Respect and tolerance for all

Her heart beats for exchange and diversity, the project imagine is her school of life. A portrait of Hannah Gasser, who co-ordinates the international youth network of terre des hommes schweiz.

Hannah Gasser is a power woman who does not flaunt her competence. She wants to make a difference with others that seems right and important to her. The work and concerns of terre des hommes schweiz are part of this. "Development doesn't come from us, but is created locally and is furthered by North-South exchange at eye level," she says.

Final thesis on Western Sahara

"I want to be in contact with different people and I'm interested in what they think," says the woman in her mid-twenties, who has a master's degree in Spanish and geography. Hannah wrote her thesis on the occupied Western Sahara. terre des hommes schweiz has been campaigning for decades for the right of self-determination of the Sahrauis and supports a youth project in the Sahrawi refugee camp Smara in the Algerian desert. Hannah is currently completing an additional pedagogical training course at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. "I always knew that education was my path," she says. But she is still not sure whether gym teaching is the right profession for her. Hannah, who grew up in Nunningen in the canton of Solothurn, comes from a socially committed family. Her two brothers are involved in the youth project imagine von terre des hommes schweiz. Until recently Hannah was herself involved in imagine for a good five years. Now she is working in the International Youth Network (IYN) from terre des hommes switzerland in a small part-time position. But more about that later: Because without Imagination, the Hannah who is sitting opposite us now would not exist.

imagine is best known for the two-day open-air festival in Basel, which is attended by tens of thousands of people every June. The group of imagine, around fifty teenagers and young adults, is committed in many ways to the motto "For Diversity - Against Discrimination", including in the international context, which Hannah is particularly interested in. "imagine has been an important part of my life over the past few years," she says, "and I feel that it is important for me to initiate new things and make a difference together.

Enduring other opinions

Through imagine she met many interesting people and also developed herself personally, Hannah takes stock. "I have received energizers and skills for my future profession and have been able to increase my self-knowledge," she says. For example, she has noticed that she has a balancing effect when emotions run high. Of course, sometimes the group is a little shaky," she reveals, "but we are young, very committed people with our own ideas and points of view. When asked about the Black Lives Matter movement, she says that the anti-racism discussion shows how topical the motto of imagine for respect and tolerance towards all people is. "We have to talk about prejudices", she says, "It is important to me personally to be able to deal with the question of racism and to be able to express a well-founded opinion on it".

pull together

In her new task in the International Youth Network, which has developed from imagine and has existed in this form for about a year, the focus is on worldwide solidarity and mutual learning for change. "We are still in the start-up phase and are giving us the time we need to ensure that the process of finding a solution is democratic and that we do not overrun the youth groups from our partner countries in the South," explains Hannah, who is supported by Sabin Müller, project manager of the International Youth Network.

"Our aim is that all youth groups in the project countries of terre des hommes schweiz participate in the IYN," says Hannah. It is exciting "how incredibly different our contexts are", she knows. There are topics such as sexuality, for example, that you can't simply talk about together, "and we don't always agree with each other".

But that is exactly what spurs them on, says Hannah Gasser: "We must keep talking to each other if we want to make a contribution to a fairer world.

Anna Wegelin