Rana - Connection Beyond Language
I was once in a small shop in Croatia. I spotted a little girl with her grandmother. Talking only in Croatian, which of course I don’t understand!
I smiled at the girl. Lara was her name!
She returned the smile and approached me, followed by her grandmother.
Through gestures, expressions and a few words, Lara’s grandmother managed to tell me that her son, Lara’s father, had passed away only a year ago due to cancer.
My heart ached as I remembered my story. And I revealed that my own father had lost his battle with cancer two years ago as well.
This was an emotional moment. We found ourselves exchanging tearful hugs as if our pain had found a common language.
Then, we started sharing pictures of the fathers. Despite my zero knowledge of Croatian and their limited knowledge of English, we had a deep bond!
Our connection surpassed language and culture barriers.
That experience left me an unforgettable mark on my soul.
It made realise that, understanding someone’s story is far more important than knowing their nationality, religion or even language.
Ahmed Yassine- Dialogue and Change
One day, I was cleaning up the beach, and I saw a woman and her son staring at us and wondering what we are doing?
The second day, they approached us and asked a direct question.
“What are you doing here? Why are you doing this?”
Then we started talking about plastic pollution and how it affected us all!
The third day, the woman saw us again. But this time, she asked her son to get out of the sea to join our clean-up and started picking up plastic waste with other volunteers.
It all started with a dialogue!
Judith – Music & Politics
Throughout my life, I came to really understand the powerful relationship between music and political sciences.
I know this might sound weird to some people, but it is actually not!
Music really has the power to communicate and connect us in the most powerful ways.
Like for example, when I play the viola with my string orchestra.
I met some of my best friends, even though we don’t speak the same language, but we were able to connect through playing music together!
We connected through Egyptian melodies, Greek harmonies and timeless classical pieces.
And as for politics, it revolves around the dynamics of power, influence, and the shaping of societies.
Joral – Mediterranean Identity
I remember when I was applying to political sciences school in France, one of the jury members actually asked me a question that really caught me off-guard!
The question was: How do you identify yourself?
It was really the first time that somebody had ever asked me that question.
Should I talk about my mother’s stories from the south of France?
Or my father’s anecdotes from his youth in Istanbul?
The wisdom of my Lebanese grandparents?
Or all of these years that I’ve spent in the vibrant streets of Cairo?
Then, I paused for a second, and I found myself saying:
“You know what? Actually, I identify as Mediterranean!”
Waad – Where Dialogue Begins
I am Waad Saber, a documentary photographer from Egypt.
I love using photography as a way to tell stories and to engage in dialogue.
Perhaps this is because I come from a home where dialogue was always present.
Since I was little, my parents never imposed a specific path on us.
They would listen to us and let us choose. Maybe that’s why we all turned out so different.
I’m in photography, my sister is in music, and my other sister is more academically inclined. Each of us found our own path on our own.
I remember when I was trying to choose my major.
It would have been so easy for them to tell me, ‘Choose something safe.’ But the opposite happened. They told me, ‘Do what you love.’
Those words changed my life. They made me believe that freedom is not the opposite of respect. And that real dialogue means trust, not challenge.
Over time, I discovered that my work in photography is an extension of this dialogue.
Every project I photograph is a kind of conversation between me and my family, between me and my generation,and sometimes even between me and myself. My family taught me that listening is power. And that every voice deserves to be heard. Maybe that’s why I always photograph people… so I can hear them. In our culture, talking about feelings or dreams isn’t always easy. But when we speak honestly…barriers come down,and we discover that we are not so different.I believe that open dialogue between generationsis what can change society.Every generation needs to listen to the other.Not to be convinced,but to understand. If I were to depict ‘family dialogue’ in a single shot?It would be a family sitting around a table.Everyone talking… laughing… sharing.No one’s voice
louder than the other’s,but with warmth… love… respect.And for me… that is the most beautiful form of dialogue.
Brian – Bonds Through The Lens
Mohamad – Uncovering Shared Cultures
The moment I truly realised how connected the Euro-Mediterranean region is happened during a language tandem exchange programme in Spain in Santiago de Compostela. I was practicing Spanish with students from different countries. And while we were helping each other with simple phrases, we suddenly found ourselves talking about our families, our traditions, and our daily lives.
And it hit me: despite the distances and the borders, we shared very similar values. We love food, music, we’re family-oriented, we’re emotional, and above all, we are lively.
Some of my most memorable experiences in Spain came from that feeling of familiarity. Even though the language was different, the people felt just like us. The same warmth, the same energy. Just expressed in different words and different dishes and tunes. The cultural vibe, the way people care for one another, reminded me so much of home in Lebanon.
And that experience taught me something important: communication is not only about language. You can connect through food, music, art, and the small everyday moments that speak to emotions more directly than words ever can.