Журнал "Культурный тренд" CultureTrend_May-June_17 | Page 40

/ #together /
WE want
Tabitha Redepenning, the
coordinator of the Young
Peace Journalists project
feedback, if e.g. the online sessions
were good or boring. In a face-to-face
group, I could read this in the faces
or in the reactions of the people. That
is online very difficult. Nevertheless,
the online sessions are a unique
opportunity to bring people together
from different countries. That is
amazing and I like the challenge of
creating new ways of coordination.
to be
HEARD
Today we face the problem of increasing the number of IDPs and
refugees all over the world. This people are separated from the
society because of the different reasons (They have limited rights,
they are not perceived by the locals). It seems this people are just
migrants or the guests of another city, but the real situation is
deeper, their reality worth to be heard by another. It can help to pay
attention of the social or political organizations on this problem,
and to broaden understanding about their lives. They want to be
heard. And the Young Peace Journalists project helps to achieve it,
to present the reality of this problem by conducting and publishing
face-to-face interviews with IDPs and refugees.
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The “Young Peace Journalists”
project of Pax Christi
International is interviewing
refugees sharing their stories
on the Peace Stories blog. The
purpose of the project is to enable
youth to conduct interviews
with people who had to flee to
the journalist’s home country, to
listen to the stories of refugees,
to get a better understanding of
the situation, and to share and
promote the interviews online
to raise awareness of the plight
of people seeking refuge. The
Young Peace Journalists include
youth and young adults from
all over the world, including the
Netherlands, Croatia, Lebanon,
UK, New Zealand, Ukraine,
Italy and the USA. The current
journalist group is a pilot project
and other application rounds will
follow.
How many young peace journalists
were selected this year? How many
have applied for this project?
We selected 15 new journalists out of
60 applications.
Tabitha Redepenning studied book science in Mainz, Germany. After the Bachelor
studies, she volunteered 10 months for Pax Christi International in Brussels,
Belgium before starting the position as Youth Coordinator. She recently moved back
to Germany to start a Master in European Studies. 
What is your personal motivation to
be the part of this project? Why have
you decided to be the coordinator
of it?
I think that stories are powerful.
When I volunteered for Pax Christi
International I went to an event called
Syrians on Syria. There were three
Syrians and they told the audience
how they see the conflict in their
home country and of course their
explanations often also touched
their p ersonal experience, their
personal story. When I became Youth
Coordinator I wanted to get deeper
into this topic. The event and the
stories of the guest speakers touched
me deeply and changed the way how
I saw the whole situation. I was not
expecting that. With the Young Peace
Journalists project I wanted to share
this experience. I am convinced that
everyone can relate somehow to the
challenges of people, who have to flee,
on a personal level. The project is the
try to give stories a broader audience to
get away from numbers, and news, and
bring it down to what really matters:
the individual life story.
How do you think, what impact the
results of this project have on the
society?
For me this project is about encounter,
bringing people together.
One dimension is the change in the life
of young people, the second dimension
is the change in the life of people
seeking refuge, because their story is
heard and recognized. Young people
are often seen as a group that is only
concerned with so-called youth topics.
Often people do not even think about
the fact that youth should also have a
voice in all kind of discussions – also
on refugee topics. I find it important
that young people get the chance to
broaden their horizon and in exchange
the voices of refugees, migrants, IDPs
and asylum seekers are heard. They
are another group that is often ignored
when it comes to the grassroots. The
impact on the society is therefore in
different dimensions. One dimension
is the change in the life of the young
people, the second dimension is the
chance of the life of the people seeking
refuge and the third dimension is
everyone, who has not the opportunity
to encounter people seeking refuge
personally, but instead can read our
interviews. The first two dimensions
are already working and I get positive
feedback about the project. The third
dimension is everyone, who has not
the opportunity to meet people seeking
refuge personally, but instead can
read our interviews. Those little steps
might seem small in the context of our
society, but I am convinced that the
long-term effect is important and the
difference in each life is already of great
value.
What is the most difficult for you
in the coordination process of this
project?
It is challenging to do everything
online. It slows down the process
and I nearly never get an immediate
What is the main criteria to be
selected as the journalist in this
project?
In such a project, it is especially
important to have a balanced group.
We wanted to encourage also cultural
exchange among the participants,
therefore we balanced the number
of participants from the global East
and the West, from the South and
the North. Moreover, the group is
gender-balanced. The main criteria
to select the journalists was the
motivation. In an online group it is
especially important that people are
highly motivated, because they have
to work independently. Because of this
independency, we also tried to select
participants with either background
knowledge in journalism or with good
contacts to refugee organizations.
We noticed that the step to find an
interviewee and getting in contact
with him or her is one of the most
challenging in this project. Due to the
fact, that we cannot go together with
the participants to the organizations or
the interview, we had to select young
people who have already connections.
What does PEACE mean for you?
I learned that peace is not an abstract
ideal in that only people believe,
who are disconnected from the real
world. During my time at Pax Christi
International I learned that there
are existing tools, measures and
techniques to achieve a more just,
open, and safe world. Peace for me
means to give each child the same
opportunities without disconnecting
them to their traditions and roots,
openness towards different cultures,
recognize and act on our responsibility
towards nature, transform our conflicts
non-violently and find new solutions.
There is much more because peace for
me has to be present in every aspect
of live.
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