On the eventful day of 28th January 2022, the youth of Nepal and Bangladesh got a unique and never-foreseen opportunity to bridge a new friendship with youth like them – living miles away. Bridges, Not Borders is one of the flagship programs of the youth-based organization Reflective Teens – whose goal is to look across the borders of different nations and allow the youth of this country to know the culture, history, and people of other countries right from the people themselves.
This cross-cultural program facilitated by Reflective Teens through Bridges, Not Borders allows the youth of Bangladesh to directly interact with the youth of other countries – this time, with the Nepali youth. The Day 1 of the Bridges, Not Borders program took off on 28th January 2022 with 5 young souls each from Nepal and Bangladesh. Day 1 started off with a warm and graceful orientation session, followed by an introductory icebreaking session where our participants each describes a little bit about themselves and their passion and hobbies.
After the participants got a bit well acquainted with each other, they were assigned the task of presenting different aspects of their country to their fellow foreign friends on Day 2. The participants were taught to make a presentation through a brief workshop. Afterward, each of the participants chose a topic to present on Day 2 of the event.
Finally, at the end of the session, we arranged a little game to end Day 1 with a spark. We arranged a game called “2 Truths and 1 Lie” where each participant would get to share 2 truths and 1 lie about them which the other participants had to guess. It was an ecstatic moment as the participants rolled around in laughter and excitement as they played the game. The session sadly had to come to an end but we all managed to take a group photo to commemorate such a joyful time.
Asif Zubayer, Program Coordinator, Bridges Not Borders
