Learn About Traditions Youth Exchange - INTERVIEW WITH VILLIAM, ANDREAS, SANDER, MAREK, KADRI, MIHKEL, RAIMOND AND RETI

Name of the project: Learn About Traditions

Date: 10^th to 21^st August 2017

Country/City: Romania, Milcoveni and Teregova

What was the main topic of the event?

Villiam Põldma - Traditions. To learn about the local traditions, especially in small rural areas and of all the participant countries.

Andreas Hein - The main topic was traditions. How to maintain traditions, how to get younger people interested in their own traditions. What are the possible ways to pass on our traditions to next generations.

Sander Mölder - The aim of the project was to create awareness in our youth regarding their civic responsibility to research, capitalize and promote folk traditions for the inclusion of disadvantaged young people in the country and to develop a continuous dialogue between generations and nations, to assert the rural communities in the European space for their economic, cultural and touristic development. The second main topic was to learn about our traditions!

Marek Runga - Main topic of the project was to create awareness within our youth regarding their civic responsibility to research, capitalize and promote folk traditions,  to assert the rural communities in the European space for their economic, cultural and touristic development. To understand do we need traditions and do they help to get people together

Kadri Spriit - Active citizenship, mobilizing and motivating youth.

Mihkel Kotkas - Main topic of the whole event was to promote folk traditions from different countries and how to keep the traditions of the nation active in rural areas. In addition, how important it is to be aware of your country’s native traditions.

Raimond Põld - How can we preserve and continue our rural and age-old traditions. Also taking action and being more active speaker.

Reti Randorg - To learn each other traditions and support young people living in rural areas by learning how to preserve active citizenship in rural areas. More active are people in rural areas, means more jobs and leisure time activities.

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

Villiam Põldma - That local traditions of individual countries are actually dying, because of the urbanization.

Andreas Hein - 1) I am not afraid to approach people in English anymore; 2) learned that many cultures are very similar; 3) gained a lot of knowledge about traditions in different countries, specially about Romanian and Estonian tradition; 4) Learned how to work as a group; 5) Learned how to lead a group; 6) Learned how different tasks helped us relax and get to know each other better

Sander Mölder - My biggest learning moments were the workshops and energizers. For me, I had to jump over my shadow to perform those kinds of things. I wanted to know more about myself – what I am capable of and what I am not. So the biggest learning moments for me were the moments, when I though I am not going to manage something – I am going to fail. While in reality, I was successful and did more than OK! Moments where I was brave and made a statement where the biggest learning moments for me! (Usually I am very modest and humble).

Marek Runga - Learned that due to religion most of the countries have similar traditions with other countries.
Me as a Citizen of Estonia I didn`t know so much about Estonian traditions, thanks to this project and my Estonian group who taught me and informed me more about our traditions and cultures.

Kadri Spriit - Different methods used. Non-formal education at its BEST! Instead of long lectures we learnt from our peers: about traditions and culture in their home countries, about experience they have had, and of course their personal self. Various energizers and team-building games united us together as a group and made us closer than I would have anticipated. A true injection of positive emotions!

Mihkel Kotkas - Unfortunately my health let me down just before the flight to Romania, going through one of the most serious illnesses of my life so far kept me from participating in this project. But thanks to this great invention called “Internet” I was given brief overviews about the activities and the awesome people who attended the project. After the project was over, I had a chance to listen to all these stories live from one of my group members and the image created by the story was unbelievable. It was a story about people who in 10 days got so close, that after this time they spent together they were closer than they ever expected would be possible in such a short time period. Giving me will to participate in similar projects in the future.

Raimond Põld - Biggest learning moment was Oxford debate, performing my rap song about Estonian Midsummer Eve in front of 150 people. Also learned how to make business plan-i got very excited and that Czech men whip women during one holiday, which i dont remember anymore. Speed Dating energizer got us well connected-should have done that on the second day and also mystical, spiritual eye contact game, where we gazed each other deeply in two circles, about 1 minute to each participants eyes. That got me thinking what is my higher goal in this life and that is my producing music passion, which is part of being active citizen.

Reti Randorg - Technically, I learned how to debate and what are most important analysis when starting a company.

Socially, I learned how to express myself clearer, improved my English, how to be/not to be a good leader, learned new traditions.

Do you have any plans to continue active in the field? If yes, what?

Villiam Põldma - I will definitely try to keep the traditions alive, at least among my people and try to remind others to do the same.

