Time for a positive European story

Hello Europe is a project to connect people in Europe, enabling them to know about each others’ cultures

di Cristina Barbetta

 

Connect people from different countries in Europe. This is the mission of Hello Europe, a fun and ambitious project launched by three young  Belgian friends, Senne Dehandschutter, Majd Khalifeh and Mathias Brouns. How does it work? They are going to place large 6×2 meters screens at central places in big  European cities. Screens in two different cities will be connected for 30 minutes at a time. After that period the connection will change; this way different people in different places will get the chance to meet each other. 
“What is Belgium? A beer, a sandwich, a chocolate?” According to the three Belgians “although our city, Bruxelles, is the capital of the European Union we know as little of our fellow Europeans as they know about us”. This project will enable different people in different European countries  to know about each others’ lives and culture. And, as the project leaders envision it, it might even be possible to get to debate members of the European Parliament.
Standing in front of one of the large screen, it will be possible to see and speak with the person standing in front of the other screen as if he or she was standing in front of us  in real life. 
The idea of this audio visual experience came to the three guys as they all work in the sector: Majd is a tv journalist, Mathias works in film production and Senne is a director. Therefore  they wanted to put their audio-visual experience together to set a platform that gives Europeans a chance to connect. 
The Hello Europe project is not politically inspired. It is not a commercial  for the European Union. Its only purpose is to connect people in Europe because they think “it is time for a positive European story”. They want all European countries to be involved, also the non-EU members.
At present Hello Europe is looking for sponsors  and for the help of volunteers to realize the project. 

Cosa fa VITA?

Da 30 anni VITA è la testata di riferimento dell’innovazione sociale, dell’attivismo civico e del Terzo settore. Siamo un’impresa sociale senza scopo di lucro: raccontiamo storie, promuoviamo campagne, interpelliamo le imprese, la politica e le istituzioni per promuovere i valori dell’interesse generale e del bene comune. Se riusciamo a farlo è  grazie a chi decide di sostenerci.