The 10th Young SIETAR Congress took place in Cairo, Egypt, in November 2009. With 35 participants from Europe and overseas – even from Chile and the US – there was plenty of opportunity for intercultural exchange on the subject of “Creative Approaches to Interculturalism”. Sumaiah El-Said represented the intercultures team.
The learning potential of cultural exchange
An important concern was the consideration of the “oriental” perspective and the development of the learning potential of cultural exchange, which is why the examination of Egyptian culture was often a focus. This examination was not merely theoretical. On the first day of workshops, participants were assigned a “Mission (Im)possible Cairo”. Equipped with a rudimentary map and piece of paper with instructions they were sent out to explore the city and handle small tasks. These were: take a minibus somewhere, buy fruit on the market, visit a place of worship, and most important of all: get back to the congress venue on time!
Fulfilling YS’ aim to keep the carbon footprint as low as possible is a particular challenge in a city like Cairo but through smart planning, the routes between hotel and congress venue could be covered by foot and Metro, and the usual plastic cups were done away with in favor of beautifully decorated glasses – which also meant that everyone had a little memento to take home by which to remember the wonderfully rich congress.