Yazan
Torbeh, 25, believes in a better future. The eager Red Cross
volunteer from Damascus, Syria, plans to learn seven different
languages so that he can “speak with everyone in the world”
and puts all his effort into the dissemination of International
Humanitarian Law (IHL).
His commitment to the Red Cross began three years ago when he
moved to France to study English literature and became involved
in the French Red Cross as a first aid volunteer. Learning about
the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement also taught
him about the Red Crescent in Syria. "It was great to learn
that the Syrian Red Crescent does good work and teaches IHL."
Yazan came to Europe to study languages and had always wanted
to work with the United Nations, but once he learned about the
work of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, he approached the French
Red Cross to work as a volunteer. He started out with the French
Red Cross in Paris working as a volunteer in first aid, ambulance
services and logistics.
It did not take Yazan long to be fully immersed in the Red Cross
and soon his volunteer work took over his lectures and homework.
"I had come to France to study English literature,"
he says, "but the Red Cross somehow became my studies."
For some, this could have been a problem, but for Yazan it moved
him closer to his dream to work for the International Committee
of the Red Cross.
A year later, the French Red Cross organized the first Raid
Cross training. Raid Cross is a role play on the rules of war
and was developed by a Belgian volunteer with the joint support
of the French and Belgian Red Cross. The game is now being disseminated
by the two National Societies, the International Federation,
ICRC and the World Organization of the Scout Movement. Yazan
participated in the first round of training and was immediately
hooked on IHL and the idea of teaching children and young people
the rules of war.
"Teaching children is important," he says. "If
you teach this generation about IHL now, in 50 years all generations
will be educated in IHL, everyone will know something about
it."
"Raid Cross is not only about disseminating information,"
he says. "I am talking about what children and young people
can learn through playing, when you show them the realities
of war. There are lots of video games today where you win by
killing people. Kids in many parts of the world do not know
the realities of war. All they learn through these games is
that the more you kill the faster you win. By playing Raid Cross,
the participants learn that it is really bad to remove someone’s
rights. Through this game they learn how to deal with human
beings everywhere. This is better than hours of training courses
and lectures."
So far, Yazan has facilitated Raid Cross in France, the United
Kingdom and Switzerland. When he moved to the UK to study English,
he contacted the British Red Cross to run a Raid Cross pilot
project on the Isle of Man. Because of a lack of funding, he
continued on a voluntary basis in the UK and managed to raise
enough funds to run the programme. Again, his studies were overshadowed
by his Red Cross work. "The idea was of course to study
while doing the project," he says, "but there was
no time to study so I was happy to improve my English through
working with Raid Cross."
Yazan is currently in Switzerland working with the Swiss Red
Cross and the Swiss Scout Bureau on Raid Cross. He hopes to
one day organize the game in his home country, but says some
elements of the game will have to be adapted to the Arab context.
"Lots of people know about war and have experienced war
and its related problems," he says. "It would be difficult
to put people into the reality of war again, so we would need
a different version of the game."
But despite the possible difficulties with bringing the game
to the region, he says there is real need for it. "It would
be great to teach IHL in the Arab countries, to teach that war
has limits."
Since Yazan discovered International Humanitarian Law through
Raid Cross, he has focused all his effort on the programme.
Although Yazan joined the Red Cross to do first aid and logistics,
IHL has turned out to be his true passion. "I believe
in IHL," he says. "In the long term it is important
that people know that IHL exists. This will change the future!"
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Yazan,
25, from Syria, came to Europe to study languages but
became fully submerged in Red Cross voluntary work instead. / Lauriane Savoy
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Yazan
working with a group of volunteers during the Swiss Red
Cross Youth camp, preparing them to facilitate Raid Cross.
In addition to Switzerland, he has facilitated the game
in France and the Unikted Kingdom./ Lauriane Savoy
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