Andreas Hein - Well I guess so. I do respect our traditions now a little bit more. I have always loved the simple things that traditions have, like making gingerbreads turning the Christmas time. I promise to focus on the little things that usually make people fell in love more and more with their country and what eventually will increase the patriotism.

Sander Mölder - If you mean in active citizenship field, then yes of course. This project motivated me to take responsibility – in this case I have many ideas in my mind, which I would like to initiate (I did not have the courage to it before).
If the question is about staying active in Erasmus field, then the answer would also be a yes from me, because I liked the project very much and I learned very much from there. So therefore I would certainly like to continue working with Erasmus!

Marek Runga - Would like to promote Erasmus plus projects for youngsters. Maybe write project by myself.

Kadri Spriit - Yes, I would like to explore more, what Erasmus+ has to offer.

Mihkel Kotkas - The field of promoting traditions and keeping them alive is something, which should involve every individual in a nation and starting from the personal level. As will I, start to pay more attention to the traditions, keeping them in mind and maybe create some interesting new traditions in addition to existing ones.

Raimond Põld - Im going to support my best friend who is going to do Evs in Portugal. Also keeping my eyes open for new projects, where i can encourage others to be more active and just give value to that unity. Making songs that promote such lifestyle and also who to vote in Estonia, because im active citizen and my voice is bigger than average Joe s, because fans.

Reti Randorg - I can see that these projects are good opportunity to actually learn how to socialize, new cultures and the things that are taught in workshops. I can see myself being in the projects in the future. Maybe even a team leader. I need to have opportunity to learn new things.

Would you recommend it to your friends? I yes, why? If not, why not?

Villiam Põldma  - Yes, I definitely recommend it. It will make them aware of the problem about dying traditions.

Andreas Hein - Of course I would. It is a wonderful opportunity to develop yourself, gain some knowledge, meet very-very different people, you can practice your english…it is a perfect opportunity to do that guys! and as well maybe make life long international contacts. And the emotion you will get after sharing information/thoughts with others who eventually give you positive feedback… is amazing. Everyone in this project were awesome, super friendly and helpful…so I could not imagine better way to spend 2weeks of my summer.

Sander Mölder - I would definitely recommend this project to my friends, because I learned so much from this project. Firstly I learned some new things about myself and secondly I made new friends, so now I have new acquaintances all over Europe! But the most important thing for me was to upgrade and motivate myself, to overcome my fears and in that I succeeded!

Marek Runga - Of course, these project courage and pushes you do go out of your comfort zone and try things that you never tried. Also it is good teaching but non formal and more interesting. Because in projects there are involved many different counries with different points of views.

Kadri Spriit - I will definitely share my knowledge about the programme, because it is a good initiative, which helps to grow tolerance, learn about others and reflect about you.

Mihkel Kotkas - Definitely, if YOU have a chance, TAKE IT! You will have the best time of your life and possibly make friends for the rest of your life.

Raimond Põld - You can bet on it, that i will recommend it to my friends. I have even  talked about NYH blog and Erasmus plus with total strangers i have met on streets, in clubs and in shops- mostly girls, but hey, i am not gay and most of them have heard about that kind of projects, but they are too scared and need to have at least one friend with them i guess.

I recommend this, because they learn how to be better person in this society, how to help others, reach out to share love, get good at public speaking, teamwork and they get to experience funny social situations in the case of energizers and also breathtaking views, stunning girls and guys and delicious food from all over Europe, my brothers and sisters.

Reti Randorg - Yes, I have already recommended the projects to my friends. These are good opportunities to find new friends with similar interests.

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

Villiam Põldma  - One of the best projects I’ve been to, so far! Thank You!

Andreas Hein - What surprised me was the fact that many people loved Estonian songs and national dance. Also it was nice to see that people hit it off from the start of the project. I think those few days without electricity, wifi and water brought us all much closer together. There were no awkward silences or anything. And man…our project leaders were out of this world. Huge thanks to them. Project was super J Thank you!

Sander Mölder - I would like to share my respect and tänutunne to our main two guys: Alex and Iasmin, the two organisers and leaders. They were amazing and thanks to them the project was so special – they made it work and made the group so united! Thank you for that!

Marek Runga - Big thank you to Alex, Iasmin and Krzysztof  (project facilitators in Romania). Also thank you to our group leader Villiam Põldma and to whole our group.

