Non Dalla Guerra (Not from the war) returns to Jordan with the volunteering camps

“Here and back again” is the sentence that accompanied the participants of the volunteering camp of Non Dalla Guerra (Not from the War) in Jordan last year.

Non Dalla Guerra is an independent youth association with headquarters at Vicenza, Italy; they organize volunteering camps in the Middle East, promoting awareness programs in schools on the themes of war and migrations. It sustains the most needful communities in Jordan with schooling and humanitarian aid projects.

“We are sure that dialoguing and the encountering with the other are the only true answers to the violence and extremism” – narrates Davide Travaglini – the spokesperson responsible for the education to peace and the volunteering groups escort.

” We believe in an education to peace that starts from the bottom, from the civil society and the school world – explains Davide once again – it is an education to peace that starts from the youth like us that have decided not to leave space for indifference, putting themselves at stake in the first person”.

The “camp” took place in two milestones, the first one from the 23rd of July to the 6th of August 2022 and the second one from the 13th to the 28th of August, wherein amongst the main activities, always in collaboration with the Jordan Caritas (Charity), there were the meetings with the Syrian and Iraqi families, with the Jordan community and activities with the Syrian, Iraqi and Jordan children.

Abu Ali, for example, lives in a camp where there are Syrian refugee families originating from Bedouin. We are in al-Mafraq, a few kilometers from the border with Syria; these families have found stability, though always precarious, in the al-Mafraq camp over time, moving from living in informal tents to living in cottages and caravans.  “Even last year, we came back to the camp of Abu Ali, his son and the many families who chose to live with them,” says Davide.

There were those who met people who were already friends earlier,  those who tied new relations and those who lived this experience for the first time, like Leonardo Marzioni, Italian, who narrates: “After having lived those days in Jordan, I deeply feel that, in a world in which we bombarded with news of things not good, it is important to let everyone know of experiences like this one”.

For Non Dalla Guerra, the al-Mafraq camp is about friendship and encounter and, true for the whole of Jordan, you always want to come back here!

At the end of this experience, Non Dalla Guerra in Jordan left us a piece of itself. It is a mural created while in Madaba. It is located in the courtyard of the parish of St. John the Baptist. “In this small work,” explains Davide, “measuring 10 meters by 3, we wanted to unite our “story” with that of the reality that has welcomed us all these years. There is the flower that symbolizes Jordan, the black iris, in its stages of life, symbolizing growth. “And then, in this mural,” Davide continues, “we wanted to remember “Here and back again” because in Jordan since 2015 we have come to come back. Every year, this country welcomes us and gives us the opportunity to get to know and try to understand what is happening on the other side of the Mediterranean. Every year, thanks to the trust of those we meet, when we return to our cities we can tell what we have seen and experienced. It is a story that puts the word “peace” at the centre, because a better world is only possible, not from the war”.

Marco, Camilla, Jenny, Anna, Matteo and Benedetta, some of the participants of the volunteering camps, in this video tell us about their experience of meeting the communities of Syrians and Iraqis in Madaba:

Non dalla guerra: http://www.nondallaguerra.it/