Columba-Hypatia: Astronomy for Peace

On Saturday May the 20th, Columba-Hypatia: Astronomy for Peace project carried out their second bi-communal astronomy workshop at the Home For Cooperation, with children from schools from all over Nicosia. With this great activity the first part of the project came to end in schools and in bi-communal workshops for 2017.

The project team has put a lot of hard work into this project since they decided to use astronomy for peace-building, over a year ago, and especially over the past two weeks, where they have run activities in schools all over Cyprus and in bi-communal workshops on Saturdays.

The team says it has all been so worthwhile, and never more so than when one of the children yesterday, when asked what they had learned during the workshop, said: “I’ve learnt that we are all the same” and another said “I’ve learnt that we can all live together, and share with each other”. These past two weeks have been an amazingly enriching experience for all of us!

Columba-Hypatia project will continue in schools in October and will carry out monthly bi-communal astronomy workshops for youth throughout 2017.

‘Columba-Hypatia: Astronomy for Peace’ is a joint astronomy outreach project run by GalieoMobile and the Association for Historical Dialogue and Research, which takes place on the divided island of Cyprus. The project is funded by the International Astronomical Union's Office of Astronomy for Development.

The project aims to inspire young people to be curious about science and the Cosmos, while also using astronomy as a tool for promoting meaningful communication and a culture of peace and nonviolence. Our team conducts educational astronomy activities and explores the Cosmos with children and the public from the various communities living on the island, to inspire a sense of global citizenship “under the same sky” and to look beyond borders.