Anne Fox :: Blog :: Beyond Kitsch

On Friday night I did something which I have never done before and that is go and see an Abba 'tribute' act. I was in Germany, no sorry Mallorca for a conference on Peer Mentoring where I was giving a talk about our VOCA Europe project adapting e-learning vocational training materials for disabled people.

It was a fairly interesting event which will probably lead to my institution making contact with at least one of the participants so that we can work more closely together in our current projects. For the organisers, that in itself counts as a success. But for me the best part was undoubtedly that a group of young mentors and mentees was invited along as well. We discovered what the peer mentoring process had meant  to them and the whole trip was obviously an experience which they will remember as a high point for a long time to come.

In the evening in one of the bars at the centre was the Abba tribute act who were not taking themselves too seriously. They then morphed into a Boney M tribute act. But I forgave them everything when they stayed on and joined in the dancing with mentors and mentees once the DJ took over from them. It was amazing to see these young people, some with severe learning difficulties, who the previous day had been tongue tied in front of us when asked to explain what they had been doing transformed into confident performers as they mimed to Tom Jones' 'Sex Bomb' wrapped in the Welsh flag and wearing the curly black wig from the Boney M performance.

Bringing along beneficiaries of the projects is very rewarding for all parties. I have seen this also with another network I am involved in where university students are frequently involved in organising and contributing to our meetings.

From an intercultural point of view however, the contrast with my recent trip to Leon in Northern Spain could not have been more stark. We were billeted in a very luxurious hotel complex with endless international food at all times of the day. I approached one of the young students who had come out to help the organisers to see whether he would be willing to do a podcast interview with me about his time in Mallorca. But when we tried to find out if anything had struck him particularly as different from Swansea, he was really stuck for words. So no joy there.