{"id":1678,"date":"2012-05-08T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gnrc.ziplinestaging.com\/regional-archives\/arab-states\/local-workshop-for-children-in-preparation-for-the-gnrc-4th-forum-egypt-february-2012-1415908513\/"},"modified":"2021-11-18T15:01:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T23:01:49","slug":"local-workshop-for-children-in-preparation-for-the-gnrc-4th-forum-egypt-february-2012-1415908513","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/?p=1678","title":{"rendered":"Local Workshop for Children In Preparation for the GNRC 4th Forum, Egypt, February 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The GNRC AS Local Workshop for Children in Preparation for the GNRC 4th Forum was organized from 7- 9 February 2012. It was attended by 30 children and youth from various Schools and religious communities in Cairo. Participants were Muslims (Sunni), Christians (Coptic Orthodox, Arab Orthodox, Coptic Catholic, Roman Catholic, Anglicans, and Protestants). They aged 14-18 and the Workshop was held in the Church of Archangels for Arab Orthodox Community in Al-Daher Area, Cairo.Members of GNRC Egypt Committee and representatives of GNRC Organizations were present throughout the workshop, as well as board members of the Church of Archangels for Arab Orthodox Community.The three working days were facilitated by Miss Hind Farahat and Miss Rand Farahat<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tuesday 7 February 2012<\/strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignleft size-full wp-image-1675\" style=\"width: 300px; height: 225px; margin: 5px 10px 5px 5px; float: left;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/DSC05845.JPG\" height=\"225px\" width=\"300px\"> The first day started with a silent moment for prayer, as is the tradition in all GNRC AS events. Afterwards, Rev. Qais Sadiq, GNRC AS Coordinator, welcomed the participants and explained the aim of the workshop.<br \/>\nThe Program was discussed and agreed upon by the participants and they shared their learning expectations from the workshop.<\/p>\n<p>To start the training, the participants had the chance to introduce themselves via a small ice-breaking activity. A presentation about Arigatou Foundation, GNRC and the Learning to Live Together Toolkit followed.<br \/>\nThe Participants were briefed about the plans of the GNRC Fourth Forum, its themes, and the importance of their recommendations for the growth of the Network as a whole. Everyone present at the workshop joined in suggesting and agreeing on certain rules to guide the learning and the experiences throughout the working days.<\/p>\n<p>Afterwards, the participants were led into a discussion to define and discuss poverty and its dimensions. They were asked to define poverty as they see it and write their definition on a piece of paper that was provided.<\/p>\n<p>The participants defined Poverty as follows (quoted and translated):<br \/>\nPoverty is to lack financial, social and emotional assets and resources. It\u2019s the most important problem in Egypt. 40% of the Egyptian population is under the poverty line.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Poverty is Tyranny; it\u2019s not having your basic rights.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty is social injustice.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty is being hungry, cold, with no accommodation or good health.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty is not having your basic needs. Charity can help but it\u2019s not the only way. I think actions should take place on higher levels.<\/li>\n<li>Being poor is to lack something. It can be money, it can be education, and it can be care and love.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty is when parents can\u2019t afford to spend on their children and families. It can be because of rising costs of good, or lack of planning and awareness by the people themselves.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty is when you lack anything important; it doesn\u2019t have to be money.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty is when you don\u2019t have enough food, no health services or care, and no house to live in.<\/li>\n<li>Being poor is to lack your basic needs and what lets live with dignity.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty is the feeling of helplessness and inferiority. It\u2019s when you can\u2019t even afford to eat or dress well.<\/li>\n<li>The poor person is the person who his rights have been taken away. The poorer person is the person who even does not know his rights. Poverty is actually a state of mind.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty might be a cause of disorders and physiological harm for children. No one has everything; everyone lacks something and is poor in some sense. That\u2019s why we should complete each other and help each other.<\/li>\n<li>A person might not have a choice in being born poor but he has a choice in dying poor. People can escape poverty but they need education and empowerment.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty is to feel that you lack something. It can be money and financial assets. It can also be spiritual poverty; not to be able to connect with people, empathize and love. It can also be ethical poverty and lack of values.<\/li>\n<li>The person who needs less is the richest.<\/li>\n<li>Financial poverty can be measured, but how do you measure other types of poverty? And gain, poverty is a relevant thing. Who is to say that I\u2019m poor or not?<\/li>\n<li>Poverty can also mean loss. Loss of assets and resources.