Aim: with a visiting two-person team from the Basque Country facilitating a week of sessions that allows our communities to come together for several days of sharing and learning about their Basque heritage

"If Mohammad can't go to the mountain, let the mountain come to Mohammad."

As the saying goes, it makes sense for us too.  If people are not able to attend NABO events, then we have to develop initiatives where we bring the action closer to them.  If we can't find viable ways of keeping things active and engaging in our local Basque communities, then larger regional or national Basque events will not likely appeal to them because they have long-since not been connected.

Basque clubs regularly receive inquiries from European Basques that go along the lines of:  "would like to meet Basque-Americans" and "prepared to work at whatever to cover expenses while there" and "want to help teach about Basque culture."  In practice, very few of these inquiries ever meet with much success.  Meanwhile, Basque clubs are always in search of ways of communicating information about "Basqueness" (Basque culture & identity) to their local membership.  The proposal is to meld these two elements.

For Basque culture to endure we'll need to find a viable balance between the fun of being Basque (e.g., festivals) and knowing something more about what being Basque is about.  That is why NABO is following the motto Recreate + Educate = Perpetuate.  The educate part of the equation is being developed in our GUREA Cultural Literacy program.  Gurea is Basque for "it's ours."

TEAM TRAINING. Basque country young adults apply to a program where the Directorate of Relations with Basque Communities prepares them. This preparation will enable them to present a one-week selection of classes and lessons geared to both children and adults.

ROTATION. This team (probably a pair) would spend one week in a host community then move to the next, covering from 4-6 communities during the course of a summer. 

HOSTING REQUIREMENTS.  Room and board for one week (either a hotel room or staying with a family) and local transportation (including a one-way trip to or from the previous/next community). Each club would have to make the necessary arrangements to secure a large room of sorts for the meetings.   

SESSION OPTIONS.  Morning sessions could be geared more to children, while later afternoon events would be for both young and old.  They could include teaching dances, watching a Basque film (explained & discussed), cooking classes, Euskara introduction, etc.

Send your comments to info@nabasque.org