It isn't easy to have the same feelings for everyone and treat them all the same, whatever their nationality, religion, gender, colour or ethnicity. To do so, you must be very passionate about equity with a deep belief that everyone is special in his own way. This is called a belief in 'diversity'. Last year, Barack Obama, a black man with African origins, was elected for the biggest position in the US ��" the President. This, apparently, has helped encourage various countries, entities and organisations to stress the theme of diversity, announcing 2010 to be a special year for this theme. In many places in Egypt you feel "diversity is in the air", according to Karima Karshan, a 25-year-old Moroccan who lives in Egypt, describing the time she's been spending in the British Council in Agouza, where she's doing a language course. "People of any age, nationality, colour, religion and ethnicity study there without any discrimination whatsoever between them," Karima adds. "Moreover, we ��" people with a sort of disability ��" don't feel different either." Karshan suffers from partial hearing impairment, which usually causes her a lot of pain when dealing with 'normal' people. "I don't know how they do it, but in there I feel 'normal' too," she concludes. The reason why Karima feels like this is no secret, when you hear the council's director talking wholeheartedly about the very notion of diversity. "There is no norm, there is no 'normal' or 'perfect' person, there is no perfect religion, there is no perfect gender, there is no perfect ethnicity," Paul Smith, the Director of the British Council in Egypt, told the Mail in an interview. "They all are part of humanity, a wonderful thing. Celebrating this fact is what we are about." Starting from staff recruitment to their annual training on diversity to the targeted group, the British Council tries to keep the themes of diversity and equal opportunity ahead. However, it's the projects that speak out loud for this theme. Last month, for instance, the British Council started a project with Al-Azhar University, in which training, development and exchange between the two entities are taking place. "The project started when people from Al-Azhar came to us saying, 'Our religion Islam is really misunderstood in your country and culture', so we help to find the voice, language and means of explaining Islam well," Smith added. In this project, a number of Al-Azhar students will travel to the UK, while some British Muslim students will come to Al-Azhar, so as to build a group of Al-Azhar students who haven't only studied Islam but have also seen other perspectives. "The main reason of this project is to get a better flow of understanding and discussion between the world of Islam, as professionally understood and delivered by Al-Azhar, and the West, which has misunderstood Islam," Smith explained. "Instead of celebrating diversity of religions of the world, we are working in the areas of distrust and fracture. That's a reality that must be changed." Aside from Al-Azhar project, the theme of diversity and knowing the other better is also found in many other projects. One of these projects sees the exchange of Egyptian and British students between the two countries for six months. They take students from both countries, together, spending three months in each country working in the civil service. This project ��" called Global Exchange ��" isn't about lectures or course, but the whole experience is life-changing. "Most bigotry emerges from people who haven't been given the opportunity to see the world from anybody else's perspective," Smith stressed. "We work on getting people to change their perspective; perspective means diversity, seeing the world through other people's eyes." Projects for people with disabilities are also on the top of the list, with one project targeting people with hearing impairments and another people with physical disabilities. The latter involved disabled people putting on a play. Everyone who watched it learned how to understand and celebrate individuality and differences among people. "We try to give opportunities to people who are otherwise excluded. Inclusion is what matters. There's got to be a world that includes everybody," Smith stressed with passion. "It's not just an obligation for us, but it's a passion to celebrate diversity and the individuality of mankind, which is what cultural relations is all about." On the personal level, Smith has always embraced his belief in equality between races, religions and ethnicities. That can be simply understood from his family. Smith, who is British, is married to an Indian woman, which means that their two children are half-British, half-Indian. He describes his family as ‘global citizens'. For diversity to be understood and celebrated worldwide, there are some conditions. According to Smith, there must be a common will, there must be a democratic environment with human values, with the government, institutions and media respecting individuals. In this world, there should be no discrimination, no violence and no terrorism, because in many cases these problems don't emerge from politics but from cultures. "When people become scared of or distrusting of each other's values and cultures, they act violently, thinking that the other's value system or beliefs are going to overwhelm them and that becomes terrorism. "That's why diversity matters. We have to keep the debate about diversity going around, in order to take the tension out. We have to live together understanding that no American or other Western culture will take over the other cultures and that Islam isn't a threat. In fact, Islam is probably the most tolerant of all religions," he stressed. In some ways, Smith believes it's becoming crucial for people all over the world to start understanding one another and seeing their differences from another perspective, as part of the world's diversity. "If there's greater understanding between different cultures and peoples, then we can better address the world's problems that threaten us all. It's our chance to survive."
