Kaleidoscope 4

Kaleidoscope ISSUE 4

FIRST EURO AFRICAN YOUTH PARLIAMENT BERLIN 2014

GAME-CHANGING ENLIGHTENING UNBELIEVABLE UNIQUE CHALLENGING REWARD

EDITORIAL

Kaleidoscope

Dear delegates, experiences can be measured in several ways: one way to do it is by numbers, measuring both the human and material resources that went to organising this event (as featured on p. 8). Another way to do this would be by having a look at the outcome, as the resolutions debated in General Assembly during past two days.

Nevertheless, it is fair to claim that experiences like this cannot be measured in practical terms, but instead should be judged by what you were left feeling when the session draws near to an end. On p. we gathered some impressions from the participants, letting them to sum up this week long new experience in one word. What word would you use to describe the session?

We opt to go with game changer – both in an organisational level, advancing the cooperation between the two parties, but possibly even more importantly on a personal and cultural level. At the end of the day, it is the individuals that run these organisations. We all take something new with us from this experience as we go home, and let it be big or small things because in the end, the small things and the individual people are the ones that change the game.

Your editors , Oona, Harm and Sebastian

EDITORS Oona Kiiskinen (Finland) Harm van Leeuwen (Netherlands) VIDEO EDITOR Sebastian Hojas (Austria) JOURNALISTS Beatrice Adu (Ghana) Zephyr BrĂźggen (Netherlands) Valerie Donschachner (Austria) John Essilfie Jnr (Ghana) Emiljo Jazxhi (Albania) Thomas Pappoe (Ghana) Lewin Schmitt (Germany) Portia Solomon (Ghana) 2

First Euro African Youth Parliament

ING REFORMING TASTY AWESOME INTERESTING PERFECT TRANSCONTINENTAL

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CONTENTS As the crow flies to the 1st EAYP

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East side gallery / Best dressed

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Let’s play… instructions for teambuilding games EAYP in numbers

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Can you stand on your head? The head organisers Unfolding the real media team

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Local remedies across the globe

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MR/MS X Ms X from issue 2 was… Megan Smith, chair of the Committee on Agriculture from Ireland.

Berlin 2014

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BONDING PERFECT MUCH FABULOUS SOLID INTERCULTURAL EXTRAORDINARY

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As the crow flies to the 1st EAYP

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First Euro African Youth Parliament

FANTASTIC GREAT COLOURFUL MULTICULTURAL FUN HONEY WORK INTENSE OUTIssue 4

GALLERY

EAST SIDE

F

ollowing some intense days of teambuilding, we decided to pay the East Side Gallery a visit. The East Side Gallery is a series of graffiti paintings on the remains of the Berlin Wall. All of the sprayings all depict different things, but the underlying message is clear: we want a world without borders for peace and freedom. After admiring plenty of inspirational artwork, it is finally time for some lunch. Alex, who is leading our group, is a local, but considering his creative route you could not tell that. Eventually, we managed to find a Vietnamese restaurant by coincidence which actually turned out to be the culinary jackpot.

After we hopped into a supermarket to experience the astounding variety of German supermarkets, we managed to follow Alex to the wrong side of the station. After this delay, we pulled off the amazing stunt of arriving at the meeting point only 20 minutes late. It still was an interesting trip, where everybody had fun and enough to eat.

On a side note, this last sentence does really make the article sound like a 4th grade school report.

by Valerie Donschachner (Austria)

BEST DRESSED

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t was difficult choosing the best dressed for the Euro African concert since all delegates and officials looked beautiful and splendid. From evening gowns to party and cocktail dresses, the ladies proved they know it all when it comes to fashion.

After the ceremony, the votes were cast and coming up the best dressed woman for the occasion. Valerie Donschachner, journalist from Austria, tops with 7 votes! Runners-up were Oksana (5 votes), Irem (5 votes), Gbemi (4 votes), Megan (4 votes), Sophie (4 votes), Portia (3 votes), Beatrice (3 votes), Felicia (3 votes).

