In Lebanon, lessons have been taught to 6,500 persons from 20 different towns although the activities in their school are over, we continue teaching them, to give continuity to an activity that for them has nothing to do with suffering, but instead, give them joy». FROM BOSNIA The success obtained by the Cervantes programme in Bosnia led to the Parachute Brigade, who started it, to set it up in Kosovo in the year 2000. Courses lasted for one month and they were taught in schools from the Spanish area of responsibility, among them Istok, Rakos, Banja, Djurakovak and Suvo Grlo. The commitment with the mission executed by our soldiers limited to 35 the number of students in each centre, and for the realization of this extra task, they counted with the support of the Psychological Support Team of the contingent, which gave them psycho-pedagogical advices. Five years later, the programme arrived to Afghanistan, where the soldiers taught our language and culture in the Qala i Naw institute. The consecutive detachments also collaborate with the Spanish Department from the University of Kabul, where, before beginning the lessons, classrooms had to be prepared in order to repair the impacts caused by artillery. Building, electricity, painting, glassware, plumbing tasks… made with their own hands and paid by themselves. That year, in Iraq, also within the Cervantes programme, teaching was conducted in the public libraries of Diwaniya and Nayaf. Such initiative was part of the Averroes project, aiming at maintaining the cultural exchange between Spain and Iraq, as well as increasing knowledge and confidence among Spanish troops. The Cervantes programme in Lebanon FOR years, the Instituto Cervantes has been working with the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces. Said cooperation has been fundamental within the Cervantes programme, whose aim is to teach Spanish language in those non-Spanish speaking countries where Spain has UN detachments, as in Lebanon. At the Miguel de Cervantes Military Base, Spanish volunteer soldiers gave free Spanish lessons to the civilian population, after being instructed to do that by the Instituto Cervantes, by means of teacher training workshops. Twice a year, the Instituto and the Armed Forces agree to move a detachment to the Miguel de Cervantes Military Base, and work is conducted to make the volunteer soldiers acquire teaching techniques and tools which allow, through Spanish language and culture lessons, to get close to a local population which positively view this initiative. From 2006, more than 6,000 Spanish students who have gone through this programme, and more than 800 soldiers, have combined this teaching task with their military professional work, by implementing the programme in more than 20 towns in the south of Lebanon, and by teaching Luis García Montero Director of the Instituto Cervantes in 31 different centres: schools, social centres, town halls, cultural centres… Lessons where elder people are mixed with children, groups that one day are large and another day have few people, adults that take interest in them, some of them as a leisure activity and others, by professional purposes —some of them get to even work as interpreters at the base—. In this way, soldiers get to convey the Spanish language and culture and get close to the Lebanon population. I would like to highlight intercultural approach though the language lessons. Such approach should be valued very positively, so as the population does. The Cervantes programme serves as a key to let our soldiers enter localities where there exists certain hostility towards blue helmets and military presence of other countries. And by means of this approach, ties have been stablished and the troops, whose mission is to preserve peace, are well received. As a consequence, they can do their surveillance work and monitor the agreements signed by conflicting parties. On the other hand, it is also of great interest the cooperation for teaching Spanish to foreign soldiers, which has been executed in person within the courses given by the Ministry of Defence or through digital media. Our courses are being launched in Cape Verde, Senegal and Mauritania. The Instituto Cervantes is a State institution. We have signed very different agreements with several agencies from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation, in order to conduct pedagogical missions in the sub-Saharan Africa, or to introduce several delegations of foreign diplomats into the Spanish culture. We have also signed some agreements with the Minister of Interior. For example, for training volunteers to teach Spanish to prison population who do not know our language. This kind of teaching serves to make the penitentiary system, as required by the Constitution, a way of re-joining society. These agreements of different characteristics help us to develop our work as a State Institution on behalf of the Spanish society. One of the proudest we are about, and which is more useful for Spanish democracy, cultural diplomacy and for Spanish presence in the world is the one we develop with the Minister of Defence. For all this, we are glad to feel part of this project and to feel useful as well. 30 Revista Española de Defensa December 2019
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