Training Course "Pass[the]word"
14 - 21 April 2014 in Delchevo, Macedonia funded by the Youth in Action Programme
Youth Exchange "Follow the green steps",
19 - 27 May 2012 in Krushevo, Macedonia funded by the YiA Programme
Training Course "Create plan for action",
10 - 17 April 2012 in Delchevo, Macedonia funded by the YiA Programme
Partnership Building Activity "Partnership for healthy lifestyle",
10 - 17 September 2011 in Delchevo, Macedonia funded by the YiA Programme
Youth Exchange "More than an image",
16 - 23 April 2011 in Bitola, Macedonia funded by the YiA Programme
3.1 TC "Pass[the]word", 14 - 21 April 2014
Delchevo, Macedonia
Each project is synergy of diverse group of young people with different background, but the same spirit, spirit of young and active population. Pass[the]word joined young people from 9 European countries. Main expectations were: To have less rain :) (since the season was rainy). Yet, it was not an obstacle.
Local people from Delchevo, small town in Macedonia during the project, gave us warm welcome. It was time to discuss, time to enjoy, time to create, time to be active, all in the same time. It was our time. We discussed about the importance of voting, and how we can contribute to the community. We presented our ideas through diverse channels. Why not to do it at home as well? What we will remember? The parties :)... The connection of ideas that created a story... The friends from all over Europe... Activism can be fun and educational in the same time. . |
3.1 TC "Create plan for action", 10 - 17 April 2012
LITHUANIA - MACEDONIA, April 10 :)
A story by Gintarė Kazakevičienė from Lithuania
Early cold morning. Bus from Kaunas to Vilnius. Cold.
Train from Vilnius bus station to Vilnius airport. Vilnius airport – Vienna airport, getting warm. Very fast change.
Plain Vienna – Sofia. Little confused.
Long research for Taxi. Nobody speaks in english. Different offers from 6€ to 50€ :))) Finally nice driver. Taxi cost twice as much as we expected. Driver w...as not so nice.
Sofia bus station. You can not buy bus tickets to Delcevo (Macedonia) in euros :(. We have no time to exchange euros to Bulgarian lev. We imagine the night in Sofia: will we survive till morning or will we die this cold evening :))).
Hope number 1: 2 strangers in bus station – Spanish girls!!! Spanish girls have lot of levs :)) We finally have tickets to Delcevo :). Long, long, long 4 hours to Delcevo...
The border of Bulgaria – fast and simple.
The border of Macedonia: get out the bus, get in the bus, get out, get in... night time, cold, mountains, many suspicious looks, nobody speaks english... get in the bus, get out... Finally we are in Delcevo, in the middle of the cold night. Nobody speaks english. Nobody knows what we want :)).
Hope number 2: police office. Police - no english :))) We and policemen are searching people, who could help us.
Hope number 3: 1 men speaks a little english. And at last - Hotel Macedonia. Surprise – somebody can speak english.
New people. Room 209. 3 roommates: Ruta, Gintare, Mindaugas, 4 beds :).
Later and night – new roommate – Siim :))) Sleep under 3 spreads :).
3.1 TC "Create plan for action", 10 - 17 April 2012
Delchevo, Macedonia
A story by Ruta Morkunaite from Lithuania
Early cold morning in Lithuania of April 10th . A bus ride from Kaunas to Vilnius. From there by the train to Vilnius airport. First flight was to Vienna, other flight to Sofia. Attempt to make every effort to find some taxi which should take us to Sofia’s bus station. Not long after we were on the bus again going to Macedonia. We have stopped on a border for verification. It was so tiring. Long after in the middle of the night we finally came to Delcevo. The police escort tried to help us to find a hotel named „Makedonija“. 18 hours along the way to get there, where our real journey just begins.
Now I can say, that this journey was the journey of cognition and discoveries based on meeting and working with new people, but at the beginning I had no idea what should I expect. So many different countries from Balkan and Baltic regions: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Spain. Before coming to Delcevo I was sure just about one thing, when I‘ll come back home from this trip, I won‘t be the same person as I was before. And I was right.
