END OF THE PROJECT . . . PURSUING PEACE

The 25^th December plays a key role when considering the whole project: it represents the time to reflect on results and efforts of the ten days spent together in Tunisia. The question participants are asking themselves is: what remains after the material end of the project? For answering to this question we have to consider the concrete and human outcomes the group has achieved.  

          
By the end of the project it is possible to realize how all participants has worked and lived in a serene and productive environment, always sharing a common sense of responsibility while pursuing the objectives, facing new challenges and experiencing new ways of life.

          
             Participants enriched themselves by living Tunisia, studying the theme of peace related to nature and connected to the culture of olive trees.  This last, has brought an important message of unity among all participants because of the historical and social role of nature (and olives in particular) among the Mediterranean area.

              All the events organized during the project (including conferences, different workshops, study groups, cultural visits and surprises) introduced all participants to the Tunisian culture, its social services, its political and social features while pointing out the theme of revolution as a source of new bridge and understanding between Europe and North-Africa: revolution must be accompanied at the same time with the concept of evolution among society.              

          From the countryside of Sousse passing by the sunset in Tunis and the energy of nature in Sidi Bou Said: we have been walking through Habib Bourguiba Avenue feeling that a r-evolution happened few time ago; we admired the simplicity and the energy of Tunisian people, appreciated their smile and understood how rewarding is plucking olives all together under the warm Tunisian sun.  

         
          During the first day, all participants were invited to share their own “fears and expectations” about the project: not only an ice-breaker because the game pointed out the perspectives and objectives of each single participant. While approaching to the material end of the Euro Med project “Culture de l’Olivier . . . Culture de la Paix” results are outstanding. “Peace” has continuously been pursued and stressed in each situation. The group actively answered to all the inputs given while sharing common values of consciousness and responsibility.

          But the question is: what will remain to us after we take our way back to our original realities? Fortunately, the answer can be found in the project itself. This relevant opportunity of knowledge will be the key while facing new challenges in our single walk of life. When thinking about Tunisia and its people, when confronting, when approaching to material and spiritual issues, when organizing an event, when spreading peace in talking and acting, when accepting changes and taking our own way for evolving every day, there will always be the energy and the remembering of this ten days spent in Hammam Sousse. 

          This is the time for thanking all the Tunisian organizers and all the Italian, German, French, Tunisian, Algerian and Egyptian participants for this important opportunity of life: let’s continue pursuing peace, in our hearts, in our minds, in our actions!  

Riccardo Zennaro 
Multimedia Workshop

Hammam Sousse, 25th December 2011.