In December 16, 2013 a group of independent young Syrians started a project titled “Mandela House” in Qamishli, a Kurdish-majority town in the north-east of Syria with a Kurdish majority. The project adopts the values of Nelson Mandela's revolution against racism and apartheid. The project, which was announced on January 10, 2014, aims to achieve sustainable development in social, economic and political aspects in Qamishli through training workshops on democracy and transitional justice. It also focuses on spreading the culture of dialogue between all social components of the Syria's northeast, with the financial and logistic support of the civil organization, Pel.
The house was named after Mandela because of his heroic struggle against tyranny and the boundless influence of his humanitarian ideals, which the activists believe are with great importance in Syria today after the militarization of the Uprising. Following in Mandela's footsteps, the House is a civic incubator of youth organizations and groups working in Qamishlu, that offers them the necessary support for the success of their civil projects.
The House managers are Osama Ahmed, Rozan and Gandhi Saado, a member of the Assyrian Organization. The team has previously cooperated on many projects, including “The First Spring Festival”, “Bus Cinema” and “Peace Marathon”.
The “Mandela House” activists have organized many training workshops in the field of organization management, transparency, civil peace and the challenges of peaceful coexistence in the region. In its monthly activity plan, the House also hopes to conduct several workshops that will focus on preparing interns in the field of psychological and social support. One of the activists explains to Syria Untold the work line of this project: “In Al-Hasakah, the project will cover Qamishli, Amuda, Derbasiyeh, Ras al-Ain and other cities, where we will be training 200 activists and the priority goes to sociology graduates and those working in kindergartens. The trainer is Muhammed Halim, who has been working in this field since 2004, and has undergone several trainings in this area by UNICEF and the Agha Khan Foundation."
The House also held several workshops in the field of media and transitional justice. The group’s activities also include a monthly film and book club. Books and films are chosen with relation to issues of civil strife and the consequences of dictatorships and civil wars. The first two to be discussed were: “Goodbye Lenin”, a German film about the aftermath of collapse of the Berlin Wall, and “On Identity”, a book by Lebanese-French author Amin Maalouf. The initiative aims to open a discussion on the book, which will be initially distributed to thirty people, and focus on both areas of agreement as well as disagreement. This will help, according to the group, to “come to concrete conclusions after the discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of nonviolent activism.” This project will also be supported by independent activists and the Pêl - Civil Waves foundation.