I don‘t want to talk about project program, maybe I‘ll mention something from it, but it‘s not the main thing what I want to talk about. The essential thing for me is people which I met there. People with all their differences and similarities: confessions, cultures, traditions, languages, appearance, thoughts, point of view, reasons of coming to the project and so on. People with the same goals, whishes, people with the same roots, red blood and soul inside them.
Generally speaking, I know, that some of you who will read this article will be an atheist, Muslim, Jew or Christian, but in my opinion, there’s no difference or obstacles from here to be open minded and tell everything, what lies inside. Your beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behavior does…
First of all, when I saw all participants, I was a little bit shocked, because they remembered me something. It looked like I know some of them very well and I had known them before but I couldn’t find out from where. An idea just rushed into my mind that maybe we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. Maybe we are spiritual beings having a human experience…. It was more interesting than hard to wipe down those small delimitations which resided in differences between us and try to find out what lies behind that strange feeling.
Secondly, throughout the all week I observed what passes, how people were communicating, behaving, what they were thinking, about what they were thinking and what lies dormant behind this.
Also I was cogitating about organizers decision to make such cultural contrast – Baltic and Balkan, northern and southern countries. From the first sight it may look really diverse, but in the course of time, when I had an opportunity to socialize with people I understood why (well, I think I did). I can’t tell you exactly what I understood, also, I can’t be sure about that as the same as we weren’t sure about some things in our tasks or workshops. There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there. But, despite those doubts which came from time to time we have learned to remember to hope and that we still can make a difference. For example, when we were doing our last task – creating a campaign, we were full of doubts that it won’t work or we won’t make it. But, come that may, we created a plan for an action, using a campaign as a tool to make a change. Our campaign’s goal was to raise awareness of Delcevo people to be more responsible for their environment and not to throw garbage everywhere. We set a good example – we made an action called “pick it up!“. The all participants of this project were picking up the garbage from central park of Delcevo, also we were trying to involve the locals.
Well, now, when I know a result, I can tell that we made it. There were not so much people as we expected or wanted, but the main idea, the concept, in my opinion, was received by local people clear enough. Also, we made it because of ourselves. We understood a lot during this project: how to use a campaign as a tool to reach something, how to save the environment, how to communicate, how to live, work, share, chill out with people, who differs from us but still are such alike us.
I want to mention one minus - it was not enough time to know something more about those wonderful people. Some stories wasn't told and heard... Beautiful people do not just happen. Beautiful people are those who have known defeat, known suffering, struggle, loss, and have found their way out of depths. It’s a little bit sad, but looking from this point – the lack of time – it could be a beginning of the beautiful friendship in the future. We are united in our differences. We all know that life is about the people we meet, and the things we create with them. The truth is that the only source of knowledge is experience, and I get really great experience there. Those people taught me lots of things. One of them is that the change might be just around the corner. And that, as Gandhi said, we can be the change we wish to see in the world.
The last thing I wanted to say is that everything happens for a reason, and it also means, that you were ready for it. Personally, this project gave me a direction for my future. Maybe Delcevo was the right place with the right people. I don’t know, but I absolutely owe it to them that they took a hand in my perception and growing. There’s not enough words to tell everything what I feel… Life is short, so, just live simply, love, smile, accept, appreciate, do and give more and expect less! Don’t be afraid to be random and open!
3.1 PBA "Partnership for healthy lifestyle", 1o - 17 September 2011
Delchevo, Macedonia
I will never forget Delchevo...
A story by Suzana Kaurin from Serbia
I will never forgot Delchevo, for so many reasons that cannot be written. You should have been there to feel it. Atmosphere of working in groups, sharing facts about your countries, smiling, singing, dancing. But I will also never forget goodness of Delchevo people and how they supported us whenever needed.
That group was unique because after just few days we all became one big family and we started to talk on our mother languages like we are friends for so long and like we are so close to each other. I will always talk about that time when Italian friend talked to me for few minutes and then we both realized that he is speaking on Italian language, or when I woke up and telling my roommates “Dobro jutro” and they answered me on their language, Spanish, lituanian, Romanian…. Times when I was sitting between Turkish and Kosova participant and three of us start talking on our languages but it seemed like we understood each other. I never felt any other group so familiar and so close like this from Delchevo.
