Approximately 20 youth participate one week each for four consecutive weeks. They come from different regions, different religions, in short they all have different backgrounds. On the 19th of August the Embassy made a visit to the ongoing summer school and was happy to see how close the youth had become after only two and a half days together.
The youth are introduced to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and to the concept of citizenship including rights and duties. The importance of Children Rights is also highlighted by the adult staff taking the youth seriously. Furthermore, the youth learn about conflict resolution and peace building through an active culture of peace. During the week, they learn to tackle identity with focus on respect of diversity and pluralism. This happens through cultural exchanges where the youth present meals, clothes and dances from their own community. These cultural exchanges, where they discover similarities and differences between the different regions in Lebanon, combats prejudices that occur along regional, religious and political lines.
What is more, they are trained in communication skills and are thus enabled to bring their newly obtained knowledge as well as their own thoughts and ideas back to their own communities after the summer school is over.
This is a welcome step in the right direction for a country that had no post-war reconciliation at the end of the civil war in 1989. Instead of continuing a culture of violence, another option is presented where the youth are given the tools they need to promote child participation through peaceful means. In addition, SDC cooperates with the Higher Council of Childhood, which increases the potential for greater impact on central policy makers in the country.
To learn more about SDC, please see http://www.sdclebanon.org/.