YAGO Youth Activism Generates Opportunity Youth Exchange - INTERVIEW WITH THE GROUP

Name of the project: YAGO - Youth Activism Generates Opportunity

Date: 10th Jan-18th Jan 2017

Country/City: Greece, Thessaloniki

What was the main topic of the event?

Jane Meriloo: Youth Activism. How to be a youth activist, how to stand for Your rights and what kind of opportunities are there in that field.

Ethel Ütsmüts: The main topic was youth activism, social activism and volunteerism.Pavel Belõhh: Human Rights

Merilin Jõesaar: Youth activism

What was the biggest learning moments on the event for you?

Jane Meriloo: That together You can make a big impact in other people lives. You have several ways how to stand for Your rights and You can use them all (social media, social experiment etc). I got to be a part of a social experiment and because of that I got to see for the first time ever through my own experience what it's like to be an activist. It felt great.

Pavel Belõhh: I understood on the project, the power of company. When you are alone you will make less, than if you are with a big company. Every game we were playing in project was in company, and we made a lot of useful things.

Ethel Ütsmüts: The other people really inspired me. There were a lot of people who had taken part in all kinds of different projects and to see so many young people already with such experiences, I really admired that.

Merilin Jõesaar: We gained more knowledge about the human rights, which was a topic I'd oddly never had had discussions about.
                  Do you have any plans to continue active in the field? If yes, what?

Jane Meriloo: Yes, now I know that we (youth) have the power to make a change and it doesn't take a lot to make an impact on the society. So I can do it myself if I feel like have to.

Pavel Belõhh: Yes, I want to participate in another youth exchange projects, and be an EVS volunteer in short programs.

Ethel Ütsmüts: I would partake in volunteering programmes or find another projects work/study abroad for an amount of time.

Merilin Jõesaar: I have some plans for the future, but if I say them out loud they might not truly happen ;)Would you recommend it to your friends? I yes, why? If not, why not?

Jane Meriloo: Yes, it was a well organized project, great people, and I got some new knowledge, too.

Pavel Belõhh: Yes I already recommended to my friends. Because it is very interesting moment in life, in one week you may get so much feelings, which you won’t get in years of routine life.

Ethel Ütsmüts: I would recommend youth programmes to my friends - the experience never goes to waste. There are so many interesting people in the world to meet, who will influence and inspire in so many ways and the topics in youth programmes are there for a reason - they matter and the world needs active young people to take any kind of action in terms of a better place for us to live in.

Merilin Jõesaar: For sure! It is always great to gain more experience and look outside of your own small little world :)

More comments or anything else you would like to share? You can add here in your own language, if you want!

Pavel Belõhh: Всё было замечательно, организация на высшем уровне, я рад что молодёжь имеет такую возможность, участвовать в такого рода проектах.

Ethel Ütsmüts: What I learned the most is not actually anything that has to do with the topic of the programme. It was actually working together with others, people from other nations and cultures. Living in Estonia and being surrounded by different Estonians is much more different than being surrounded by different cultures The difference is really there and I loved to listen to others sharing their opinions about the world and more.

Merilin Jõesaar: Take part of these projects and be happy and active in general :))

This Project was financed by European Commission's Erasmus + Programme