CultureShock Europe - Charter
CultureShock was an idea that came to me, through conversation with Claire Lissardy, a beautiful, intelligent girl from St. Jean-de-Luz in France. We travfelled together for a while in Bolivia, meeting on the train from Arica, Chile to Uyuni, Bolivia, we went together to Sucre, where we humted down every decent cup of cofee in town. There we met two Swiss acquaintances of mine, from the Chilkean desert town of San Pedro de Atacama (Bennie and Daniel).
The four of us together went on a wild pursuit of the history of Daniels great hero Che Guevara. Going to Valle Grande, the town where Che's dead body was displayed to the media, in 67, and where he was later to be buried for almost 30 years, before being dug out only last year, by Cuban Military. From there we headed into the wilderness that is the village of La Higuera, in the vicinity of which we camped out in the exact same valley where Che and his bnand of merry revolutionaries had hidden from the Bolivian army.
It was a different and educational trip, including conversations with some very interesting locals, some of whom had known Che 30 years ago. Well, Claire and I continued our trip into Santa Cruz, where we parted after another few days of frantic coffee searching.
In all that time we spent together, we talked. Well, I talked, and she listened. She is a fantastic listener, and a fantastic person. When she talked, and told me of her projects in trying to learn about her basque culture, from basques all over the world, it was, and still is, and inspiration to me.
It was, I think, the first indication, that my background in IT, wasn't a total waste of time, as I am often prone to thinking. It inspired me and made me realize that there is a place for the WWW in that which is the exchange of cultural identity between people.
It taught me that there are Worth While things to be done with the internet, as an agent of cultural exchange, a aid in maintaining cultural diversity, but most of all in understanding the value of that diversity.
From those long conversations with Claire, with a woman I admire so much for the things she does, stemmed the ideas that I have called CultureShock Europe. They are only ideas, and wether they ever come to anything remains to be seen, but one thing is sure. The influence these thoughts have had in driving me ever closer to wanting to do something for someone else, is not to be overlooked.
Whether these exact ideas come to anything or not, it is the pursuit of ideas such as these, that have been the greatest agent of change in my life. That are responsible for changing me from what I consider a shallow man, content in a comfortable life, to what I hope, in time will be a broad-minded man, willing to suffer for what I belive in. There is a long way to go, but, thanks to Claire, and many other friends, the journey has begun.....
While sitting in Santa Cruz, Bolivia I wrote the following charter for the CultureShock project. It may give you an idea as to what the thoughts are all about....
CultureShock Europe is an internet resource with the purpose of Enabling young people around Europe to share their ideas and projects about European (and Non-European) Culture and the exchange of such cultures.