Libyan Diaries Part 1

Quite often we visit other people to inspire them.  Even when we visit refugee camps, community centres for the homeless or training facilities for the unemployed, we try to inspire. 

Sometimes, it is us who are inspired.  This is what has happened to The Humanitarian Forum team who has been in Libya for the past 3 weeks. We felt that the level of enthusiasm rose sharply from Benghazi to Al Bayda to Darna and Tobruk. In Benghazi, we trained 110 people from civil society organisations. In Al Bayda, the number of participants rose to 220, but Darna had the highest number of people in the workshop:  266.

People joined the training workshops in different cities such as Tobruk, Al Marj and Ajdabyia. Some participants travelled hundreds of kilometres every day to start the workshop before 9 and to leave workshop after 5. The level of discussion varied but the level of enthusiasm was the common factor.

In Benghazi, we found youth groups consisting of Libyans brought up in Europe and America. We found a city culture which allows you to talk to youth, governments, local organisations, as well as international organisations. 
In Al Bayda, we found the local charity insisting on finding local donors to save costs of workshop.

In Darna, the local government and organisations did their best to offer us accommodation and the use of a conference hall to save more money.

We have been witnessing the birth of a new civil society sector, which will allow them to strengthen the nation.

To be continued...