My reflection on the workshop of Tunis

Workspaces OpenVillage Workspace
1

So yesterday I attended the first Edgeryders workshop in Tunisia, in Tunis the capital.
Honestly, I was super confused after it, so I will share with you some thoughts I had in mind:

1- Since I have just graduated, I had this idea in my mind, is that there is no way I will work on something that I DO NOT LOVE! this is out of question for me, but then, the room was filled, with people whom are older than me, and most of them were talking about how much they hate what they are doing, what they have studied, their jobs… and it hits me, What if in 3 years from now, I will be like that? what if I start on working in a job that I hate just because I need to make a living… ? That scared me, seeing the future in them scared me, and on the other hand, there was Nadia talking about Edgeryders, and its team, and how they work, and their rejection to the actual system and how they work on creating a HEALTHY ecosystem… and I thought to mysel, that is exactly what I want to do! so I found myseld in the middle of two different way of thinkings, completely the opposite of each other, one is super scary, one is super beautiful, and what confused me is that me not being able to position myself in one of them, I thought, they are from Europe, they are not witnissing a severe economic crisis like the one we have now? so I can’t relate much to that, but I can relate to those Tunisian youth working on things they hate just to make a living in this economic crisis… that was confusing for me, the thought is that I have no idea where I see myself in 3 years!

2- I felt a sens of loss in most of the participants, it was comforting for me, to meet people who are confused about their future and what it holds, so you would hear them talk about their unability to decide what is stability for them, not knowing how to engage people in what they want to work on, their rejection of the focus on profit and not quality of the organization that are ran by different people, but not knowing what to do about that.

3- I remembered this interview I had two months ago with a bank for a job, it is an Islamic bank, so when asking about what can we do in the marketing department, I was talking about how we should focus on the needs of the region, its youth, the unemployment, so we can organize events and so on for them in order to engage them with the bank … so the guy was like, NO, We don’t care about that, our marketing will only work on promoting that we are an ISLAMIC bank, we do HALAL business and people should be with us because we are closer to God’s laws… no Haram business! that moment I decided there is no way I can work with them! and yesterday I remembered it because I thought what if at some point I will have to work on things I don’t believe in, in the first place!

4- I hope that Edgeryders keep on being real, because asa Tunisian, we had so much international attention, that we no longer believe in the international movements organizations… because they were serving their own interests, yesterday I felt proud of belonging to such a great community, that works in an honest way, so just keep on being real!

6 Likes
2

@Yosser you do not seem confused to me. You are worried, and rightly so, because this path can be kind of rough at times. But that’s not the same thing as being confused. Confused means you do not know what to do. Worried means you do know what to do, but you also know you need to keep your eyes open and be cautious as you do it. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
3

I really loved this comment, thank you! so yes… I am worried

4

hey @yosser thanks for the write up, it gives a sense of the main complexities and challenges facing the youth in the region.

I really like your attitude, you know what you want to do and know what you don’t want to do, being aware of this is quite helpful, and keeping this awareness by time is also helpful, at least that’s what I do and this keeps me going.

I can see that you are aware of the difference between Europe and the southern Mediterranean region, for the past four years I am living in between and yes it is easier in Europe of course to search and do what you love, but not all Europeans have this attitude, not all youth know what they want to do and work with passion, so you have something big, so keep on searching for your own way.

I have been in similar situations where during the interview I know that I am not going to work there, we have totally different values, but also not all the time I am getting paid to do what I love. I didn’t quite reach there yet.

because in reality it is also not that easy, what I do sometimes I get paid doing a normal job, that I don’t really like but at least I am not against doing it, while doing something else on the side knowing that its the main thing and the other job is temporary. Also I don’t allow myself to get comfortable in the other jobs so I don’t stay for a long time as I am aware that this is a temporary job.

and this works for me so far , because now I can see where would I have been if I stayed in the same job that I don’t like for 5 years and I know that I would not be happy doing that. I am much happier doing what I do and jump in between different projects.

and for edgeryders, edgeryders is a community before being a company and that’s what makes it real, people like you from the community who can see and know the real situation on the ground, that’s what will keep edgeryders from doing the same shit done by international organizations.

