My father, Isa, would always say; 

‘’There is always another way of succeeding a goal.’’

Servas Peace School Brings People Together

12. Servas Peace School in Pandemia Times-Experience Share

Servas Peace School brings children of the world together!

Should we let pandemia prevent us doing Servas Peace School? Of course No! But what can we do to keep new ideas and experience from Servas people of the world flow and reach children and families? My brain had been occupied with these questions for a long time till I came up with the idea of doing peace school virtually. The 12th year of Servas Peace School Camp can be on line. Why not!

This idea was welcomed by many Servas people in the world since people felt the deep wish to share and make changes in peoples’s life since the lock down and restrictions deprived everyone of this chance.

The interest of the Servas and non-servas volunteers proved that everyone needed to do something

meaningful during pandemia times.

We started Peace School programme greeting each other in different languages, introducing Servas, Peace school and why peace was important for everyone but especially for children. It was motivating to see good intentions, joy and smiles in the faces of the children, parents and volunteers from the very first workshop. The good start encouraged us to do more so the variety in the programme got bigger day by day. As we had always done in the last 11 years, we did have no deadline for application to hold workshops. There was no complete programme but always growing and sometimes 

chancing one depending on the feedback and demands we received from children, volunteers and parents. Flexibility made the programme richer. We felt OK when we received application for holding a workshop on the last day of Peace School.

43 good people from 13 different countries held workshops for 60 children and adults between July 02-20th. The participant countries were; Turkey, Italy, Russia, Czeck Republic, Mexico, the USA, Iran, India, Poland, Morocco, Georgia, Uganda and Ireland. There was a wide range of topics such as languages, presentations of countries, nature, peace, recycling, sports, mandala, cooking, dancing, indigenous cultures, toy making, art, music, immigration, ecology, astrology and more...

How did we make the workshops? We organized four workshops for different age groups every day on zoom programme. The idea was simple; don’t teach but make children do. We had volunteer translators in the workshops. In some workshops, children made the materials ready and produced some works at the end. Sometimes children were sent to the gardens to find plants or materials and discuss on line with the workshop holders. Doing sports, dancing, drawing, writing, singing, playing chess or doing handcrapfts made online peace school almost real.

We have trained some parents and children face to face on how to use on line tools for attending workshops. We set up online groups to cooperate with local teachers, parents and children, too. Some Syrian refugee children with lower income and one volunteer were provided with Internet package to make their participation in the workshops possible. This sort of support was possible thanks to the fund of Servas Development comittee

12. Servas Peace School was like a camp with a routine (four workshops every day) for learning,

discovering and socialising. Not only schildren but also volunteers attended the workshops actively, learnt a lot, got some tips for their own workshops, helped each other and felt that they were part of a friendship group. We all opened our private homes and lives to each other, were introduced about different cultures and developed friendship eventually. The whatsapp group of volunteers with 75 people was used actively to share cultural, social and natural aspects of the participant countries. The group turned out to be a good training and sharing platform. A normal peace school day always started with saying good morning in different languages, songs, some videos or tongue twisters. Every morning, we were hugging each other from a big distance.

‘’It was really great to meet all this Servas family and the amazing and lovely children! I loved each workshop and it was great to learn about your countries, cooking, drawing, singing... THANK YOU (with heart and kisses emojees) Miriam Kerekes, Mexico.’’

Since children live in a community of togetherness they experience the pandemia very close to each other. They also spend most of their times on streets with or without their parents. So, during Peace School workshops every day, they sit in front of the computers in groups, attended the workshops and socialized together. Some children in my village and in different countries attended workshops with their parents and created some products together. The feedback we received from parents and children show that it was an interesting and special experience for families, too. Children of the world came together and were exposed to different cultures from their early ages. It is clear that they are going to be the future of Servas who believe in peace and appriciate the differences of the world.

‘’ It was exciting to meet a lot of people from different countries every day. My daughter was always happy and learning new things. She felt so sad when peace school ended.’’

Seher Cengiz, Parent, Turkey

What have we learnt and gained from 12.Servas Peace School-Virtual;

• Technology can be used not only for transfer of information but also for transferring skills,

  
  values, creating awareness and most importantly developing sense of togetherness and solidarity during covid times.

• Peace School has made it possible for anyone in the world to attend the programme by spending no money and without travelling. That means volunteers have left no carbon footprint by not using transportation means.

