LTTA Norway

Nobel peace prize candidates campaign

We worked together to assign our own award to those, people or associations, who are contributing to a climate of peace and democracy in the world. The students of Kolbotn school suggested as possible candidates: Greta Thunberg, International Rescue Committee, Reporters Without Borders, World Food Programme, Control Arms Coalition.

The students, then, divided into mixed groups, explained the reasons why these candidates deserved our vote. In the end, they chose Greta Thunberg.

The torchlight procession

On December 10, we took part in the torchlight procession in honor of the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali. The atmosphere was magic; we felt that we were part of an important event and that we wanted to be in that peace making process, too.

22 of july

Then another very significant moment: we have learnt about the terrorist attack in Utøya by an anti-democratic, anti-Islamism and anti-feminist far-right militant. In few hours, he blew part of the building that housed Norway ministries killing eight people then moved to the island of Utøya and cruelly shot dead 69 boys and girls who were camping there.

what we learned

REMEMBERING TO BUILD PEACE!

Here we are at the end of this journey. The exchange in Norway was the last part of the project Journeys for Peace. 28 months devoted to understand the different meanings the word Journey has: hope, fear, discovery, wait, development, effort, joy, wonder. All these words always include a meeting: it is our duty to turn into something special and unique. After the torchlight procession for the Nobel Peace Prize, the visits to the Nobel centre exhibition and to Utøya, the shared Christmas market and the final evaluation have ended our journey. It is time to say goodbye and take with us everything we have learned, that has changed us and made us richer. This end is not really an end, but a new beginning, the beginning of our journey as new and better people. We should never be tired of believing in a world where respect, empathy, and tolerance are what we choose in our life. This is how the poem written for the boys and girls of Utoya ends: “hey, hey, time to get up and change the world!”