[OSList] Development of Open Space in Egypt

Harrison Owen hhowen at verizon.net
Wed Aug 24 12:31:16 PDT 2011


Claudia - Marvelous tale! And thanks for sharing it with everyone. I will be
looking forward to the next chapters.

 

Harrison 

 

Harrison Owen

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From: oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org
[mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] On Behalf Of Dr. Claudia
Gross
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2011 11:51 AM
To: oslist at lists.openspacetech.org
Subject: [OSList] Development of Open Space in Egypt

 

Dear All!

My name is Claudia and I am writing you from Cairo/Egypt.
Harrison has mentioned my name in May after the OSLEX in Sardinia, the
cradle of the 5th Principle.

Since it's Ramadan, the Holy Month, life is quieter and 
I finally have found the time to write you some lines about the development
of Open Space in Egypt.

Actually it all has started 2,5 years ago when the director of the Konrad
Adenauer-Stiftung, a German political foundation present here in Cairo, has
asked me if I could imagine to facilitate an Open Space in Egypt. Of course
I could! Then it took another 2 years until we had a meeting in November
2010, planning the supposedly 1st Open Space in Egypt for March 2011. On
Jan. 25th the demonstrations on Midan Tahrir started and suddenly everything
moved that seemed to be clear and stable. 

I will never forget the picture of the Midan Square filled with millions of
people, demonstrating peacefully and expressing their wish for democracy and
a better life. Fascinating time that gave birth to many great initiatives
and movements in Egypt and the whole Arab region. While I am writing you
this email, the Arab Spring is just about to close another page and open a
new chapter: Gaddafi's era is about to end. Two nights ago, people were
celebrating on one of the main streets here in Cairo (and supposedly in
front of the Embassy), waving the flags of the new Libya. Goosebumps!

After the revolution in Egypt ended on Feb. 11th, we started sitting
together again and came back to our original plan of organizing the Open
Space - could there be any better time for it? The title was born soon
"Egypt at the Crossroads" and from March 31 until April 2, 30 young
activists (Egyptians and Germans) came together for the maybe 1st Open Space
in Egypt. It was a time of amazingly fruitful discussions and the
participants highly appreciated the format that matched so beautifully with
their new freedom, their wish to express themselves and their aspirations.
Some commented that the Open Space reminded them of the atmosphere on Midan
Tahrir. After having had doubts during the demonstrations if there was an
international agenda behind it, they highly appreciated the OS Technology
that hasn't an agenda by definition and consequently cannot have a hidden
agenda. What a relief!

In May and June, I facilitated two more Open Spaces in Egypt, this time
funded by the German International Cooperation (GIZ, formerly know as GTZ).
The 2nd OS with 30 participants on "New women for new Egypt" and a 3rd OS
with 80 participants with the title "Egypt at work!?" All three OS were
organized by the Egyptian Youth Federation which has a facebook page on
which you can see the pictures of these events. After over 130 people got
infected by the Open Space virus, many new projects were identified and some
of them are already realized.

The most prominent amongst them is the 4th Open Space in Egypt called "Unity
in Diversity" to foster the inter-faith dialogue. This OS was defined as a
project in the 2nd OS and the aim was to organize the 1st Arabic speaking OS
in Egypt. A group of participants of the three former OS had organized the
funding, the logistics,the design of the welcome poster and the invitations.
While at the beginning, they hoped to find 25 participants, they succeeded
in attracting 40 participants, women and man, coming from 17 Egyptian
governorates (of 28), discussing the last days before Ramadan about their
perspectives and ideas on religion and the peaceful social interaction of
the Egyptian community. The facilitator of this event was also a participant
of the 2nd OS. I contributed by coaching him where needed and requested and
supporting him in the set-up of the venue, a Bedouin-like tent in an
eco-lodge in Wadi Natrun, a place where a couple of Coptic monasteries are
in the direct neighborhood. Historical place. By chance when checking in and
deciding with whom to share the room, a Salafi and a Copt decided to stay in
the same room, having no idea that real religious opposites were about to
meet and get to know each other ("Whatever happens..."). As social
psychologists would put it: "Proximity creates sympathy". I wish we could
create more events like this, bringing more people together to build bridges
and create something new based on voluntarism and the collective wisdom (in
contrast to the force and power of a few and their limited horizon).

Just one day later the 2nd Arabic OS for an Egyptian NGO in the Egyptian
delta was facilitated as well by a participant of the first three OS. The
title of this event was "Activate the concept of volunteering" and 21
participants joined the discussions.

In the aftermath of these five OS and the time between and after them,
former OS participants e.g.
-  did a clip with interviews of the participants of the 1st OS,
-  created closed facebook groups to keep in touch and actively use this
medium to exchange information and ideas,
-  continued working on their projects,
-  brainstormed online on new, more local pictures for the OS principles to
design new posters,
-  translated some of the material (and were happy to use the Arabic version
of Lisa Heft's glossary as translated by Carol Daniel Kasbari - thanks a lot
for your support!),
-  wrote two articles on the 1st and 4th OS in German (and currently
translate them to English and Arabic),
-  met twice in an OS Learning Exchange in Cairo,
-  organized an OS Iftar (the meal to break the fasting at sundown during
Ramadan) and one more will be held in a couple of days
-  started to develop the website "Open Space Egypt" that just was launched
by Eslam (www.openspaceegypt.com <http://www.openspaceegypt.com/> )
-  and the related facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-Space-Egypt/137259493032174 ,
-  plan to organize one or more Train-of-Trainers respectively
Train-the-Facilitators with participants from the whole region,
-  and supposedly many more things I haven't heard about...

Since the GIZ took the chance to write two books about the Open Space events
I have facilitated (which are not published yet), they had professional
photographers with them. They were able to publish their pictures on the
facebook group of the Egyptian Youth Federation and a video clip on YouTube
(which is still password protected, the second will follow soon). I hope we
will manage to show them all to all of you on the Open Space Egypt website
too.

As you can see, things are moving here in Egypt and the whole Arab region,
and Open Space and its participants play a huge role in it.
Countless people are bringing in their talents, passion and take
responsibility for their future.

We are all looking forward to more developments to happen after Ramadan and
Eid - insha'allah.

Sunny greetings from Cairo!

Claudia

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