In the afternoon of Saturday 19 March 2016, a special event was organized which combined Motivational Speeches with a Human Library. The aim was for all participants to reconsider some things in their life and evolve as individuals.
Participants got to witness numerous motivational speeches from people coming from very diverse backgrounds:
- Ms. Kader SEVİNÇ, the CHP Representative to the EU in Brussels and a PES Presidency Council member
- Alfonso ALCOLEA, Administrator at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels
- Marsida BANDILLI, PhD student in Political Science at the University of Antwerp
- Tudor MIHAILESCU, Co-Founder at GovFaces and Doctoral Candidate in Political Science at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva
- Ali Arshad JANABIM, Iraqi national living in Belgium as a refugee for the last six months
- Fiorenzo De MOLLI, former Italian priest who chose to resign so that he could marry
All speeches are available online at the #OurPuzzle YouTube channel.
A separate part of the event in between the speeches allowed the participants to form small groups and take advantage of the four 'human books' sitting at the various corners of the room.
A 'human book' is a storyteller, a person who has trodden a unique path in life or who has gone through a remarkable experience and is ready to share it and be asked questions.
The titles of our books were:
- the Bipolar Book
- the Bisexual Book
- the Former Prisoner Book
- the Male Nurse/Physically Aggressive/Former Drug Addict Book
But, as the participants got to understand, there is much more behind these labels and a lot to learn when interacting with people outside your everyday encounters.
The event was open to anyone with an open mind. Students, alumni, staff and locals admitted that this unique event was able to somewhat shake them and help them start seeing some things from a new perspective, bring out their best self in everything, and prioritize what really matters.