Ten years of workshops with children around the world, in private and public schools, NGOs, orphanages, hospitals, in big cities and in the middle of nowhere, in slums and in the heart of the mountains, from France to Lebanon, from Mexico to Tunisia...
Nearly 3,800 children in twelve countries to whom we have shared the beauty of our diversity, in our differences but ultimately and above all in our many similarities. All these children to whom we have sought to instill a deep curiosity about others, a sense of belonging to a whole, but also pride in their own identities and heritage.
What does it mean to keep an association like Konstelacio going for 10 years?
It means having faith in the beauty that exists in everyone, refusing to see things in black and white, and accepting that everyone has a rainbow inside them. No one is fundamentally good or bad. It also means lying to yourself a little when you sometimes lose faith, because no, we don't believe in it every day, no matter how optimistic we may be. It means moving forward with a dream in mind, while keeping your feet firmly on the ground, and suddenly looking behind you... around you... and seeing a whole community of motivated, committed people involved in the same slightly crazy dream. It means sometimes losing yourself and eventually finding yourself again, thanks to this community. It means fighting against all odds, but also savoring the joy of being carried along by the tide.
Why raise these children's awareness of intercultural dialogue?
Konstelacio is based on the idea that by discovering other ways of living and thinking, we learn about ourselves, and that the better we know ourselves, the less we feel threatened by difference.
Our goal is to encourage children to ask questions to better understand otherness, rather than guessing, often incorrectly, why others react differently and jumping too quickly to judgment and rejection. We all naturally have stereotypes. What Konstelacio seeks to do is defuse their prejudices (literally "judging before," based on these stereotypes).
What now?
When Charlotte Courtois created Konstelacio in 2011, she set off alone on a 15-month trip around the world to meet children in seven countries. Today, Konstelacio has a six-person board of directors, around 60 members, 20 volunteers, numerous partners, and countless children who have been made aware of the issues.
Thank you all for your support over these wonderful years!
Our wish for the next 10 years is to see this wonderful community grow, to increase the number of workshops for children around the world, and to continue sharing the beauty of our diversity with all of you.
We hope to have the pleasure of counting you among us for the rest of our adventures!
Long live Konstelacio!
They talk about it better than we do...
To illustrate the importance of raising awareness about intercultural dialogue, here are some reactions from our students over the past 10 years.