Innovative Syrian Conference
I had the most amazing day yesterday at Kings College with a full day of inspiration, courage, tenacity, entrepreneurial spirit, education, motivation, productivity to Demonstrate Empowerment for Syrian Refugees. It was the 6th Annual Global Conference by Jusoor Syria - Syrian Youth Innovation Laboratory
My attendance was from my desire and drive to find out as much as I can to help my Family Link Up project. I have particular concern for the family in Turkey at the moment where there are signs of War Fatigue, Pain from broken lives and feelings of loss of hope... Movement is restricted in Turkey and there is no paid work yet there is a need to rebuild lives. I wish I could go to fully assess the situation. Yesterday I saw it is possible to not only rebuild as a refugee but to help others to succeed too. It gave me hope and I had some renewed direction to find a way to help my family in Turkey, plus fully achieve rebuild for all the scattered family I befriend. Fund raising being a major problem for me as I tend not to fit squarely into Grant aid. The team of presenters and speakers welcomed all I do and I felt absorbed into the day and was able to contribute as well as learn.
We looked at:-
Agents of Change Education and Peacebuilding.
Future Leaders Changing the world, bridging the gap.
Private sector engagement and Entrepreneurship
Design Thinking Master Class - A process for Creative Problem Solving.
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Oh my oh my I cannot even begin to find the words to fully express my reaction to actually meeting one of the most amazing Syrian Refugee I have been following over the years since her arrival in Yorkshire. Razan is a beautiful lady.. with such humility yet has achieved so much. Not only creating a Cheese making business but one that has helped our local dairy farmers. We are well chuft with our Yorkshire Syrian Lass for all she has done and is continuing to do. She is winning awards, been on TV celeb chef programmes and is highly regarded by Princess Anne.... The UNHCR refer to her success as an example of rebuilding life in a new safe land and I can add in the welcoming region of Yorkshire! I actually welled up with pride and awe at her story. You can read her story and order her cheese on Yorkshire Dama link .... Keep Scrolling there is more!
Great conversation over lunch and then the afternoon session with Fiona Myles was mind blowingly wonderful so stimulating! I have never heard of the Double Diamond process for problem solving. This process is used by the Design Council to problem solve design issues.. But it can be applied to all sorts of problems and needs to achieve defined outcomes. It is used in Think Tank groups to help explore the path from problem to outcome... reaching into positive aspects and down into negative aspects.... so you can augment positives to keep on track to outcome and nullify or lessen negatives to achieve the goal. We had tools and leader/mentors to work through specific problems in workshops. I was in the "Need to Learn English for Syrian refugee" workshop. We had to create a Persona of the refugee to help more on the pathway to achieve fluency of English. You will see how active this afternoon was as you see the photos I took. But I have some tools and will work on this process to feedback on my use of it... So later in the week I will post an update for you readers and to seal in my mind too!