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty is oppression. If you\u2019re not oppressed and you\u2019re free, you can escape poverty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A discussion followed that linked poverty with Child Rights, wants, needs, as well as the types and manifestations of poverty. The participants had a lot of discussions and opinions on the Egyptian revolution and its connection with poverty as the time of the Workshop marked the one year remembrance of the Egyptian revolution.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignright size-full wp-image-1676\" style=\"width: 300px; height: 225px; margin: 5px; float: right;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/DSC06189.JPG\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\"><br \/>\nThe second session was dedicated to discussing the first Sub-theme of the Fourth Forum: Unequal Distribution of Resources. The participants were guided through the LTLT Activity \u201cDiminishing islands\u201d with some adaptation to convey the needed ideas. A discussion with citizens of each island followed with reflection empathizing how reconciliation with others and the universe could be one way to elevate poverty. Personal resources as well as resources of the country were linked to the ideas of justice and poverty.<br \/>\nThe participants touched on the global structures that widen the gap between the rich and the poor. They reflected on how ignorance of the other and their circumstances, and indifference to their problems can increase poverty and estrangement between peoples. The Egyptian children kept relating the ideas to the Egyptian revolution and the status in their country now. They discussed how resources are still not being equally distributed and how people are still ignorant and selfish.<br \/>\nThey reflected on power relations between countries, groups and individuals. They expressed a very real experience with manipulation of power and leadership (Taking into account the upheavals and revolution they witnessed).<br \/>\nThe participants were asked to join in a small evaluation exercise to monitor their learning. They used their learning logs to write about their experience during the day. The working day ended with a moment of silent prayer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wednesday 8 February 2012<\/strong><br \/>\nThe First session started with a silent prayer. A recap of the previous day took place, after which the discussion moved to the second theme of the GNRC Fourth Forum: Violence and Wars. Children were asked to share, in small groups, how they see and experience violence in their own contexts. Afterwards, they were divided into different small groups and asked to choose one type of conflict or violent situation. They were asked to list the causes of this conflict and its results. The outcomes of the groups were as follows:<\/p>\n<p>Group 1: Social Political Conflict<br \/>\nReasons:<br \/>\nFinancial reasons: rising costs, less job opportunities, lack or bad distribution of resources.<br \/>\nCultural reasons: Disrespect of the other, ignorance, disagreement in opinions and beliefs, fatalism and lack of openness.<br \/>\nSocial Reasons: different interests for different social classes, personal interests on cost of common interests.<br \/>\nPolitical Reasons: corruption by government, greed of leaders, lack of democratic channels and processes, corrupted systems.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Results:<br \/>\nUnemployment.<br \/>\nDeterioration of the economy.<br \/>\nExploitation of resources.<br \/>\nLack of freedoms.<br \/>\nOppression and tyranny.<br \/>\nIgnorance and fatalism.<br \/>\nWorse heath services.<br \/>\nNo standards in all fields.<br \/>\nMigration (forced and voluntary).<br \/>\nConflicts and wars.<br \/>\nLack of security and safety.<br \/>\nLack of cooperation between groups, communities and individuals.<br \/>\nIts effect on children is great as it shapes their lives, their opportunities and rights and their future.<\/p>\n<p>Solutions:<br \/>\nFight poverty with charitable efforts as well as with changing the systems.<br \/>\nEncourage a culture of openness and respect for others.<br \/>\nRespect of rights and freedoms.<br \/>\nEncourage good citizenship and the rule of law.<\/p>\n<p>Group 2: Religious Conflict<br \/>\nReasons:<br \/>\nThe kind of education and upbringing.<br \/>\nLack of respect for the beliefs of others.<br \/>\nLack of understanding of the core or your won religion.<br \/>\nFatalism and the idea that one\u2019s own religion is the only right way.<br \/>\nLack of mutual openness and cooperation.<br \/>\nAn overall culture and attitudes of ignorance and oppression.<br \/>\nLack of knowledge about the rituals in other religions and tier meanings.<br \/>\nResults:<br \/>\nLack of acceptance of others or anything different from who you are.<br \/>\nConflicts inside the followers of each religion themselves.<br \/>\nDiscrimination.<br \/>\nLack of security and safety.<br \/>\nForced migrations.<br \/>\nHatred and hostility between different groups.<br \/>\nNo mutual cooperation or joint work.<br \/>\nDeconstruction of free and critical thinking.<br \/>\nCivil wars, destructions, and death.<\/p>\n<p>Group 3: Political Conflict (between the government and the people)<br \/>\nReasons:<br \/>\nThe monopoly of power and resources. Greed and selfishness.<br \/>\nUnjust distribution of resources as well us corruption and manipulation of power.<br \/>\nIgnorance, lack of good education and poverty.<br \/>\nLack of respect for the authority of the people and their will.<br \/>\nLack of freedoms.<br \/>\nNo security or safety.