Sommerakademie
Welcome to the Summer Academy for intercultural Dialogue (SAiD). Here you can find general information of SAiD, and get to know the Leading Team:
Sommerakademie für interkulturellen Dialog
Einmal im Jahr laden wir von der Stiftung Wings of Hope Deutschland junge Menschen aus unseren Projektländern Palästina und Israel, Kurdistan-Irak, Bosnien und Herzegowina und aus Deutschland für 14 Tage zur Sommerakademie auf den Labenbachhof in Ruhpolding ein. Was sie gemeinsam haben ist, dass sie aktiv in ihrer Gesellschaft einsetzen und sich für Dialog und Versöhnung einsetzen möchten.
Die Sommerakademie für interkulturellen Dialog fördert junge Menschen aus Deutschland, Bosnien und Herzegowina, Israel, Palästina und Kurdistan-Irak als Multiplikator:innen für Frieden, Toleranz und Versöhnung. Sie bietet den Teilnehmer:innen jenseits von politischen, ethnischen und religiösen Konflikten in den Herkunftsländern den Rahmen, Wege aus dem Trauma der Gewalt zu finden. Junge Menschen - Jüd:innen, Christ:innen, Muslim:innen und Atheist:innen - lernen von- und miteinander, wie zivile und demokratische Gesellschaften aufgebaut und Hass und Intoleranz, Gewalt und Unrecht überwunden werden können. Sie beschäftigen sich mit den Auswirkungen von individuellen und kollektiven Traumata in ihren Gesellschaften, setzen sich mit ihrer eigenen und mit anderen Kulturen auseinander, arbeiten an Konzepten der Erinnerungskultur in ihren Ländern, suchen in interreligiösen Impulsen nach Gemeinsamkeiten und meistern gemeinsam Herausforderungen, erleben den Reichtum kultureller Vielfalt im täglichen Zusammenleben und bauen Freundschaften über Grenzen hinweg.
Die Sommerakademie für interkulturellen Dialog 2023 findet vom 13.-27. August 2023 in Ruhpolding statt.
Auf YouTube findest Du einen 10-minütigen Filmbeitrag über die Sommerakademie.
Summer Academy for intercultural Dialogue
Foundation Wings of Hope Germany invites 25 young people - aged 18 to 26 - from its project countries Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kurdistan-Iraq, Palestine, Israel and Germany to participate at the 2-weeks Summer Academy for intercultural Dialogue fin Ruhpolding, Germany. What they have in common is that they want to be active in their societies and want to engage in dialogue and reconciliation.
The Summer Academy for intercultural Dialogue supports young people to become multipliers for peace, tolerance and reconciliation. It offers them a frame to find ways out of the trauma of violence - beyond political, ethnic and religious conflicts in their home countries. In the course of two weeks, they look together, as Jews, Christians, Muslims and Atheists, for strategies to build civil and democratic societies and to overcome hate, intolerance, violence and injustice. They learn in the workshops and seminars about the impact individual and collective traumas have on their societies, explore their own and other cultures, work on concepts of transitional justice and culture of remembrance. In interreligious impulses, they look for similarities. They experience cultural diversity daily during indoor and outdoor activities, and build friendships which exceed borders.
On YouTube you can find a 10 minute video clip about the Summer Academy.
The Summer Academy for intercultural Dialogue 2023 takes place from August 13-27 in Ruhpolding, Germany.
The Leading Team
Julia Borchardt
University Bielefeld, Germany
Julia completed her Bachelor degree in Psychology with focus on clinical psychology and trauma therapy. She is a Master student in psychology at the University of Bielefeld. Julia joined the leading team in 2016, after participating in the Summer Academy during the two previous years.
The Summer Academy is a place where you can share and question conflicts, politics, opinions or beliefs of others as well as your own freely. Being able to create this unique and often mind-changing experience for young adults and working on making the world a bit more peaceful, is what motivates Julia to be part of the leading team.
Dyari Mustafa Qadir
Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights, Kurdistan-Iraq
Dyari completed his bachelor degree in business administration as a major and holds a minor in law from the American University of Iraq, Sulaymaniyah. He first started a as participant in the Summer Academy in 2018. From that time, he worked as a volunteer in the Youth Network that Foundation Wings of Hope supervises together with its partner Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights. Then, he started working at Jiyan Foundation as a coordinator of the network and as head of program.
To him, the Summer Academy is a crossroad that would lead life to a better path. He thinks that this program is one of a kind and the individuals participating in this program will genuinely benefit from it in many different aspects. It is a place where prejudices turn out to be incorrect and ambiguity to be cleared.
Hannah Sommer
History (B.A.), Germany
Hannah studied history and political sciences in Munich and Oslo, focusing on the history of the Holocaust and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Over the last couple of months Hannah worked for different organizations both in the Westbank and Munich, dealing with the topics of democracy, gender equality and conflict resolution.
In 2018, Hannah first joined Wings of Hope for an internship and visited our partner organization Wings of Hope for trauma in Bethlehem for several weeks. Gaining a good insight into the work of the foundation she decided to join the Summer Academy 2019 as a participant. Her motivation in joining the leading team is her own experience of how the neutral and independent environment in which the participants of the Summer Academy meet each other enables a respectful exchange and the discussion of opposing opinions.
Tarek Al-Zoughbi
Political Science and Economics, Palestine
Tarek is a Master student at the University of Malta and George Mason University in a program focused on Conflict Resolution and Mediterranean Security. His main interests are economic and restorative justice, as well as demilitarization. Tarek is from Bethlehem, Palestine and has worked for civil society organizations focusing on women, peace and security, conflict transformation, and youth empowerment.
Tarek joined the Summer Academy and the leading team in 2019. He believes in the infinite potential of trans-national communities of individuals dedicated to justice-building and the foundation of positive peace. While widespread structural violence breeds experiences and feelings of insecurity, dialogue creates understanding. It has the potential to dispel rigid group perceptions and open spaces for community building. Tarek believes that the Summer Academy helps to foster actionable empathy and thereby transcends conflict, adversity, and inequity.
Maid Alic
Foundation Wings of Hope, Germany
Maid completed his MSc in Business Administration at the University of Sarajevo. He worked as a volunteer in Germany in 2011 and since then he is part of the Summer Academy for Intercultural Dialogue. He is the finance manager of the Foundation Wings of Hope since 2017.
Maid believes that projects like the Summer Academy enable young people to meet different people so they can learn the lessons of peace and reconciliation with them and from them and be able to implement that knowledge back home.
Atran Youkhana
Foundation Wings of Hope, Germany
Atran completed his Magister Artium (M.A.) in Political Science, Ethnology and Law at the University of Mainz. His research focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Since 2014, Atran works as project coordinator at the Foundation Wings of Hope Germany. He is responsible for the projects focusing on trauma and peace in the Middle East. In Germany he gives seminars on developments in Syria and Iraq.
Atran is part of the leading team of the Summer Academy for intercultural Dialogue since 2007. He believes that meetings and exchanges in a safe space inspire and empower the youth to commit in activities which support peaceful conflict transformation and help creating a better society.
