Students' Reports

Fencers for Palestine

Aleksander Kostka is a student of Sociology at TEU and the junior national champion in fencing. Only seemingly these two spheres have nothing in common.

We feel that the project we have been coordinating for the past two months is, in fact, a great experiment.

In the war-ridden Palestine there is one instance of bloodless fighting, and it takes place during the training sessions of the Palestinian Fencing Federation. During the training camp in Zakopane, the project supervisor Dr Krzysztof Gurba called fencing an art, comparing the Palestinian fencers to artists involved not in a fight, but in a dialogue. The two weeks of intensive training in Poland was only a part of the whole project for the Palestinian fencers. The Polish side made sure that something tangible remains in Palestina after the project is finalized.

The 40,000 PLN worth fencing equipment presented by us to the Palestinian Fencing Federation is the biggest ever donation in the 8-year history of the Federation. Before, the Federation could put up only one fencer for a competition, as there was only one set of equipment with FIE homologation. Now the six sets of equipment allows the PFF to put up an entire team for any championship-level competition. This is a huge step ahead. Next month the new equipment is going to be tested at the 11th Pan-Arab Games in Cairo.

Aleksander Kostka and Sylwia Kowalik spent six months in Palestine, with a brief visit back in Poland to finish studies and get their BAs. Mr Kostka's BA thesis dealt with the attitude of Catholic clergy towards Islam.

Fencers for Palestine project was written by Aleksander Kostka and other TEU students. It was realized within the Polish Aid programme under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the International Fencing Federation, Palestinian Fencing Federation, and AZS-AWF student sports club.