The guys were also smartly dressed and looked dapper in their outfit!

by Portia Solomon (Ghana) & Beatrice Adu (Ghana)

Berlin 2014

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STANDING PHENOMENAL POSITIVE STUNNING STRIKING SPECTACULAR EXTRAOR

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LET’S PLAY

STEADILY gaining popularity on YouTube in the last years, ‘Let’s Play’ videos seem to be the ultimate geek hobby. However, the idea of sharing gaming experience might prove helpful when it comes to the physically challenging and fun part of EAYP: the teambuilding games and chants. To keep the memories alive and to spread African and European creativity amongst both continents, a review of the highlight games is hereby provided.

by Lewin Schmitt (Germany)

R

emember when we first gathered at Werbellinsee, stood in a big circle and shyly waited for something special to happen? And remember, when it actually happened that young people from over 50 countries sang silly songs, made awkward dance moves and competed in the most cheerful rock-paper-scissors game ever? Frankly, our fellow journalist John from Ghana has some difficulties remembering how those games work (at least when it comes to lyrics). Therefore, have a look at the lyrics of this great repeat-after-me-song and do not forget adding the descriptive movements.

CHEERLEADER Rock beats scissor beats paper beats rock. On the count of three, both opponents A and B have to gesture their chosen weapon. The loser A then turns into a cheerleader and from thereon supports his opponent B by chanting and cheering excessively, especially when B takes on the game against C. When B loses against C, both A and B will be C’s cheerleader.

MOOSE SONG There was a great big moose, Who liked to drink a lot of juice. (2x) Chorus: Singing eo eo, eo eo eo eo eo eo, eo eo eo eo The moose’s name was Fred, He liked to drink his juice in bed (2x) Chorus

SHAKE IT Equally amazing was a song introduced by our African friends.

“Bam, bam, bam balika, bam, bam, bam balika, bam, bam, bam balika, have you seen my friend“ might not appear too impressive when written down. However, everybody who had the honour of being that sought-for friend and being invited to “shake it, shake it, bam balika, shake it, shake it, bam balika, shake it, shake it, bam balika, have you seen your friend” was stunned by its sweeping spirit.

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He drank his juice with care, But he spilled it on his hair (2x) Chorus Now he’s a sticky moose, All covered in juice (2x) Chorus, repeat and fade out.

First Euro African Youth Parliament

DINAIRE WONDERFUL DELIGHTFUL BRILLIANT CHEERFUL VIVID MINDBLOWING

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24611 MR HEADLY A more challenging chant was presented

by Emmanuel from Ghana: Mr. Headly.

Have you seen// Mr. Headly// who was needed// in the army// to the left// to the right// hip hip// hooray.

In the first rounds, he touched the body parts according to the lyrics and everybody had to copy his moves. However, he then started to “mess up” the moves, doing different ones than what he was indicating by singing, and many struggled to keep up with the original song.

MARSHMALLOW

& SPAGHETTI Less of a story, but more of an engineering struggle is the marshmallow and spaghetti challenge. It is easy to explain: take marshmallows, do not eat them, but rather use them to connect spaghetti and then construct the highest possible object within 15 minutes. Works best if communication, task distribution and collaboration are included.

To conclude, I’d like to draw your attention to why we did all those team building games altogether: A certain man had several sons who were always quarrelling with one another, and, try as he might, he could not get them live together in harmony. So he determined to convince them of their folly by the following means.

Bidding them fetch a bundle of sticks, he invited them one by one to break it across his knee. All tried and all failed: and then he undid the bundle, and handed them the sticks one by one when they had no difficulty at all in breaking them. ‘There, my boys,’ said he, ‘united you will be more than a match for your enemies: but if you quarrel and separate, your weakness will put you at the mercy of those who attack you.’ — Aesop, Fables

Berlin 2014

No less of a challenge is so-called “24611”, where people stand in a circle and have to clap an advanced pattern rhythm. If you lack the finer motoric skills for that kind of activities, problem solvers might be more of your interest.

