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CYPRIOT 6TH GRADE CHILDREN LEAD THE WAY TO FRIENDSHIP

Maria Soutzi is a primary school teacher in Pano Polemidia. Last year Maria was one of the main organisers of the bi-communal summer camp that took place at Agios Nicolaos in the Troodos mountains that brought together 40 Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot Children for eight days, giving them the opportunity to spend time together and develop long lasting friendships. Building on her experiences as a summer camp organiser, this year Maria encouraged her own class to investigate their thoughts and feelings towards Turkish Cypriot children of the same age and research possible methods of overcoming their prejudices and fears. The 6th grade of Karmiotissa Primary School at Pano Polemidia decided to take part in the ‘MERA’ programme which is co-organised by the University of Cyprus, the Pedagogical Institute and the Research Promotion Foundation. The purpose of this programme is to engage pupils in research methods on topics of their choice. Maria reports on her group’s experiences throughout this endeavour:

We chose to check our knowledge regarding Turkish Cypriots, to investigate the stereotypes we have about them and to learn about our feelings towards our Turkish Cypriot counterparts. At a time when everybody is talking about finding a solution to the Cyprus Problem, for the reunification of the land and the people, it seems extremely important to us to investigate how the children of one community feel about those of the other community and whether this could change through a scientific programme of conflict resolution and reconciliation.

Despite our intentions, the political circumstances hindered our efforts and people from our local community discouraged us several times. But we persevered. Through various school activities we worked towards developing our skills for better understanding ourselves and the other without bias. We also sought ways of seeking contact with others, to understand each other and for facing and resolving our fears and differences. We worked towards developing these skills not out of generosity of spirit alone, but because of our need as human beings to be able to coexist peacefully with others.

Our group wanted to meet children of the same age from the Turkish Cypriot community. Thanks to the efforts of many people from all over the island, our meeting was made possible and took place at Strovolos Town Hall during the Easter holidays. The meeting was organised so that we would have the chance to get to know children from the other community better and to develop feelings of trust between us.

We separated our activities into four categories: Meeting and cooperating through painting, theatrical games for developing mutual trust and acceptance, exercises that bring to light thoughts and feelings and traditional so-called ‘Easter games’ such as sack racing and egg-and-spoon races, that have formed part of the common heritage of the people of Cyprus for generations.

The participants in this meeting included the children from Karmiotissa Primary School, another five pupils from other primary schools in the Limassol district, thirteen children from the Turkish Cypriot community, their responsible teachers, the responsible researcher from the Pedagogical Institute, and another twelve Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot teachers as well as parents and friends who assisted in the realisation of our activities.

Before the meeting, we believed that the contact with the children from the other community would greatly affect our thoughts and feelings. During our meeting as well as after it, as it became apparent from the analysis of the follow-up material, there were differences in our opinions and knowledge of our Turkish Cypriot counterparts.

As a direct result of our meeting, Turkish Cypriots became real people in our minds. When we refer to them now they have names and normal, individual, human characteristics. In our common activities we discovered one another, acknowledging that we are alike as well as different, that we agree and disagree and that we find each other interesting. On the bus journey to meet the Turkish Cypriot children we were expressing our feelings through different activities. We felt stressed, scared and anxious. In contrast, on our way home after the meeting, we were full of joy, relieved, satisfied, pleasantly surprised with a feeling of hope in our hearts.

While at the beginning some children wrote that they were stressed and felt awkward about what they would find, later they realised for themselves that we were not in fact very different from each other. All the children expressed the wish to meet again. The diary entries of the children from the class who participated in the meeting speak for themselves:

- “If I was watching them from a distance I wouldn’t know they were Turkish Cypriots!”
- “When I entered the room I was surprised to see these people. I said to myself: We don’t look any different from them. Imagine that at that moment Maria was talking to me, but I was totally unable to concentrate on what she was saying. I was staring with my mouth open…..”
- “I was feeling very awkward when we first sat down. Anyway, we introduced each other. It was a very good experience. At the beginning before I met them I thought they weren’t going to school, that they were dark and mean. But this was such a big mistake.”
- “I didn’t expect Turkish Cypriots to be so friendly; I rather thought they would be distant and aggressive.”
- “I would like to have another meeting with the Turkish Cypriots. I also wished that young people today had a better opinion of Turkish Cypriots.”
- “I would like to have this meeting again.”
- “I felt bad when we were leaving; let’s say I didn’t want to leave.”
- “It would be such a great pleasure for me to meet with these children again.”

The success of this project was marked by a reception where the group received the second prize for this year’s MERA Programme from the Ministry of Education and Culture, the University of Cyprus and the Research Promotion Foundation. At the reception, the children presented their weekly commitment to the project over the course of a whole academic year, describing the process of learning and bonding that they experienced, that led up to their meeting with their Turkish Cypriot counterparts. They also performed a short theatrical interpretation of an award-winning children’s story written by Maria Soutzi. The children also shared their hopes and intentions of staying in touch with each other after they graduate from primary school and their wish to continue to be active in their local communities.