But you know what is even better than that? We will see each other again, PBA project was more than successful, we all wrote projects for YIA program and some got approved and we will travel to different countries and meet again, oh you can just imagine our luck…
I will never forgot Delchevo, for so many reasons that cannot be written. You should have been there to feel it. Atmosphere of working in groups, sharing facts about your countries, smiling, singing, dancing. But I will also never forget goodness of Delchevo people and how they supported us whenever needed.
That group was unique because after just few days we all became one big family and we started to talk on our mother languages like we are friends for so long and like we are so close to each other. I will always talk about that time when Italian friend talked to me for few minutes and then we both realized that he is speaking on Italian language, or when I woke up and telling my roommates “Dobro jutro” and they answered me on their language, Spanish, lituanian, Romanian…. Times when I was sitting between Turkish and Kosova participant and three of us start talking on our languages but it seemed like we understood each other. I never felt any other group so familiar and so close like this from Delchevo.
But you know what is even better than that? We will see each other again, PBA project was more than successful, we all wrote projects for YIA program and some got approved and we will travel to different countries and meet again, oh you can just imagine our luck…
Questions on healthy lifestyle from a conducted survey during the PBA:
1. What do you know about healthy lifestyle?
2. Do you practice sport activities?
3. Do you often eat fast food or homemade food?
4. How much you drink alcohol?
5. Do you know how much water you need to drink per day? How much do you drink normally?
6. Do you smoke and what is your opinion on smoking and health?
7. Do you regularly visit doctor and dentist to check your health?
8. Do you watch TV or use the computer during the day?
9. How much do you sleep per day?
1. What do you know about healthy lifestyle?
2. Do you practice sport activities?
3. Do you often eat fast food or homemade food?
4. How much you drink alcohol?
5. Do you know how much water you need to drink per day? How much do you drink normally?
6. Do you smoke and what is your opinion on smoking and health?
7. Do you regularly visit doctor and dentist to check your health?
8. Do you watch TV or use the computer during the day?
9. How much do you sleep per day?
PBA "Partnership for healthy lifestyle", 10 - 17 September 2o11
Delchevo, Macedonia
With the rhythm of our hearts
A story by Dafinka Kaleshkoska from Macedonia
12 Countries… 12 multiplied by culture, food, dances, songs, characters, eyes … Infinity. That is what the town of Delchevo was dealing with from the 10th till the 17th of September 2011. The infinity of fun, love, friendship, ideas and knowledge. We are happy to mark the main activity of the “Partnership for healthy lifestyle” project as successful.
This Partnership Building Activity (PBA) in the scope of the Youth in Action (YiA) Programme was aimed to establish partnerships between organizations that will work on strategies for motivating the youngsters to practice healthy life habits and develop ideas for future projects on this topic.
For the seven days we had, we managed to build up smoothly integrated chain of personalities, forming the most united international group ever. At the beginning, the project activities involved getting to know each other and name games. Then the programme was flowing towards enriching the knowledge about the Youth in Action Programme and other funding possibilities for youth projects. In the daily schedule we also dedicated time for more information about project lifecycle and the process of converting community needs into complete project ideas.
Some of the activities were conducted outdoors. We had the chance to visit three remarkable waterfalls in the mountain area around Pehchevo. Exhausted from the sun and the walk, but still motivated, we had significant discussions on alcohol, drugs and food matters. And then captured by the lake nature during yoga relaxation, we reminded the key points from the nutrition presentation. :)
For the last days we reserved time for developing our own project ideas such that the topics of healthy lifestyle habits are tackled. The group work turned out to be very innovative, creative and productive, so that we have the basis for the following projects that will promote healthy habits in the community. May these projects have their realization and make the dream team gather again.
At the end, we had to say goodbye. But may this goodbye be the beginning of one big HELLO!
Youth exchange "More than an image", 16 - 23 April 2011
Bitola, Macedonia
When we all come together, the world is better :D
The world for a moment stopped… No evidence for the emotions… Just 34 people left to live with the suffering of the unforgettable and incredible experience: Youth Exchange “More than an Image” held in Bitola, Macedonia, from the 16 - 23 April, 2011.