ABIGAIL Abigail is a bad, bad girl. To come up with this or another conclusion, a lot of controversial debating and deliberating is involved. The aim of the game is to conjointly agree upon a ranking of who is the most culpable character.

This is Abigail’s tale: Abigail loves Tom, who lived on the other side of the river. One day, a heavy storm destroyed the bridge, so the only chance for Abigail to get to see Tom was to go by boat. Sinbad was the only one with a boat, so she asked him: “I will take you to the other side only if you sleep with me”, he replied. Obviously, Abigail was not too happy to hear that, but then again she really missed Tom. Her mother did not really want to help her out, but rather told Abigail to make up her mind by herself.

Eventually, Abigail slept with Sinbad, hence got to meet Tom again. However, Tom did not really appreciate the fact that she had slept with Sinbad, so he immediately broke up with her.

Desperately crying, Abigail went to find Sam, Tom’s best friend. Sam was disgusted by Tom’s reactions so badly that he went to his house and beat Tom up for treating Abigail that way.

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REMARKABLE ENORMOUS ASTONISHING GAME-CHANGING ENLIGHTENING UNBELIE

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EAYP in numbers

by Lewin Schmitt (Germany)

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First Euro African Youth Parliament

EVABLE UNIQUE CHALLENGING REWARDING REFORMING TASTY AWESOME INTER

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Our song So many cultures We have uniting We solve and debate And then celebrate That we have the answers We are the future Everyone’s watching Together we stand We’re reaching out hands The time is now We’ll make it The chance is there So take it One for all we say Oh oh All for one we say Eh eh Zamina mina za kalenga We’re Euro Africa Zamina mina, eh eh Waka waka eh eh Zamina mina za kalenga We’re Euro Africa!

Berlin 2014

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ESTING PERFECT TRANSCONTINENTAL BONDING PERFECT MUCH FABULOUS SOLID

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First Euro African Youth Parliament

INTERCULTURAL EXTRAORDINARY FANTASTIC GREAT COLOURFUL MULTICULTUR

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Berlin 2014

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AL FUN HONEY WORK INTENSE OUTSTANDING PHENOMENAL POSITIVE STUNNING

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First Euro African Youth Parliament

STRIKING SPECTACULAR EXTRAORDINAIRE WONDERFUL DELIGHTFUL BRILLIANT

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Berlin 2014

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CHEERFUL VIVID MINDBLOWING REMARKABLE ENORMOUS ASTONISHING, GAME-C

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First Euro African Youth Parliament

HANGING ENLIGHTENING UNBELIEVABLE UNIQUE CHALLENGING REWARDING RE

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Berlin 2014

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FORMING TASTY AWESOME INTERESTING PERFECT TRANSCONTINENTAL BONDING

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Can you stand

on your head?

They have been running around all week. Or rather, they have been very calm and made sure their organising team made everything run smoothly. From printing out programmes to nursing wounded delegates to buying us shampoo and toothpaste: these people are magical multi-taskers who have put together something great and brought us all here together. Can they also stand on your head? Being head-organisers? Jonathan laughs sarcastically. Moobak comments: “Oh come on, that is totally a joke you would make, you always say the exact same things: “Hello I am Jonathan Engel, an angel, ha ha ha!”

by Zephyr Brüggen (Netherlands)

J

onathan laughs sarcastically. Moobak comments: “Oh come on, that is totally a joke you would make, you always say the exact same things: “Hello I am Jonathan Engel, an angel, ha ha ha!”

How are you feeling, now that the session is slowly coming to an end?

Moobak: It’s... odd. I think we’ve done enough sessions not to become too emotionally attached to it, so…

Jonathan: So you won’t see us cry tomorrow.

I cannot really answer this question, I am still in my tunnel and still running, still inside the whole thing.

