YES 2007 - "Exploring Islam - Young Europeans in Dialogue"

 

 

The Young Europeans' Seminar 2007 was again held on the site in Werbellinsee, near Berlin in Germany. It ran from 29 June to 3 July and within that time gathered about 430 YFU exchange students from more than 20 European countries on their journey back home from their host country.
As in the years before, YFU Germany took care of the logistical tasks, while the content of this YES, themed "Exploring Islam - Young Europeans in Dialogue", was taken care of by YFU France and YFU Belgium together with an international organising team (IOT). The Yes took place under the patronage of Dr. Lale Akgün, member of the German Parliament and it was an activity held under the European Youth Campaign for Diversity, Human Rights and Participation: "All Different - All Equal". In the five days of the seminar, Islam in Euorpe was discussed in many ways through a variety of workshops on the topic, it also involved a visit to a Mosque in the German capital. Besides these thematic workshops, there were also methodology workshops on trust games and leisure activities to promote a cross-cultural group spirit.


YES Parliament
The YES Parliament, a simulation oriented towards the working methods of the United Nations, was certainly one of the highlights of the seminar. It took place on the last day and summed up the entire seminar. The YES parliament debated the question of religious education for Muslim immigrants and their descendents in state schools in Euorpean countries with a Christian majority. The participants represented the countries in which they had lived for the last year in the debate and afterwards also had to vote on the issue from their personal point of view. Through this process they reflected upon the values of their host culture as well as the culture into which they were to return after the seminar.