• Peace School created more democratic chance of participation. Covid 19 has made borders, ages, genders, statues less important. On the other hand, not only children of my village but children from different parts of Turkey and the world were able to participate the programme. So, Servas Peace School has become more reachable to people of the world.

• 
  The workshops helped Syrian refugee children make connection with other children in Turkey and in different countries. Also, they felt they were part of the community. Children had fun, learnt many things and found a platform to express themselves. One of the syrian children, Zeyneb taught Arabic at a language workshop. I could see in her eyes how much proud she felt while she was teaching her mother tongue to people of the world.

• The positive feelings volunteers developed for children and to each other during 18 days of online camp have created strong wishes to travel to my village where peace school takes place in the following years. Also, volunteers started to dream of visiting each other. It is a lovely, speacial feeling of having open doors in different parts of the world. We felt connected to the world even if we were living with Covid 19 restricitons.

• Local volunteers in the village who used to be children at Servas Peace School held workshops, did translations and were very active in organisation of the school. Their computer skills and use of social media effectively made a big chance in the programme. Also, it helped these youngesters built more self confidance, became more connected with the people of the world and took various responsibilities. This is very important for the sustainablity of Servas Peace School and for bringing young servas people forward in Servas at international level.

  

Looking at the photos of workshops, Esra speaks with tears in her eyes;‘’I wasn’t thinking I would take such big responsibilities at the Peace School. What a beautiful feeling. I would like to be more active in Servas soon. I like all of those guys and children at the Peace School. I am so sad it is over. ‘’ Esra Alev, Local Volunteer, Turkey

• 
  Online workshops showed us they have the potential of adressing children, youngesters and adults at the same time.

• We became aware of the value of virtual workshops, learning and sharing. So in the future even when the life becomes ‘normal’ after the pandemia Servas Peace School should be organised virtually and face to face at the same time.
  
  

Things to improve in Virtual Servas Peace School;

First of all it is clear that children and parents do not have the same technological possibilities and

background. The less advantaged groups attend workshops the less. So we need to create more funds and training for those parents who lack the capacity of attending programme and to provide equal chance for everyone. Otherwise we would violate the philosophy of Servas Peace School.

Secondly, volunteers who hold workshops should be trained on designing workshops which focus on not teaching but doing, discussing and creating together. Otherwise the participation of the children decline. Online workshops or lessons give children the right and option of leaving and shutting the door behind. Or at least they can go mute or close their cameras when they feel no interest towards the topics or the way they are presented. Thats why, we have decided to keep the volunteers’

whatsapp group active to arrange workshops from time to time to strengthen the capacity of holding active workshops and improve. No need to say that the good feelings among volunteers is the first reason of keeping the group active.

‘’I am looking forward to learning more and more of you all and the children. For me, it is just the beginning with you and I’d love to keep in touch.’’ Simin Bakhtiar, Volunteer, Iran

Despite the positive feedback and rich outcomes of the programme, some children protested Online Peace School and didn’t want to attend as they insisted on ‘real’ interaction ‘blood’ and ‘flesh’ peace school workshops. Although a few of the children changed their minds after joining some virtual workshops some of them kept attitudes. Selin, 9, meets me on the street sitting on the bike and speaks enthusiastically; ‘’We don’t want Servas

on the Internet. No way. We want to run and dance. We can wear masks and gloves.‘’

Zeynep says; ‘’I want real Servas Peace School. I want to paint the walls, walk in the nature, play games and play with mud. Please next time make it real!’’

We listened to the children and decorated a wall in a visible location of the village. International volunteers sent us pictures, phrases and words related to their cultures and peace. It was like a mini street festival for children, parents and the volunteers. Painting, music and socializing for the neighborhood. Children were extra active and enthusiastic as it was face to face activity.

We applied a questionnaire to children to get feedback for Servas Peace School. The results show that the children with higher education standards tend to like online workshops. The children with low level of income and education background prefer face to face Peace School workshops. However, most of them stated that they liked most of the online workshops, too.

All in all, Covid 19 could not stop us sharing, socializing, making friends, creating, developing ideas of

peace, new projects, setting up networks among volunteers, introducing Servas to more people and feel good. New challenges brought us new possibilities. We tried some of the possibilities and got positive outcomes however, we are at still the beginning of new era and we need to discover more ways and possibilities.

‘’Yes, father, there is always another way of succeeding goals.’’

Mehmet Ateş,

Servas Peace School Coordinator

Antakya, July 2020