The EU programme YOUTH in Action

Following our presentation and discussion of the EU programme Youth in Action on the final day of our meeting in Breisach, here is a list of the most relevant websites for further websites.

There is a lot to be discovered, and many very interesting offers. Check it out!

Please note that the current programme period will end next year, i.e. in 2013. It is not clear yet if there will be a new YOUTH in Action programme in 2014-2020, and what it will look like in detail. Keep your fingers crossed that there will be new opportunities for financing Europe-wide projects in non-formal education!

• YOUTH in Action in general:

http://ec.europa.eu/youth/index_en.htm

The youth exchange "Celebrate the Difference" for me...

Mihajlo

I am pleased to be a part of this youth exchange. I rarely have a chance to attend seminars and workshops, so this one I find quite amusing. I have almost no notes. Just the lack of punctuality.

Song analysis, part 1: "People are people"

On the second day of our youth exchange we analysed and discussed the lyrics of three more or less well-known pop songs. The first of these songs was "People are people" by the British band Depeche Mode from 1984.

The intercultural evening

Intercultural evening is an event in which everybody presents its country. This is a special event that has become a tradition in the activities of the Youth in Action programme. Among this programme every participant has the opportunity to learn more about the culture of other participants. Below I will give a short description about intercultural evening organized in the youth exchange “Celebrate the Difference“. It was wonderful to learn more about Germany, France, Ukraine, Croatia, Macedonia.

At first Anastasia presented her city, Dresden. It is really a very nice city. Then we listened to a song of Die Prinzen, “Deutschland“.

Simulation exercise: 'Welcome to my village'

Panic, panic, panic!!!

One word repeated three times explains the way we felt when we were playing the game called “My village”. Confused and worried faces were the most common thing you could see during the entire workshop. Before I continue writing, I think I should briefly explain what the entire thing was about. Couple of villagers were supposed to build their own village, based on instructions given before. And as the time was passing by all the villagers started building their villages. The extremely funny and interesting thing was the fact that they were not allowed to talk to each other. And then began the stress! Wrinkly faces, helpless people trying to exchange a few words, panic all over the place, hoping that everything will be just fine!

Ivana, Josefine and Iba trying to communicate without words..

A documentary of our workshops

Based on program of youth exchange named "Celebrate the difference" on 19.11.2012 was made the separate of workshop groups. The workshop groups are:

• Workshop of radio 
• Workshop of theater 
• Workshop of blog

The participants had the chance to choose in which workshop they want to work and the groups were like this:

• RADIO WORKSHOP Anastasia, Sen, Martin, Nikolche, Vedrana, Ervis
• THEATER WORKSHOP Mark, Lara, Kevin, Ivana, Misha, Laura, Yaroslava, Caroline
• BLOG WORKSHOP Ana, Pranvera, Mihajlo, Gabriel, Ibadete, Anjesa, Dijana, Adelina, Albina

Below we took some information about each workshop group.

What is my motivation?

Being part of a society where people are awfully discriminated in many ways, makes me want to attend happenings of this type as much as possible. Even though i have found myself several times in life discriminating people in a unconscious or conscious way because of a certain reason, i find discriminating extremely wrong and for me it is the worst action of the humans.

The journey to Breisach

The hostel by the Rhine

My journey began in the morning. Driving to the town of Skopje, once again I was looking at the passing landscape of my country. Thankfully, we had only one mere setback that did not cause any significant delay, for we had to arrive at the airport in time. When we did, I was surprised to see the changes in the complex. New pillars and bricks and paint, but the chaotic aura of the Macedonians still lingers on. After a time, we entered the terminal and finally in the plane itself. The flight lasted little under an hour. Near the end of it, I looked out the window and saw mountains stretching into the clouds and it was an admirable sight.

Once we reached Germany, we were nearly on the other side of the country so the next phase of the journey was to go by train. I have no significant events to enter regarding the train, except that we missed one train and since we the people of the Balkans are not quite familiar with the west, we nearly panicked but that was short lived. Then came the night and to me it was a difficult one. Sitting in the train, tired but unable to sleep, all I could do was endure. And that I did. Of course before nightfall I was still observing the landscape we were passing by, another sight worth seeing. The journey ended and when it did, we were in a small but nice little town and were driven to the hostel and since it was late at night I went to sleep in my room almost right away.

Turning a question into an exclamation

Today we found out how our group leaders came up with the name of our seminar. There is more to know about “Celebrate the difference!” than we first thought.

When Sebastian visited the permanent section about the Holocaust in the Imperial War Museum in London, he was intrigued by something he heard there. In an interview that was shown on screen, a Hungarian Jew named Hugo Gryn, who became the Rabbi of one of the largest congregations in Europe, pondered about “difference”. Before the Second World War he did not even realize that he was any different from all the other people around him. Being Jewish did not mean being different in a bad way...until the Nazis claimed it to be. Luckily he survived the Shoa and was able to transmit an important message. Wondering why people are not seeing differences positively but rather as a thread, he asked: “Why do we not celebrate our differences?” 

Fascinated by this way of thinking, Sebastian turned this question into an exclamation and the motto of our exchange. Now it is up to us, the participants, to turn it into action.

Let’s celebrate our differences!