Moobak: Although… this session has actually been different for me compared to other sessions. I have seen so much personal development at the session; people are behaving completely differently now, on day ten, than they were on day one.

Jonathan: It has really woken me concerning EYP. Normally you always go through the same kind of EYP format, only in different places. This session is fundamentally different and it has enriched me greatly - and hopefully our work will enrich all the participants.

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How did you get to know each other? Do you go back a long time?

Jonathan: I think I should answer first because I think that I was aware of you, Moobak, before you were aware of me. I started EYP working in the office and I went to the German national session at where Moobak was a delegate. He was delivering this speech…

Moobak: Ooh nooo, I was such a bad delegate!

Jonathan: He was quoting Willy Brandt or something…

Moobak: For the committee on agriculture, it had nothing to do with it!

Jonathan: So yeah, we started our EYP career more or less together and in the meantime…

I think at least 50% of my sessions has been with Moobak. You could say that we fell in love there, and now we are married. With all the obstacles it brings.

What kind of obstacles, if you allow us to investigate your marital life?

Jonathan: We’re both quite convinced of what we do, but then at some point we just clash.

First Euro African Youth Parliament

PERFECT MUCH FABULOUS SOLID INTERCULTURAL EXTRAORDINARY FANTASTIC

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Moobak: But also, we could not not work together.

What was the most stressful moment of the session?

Moobak: The session as a whole is quite stressful. Head-organisers cannot take half an hour off; if we are not there to oversee things you guys would not be able to attend such a generally well-organised event.

How did you handle the international organising team?

Moobak: It is very unique. This will not happen again. The organising team consisted of people from Zimbabwe to Finland to Georgia to Ghana‌ Jonathan: And of course that creates logistic difficulties, but if you, as the Head-Organisers provide a good and solid framework you cannot really go wrong. There were such a different dynamics in the organising team, compared to a normal EYP session. We all went for a nap together instead of partying in the room until 4 in the morning. And there is an excitement for organising that I have not seen for a very long time. The two of us [Moobak and me] did everything the first two days because we wanted the team to get the chance to fully partici-

pate in the teambuilding. The change that we have seen in our team is truly remarkable. Oh well. Let’s see how many flights will be rescheduled.

And how was the transcontinental organisation?

Jonathan: Of course, logistic issues are much harder to solve. Euro African Village for example: we had to buy all the food here, simply because half of the delegates could not import it.

Moobak: But logistics is not what it is about.

It is not what matters. I mean, look where we are: 32 delegates from Europe and 32 from Africa, uniting 51 nationalities, right here discussing the future!

Jonathan: It is basically a development project that we are doing here; we are an event representing an organisation, representing the German government. There are no such things as good or bad or developed or underdeveloped.

We just come here as a platform of different individuals from different backgrounds and cultures. And that is the result of great commitment on both the EYP and the Youthbridge side.

Moobak: And there are so many more continents to go!

Berlin 2014

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GREAT COLOURFUL MULTICULTURAL FUN HONEY WORK INTENSE OUTSTANDING

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Unfolding the real media team MY roommate just woke up in terror at quarter past five because he thought the alarm went off. I did not hear a thing, probably it was just his mind playing tricks on him, once again. He has had these hallucinations for the past three days of the session.

B

. and P. have earlier expressed their concerns regarding this issue of his. This has not however prevented him from delivering quality work on our paper. Some suspect that his situation has deteriorated because the editors have set deadlines impossible to meet on time. We have only forty-eight hours to write two articles, and it is now eight o’clock.

Probably better to actually get up and take a shower before kicking off another day of journalistic work.

For those of you wondering what I mean by such a day, it mainly includes taking tons of pictures, half of which you delete later on, chatting with fellow journalists, establishing a reputation for inner jokes and last but not least, writing not necessarily academic articles. I almost forgot that we also spend some time listening to the bright opinions of our delegates on their respective topics, or to their complaints about the ugly pictures we have posted on Facebook.

