This project was made possible through funding by: The Association for Progressive Communicators with matching funds from the Trust For Mutual Understanding
Two and a half month of travel. Two adults with an activist and NGO background, and their three year old daughter. Thousands of impressions of different cultures, different ecological structures, different landscapes, different people; dozens of contacts and important exchanges of experience. First impressions: Traveling with a small child is wonderful - for the child, but also for the adults, as people react so openly when seeing a child; especially in Central and Latin America. Motivation to continue our work in Central Europe - all these stories of parallels, of hardships overcome, of challenges faced by people who became so soon so dear. Language may be a barrier, but one that can be overcome with paper, pen, hands, feet and all kinds of other things within reach.
El Salvador:The International Forum - Communication and Citizenship. Help with preparation, participation as part of the APC team, a very intriguing workshop on South to East support, a statement on globalisation. But also organisational chaos and heart warming hospitality.
Ecuador: Working on the APC programme for strategic use of Internet. Discussions on further development of that programme, feedback on proposals. (The speech on "Globalisation in communication and the counter-force to balance" made by Jan Haverkamp at the conference is available at: http://www.ecn.cz/private/janh/global.html)
Ecuador: The Amazon Telecentres Project. An introduction into it from different sides. Then a workshop with the project team on the strategic development of the project. Followed by a visit to one of the three involved indigenous communities - experiencing under which circumstances e-mail is introduced in the middle of the rainforest.
Ecuador: Exchange of experiences. Not only a workshop on strategic Internet use for human rights organisations, but also discussions with activists in indigenous groups working under fast changing political circumstances. Noticing that "educacion popular" methods, further developed in Central Europe, can be of benefit again back in Latin America.
Oaxaca, Mexico: Facilitation of the General Meeting of the
Association for Progressive Communication. Working in a team with a very
experienced facilitator from Bogota. Dealing with an agenda with over 50
important items in a group of over 40 people from over 30 different
countries from five continents - dealing with differences in culture, in
expectations, and still getting to a satisfactory result.
Harford, Pennsylvania: A ten days visit to the Ecologia headquarters. Exchanging experiences in East-West co-operation, Central and Eastern European activist everyday work, but also in new decision and facilitation techniques. And the further development of Ecologia and Virtual Foundation.
Many thanks to our donors!