YOUTH ENCOUNTERS FOR PEACE (YEP)

Make (at least) one friend project

Note: A pdf version of this document is available for easier printing.

Background of YEP

The Youth Encounters for Peace project started in July 1997. The main idea was to bring together young people from the two communities of Cyprus in an effort to create trust in place of suspicion, knowledge of the ‘other’ in place of ignorance, hope in place of despair. Three workshops each lasting for two days took place in the Ledra Palace hotel (in July, October and December) and a total of 150 teenagers were involved. Some of the unique experiences of the participants were published in the first two issues of Hade magazine (the only bi-communal magazine in Cyprus) where more details of the project can be found. The name YEP was chosen by the participants themselves. Despite the ban on permissions to meet since December 1997 many of the participants still maintain contacts and keep up the hope.

The organisers

The original project was a very local idea from a small group of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot educators who had been meeting bi-communally for some time. The organisational assistance of the UN was sought, particularly in the area of securing permissions for the meetings in the Ledra Palace Hotel. The present new phase of the YEP project is being set up by some of the original members from both communities. They have been joined by new members who have been active in bi-communal work in the past. There is no official or strict organisational structure, and no hidden political agenda. We just have a group of volunteers who believe deeply in the need for the young generation of the two communities to communicate and we try to provide the means for this to happen.

The new phase – make at least one friend project

The YEP project now enters a new phase with the aim of making it possible to young Cypriots to make at least one friend from the ‘other side’ even if it is very difficult to meet face to face. The main idea is to make a first contact and begin exchanging messages via e-mail or other means with at least one young person from the other community.

How to get involved – how will the project work

• If you are interested all you need to do is to fill in the accompanying form and send the relevant information by letter or fax or e-mail to:

For Greek Cypriots:                                                                         For Turkish Cypriots:

YEP Project,                                                                                      YEP Project,
P.O. Box 45089,                                                                                 P.O. Box 247,
Aradippou, Larnaca 7110.                                                                   Nicosia.
e-mail: yepforcyprus@spidernet.com.cy                                               e-mail: yep1999@hotmail.com
Tel./Fax: 04-530924

• Please make sure that the form is filled very clearly, especially the part where you write your e-mail! We will be collecting forms from both communities to set up our data base and we will do our best to make the most suitable ‘matches’. After you send us the information you will soon hear from us with details of the person(s) you will be communicating with.

• If you have e-mail it will be very simple. We’ll ‘match’ you with someone from the other side who has e-mail and you will both receive from us simultaneously each other’s e-mail address. If you do not have your own e-mail you may ask a friend to ‘borrow’ his/her e-mail address for the project.

• If you do not have access to any e-mail you could be sending the letters by ordinary post first to us at the YEP Project address. We will tell you more about this once we get your application form.

• Once we help you make the first contact it will be totally up to you how often to communicate, what direction to take and so on. Our role is just to open the door.

• If you need more forms to get your friends involved in the project just let us know. You may send us an e-mail asking for this information in electronic form so that you can send it to your friends via e-mail.

Any young Cypriot may join. The project is especially open to young Cypriots living abroad. Even though the original YEP groups were only teenagers this new project is extended also to young people in their 20s as well.

What about those who do not speak English?

In such cases we encourage those who want to join to find one friend from their community who knows English and ask him/her to be their translator in the project.

A last word

We hope you will join us in our effort to build bridges of peace between the young generation. You can start by extending your hand to a person in the other community. And in doing this you are joining the efforts of all those who strive to build the peace hand by hand, heart by heart, soul by soul…
 
 

Make (at least) one friend project

First name:                                                                         Surname:

Age:                                                                                   Male/Female (circle one)

Address:
 

Telephone:                                                                         Fax:

E-mail: (please write very clearly)

School, college or university:

I prefer to correspond with (circle one): Female Male Either

How many persons would you like to correspond with? (circle one)  1 2 3
 

Interests, hobbies, activities etc
 

Any other information (optional)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Is there any person you already know from the other community that you would like to contact? If so, please give as many details as possible below.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

P.S. It does not matter if your English is not very good! Just be cool and say