And speaking of Facebook, some of you may have noticed the offline Facebook wall during the coffee breaks, where most of the posts are from L. or me, an inefficient method we use to promote the usage of the wall. In addition, we fancy using the ‘like’ stamp on our own posts, as who else would otherwise like those.

On my way to the dining hall, where all of us will have breakfast, I meet V. and start jogging towards the hall. Jogging is the reason why everyone compliments our figures. Once, we even tried to get J. to join our sportive group, but his lungs capacity could not follow up.

Just got reminded of our beloved P. and B., who during the session have provided to be delightful in general with their video coverage and interviews. Only few people have not had, yet, the pleasure of being interviewed by our

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by Emiljo Jazxhi (Albania)

two fellow journalists. It would also be unfair to not mention the amusing noises we have witnessed them perform duringa teambuilding game called “minefield”. Oh, joyful memories.

With all due fairness, all these characters have nothing shameful to reveal when compared to me. I am that kind of roommate who takes a shower at 3am and whose alarm clock in the morning could wake up the whole floor.

“The grumpy sorry bear” they call me. Today, for instance, my grumpiness reached a whole new level and the best joke I can make is “much solid”.

Incomplete would be this article, if I am to leave J. and his playful character out, the highlight of which we noticed when he started singing “the great big moose” on our way to the GA venue. Z., on the other hand, is known for her remarkable voice and outstanding performance on stage. One can only say that Rome is definitely her ideal habitat. Her dancing skills are also very impressive.

We have three editors whose main hobbies are hanging around the media room and checking on our work. According to observations, these creatures are uncommon, owing to the fact that they only take naps during the day and do not sleep at night. Workaholics, perfectionists, caring and above all, good looking, our editors are rarely disturbed by the fact that their deadlines are sometimes not taken into account. All in all, nice humanoids you can meet by entering the chamber of the media team, a chamber of journalistic secrets.

Bearing in mind the lack of sleep I had during the session, I call upon the readers to not to take this article too seriously.

First Euro African Youth Parliament

PHENOMENAL POSITIVE STUNNING STRIKING SPECTACULAR EXTRAORDINAIRE

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LOCAL REMEDIES ACROSS THE GLOBE

TAKING how many of us succeeded in catching a cold in the past few days, it is interesting to find out what different people do apart from taking medicine.

by Valerie Donschachner (Austria)

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n Zimbabwe, it is common to brew an infusion of guava leaves and a little bit of lemon. This means you boil the leaves in water, adding a little bit of lemon juice, and then drink it as a tea. Another kind of tea is one made out of garlic, ginger, lemon and honey. Ginger is also very popular in Tanzania. If you have a cold, you should spice everything with ginger and drink ginger tea with lemon.

In Austria, an effective remedy is to quarter garlic and then to put it in your ears and your nose for the night. As strange as this sounds, this actually helps, even though you develop a craving for garlic bread during the night.

Another way to combat a cold, at least if you have a throat ache, is by spreading cottage cheese on a towel and then wrapping the towel (cottage cheese inside of it) around your neck. A popular German remedy is to sleep with half an onion tied to your ear, a different version of which is to put an onion cut in half on your bedside table.

The Swedish inhale salt water (boil water, add salt, then take it off the stove, put your head over the steam and a towel over your head, and inhale for a few minutes) when afflicted, while the Greek prefer inhalating water containing peppermint or chamomile and use salt water to gargle instead.

A number of very interesting remedies come from Azerbaijan: one popular method is a vodka massage, while another one they have sounds slightly more painful. Here, you put candles on your back and then put glasses over them, thereby creating a lot of heat in one specific place. This is not to be tried by yourself, as it is very dangerous to put them over the heart and kidneys. An Italian alcoholic remedy is hot wine, preferably with spices.

A lot of participants mentioned ginger and either garlic, chili or sugar, which probably means this is very effective, as well as chili tea. Bet you cannot wait to try out these different remedies as soon as you are home, especially considering the fact that most of us could really use some effective remedies.

Berlin 2014

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