Kadri Spriit - This project was useful in many ways. I got to experience the Erasmus Spirit again over many years, and collect great ideas, how to work with a group.

Mihkel Kotkas - I hope all the friendships, that were made during these 10 days will last as long as the participants would imagine them to last in their wildest dreams.

Raimond Põld - Silma vaatamise harjutus ja speed dating harjutus oleks võinud projekti alguses olla. Teema oli kerge, aga ma tahtsin ja sain omale 4 minutilise osa Oxfordi debatis ja kus ma närvitsesin, kuigi me harjutasime enne kõik väitlejad koos nende ees, kes ei julgenud esineda. Ma tahtsin ja lihtsalt pidin ka üksi oma laulu laulma ja tantsisin improviseerisin liigutusi, et maha rahuneda veits, vaatasin sõnad maha telefonist-see ei olnud tähtis ning oleks pidanud rohkem rahvast kaasa plaksutama kutsuma. Meie grupp(mina, Villiam ja Marek) kaotasime vist debati sellepärast, et ma mainisin, et naiste iq on madalam kui meestel ja selle peale reageeriti.(top 1 on mees, aga keskmiselt on naised targemad) Kahjuks me ei saanud oma esitlust teha intercultural õhtul ja videosid Milcovenist pole ka näinud. Väga toredad kohad ja jääb eluks ajaks meelde. Ainuke miinus oli see, et Teregovast Milcoveni sõites oli meil reckless driver ja ma palvetasin, et ma surma ei saaks haha:) Ma olin ka kolmanda debati idee autoriks, sest enamus hääletas minu poolt. Oleksin võinud valida (kas rohkem raha teeb õnnelikumaks) või (samasooliste abielu), sest Illuminati kohta ei teatud eriti  ja ei saanud midagi teada selle kohta, ainult et see dollari rahatähe peal, mis oli ühel tüdrukul kaasas. Magasin end välja iga päev, keskmiselt 7 tundi. Algul 4,5,8,10,1 ja siis 8,7,10,1,10 vms. See et wifi ära kadus, mul oli ükskõik sellest ja elekter kui ära kadus, siis ka suva. Algul oli veits paanika, sest nii palav oli nagu oleks saunas, aga harjus kiiresti ära.Parem kui Eestis ilm ikkagi. Ühe korra tegime tornaadot ainult söögilauas, maitea, miks see ei meeldinud mõnedele, aga ma istusin vahel ikka teistega ka peale eestlaste. Eure sain vahetada mõlemas külas, algul 4.5 ja siis 4.4 kursiga. Jõin mõõdukalt.

Reti Randorg - I loved the project! I love the people who took part in it. I love the organizers. Accommodation was awesome and I liked that we lived in two different parts of Romania.

Unfortunately, it seems that a lot of the participants comes to these projects mostly to party and are not interested in hard core learning. That was the main reason why workshops were not really hard for most of us. Sometimes it seemed that we were playing games all day without any deeper conversations.

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

EVS goes Carinthia - EVA KOBIN - 12 months in EVS in GEMMA, Villach, Austria - Article in English!

About Me…

Hallo Ich bin Eva und Ich komme aus Estland!   

I grew up in the little cosy village in Kildu and before I moved to Austria I worked in Suure-Jaani Youth Centre as a youth worker. For the last six years I have been involved with Erasmus+ projects like Youth Exchanges and International training courses. I had experience being as volunteer in smaller projects and events, but never longer then one week.

My decision to go Austria..

In august 2015, I took part of the training course in Austria “LAB: Technology of Involvement” in Velden am Wörthersee. This was my first time to visit Austria and I felt really amazed from the nature and culture there. During this project we visited Villach Youth Centre and I found out that they are also receiving volunteers under the Erasmus+ program. After the project I kept the contacts and asked for possibility to make my one year EVS in Villach. At this point I was 29 years old and as the voluntary projects are meant for the young people age 17-30. Regarding my age, it was really “now or never” decision and to be honest, the sound of “never” it really didn´t fit to my thought’s. It was time to step out of my comfort zone, apply my project together with my sending and receiving organisation and about five months later I found myself living in the most southern corner of Austria, in the beautiful city, called Villach.

My Team and Work in Villach Youth Centre…

Duration of my project was one year and I really loved to work together in the Villach Youth Centre (JUZ) team. During my voluntary time, my team really created a supportive and friendly environment for me.

