A trip to Israel isn't just any old trip. Inter Campus has always been driven by a sense of adventure, we're very curious and want to get to know new people, different cultures and of course help those in need.
We believe that you also need to show respect when you want to lend a hand: it shouldn't simply be a case of 'forcing' someone to accept our help. That's why when we get to a place where we've set up projects, we try to be careful not to invade people's space to avoid coming across as people lacking the respect due to every culture, religion and community.
That's why our ongoing trips see us tiptoeing into places on the one hand, but make a powerful impact on the other. We come in with Inter shirts, a football and energy to try and transfer our technical, educational and social model to the dozens of groups we work with.
And, as we were saying, a trip to Israel isn't just any old trip, for many reasons, some more obvious than others. The global religious and historical importance of the country means it is a hub of energy, which doesn't always make for an easy situation. There's passion, tension and culture: this place has enough for several trips over.
We work with 60 children to the south of Tel Aviv, a coastal city with a big cultural and art scene, in a multi-ethnic school where naturally there is no shortage of Israeli families. A further 60 kids are part of our site across the border into Palestine and we also coach 60 youngsters in the Arab Israeli city of Jaljulyah. On this trip we began to look into the possibility of opening a new centre in Bet Safa'fa in the East of Jerusalem. Our partner is the Ghetton association from Yasha Maknouz, who help us to coordinate all our activities from Israel throughout the year (our staff travel to each of our 29 countries twice a year).
Carlotta Moratti and Edoardo Caldara were involved, along with Massimo Seregni as operations manager. Alberto Giacomini and Silvio Guareschi dealt with the coaching side and the whole trip culminated in a lovely tournament in Jaljulyah, with Arab children playing alongside their Jewish counterparts. The mission's aim is just that, to break down barriers that people put up through religion and allow everyone to play together.
We had an amazing trip. We met some wonderful people and got used to living in very difficult circumstances which really make you question and put your own 'problems' as Europeans into perspective. Israel has voted in the last few days, a further challenge for a country that frequently experiences periods of tension as well as short conflicts with their Arab neighbours.
We try, with the aforementioned respect, to unite and not divide. We try to recognise the obvious differences between the different communities and use them to start something, even if it's only 20 minutes on the football pitch. Then we hand over to the people we help, the real stars of this great mission that travels the globe: Inter Campus.
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