Our experience began on 16th of November, when Cristiana and Maro met each other at the airport of Athens. The third member of the team, Anastasis was already in Italy. We were feeling a little bit nervous because it was our first project, but also excited about the next days.
Our Erasmus project called “Youth work for Equality and Unity” took place in Caserta, a city next to Napoli. The program lasted 8 days and the participants were 24 young people from 7 different countries, Italia, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, North Macedonia, Sweden, Germany and Hungary. The topic of this training course was about Migration and Human Rights, and it was a really interesting and current issue, that changed our perspective in a lot of ways.
The first day was about getting to know each other , with a lot of games in order to “break the ice” , while at the same night, it was the first of the intercultural nights, when the Greek team presented its country. During the next days, the project was based on a number of discussions about the issue, storytelling, role playings. We were working divided in groups, mixed regarding the nationality. In that way, we managed to create a spherical opinion about the migration, the refugees and the human rights legislation of every country, and we learned details that we had never heard before.
On the 5th day, we went to Napoli, where we visited a local NGO that works for the social inclusion and assistance of recognized refugees in Italy. It was a really memorable experience, as we met a young refugee from Somalia, who discussed with us and talked about his thoughts and his dreams.
The 6th and 7th day, we prepared and organized our own workshops (again divided in mixed groups) and we became “trainers” for a while. The interesting thing was that every group chose and worked on a different issue, based on different methods but all of them concerned about human rights, and migration. What is more, due to this activity we realized how difficult it is to be a good trainer and what effort it takes to communicate your ideas and collaborate for a common goal. The last day was devoted to our conclusions about the project, our thoughts and on what we are grateful for.
Now, when we think about this project in Italy, we believe that it was without doubt an unforgettable experience. We got informed about the most serious phenomenon of our times, migration, and we realized how millions of people who leave their homes in order to find a better future feel. We increased our empathy about them and we became more motivated about the issue. We exchanged ideas and opinions with young people from different countries, who face different realities and situations. However, the most important part of the program, was the funny and beautiful people we met and the friends we made. Living together with people from different cultures and hanging out with them is something unique.
We had a great time and we laughed a lot! We keep in touch with our new friends and we hope that we are going to see them soon. And of course, we are looking forward for our next project, as we know that experiences like these totally worth and have a special place in our hearts!
Cristiana, Maro, Anastasis.
Civil Education and Training Platform – Hellas 