What does it feel like when plans to go on a workcamp with SCI fail…? Those who have experienced it know that it is the feeling of a lost summer. In recent months, online living has become a reality for many people, and also many SCI activities are now successfully carried out online, hence the idea of an online workcamp.

Questions arose about how to organise an online workcamp for the benefit of many people, not just volunteers sitting in front of a computer screen. Editing Wikipedia as part of an online workcamp with Jeden Świat became the answer and a way to find oneself in a new reality. The theme was the last 100 years of activism for world peace – and thus the past and present of the SCI movement.

For three days, from Saturday to Monday (20-22.06.2020), 7 people from different places in the world participated in workshops prepared by an experienced Wikipedian from Wikimedia Polska. The workshop was devoted to editing entries in the largest online encyclopaedia, principles of using sources, and also – the community of volunteers editing Wikipedia around the world. We connected from various places of the globe and edited Wikipedia in many languages: Polish, English, Armenian, Russian, Bengali. A list of entries that can be edited in Wikipedia and those that do not yet exist in many languages was created. The entries were about SCI activists, other persons, events and initiatives for peace (look here).

The centenary of Service Civil International came at a challenging time, so the online workcamp was symbolic of the celebrations we all look forward to offline. The time spent in front of the computer was an opportunity to talk about the history of SCI, the first workcamp in 1920, to reflect on peace activism past and present and the current situation we all find ourselves in. The online workcamp proved to be a space to be with each other, despite the distance, to talk and write about peace.

It was an interesting experience that we hope will not replace the workcamps we have known so far, but will facilitate and enable volunteer activities in a new online format.