Regarding my precious experience as a youth worker and Erasmus+ projects it was really interesting to learn how things are done here. Learn more about the youth work and improve my organising skills.

My assignments in the Youth Centre were to help them on daily basis, but also to create new inputs. For example, there is a saying we use in EVS projects on and it is: “Creating your project inside of a project.” It means that as you are already part of the EVS project, you go there with a mission to bring your own initiative and create projects.

Firstly, I had always been passionate with areas witch needed many use of creativity. I looked around and saw the possibilities and on the start of the spring I created the “Urban Gardening” project in the Villach Youth Centre. It was a project with the aim to introduce the possibilities of gardening inside of the city, to create interest of green lifestyle and educate the young people of the “gardening ABC”, plant and grow their own vegetables.

Besides of my projects I started creativity workshops “DIY (do it yourself) with Eva every Wednesday and all the young people had the possibility to participate and as cooking have been my passion all life- it was always great to make cooking evening. Now I also know how to make traditional Carinthia’n Christmas cookies and nudels.

All of it was actually just a small part of my full experience. For example every year Villach Youth Centre organizes several bigger events like the sport and hobby festival “Trendsporttag”, Intercultural Street festival, youth literature festival “Lesezeichnen”.

In every event I had the chance to be part of the team, share my ideas and learning by doing. I had a really great team and it is actually always nice to experience in those projects how the people you have never met before on your life, becoming good friends of you. Even after my voluntary service in JUZ, I can feel that this is the place, I can always visit and feel like home.

During the voluntary year I also had the chance to have two German courses and I have to say, that if someone would have told me that after one year I could speak and understand German- I would never believed it. I came to Austria knowing only eins, zwei, drei…but never say never- here I am understanding and talking German quite well. J

YEAR IN VILLACH..

My year in Villach was full of amazements, new experiences and positive surprises. Villach is a really nice city surrounded with wonderful nature-with mountains and beautiful lakes.  Already by location it is really centre of the Europe. One of my free day I had a breakfast in Villach (Austria), lunch in Slovenia and nice dinner in Italy.

I really find people in this city friendly and welcoming. The city itself promotes also many cultural events during all year. Villach is famous of it´s every year carnival celebration called “Fasching” and “Villacher Kirchtag” what means a week along festival with traditional clothes, good food, beer, folkmusic, dances and party. People here really do love their traditions as in every true Villacher person (young and old) has their traditional clothes what they love to wear in many events and in Kirchtag it is a must-a-wear. Shortly to say – it is a city worth of discovering! J

My life now…

After my voluntary year I decided to stay in Austria longer. I wish to continue my German lessons and start my Master degree studies at the Alpean Adria University in this autumn.

I will happily continue my work as a volunteer in the association “Gemma” and cooperating projects together with my sending organisation “Noored Ühiskonna Heaks” in Estonia. My wish is to give my contribution back to the society and help to coordinate the future projects under Erasmus+ program in Carinthia. I think there are many young people of the similar wishes, what I once had before I took the possibilities of this program. I wish to get information of possibilities of Erasmus+ as many young people as possible.

During the time I have been in Austria my organization started series on meetings for the young people called “Eramus+ Frühstück “ (“Erasmus+ Breakfast”) to promote the Erasmus+ program and the possibilities inside it, especially possibilities in European Voluntary Service. I am always there to share my experience and stories with them. And my favourite sentences to tell them and now for you is:

 

“This is a program for every young people and the offer is free for you- a new culture and working area, new experiences and friends, but in the same do something for the society as well. And in the end you will be proud of yourself- “back-bag ”full of experiences and memories to share even years later.

Now looking back of my voluntary year, I am proud and happy to took this possibility and if possible I would do it again- without hesitation.

I am really thankful of all the part´s who helped me during my voluntary year, especially my sending organisation in Estonia “Noored Ühiskonna heaks” , “Verein Gemma” and Villach Youth Centre. And of course Erasmus+ Youth In Action program for financing my European voluntary service project.

Thank you! Danke!

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

Lets Do It Volunteer - ANNI TETSMANN - 7 months EVS in Arcistrauss, Sicily (Italy) - Article in English

My name is Anni and I was lucky enough to be EVS volunteer in Sicily for seven months. My hosting organization was amazing ArciStrauss. To be honest, my EVS ended more than one month ago, but somehow it has been very difficult to leave this experience behind. Seems like writing this post is the official end. But then again, there are no ends, only new beginnings. Well, here it comes, some monthly stories from my EVS what I wrote while I was in Sicily.

