I have no idea whats going on

What is going on with the world,

You probably asked yourself this question at least once a day, the last 3 months.

From the beginning, our lifestyle has changed significantly, which has affected our mental health. And now, for several days now, we are seeing another problem that is bothering people and becoming the reason for protests. Racism.

It’s even a little strange that during the pandemic, when people fear for their lives and try to stay at home, global protests began. But, this happens because it is important!

And no matter how strange it sounds, coronavirus and racism have many similarities.

More precisely, the reaction of people to these two, different things is similar.

Why haven’t we learned how to deal with racism and the pandemic?

Humanity has already seen an outbreak of plague, Spanish, Bird and Pork flu

Humanity has seen slavery and racism for many years, but we still have to go through it again and again. Why?...
Because people don’t believe they exist, if they haven’t affected them personally.

It seems rather strange to us, yes, but it is common to all people.

"it doesn’t happen to me, I’m safe, so it doesn’t exist"  This is how we think, and not only about the  things above , we think so about the war, about climate change, about social inequality,about refugee problem etc.

But why, why is it so difficult for us to get out of our comfortable shell and see what is happening around us?

Perhaps we are afraid to recognize our share of responsibility, our share of the work that we do not perform. But, at the same time, we see that there is nowhere to ignore these problems, the more we close our eyes, the closer they get. and the day is near when we will have to stop running and start working together to resolve all these issues.

Until recently, I was also one of many who are in the eternal stage of denial. But these 2-3 months in isolation in Berlin made me think about all this very much. Every time I called my family and heard their conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic, I began to find common ground with the rest of the problems that we deny. And I decided for myself, never run away again, never turn a blind eye to global, local and even personal problems.

And actually I'm grateful to ESC, to my volunteering year because it is here, in Berlin, where a lot of things are happening and where hot topics are discussed, protests and actions take place, I saw the other side of life, where not everything is okay and where not everyone is living a better life...

Another contribution of the ESC to the fight against racism in my opinion is our intercultural communication with other volunteers and youth exchanges.

Because, only by recognizing each other  we can overcome our stereotypes and prejudices.