Let’s change the world!
Today I browsed on TED.COM again and I came upon a video of Aziz Abu Sarah who is a Palestinian activist. He presents an unusual approach to making and keeping peace: Being a tourist. He says that tourism is the best sustainable way to bring down walls of anger, hatred and ignorance that separate us. In 2009, Aziz and two of his Jewish friends founded MEJDI TOURS. The aim of this social enterprise is to connect people of different cultures and religions and to create friendships between them. Its idea is definitely not to organise usual things such as bus sightseeing tours or all-inclusive hotels, which isolate tourists from natives - quite the reverse! To convey the special quality of Mejdi Tours, Aziz holds up a Muslim group from the UK as an example of peace. He brought them to a Orthodox Jewish family. Together they had a Jewish dinner, called Hamine. These groups of different cultures, religions and opinions got to know each other, which is amazing, considering the fact that conflicts have driven a wedge between Palestine and Israel, Muslims and Jewish!
Mejdi Tours provides tours that are currently available in countries such as Egypt, Ireland, Indonesia, Spain, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Jordan and Iraqi Kurdistan. If you want to learn more about MEJDI TOURS, check this link: http://www.mejditours.com/
Aziz Abu Sarah on TED.com:
Although I am not a fan of tour guiding, because I rather explore places and new things on my own, I think Mejdi Tours is a great chance to get to know new cultures and people. What I mainly admire about Aziz is his ambition to create cultural openness and to make it accessible to everyone. In my opinion, it is necessary to spread this positive kind of view of the world. We live on a globalised, connected planet and it is time to overcome prejudices against different cultures, if we want to gain peace! Who knows, maybe I let myself be talked into a Mejdi Tour at some time in the future. :D
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