***UPDATE*** we have put some photos from our travels in the gallery section. Enjoy!
Our Story
Eugenija and Kamal, the M.A.D. couple: an explosive mixture of Russian, French, Lithuanian, African, Islamic and non religious backgrounds.
What is our project about? The M.A.D. project, or the Making A Difference project, is born out of the union of this multicultural couple. We believe that cultural differences, such as ours, are to be cherished and respected because it is one of the wonders of humanity.
Instead of racism, xenophobia, stereotyping, discrimination based on race, ethnicity or religion, we want to promote a cultural understanding and encourage curiosity in the Other culture. With the rise of islamophobia, that is nourished with negative images of Muslims, we decided to present another picture, a positive one, of muslim majority countries through their arts and cultures.
With our own savings we have traveled for 8 months in Indonesia, Malaysia, Palestine and Egypt, meeting, documenting and talking to painters, musicians, rock bands, circus artists, writers, poets, actors, photographers, architects, monks, imams, university professors and students, politicians and simple people.
And now we need your help for the next step: to share all these amazing stories with people in France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Poland and Lithuania. For three months we wish to "tour" in schools, organisations, universities or any other venues that are interested to present our experiences through photos, stories, videos and most importantly - educational workshops (all of it for free!).
So in brief: Eugenija and Kamal, the M.A.D. couple, with your support will make an educational campaign in 7 selected European countries from March till June, with which we hope to bring a positive image of people from muslim majority countries and thus Make A Difference!
The Impact
We sincerely believe in the power of education. We could have simply written a book about our travels, or even easier - make it into a blog. But we believe that in the age of social media and constant overflow of information through different medias, it is important to have a personal encounter with people, to hear their stories and experiences, to be encouraged and inspired by example. And surely this educational tour will have an impact on our audience, it will raise questions, answers for which to be sought, it will give a broader perspective on the world, it will foster understanding, tolerance, respect of our neighbors, colleagues and classmates that seem to be different from us .
What We Need & What You Get
It is plain and simple - we want you to be part of MADventure by supporting us with some money, so we can make the educational trip in Europe possible. Well, do not get us wrong - we do not want your money so we can enjoy being tourists in Europe for three months! We want to be established as an organisation, we want to build our network and audience. We want you to give us a kickstart into the future of an established cultural initiative that does make a difference.
A short break down where the money will be used: our biggest expenses will be transport and food. While food will be covered with our own money, we plan to use the money fundraised to cover the transportation. We also want to allocate some money for accommodation, though we do plan mostly to CouchSurf and crush at places of our friends :) Other costs are related to establishment of the official organisation (paperwork, fees, translations, etc), costs related to printing materials to be used during the educational tour, communication expenses, parking, etc.
We will provide the monitor for how the money is used and all the money that is not used during the eurotrip will be used for establishment of the proper NGO - rent of premises, printing of informational materials, a photo book, production of documentary, and other MAD products.
And don't forget to check the perks that we offer!
Other Ways You Can Help
Whether you support us out of your pocket or not, a very HUGE MASSIVE help is to spread the word about us - tell about this MAD couple to your friends on facebook, tweet about it, email, ask your boss to throw in some buck, get us on your local radio or newspaper. The more people we reach, the closer to the goal we will be!
While we are on a MAD euro-trip, you can also host us, invite us for a drink or dinner, or come and listen to our stories. Follow our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/MADproject and our blog http://themadproject.wordpress.com for updates of where we are and where the next talk is going to be.
