{"id":33098,"date":"2026-05-05T14:14:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/outside-in-conversation-right-in-the-thick-of-it\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T12:24:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T10:24:27","slug":"outside-in-conversation-right-in-the-thick-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/outside-in-conversation-right-in-the-thick-of-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Outside, in conversation, right in the thick of it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sometimes a smile is all it takes to open a door: Younes Essaboni, a student and volunteer at the terre des hommes schweiz information booths, explains how he not only provides information about projects but has also come to realize that every encounter is an opportunity. These are moments that show what happens when you literally take your commitment out onto the streets. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Public spaces, changing weather, and countless encounters: With information booths at various public locations throughout German-speaking Switzerland, terre des hommes schweiz engages with people directly on the street. These are places of encounter where skepticism turns into interest and distance gives way to closeness. These regular campaigns inform interested people about our work and our youth projects\u2014and, in the best-case scenario, also attract new supporters. <\/em> <\/p>\n\n

As part of last year\u2019s team, the experience was, above all, intense and surprisingly personal for Younes Essaboni. \u201cOnce, someone asked me if we really stood outside in all kinds of weather. When I said \u2018Yes,\u2019 he just laughed and said, \u2018Respect\u2014that\u2019s real dedication.\u2019\u201d Moments like these have stayed with the student in particular. They show how visible dedication becomes when you literally take it outside\u2014and how quickly curiosity can lead to genuine conversations. <\/p>\n\n

When Distance Becomes Closeness <\/h3>\n\n

Not all passersby immediately knew why they were being approached or what the information booth was about. \u201cAn older woman initially thought we were trying to sell her something. When she realized that the work of terre des hommes schweiz involves projects with real added value, she was completely relieved.\u201d It was precisely these brief turning points that made many conversations valuable in the student\u2019s eyes\u2014skepticism gave way to interest, and distance turned into closeness. <\/p>\n\n

Commitment knows no age<\/h3>\n\n

Some encounters have particularly touched Younes: \u201cThe one that stuck with me the most was a man who was already very well informed about our work. He really just wanted to know how he could help,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI was really blown away\u2014at 84 years old, he donated to our youth projects via Twint as a matter of course.\u201d For Younes, this is a powerful sign that commitment isn\u2019t a matter of age. <\/p>\n\n

Meaningful and contemporary projects<\/h3>\n\n

The response to the street campaigns aimed at raising the profile and awareness of terre des hommes schweiz was encouraging overall. \u201cOur projects were often seen as meaningful and relevant.\u201d Of course, there were other moments as well: \u201cSome passersby weren\u2019t interested in talking at all\u2014in those cases, there usually wasn\u2019t much we could do, and the conversations were very brief. But that\u2019s just part of it,\u201d Younes knows from experience. <\/p>\n\n

During his assignments for terre des hommes schweiz, the Berlin native found the positive aspects to be the most significant: genuine conversations with a wide variety of people, sincere interest, and the feeling of making a difference through direct action. Right where people are on the move. In all kinds of weather. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes a smile is all it takes to open a door: Younes Essaboni, a student and volunteer at the terre des hommes schweiz information booths, explains how he not only provides information about projects but has also come to realize that every encounter is an opportunity. These are moments that show what happens when you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":32812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-switzerland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33099,"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33098\/revisions\/33099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terredeshommesschweiz.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}