We often talk about the 2 communities of Cyprus. Each of these 2 communities receives an education heavily oriented towards the so called “mother country”, often neglecting our common history. But in this way, not only is the history and background of the other community not taught, we also ignore a great number of other, much smaller but proud communities of the Cypriot society.
Very few people among the youth are aware of who or what the Maronites, the Armenians or the Latins are. In addition to the aforementioned Cypriot communities in the recent past we have seen a rise in numbers of immigrants and refugees living amongst us, such as Syrians, Filipinos, Pakistanis, European Union nationals, Turks and many more.
Based on all these then, one question arises:
Who are the People of Cyprus?
In attempting to answer this question, the Cypriot Puzzle came up with the idea of creating a series of four short animated videos. This was made possible through the Youthopia Small Grants, implemented by MAGEM and YOUTH POWER and funded by the European Union.
The process of the creation of the videos engaged youth from different communities collaborating with one another, while at the same time giving them a chance to work on real life projects, improve their portfolio and learn about the Cyprus Problem by actually working on something relevant to it. The main body of the work was carried out by students across the island while the CyP team mainly acted as coordinators. We created two teams of students; the ‘data team’ and the ‘design team.’ The data team worked on gathering and analysing data while the design team worked on visualising that data through illustrations and designs. A total of 25 individuals participated in the production of the four animated videos.
Before one attributes roles and stakes in the Cyprus Conflict, one first has to know who the people of Cyprus are. In line with the Cypriot Puzzle’s aim for informed and enlightened citizens, this project aspires to shed light upon this issue.
The People of Cyprus videos will be released in the coming week. Watch this space.