November

My first month as a volunteer in Sicily has passed very fast. Mainly this month I spent time to understand my main activities here and get to know the local life in Mussomeli. At the beginning I was little bit worried that I might have too much free time but now I understand that I have many different activities here and I am very happy about that. Now I am working in library organising books, teaching english for children in elementary and high schools and also writing articles for the blog what we created together with other volunteers. Also we are creating campaigns on different topics, first theme is trash because we discovered that the streets in Mussomeli are full of trash. Our main idea is to build Christmas tree out of trash and the grand opening will be on next Friday. So busy days ahead. For me the free time and working time is well balanced and I feel the support from Arcistrauss for everything.

Even though I don’t speak italian I already have a group of local friends and that actually helps me a lot. Because they don’t speak English. That means we are finding different creative ways to communicate with each other. One of the main activities what brought us together is table football – they are very good at it and they are teaching me as well. Also from time to time we play football on Saturdays if it’s not raining. These local friends have helped me to understand local life very well and I am grateful. Every week we have italian lessons and I am trying to speak in italian, because I think this is the best way to learn a new language. I make a lot of mistakes but I can see how locals appreciate my efforts.

Life together with other volunteers from Spain, France and Romania is interesting and sometimes challenging. But we get along well and we are developing our friendships. Conflict management and group processes are useful knowledges here. But we are growing to become close friends and that is nice.

December

My second month as volunteer past so fast that it is unbelievable. Together with other volunteers we visited Palermo and my first impression from Palermo wasn’t that good. We were very lucky, we hitchhiked there and a nice couple drove us to Palermo and helped us to find a cheap hostel. Mainly we spent time shopping and since I am not a big fan of shopping I was very happy when we went to seaside in Mondello. It was very beautiful and calming experience. Arriving back to Mussomeli was very nice, I really felt like I came back home. So I guess somehow Mussomeli has already become a home for me.

During the first half of December we continued our normal acitivities – I went to schools to participate english lessons, helped little bit in library and worked on our trash campaign. We created a nice Christmas tree from plastic bottles. The outcome is very nice and hopefully helps us all to remember how easy recycling actually is.

Since December 19th I had holidays. On December 19th I went to Palermo to meet my dear friend Ef from Greece. We spent two amazing days together discovering Palermo. During these two days my opinion about Palermo totally changed, we discovered lots of beautiful parks and places. After he left I stayed in Palermo for one day and I met two amazing people via Couchsurfing. They introduced some places in Palermo as well and offered me the opportunity to spend a night at their homes. I am very grateful. On December 22 I flew to Rome where I met Ylaria, a girl who I first met in May 2016 in Romania. I spent a night in Rome, saw the Colosseum and enjoyed some good local food. Next day I arrived to Bulgaria, where I met most of my Bulgarian friends. I spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve there and I consider myself very lucky because all the people I met there were very nice and friendly, they opened their homes and hearts for me, introduced the local spirits and made me feel very safe. On my way back to Sicily I had another chance to discover Rome, this time I spent and amazing day together with Alessandro, italian who I met in December 2014 in Romania. We haven’t seen eachother since the project but when we met again it seemed like we had known eachother forever.

When I arrived back to Sicily I felt like I arrived back home. Even though I stayed in Palermo for one night I still felt very safe and happy. I love travelling but from time to time it is nice to spend some time in a familiar enviroment which is becoming my home.

January

We had lots of snow in Mussomeli. So actually I really felt like at home because for me it is very natural that during the winter it is snowing. Even though it was little bit difficult to spend some time outdoors I was grateful because it was so beautiful. And some quality time with tea and good movies is always useful. This was the first opportunity this year to appreciate the moment and make a choice how I see things. I was choosing positive way.

As usually it seemed like time is flying too fast. Evem though first two weeks we had lots of snow and because of that most of my activities were cancelled, somehow I still had lots of things to do. Mainly I concentrated on analysing my experience so far – what I could do better, how to improve my participation in activities and what kind of new things I could do.

Last week of January I was participating my on-arrival training. It was difficult in so many ways. First – it was only in italian. And even though I understood almost everything I still don’t have enough vocabulary or courage to actually speaks in italian. Secondly – I got sick, so I missed half of the activities. And now I discovere myself in a low-point. First time during my EVS I feel really homesick and I truly miss my friends and family. But I know that this is totally normal part of this experience so I don’t let it to bother me too much. Because life always goes on and I have new challenges and opportunities, so I am actually very curious to see how I will manage with everything. 

