Planning Frenzy in Swiss German

 

Here they are, one half of a bicultural and bilingual team, hugely motivated (obviously) and running on triple infusions of caffeine (perhaps even more obvious). Right, this is it, the first big meeting to discuss the project that is to be launched this July in Bijeljina, Bosnia, organised by the Swiss and Bosnian Red Cross. Armed with sleeping bags, gazillions of pens, and some vague ideas we boarded the train that morning that would take us to the Swiss countryside where every last detail of the project and its planning process were soon to  be hammered out and eternalized on colourful post-its. It should be noted that in one of the preceding meetings the idea of setting up a youth center met with so much appeal that the Swiss section subsequently decided to soldier on and to present it to the Bosnian delegates. We were thus very happy to learn that the Bosnians, too, were eager to carry and further support this concept. So here we are now, almost ready to make our journey to Bosnia and Hercegovina and equipped with a detailed schedule and a somewhat clear idea of what we are actually supposed to do.

So far everything looks very promising. The best thing probably is that we won't have to look for a room in Bijeljina: in fact, the Red Cross is willing to provide us with a furnished room that, by the looks of things, only needs some cleaning out, painting and decorating. Another point we will all rack our brains over is what kind of programme we want to offer on a regular basis. Hence a planned workshop day at the end of the second week will not only serve as an inauguration of this youth center, but will also hopefully point into the general direction of this project. 

In this intial planning phase that we were able to carry out sucessfully, despite the usual hiccups like geographic gaps, we have now come so far as to decide on the major working groups; there will be a group in charge of the room and its concept, another one will be responsible for actually cleaning out the room of its thousands of shoe boxes, and a third group will plan and organise the workshop day in close collaboration with all the other groups. 

Probably the most amazing and challenging aspect of this project will be to work with people from different backgrounds with different ideas, dreams, and expectations. However, language and cultural barriers set aside, one thing we definitely do have in common is probably a sense of responsibility for our fellow man, an understanding of humanitarianism, tolerance, and mutual respect. All the groups mentioned above are going to be made up of an equal number of Swiss and Bosnian delegates, thus great flexibility and a good sense of humour are going to be essential. In that sense, let's take a bow, have some coffee and let the two most intense and rewarding weeks begin.