Mr. Salman Ta’ma Al-Hamdani, one of the notables of Abu Al-Khasib, hosted the participants of the “With Dialogue We Endure and Rise” camp at his welcoming residence.
Sheikh Al-Hamdani provided the campers with a comprehensive explanation of Abu Al-Khasib, its history, and the social and demographic transformations the city has undergone over the past fifty years.
The campers also listened to the city’s residents discuss the long-standing religious and ethnic diversity of Abu Al-Khasib and the nature of peaceful coexistence among its inhabitants throughout the years.
During the meeting, the camp participants discussed with the city’s notables the main challenges and obstacles facing diversity today, as well as proposed mechanisms and approaches to safeguard social cohesion and promote dialogue among the community’s components.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the youth participants from Sinjar presented their host with a stone from Mount Sinjar as a token of appreciation, symbolizing their pride in this mountain, which represents a symbol of Yazidi resilience, attachment to land, country, and identity. They also presented a piece of white fabric embroidered with symbols of Iraqi diversity, crafted by women from various Iraqi communities as part of the Citizenship Education Camp last summer.
It is worth noting that the #With_Dialogue_We_Endure_and_Rise camp is implemented by Masarat Foundation for Cultural and Media Development, in partnership with KAICIID and the House of Coexistence. The camp was launched in Baghdad with the participation of youth from Sinjar, later joined by youth from Baghdad in its first phase, and then continued to Basra, where young men and women from the city joined the team. The program will soon continue its journey across other Iraqi cities, aiming to promote dialogue as a mechanism for peacebuilding among followers of different religions and for rejecting hate speech.