Perfect combination of different and unique personalities, matched to work together on a common topic - graffiti, their messages and impact to the community covered in research done by our participants in 6 European countries (Poland, Spain, Czech, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia).
The Programme of the Exchange started with getting to know each other and name games, in order to remove any barrier or fear at participants from the new, unknown and different. As the Programme was flowing from one activity, game, workshop to another, we were integrating better and through common communication and discussions we founded the basis for successful collaboration in the project’s idea realization.
Walks in the mountain, the weather transformations from winter to spring, the sounds of the guitar, the smell of the Ohrid lake and the antique monuments were there to bring the motivation up and inspire for new creative ideas. That’s how we made an original graffiti drawing. Empowered by the benefits of the youth, we made the nights – days, and used every single minute towards new friendships and strengthening the old ones, because only positive and friendly atmosphere can bring the pleasure of the common achievements.
We organized sport activities, in which Roma youngsters took participation. Local community could attend our intercultural evening where each country had the time and space to present their food, music, dances, culture. Local people were attracted by the dance performance of our participants in the city center for the main event, the exhibition of graffiti images from the partner countries, and our own graffiti drawing.
What is this, if not a unique experience and memory that unites a group of people? What is this if not a step for personal development and broading ones own horizons? What is this if not You And Me, and All Together. :)
Thank You Youth in Action.
Perfect combination of different and unique personalities, matched to work together on a common topic - graffiti, their messages and impact to the community covered in research done by our participants in 6 European countries (Poland, Spain, Czech, Albania, Serbia, Macedonia).
The Programme of the Exchange started with getting to know each other and name games, in order to remove any barrier or fear at participants from the new, unknown and different. As the Programme was flowing from one activity, game, workshop to another, we were integrating better and through common communication and discussions we founded the basis for successful collaboration in the project’s idea realization.
Walks in the mountain, the weather transformations from winter to spring, the sounds of the guitar, the smell of the Ohrid lake and the antique monuments were there to bring the motivation up and inspire for new creative ideas. That’s how we made an original graffiti drawing. Empowered by the benefits of the youth, we made the nights – days, and used every single minute towards new friendships and strengthening the old ones, because only positive and friendly atmosphere can bring the pleasure of the common achievements.
We organized sport activities, in which Roma youngsters took participation. Local community could attend our intercultural evening where each country had the time and space to present their food, music, dances, culture. Local people were attracted by the dance performance of our participants in the city center for the main event, the exhibition of graffiti images from the partner countries, and our own graffiti drawing.
What is this, if not a unique experience and memory that unites a group of people? What is this if not a step for personal development and broading ones own horizons? What is this if not You And Me, and All Together. :)
Thank You Youth in Action.
Youth exchange "More than an image", 16 - 23 April 2011
Bitola, Macedonia
Bitola, Macedonia
This project involved six partner countries of which three EU (Poland, Czech, Spain) and three SEE countries (Macedonia, Serbia and Albania). Each partner was represented by four young people and a group leader, in total thirty + 4 guest participants. The project explored the use of graffiti drawings as media in the community and particularly reflected on the influence of discriminating messages towards certain minority groups. The main idea was to raise awareness among youth and local people that certain groups use graffiti as media for promoting hate towards minority groups in their communities and to stimulate and encourage young individuals from different cultural backgrounds to become active citizens and act towards dealing the problem of hate graffiti in their own societies. |
3.1. Youth Exchange - Creativity corner
Six organizations coming from Macedonia, Poland, Italy, Germany, Kosovo and Albania developed a partnership for youth exchange that encourages the young people to use their creativity and sense of innovation, as one of the priorities of the Youth in Action programme for year 2009. We believed that the best way to motivate the participants to use their creativity is by giving them time, space and materials to make picture book of one village in Macedonia that is almost disappearing .With the intention of giving them chance to collaborate with local youth and youth with fewer opportunities, we created programme in which local youth, youth from rural areas and from orphanage will be two days involved in every planned activity, as well as in organization of the cultural event. For better implementation of the programme, different types of activities and working methods were used such as workshops, role plays, discussions, practical work etc. As venue for the exchange was choosen town Krushevo in Macedonia where 30 youth from the mentioned countries had opportunity to work together for 9 days in the middle of august, 2009. |