Gilda from Italy and Anne from Austria are currently in Malaysia for the PEACE project. They have been paired up with Farah and Sophie from AFS Malaysia. Together they will visit chapters and schools and talk about Global Citizenship. Here is what they are writing about their experience:
After our long flights from Bologna (For Gilda) and Vienna (for Anne) to Kuala Lumpur we have been warmly welcomed by Farah and Sophie, our partners from AFS Malaysia.
We both spent the last weeks before departure trying to finish all the work back at the office, preparing the logistics and the content of our visit, rushing from one PPT to another one…but it was not until we boarded our planes that we stopped for a minute to think about how our 2 weeks in Asia would have been, what our fears and expectations were. We have both been to Asia before, but none of us has ever had the chance to visit Malaysia nor to experience the life of a Malaysian family.
We both shared our feeling “nervous” about the experience, about the “unknown”, about the people we were going to meet, the host families we were going to live with, the schools we were going to visit… Until Anne says out loud that every year thousands of 15 to 17 y.o. Students feel the same while embarking on their experience of a lifetime!
True.
We are thinking and worrying about the heat, about not knowing where we are going to stay and the people we are going to meet, not knowing if we are the right people to work and develop a program on such an extensive and important topic: Global Citizenship.
We are thinking and being excited about the discovery of a new land.
We can’t wait to meet the colleagues or volunteers we have worked with so far or at least that we know working and volunteering with our same passion every single day.
We are enthusiastic about the idea that we will be in the country to experience what the Ramadan means to the Muslim community.
As we start walking around the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia already looks to us like an incredible mosaic of cultures, religions, tastes, colours…
It sounds like brainstorming and discussing about Global Citizenship in such an environment, in such and inclusive and tolerant country would come naturally….
We leave you with our first picture under the Twin Towers in KL but stay tuned for the next post so we can tell you more about our visit…