Soft diplomacy

Updated on: Monday, December 27, 2010

Away from hard core diplomacy that countries indulge in, there are these little person-to-person exchanges of different countries that create more effective friendship and bond.

This is what Russian Yuliya Golovina N., General Director of The International School of Youth Diplomacy, Moscow, and her wards Ilya Chistyakov and Ann Novoselova are achieving on their recent visit to the city. The two students are here to complete their project which began in Russia. Its main motive is to garner vibrant exchange and response from the youth of Kerala and India.

The two youngsters talked about their country and sought responses from students in the city schools so much so that many kids have asked for Russian to be introduced in their curriculum! Likewise Ilya and Ann, back home, prepared for the project in a wonderfully elaborate and detailed way. They visited 12 regions of Russia meeting middle and senior school students and introduced them to information about India. They then asked the students to paint from this info. From the hundreds of art works collected, they have brought 80 works to be showcased at Vernissage Art Gallery later this month. “The whole project has been very interesting,” says Ilya and he feels that the most important factor he has learnt from India is the “tolerance mentality.”

The two students hope that their project which has brought them in “direct contact” with Indian students will set the ball rolling for more such exchanges. Of course, its quite another matter says Ann that a seven-year-old painted an elephant in the snow after she heard all about India!

Their project can be accessed at www.youth-forum.org

Soft diplomacy

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