February

February started as a difficult month, I was struggling with some homesickness. I was totally aware of the fact that probably at one point I will realize how much I miss my friends and family. But I didn’t give up, I understood that this is just one part of this amazing experience and in a way I am little bit grateful because I think I appreciate all amazing people in my life little bit more. And it is nice that thanks to social media and internet we can easily keep in touch. So I didn’t ignore the fact that I was homesick, it was just part of me.

What actually really helped me was the fact that I started some new activities and now my schedule is busier that during the previous months. But I am happy about that because now I really feel useful. I participate in many english lessons in different schools, I keep working on different topics for the blog and I also have a very nice opportunity to work on an international project application. This is little bit challenging, but I really enjoy this opportunity because that gives me a chance to develop myself in the field I already feel like very good at. And everything I learn here will be useful in the future. Both in worklife and personal life.

February is an important month for me – firstly, my youngers brother and sister celebrated their 25th birthday and a day after was Estonia’s independence day. In the end of January one Estonian wrote to me, he is also an EVS volunteer in Sicily. So we decided that the perfect time to meet is on Estonia’s independence day. And I was very happy to discover that actually in Sicily here are more estonians. Officially me in Mussomeli, one guy in Catania and one girl in Palermo. We celebrated our independence day in a proper way – some traditsional Estonian snacks (black bread, Estonian candies, potatoe salad and smoked sausage), listening to estonian music and watching how our president is greeting important people who have contributed to the development of Estonia as a republic and as a nation. So last days of February were very nice – I discovered Sicily a little bit (Catania and Siracusa), got to know how tricky public transportation system in Sicily is and got confirmation to the idea that sicilians are very nice and warm people. 

March

So.. this month has been very strange. I discovered the value of time. I don’t feel the need to rush all the time anymore. Health comes first. Yes, I found out that my exhaustion actually has a reason – iron level in my blood is very low. And something strange is going on with my eyes. It might be some kind of allergy.. I am not totally sure, but who knows, maybe it is allergy.

I have stayed at home because of my health problems. So that has given me time to analyse everything. Seems like time to analyse my life here is very important because this is how I understand what has changed and what I have learned.

The most challenging activities for me here have been english conversation club for children and working together with other volunteers to create international youth exchange project. Sometimes I was thinking that the main problem is the motivation level and other time I thought the problem is language barrier. So.. putting these two thing together – nothing is happening or the level of work that gets done is very low. Even though it has been difficult, somehow the motivation keeps coming back because understanding that these two activities may be the most difficult ones, they are also the biggest learning opportunities. So even it is very easy to give up, that hasn’t happened so far because I am here to discover something and that process keeps going on.

What has been wonderful during March is the weather. When my friends form Estonia sent me photos of how much snow they have, I sent them photos of sunshine. We have an amazing terrace here and the best moments for self-analysing and motivating myself happened while laying on the terrace and enjoying the sunshine. It is so nice that we have the opportunity to eat breakfest or lunch on the terrace. For me it seems that sun makes everything better. I have always thought that (well, in Estonia we don’t have so much sunshine) and it works for me – during sunny days I feel more energetic and I am happier. And of course the sun has played a big role in our tomato growing process, the plants are so nice and beautiful.

....and after March I stopped writing. The main reason for that was the fact that I got used to my life in Sicily. Everything became familiar and I felt good there. I continued with my activities, I had an opportunity to make suggestions what I want to do (thank you, ArciStrauss team!) and I actually felt appreciated as well. These seven months were full of challenges, surprises, sadness, overcoming my fears, deep conversations, long evenings, amazingly good food, communication problems, self-analyzing and growing as a person. I am so grateful that I had this opportunity to do my EVS in such an amazing place. And I am grateful to people who made my EVS so amazing – Jose, Roberta, Anthony, Dario, Nuccia, Anna, Hana, Lola, Radu, Hakan and Sebiastien. We had a good run together, see you again in some other places in the world!

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

IncluEurope - Young Refugees Structured Democratic Participation in Europe - INTERVIEW WITH SAQIB, FAIZAN, JAMEELA AND MERILIN

Name of the project: IncluEurope - Young Refugees Structured Democratic Participation in Europe

Date: 17^th until 25^th June 2017

Country/City: Sweden, Stockholm

What was the main topic of the event?

