20 years Drosos Foundation: a celebration with heart and purpose

The evening started with play, lightness and laughter. At the reception, the clowns Sabouny (Sabine Choucair) and Dramy (Ramy Abi Khalil) mingled with participants – sharing whimsical stickers on fragments of personality. True to their slogan, “Send me where love is needed”, they support children and adults in places where moments of joy are desperately needed. Their International Institute for Very Very Serious Studies is the first training programme for street arts in Lebanon.  

The official part of the evening started with a warm welcome by Markus E. Kronauer, President of Drosos Foundation, and highlights of Drosos Foundation’s journey. Building on the Arabic word Nia, which means intention with heart and purpose, Suba Umathevan, CEO of Drosos Foundation, inspired the audience in a keynote reflecting on purpose, approach and outlook – within Drosos Foundation and beyond. She summarised Drosos Foundation’s way of engaging with the words: 

“Our intention is to be enablers, not heroes, to build the ground where others can stand tall, to trust people’s ideas and their power to build a better world. Because real change begins with the power in us.”

Leading change and what it takes

In this spirit of making space for others, five young changemakers took the centre stage of the evening. In a panel, they shared their stories of change – how they moved from I can’t live with this” to “I want to do something about it”.  Sabine Choucair swapped her clowning outfit for a microphone and moderated the panel. Keeping the audience engaged, she first asked everyone to write down a positive message on a paper plane and fly it to others in the room.

The five changemakers were involved in projects supported by Drosos Foundation at some point and all run their own initiatives:

• Aziza Gannoune is the founder of Morocco’s first inclusive gym Nabda. She took part in the project Disability and Entrepreneurship from Amicale Marocaine des Handicapés.  
• Lucia C. Rocktäschel founded the NGO Careleaving Storys in Germany and Kathi Weiler is its co-organiser. Careleaving Storys emerged through the programme Brückensteine and its CareLeaders Fellowship “Awake”.
• Mohammed Tarek is a film critic and programmer, and project manager at Jesuit/El Nahda Association for Cultural and Scientific Renaissance in Egypt.
• Roni Helou is an award-winning fashion designer with a focus on sustainability and activism. He is a strategic and creative consultant, and alumnus of Creative Space Beirut in Lebanon.

Aziza stood on Morocco’s highest mountain, after having climbed it despite a serious health condition, when she decided to leave her stable job to bring people with and without disabilities together to practice sports. Asked about her moment of change, Lucia – who is a care leaver, which means she spent part of her childhood in foster care – said: 

“I want to be the person I would have needed when I was young.” 

As for Roni, he had been interested in fashion since he was 12. As a shy student lacking a role model at that time, he pursued business studies. It was only later, motivated by his friends, that he applied to study fashion at Creative Space Beirut and finally found where he belonged.

All the panelists faced challenges during their journey. Kathi had to unlearn the belief that her perspective didn’t matter - something people and institutions made her feel for years. It is only with time that she learned that there were people who truly cared. Mohamed faced a lot of skepticism about his plan to open a film making school in Upper Egypt. Same for Aziza, who heard from many people that her project would never work. Luckily, they both continued anyway.

Messages for institutions and foundations

The panelists shared from their experience what institutions and foundations should remember to make their work impactful:

• Stay curious and listen to new perspectives. If you don’t know the topic that doesn’t mean it is not relevant.
• Value the impact of peer-to-peer projects and organisations. Lived experience is an asset, not a weakness.
• It is not only about funding, but also about trust - in an idea, a vision, and the people behind it.
• Context and open communication matter: For example, filming in the streets can mean something totally different in Switzerland than in Cairo.
• Focus on quality over quantity: Deeply changing the life prospects of few can have greater impact on individuals and communities than providing a little training for many. 

Touching hearts with arts

The inclusive dance, theatre and singing project Delta closed the evening with their show Fantasea. The touching performance showed how arts can connect, unlock potential and open futures. Delta provides pre-professional training in performing arts for young atypical artists, supporting them to grow their superpowers on stage. Beyond individual empowerment, it contributes to reshaping theatre schools and institutions towards a more inclusive performing arts field in Switzerland. 

The stories and contributions of the panelists and partners showed how powerful it is when we listen to and believe in each other – with open hearts, curiosity and courage.