Omar le chéri association

Omar le chéri is a comic hero created by Gilles Kraemer while he was living in Cairo, which became the mascot of an association organising journalistic writing workshops for young Mediterranean people. It was founded in Paris by Gilles Kraemer, Taoufiq Derradji, Jean-Jacques Dusuzeau et Irena Havlicek, in 1997. It gathers professional journalists, teachers and creative people and make projects in schools, social centers, cultural centers, with teachers or organisers (training of trainers) or directly with young people. Several workshops took place in Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, France, in cities, in disadvantaged or rural areas. Within a week filled with workshops, the young people, including some with learning difficulties, succeed in their project: publishing a journal and a blog. The participation of skilled, and flexible professional journalists, contributes to the quality of the result and highlight young people’s value. According to Gilles Kraemer: “The first objective is not to encourage new careers. We are actually intending to foster citizenship. Our objective is to show that French language can represent a tool for understanding the world and that simple discovery methods, such as interviews and inquiries can help us leaving our daily routine and meeting other people. The workshop develop citizen spirit by giving keys for young people to understand better and demystify the media.”