Festival, Education, and Dar es Salaam - Sophie (6/2)

So today was quite the full day. We started a bit later than usual and met with Omar in front of Antwerp's city hall, which was the sight of their annual festival- started in order to bring the people of the city together. The manager (at least i deduced that he was the manager?) told us the purpose of the festival and some other community organizing programs that have been started in Antwerp that are designed to further unify this extremely diverse city. The weather was perfect for a day of hot dogs, music, and some crazy handle bar mustaches that are apparently famous here; who knew!?

After our hour hanging out there we moved on to our next location, which was Royal Atheneum Antwerp, an extremely picturesque high school with a unique approach to learning. Their policy and mission is to have a diverse makeup of students in order to provide a strong intercultural and tolerant environment. As the head master and some other teachers emphasized to us, their goal is to provide the students (who are mostly under-privileged and under-funded) with self-confidence above all else so that when they leave the school they feel comfortable and capable in the real world. The intercultural school introduces the students to issues of sexuality, religion, and respect, combined with a more standard curriculum in order to recognize and eventually elliminate the "isolating forces of differences." They want to avoid raising children in an atmosphere which denies diversity- a quote that i really enjoyed was what one of the teachers said- "an intercultural society is not a choice, its a factual existence; its not something to be avoided." i thought this was a great statement. its a school with an educational task, but more importantly, a social one.

Then we went to Dar es Salaam, the first women's association that brings women together in a space that allows them to talk and spend time with each other. The center provides them with activities and trips that help to bring the women of the Muslim community together. i think we all enjoyed this time; there were a lot of questions answered and stereotypes broken about Muslim women that many of us were happy to learn. We were told by Tisam, Wisam, and Abraham about the power of a Muslim woman being the "interior of a house and the man's is the exterior" but the power is equal. This was a great thing to learn because as the three told us, the American media has portrayed Muslim women as v. oppressed and subordinated; this session helped us to see that this is not the case everywhere, and instead women have much more power than we had previously thought.

I wish i could write more but the internet cafe is closing, unfortunately. I didn't break anything or make too much of an ass of myself, besides the shoe thing. So all in all id say it was a great day. Sadly our last in Antwerp. But i think we learned a lot here; about integration, religion, and community. We had to say farewell to Omar, but im sure we'll see him again in the future!

Next stop- AMSTERDAM!