A group of 25 young activists from Albania, BiH and Lebanon took part in the 7th interreligious academy “Shadow Ambassadors”, which is being held in August on Mt Jahorina.
The Academy is jointly organized by World Vision BiH and the Organization for Life Dialogue and Reconciliation from Lebanon.
“The project was originally conceived in Lebanon by a local NGO. Last year, during a visit to World Vision Lebanon, we met with representatives of this NGO and got informed about their work. We liked the concept because Lebanon has a similar situation as the one in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a lot of different nationalities and religions,” told FENA the project manager of World Vision BiH Adela Softić.
In Lebanon they decided for this type of educating of young people because they think that young people and their understanding of the situation could help resolve some of the problems they have in the country.
“The concept of the project has so far been implemented only in Lebanon, in Beirut and Tripoli, and they were also joined by participants from the United States and some other Western countries,” explained Softić.
In the Balkans, she says, there has been no cooperation of this kind yet, and the situation that Lebanon is going through for the past six or seven years is similar to that in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“That is why my colleagues and I decided to apply the idea of the project from Lebanon to a broader concept. At this year’s academy we have five young Lebanese participants, five from Albania, and 15 from BiH, from both entities. Young people are aged 18 to 22 or 23 years,” said Softić.
She especially pointed out that the World Vision made an effort to incorporate into the project the members of all religious communities and nations, and also to have representatives of Roma organizations.
“The workshop was attended by the Hegumen of the monastery Žitomislići near Mostar Danilo Pavlović, who is trying to connect the people of this community and whose story was especially interesting to the young people, and they posed a lot of questions,” said Softić.
(Source: Fena)
