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Campus Feature

PEACE- Lesson of Tolerance

Tanjina Haque

PEACE (Peoples Enthusiasm Acting for Cultural Education) project, the lesson of tolerance is a small step towards the goals that hope to develop an atmosphere of cultural understanding through interactions and create awareness among the future leaders of the world. The idea of this project was born in the year 2000, when a Danish AIESECer, Anja Svensson visiting Poland suggested that there should be a way to target the cases of intolerance worldwide. This turned out to be one the most successful and planned projects lead by AIESEC, which in time, generated interest among numerous national and multinational, commercial as well as development organisations. PEACE Project, in its consecutive fifth edition has attracted 28 trainees from 19 different countries from all around the world. During the first week of training and lesson plans we, the trainees, have developed a unique sense of friendship despite the differences in outlook and background. At the end of the training week 28 trainees were split into 7 groups and assigned to spend one week in a designated town in a participating local high school. Initially it sounded difficult to travel every week, adjust to a new surrounding, and live in a different family. As it turned out, Polish families greeted trainees with the warmest smiles and hugs. For the trainees who came from the warmer parts of the globe; warmth of the polish hearts helped us to survive the minus temperature. It is still a wonder to me that the language barrier, cultural barrier nothing stood in the way of exchanging emotions. Every polish school has accepted the trainees with such fervor and enthusiasm that we were made to feel extremely important and to realise the significance of the messages that we convey.

The students were inquisitive, creative and helpful, just as were the teachers. Moreover, the town that we were visiting as a whole appeared to be excited, as we were invited to events, most of which were arranged to show their appreciation to the trainees. Nevertheless, the local news papers, radio and TV channels eagerly conducted interview sessions, which helped to spread the lesson of tolerance beyond the limits of schools. The hardest part of it was when every week we had to leave the town. The host families would shower us with gifts, souvenir, food and tears, which invariantly proved that love does not concede differences or even time. My participation in peace project has helped me be a better person and I can say that I've extended my family beyond my country.

AIESEC, the world's largest student organization, is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society.

In addition to providing over 5,000 leadership positions and delivering over 350 conferences, AIESEC also runs an exchange program that enables over 4,000 students and recent graduates the opportunity to live and work in another country
Writer is a student of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)