<\/p>\n<p>Results:<br \/>\nUpheavals and insecurity. Attacks on people and places.<br \/>\nThe society stays oppressed with no progress.<br \/>\nIt might lead to revolutions and from that people can regain their freedom.<br \/>\nMight result in more efforts to fight the bad effects of conflicts, like more cooperation between people, communities or organizations.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignleft size-full wp-image-1677\" style=\"width: 300px; height: 225px; margin: 5px 10px 5px 5px; float: left;\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/DSC06165.JPG\" height=\"225px\" width=\"300px\"> In the next session, work on the sub-themes of the Fourth Forum resumed with the Third sub-theme: Bad Governance. To discuss this issue the participants were divided into two groups. The first group was given the task to imagine a world with no corruption or bad governance. The second group was given the task of expressing what would they do if they were powerful leaders; what would they change? The third group was asked to express how they see bad governance in their context. The groups were asked to incorporate their answers into a scenario of a sketch and present it to all.<br \/>\nSketches that resulted from the activity touched on the following issues:<br \/>\nTo establish a civil democratic state.<br \/>\nRaise awareness about different issues.<br \/>\nEncourage good citizenship and equality amongst all people.<br \/>\nGood quality education to be free and available to all.<br \/>\nTraining for educators and leaders to be more open, ethical and aware of the needs of the children.<br \/>\nJustice in the workplace and working to accomplish economic justice.<br \/>\nPut already existing laws and regulations into implementation. Make sure that all laws go with international declarations and treaties of Human, Child and Women Rights.<br \/>\nEfficient use of natural resources and exploitation of renewed recourses of energy.<br \/>\nSeparation of powers in the country. Most importantly a separate and independent justice system.<\/p>\n<p>Videos recordings of the sketches by the participants are available with the GNRC AS Secretariat.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br \/>\nThe last session of training was used to bring participants to give their recommendations and action plans on both elevating poverty in their communities, and on their GNRC future work and organization.<br \/>\nFirst Group:<br \/>\nVisits to poor and unplanned districts to know more about their real life and circumstances.<br \/>\nOrganize campaigns to gather donations for the poor.<br \/>\nOrganize seminars and talks to raise awareness for parents and youth.<br \/>\nWe ask for a training on various skills as a GNRC youth group in Egypt.<br \/>\nWork with children using games and activities to educate them about ethics and values.<br \/>\nRaise awareness about the bad effects of TV and Movies on the attitudes of children towards violence.<br \/>\nStudy more about Human Rights and raise awareness about them.<br \/>\nFollow-up workshop for this workshop in a few months (preferably in the summer vacation).<br \/>\nCreate a Facebook page to be connected and organize our work.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Second Group:<br \/>\nCreate a Facebook page for the group to connect, be in touch with the regional secretariat and the GNRC as a whole.<br \/>\nStarting from July 2012 (Summer vacation), start regular meetings and activities. Preferably every fortnight.<br \/>\nCreate groups in our own organizations to be teams of work for GNRC in Egypt.<br \/>\nVarious initiatives to help the poor and gather donations.<br \/>\nAfter organizing the group, we aim to create pressure on our local leadership and government to push for child issues and rights.<br \/>\nMake our group more inclusive by including members of the Baha\u2019i faith in Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>After agreeing on these recommendations and plans, the participants signed their names inside a figure of a heart drawn on a sheet, to symbolize their commitment, solidarity and love for the children of Egypt.<br \/>\nThe participants evaluated the workshop in terms of logistics and the content of the training before receiving certificates of participation from GNRC Arab States Secretariat. The Workshop ended with a silent moment of prayer by everyone present.<br \/>\nThe GNRC AS Secretariat profusely thanks the community of the Arab Orthodox Church in Al-Daher, Cairo, and the members of the Church Board for hosting the workshop in the Church Hall free of charge.<br \/>\nThanks also go to His Excellency Eng. Robert Hesni, Honorary President of the Ecumenical Studies Center, Amman, Jordan, and President of the Higher Council of the Arab Orthodox Church in Egypt. His Excellency offered the accommodation of the Regional Coordinators and the two trainers, as well as all their transportation inside Egypt, as a contribution to GNRC and its work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GNRC AS Local Workshop for Children in Preparation for the GNRC 4th Forum was organized from 7- 9 February 2012. It was attended by 30 children and youth from various Schools and religious communities in Cairo. Participants were Muslims (Sunni), Christians (Coptic Orthodox, Arab Orthodox, Coptic Catholic, Roman Catholic, Anglicans, and Protestants). They aged [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arab-states","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12418,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678\/revisions\/12418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gnrc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}