finally I wish you all the best with your project, hopefully this could be a good scenario for you to do what you love and continue in doing so

5 Likes
5

It’s up to you just as much as it is up to every one of us. I am hoping during @johncoate masterclass in Brussels we get to talk about navigating “stakeholders” environments - you keep it real but you need to keep it credible too when you are using institutional level playing grounds. Talking about “jobs”, it’s often that interesting work is not interesting every single day - us community builders, or you or anyone mobilizing your local communities, find ourselves writing applications, reports, and doing some other work which has a cost too. So it gets real in other ways too :slight_smile: But the ambition of it all, I believe, is worth it.

Wow @Hazem, always so interesting to read you. Are you afraid you might get swept in and not quit on time? or what is it?

1 Like
6

There is an old saying some of us like to ponder, “do what you love and the money will follow.” And many of us have found this to be true at different times.

But what if you do something like a job that you don’t hate but is not what you most want to do. But it supports the thing you love when that thing is the community you are building. And maybe it isn’t permanent, but necessary for a time to keep it going. Would you be willing to do that?

1 Like
7

I guess this may be the best scenario for lots of people from the MENA region, as we both know the cruel situation now, let’s just pray that things will get better in here, and even better let’s just pray that we will be part of changing it!

8

Yes I would be willing to do that.
I do believe that we are living in a process that doesn’t end untill we die, and that it may take a lifetime, for someone to decide what they really want to do! and if I begin this process with working on something that I don’t hate and that helps the community I am building, this will be a good start for me, because from one hand it is going to be helpful to even understand the community more and develop more knowledge, and from the other hand I am doing somthing that I don’t hate, and that I may even love

1 Like
9

I do believe it is worth it, and credibility is an imoprtant factor on here so we should always focus on it

1 Like
10

Glad that you feel this way. It is going to be a key point in the master class…sometimes it is necessary to put one’s own project on the back burner in order to support the whole endeavor. It is certainly a test of one’s commitment to one’s community.

And it was my experience…I lived for many years in community where I mainly played supporting roles, though they were just as crucial as the higher profile ones. And, when opportunity arose I was able to do something meaningful. For example, in Washington DC, even though I worked as a carpenter and mechanic and did not have any lead role in designing or creating the concept for what would become the first bilingual free clinic in DC, I visited my uncle in Philadelphia and was talking with him about our projects and it happened that he was on the grants committee for a foundation and he liked our project so much he got that foundation to donate the initial seed money for the clinic. So, while I was in no way the lead person for that project and spent my time banging nails and turning wrenches, it turned out to be I who raised the first money that got the project started. And that clinic still goes on to this day.

3 Likes
11

The clinic is still free at this moment?? I totally agree with [quote=“johncoate, post:10, topic:7244”]
.sometimes it is necessary to put one’s own project on the back burner in order to support the whole endeavor. It is certainly a test of one’s commitment to one’s community.
[/quote] and it is a real test, since the human being nature can be selfish

12

Here is their website: https://www.lcdp.org/

I don’t know if it is totally free for everyone all the time. I imagine they do that on a case-by-case basis according to the patient’s ability.

In a document on their website about their history it says, “La Clínica del Pueblo was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1983 by a group of Salvadoran activists (the Central American Refugee Center, CARECEN) and self-proclaimed North American hippies living in a group home (Plenty International) who saw the need to provide health services to refugees fleeing the civil war in El Salvador.”

It was the Plenty house where I lived from 1978-82. I raised that money in the last year of living there. The Clinica opened the next year. Now it is quite a big thing.

1 Like
13

Sounds so interesting how just one small act or a conversation can lead to bringing such a great project to reality!

14

Right and this is why a community is so powerful. You don’t always know where a crucial contribution will come from at a given time, but you always have a pool of committed people paying attention.

2 Likes
15

yes @noemi it is like that, afraid to be comfortable enough that I can’t quit on time. by time it becomes harder, have seem several examples from my friends and it becomes harder and harder to take the decision of quitting and doing what you love.

2 Likes
16

The many levels of being uncompromising: you need to keep yourself in check. wow, this is deeply ideological, isn’t it…

1 Like