weapon in battle.
This new weapon no one likes it, is another tool to kill.
Before the end, I and two other members have abandoned the "chat". We have finished discussing the final project. Our final project about religion, especially as it interacts with politics.
The time available to us was over, we returned to "chat" main. We agreed for the next session the topic ((international organization).
shqiprim