Saqib Naveed - The main topic of the project that we how can collaborate with young refugees in the democratic process of the country where they are settled. The essence of the project was to build a network which will eventually help the refugees to come together and work for the society and refugees.

Faizan Khan - To empower young refugees and the organizations run by them and/or working with them to encourage democratic participation, civic engagement and social inclusion in the host communities. Create and maintain a network of youth refugee’s organizations that can work together at European level, and support each other on their local programs and projects.

Jameela Prits - SDP. Structured Democratic participation

Merilin Joesaar - How to increase the participation of young refugees

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

Saqib Naveed - Probably the biggest learning moment was the inclusion games, seminars and workshop that we did during the project. Last two days of the training were quite interesting and full of learning as we have to make our own projects with the other participant from other countries. We learned the tool of participation from the trainers and then we implemented the learning’s on our project and presented in front of participants. Feedback on the presentations were quite effective as well to think broader about the topic.

Faizan Khan - While watching documentary movie on detainees living in detention center. I realized that going through life’s challenges require strength — a lot of strength — both mental and physical because they go hand in hand. You need to stay strong. You need support from family and friends. Most importantly, you need to change your outlook on life. You need to understand that you can’t change the way things are but you can change the way you look at things. Having gone through a struggle, you realize that sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. You can choose to blame yourself for what’s gone wrong, or you can forgive yourself and move on. Dwelling on such thoughts can only create self-harm and delay healing. To be able to heal, you need to accept the circumstances, forgive yourself and your mistakes, and move on.

Jameela Prits - When we had sharing realities from each country about the life of refugees as I am working with refugees in Estonia as interpreter.

Merilin Joesaar - Actually one of the coolest moments was when two of the participants found out that they we're old classmates around 20 years ago in their homeland Syria. And after all this time they met in this project, one came from France and other Sweden. It seriously shows how small the world is

Do you have any plans to continue active in the field? If yes, what?

Saqib Naveed - Yes, because I always wanted to participate in the volunteers work or projects which are related with the refugees. I myself is a student of Intercultural communication and inclusion of refugees in the society is one of the hot topic of my course. I believe that it will help me out in selecting the appropriate topic for my thesis and this training would help me to get more data from the participation and the network that I have built during the project.

Faizan Khan - Yes, I am willing to continue and play my role in this field. I suggested them to use IT platform so that they can achieve their goals in desired time. I will try to introduce them existing IT platform so they can communicate easily, sharing information and maintaining database.

Jameela Prits - Yes, I would like to continue learning more about refugees and their lives in each country.

Merilin Joesaar - I'm not sure yet. I'll probably try to organize some events regarding this topic.

Would you recommend it to your friends? I yes, why? If not, why not?

Saqib Naveed - Yes, I would love to suggest it to my friends as the learning outcomes were excellent from this project and hopefully my friends who are interested in these sorts of project will participate in future as well.

Faizan Khan - Yes I will recommend and convince them to participate because of that they will be able to know about different cultures and living style of people. They can improve their conversation and leadership skills by learning. I think it’s important to know Human Rights, Democracy, Youth Participation, Structured Participation and Inclusion.

Jameela Prits - Yes, it was interesting course that improved so many ideas and open an wide eye on the whole world not only in Estonia.

Merilin Joesaar - Definitely! Everyone should get at least a little try in these kind of projects and check out how awesome they actually are. Talking is one thing, but actually going and experiencing them is another!

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

Faizan Khan - I really enjoyed my time over there, spending time with people from different countries knowing about their language, food, music, life style. Almost every day after training we use to go out and discover different parts of city. Definitely I will visit Stockholm again.

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

Global Intercultural Warming Against Youth Radicalization - INTERVIEW WITH STELLA, MAREK, ELINA, RAIMOND AND VILLIAM

Name of the project: Global Intercultural Warming Against Youth Radicalization

Date: 02/06/2017 – 10/06/2017

Country/City: Poland, Zakopane

What was the main topic of the event?

Stella Raudsepp - The objective of the project was intercultural dialogue, learning and communication to promote de-radicalization, tolerance and cultural acceptance among the youth. The main focus was on enthralling discussions about migration and the situation of migrants and refugees in participating countries.

Marek Runga - About refugees, radicalization and immigrants

Elina Tahk - The main topic of the project was migration and refugee crisis in participating countries.

Raimond Pold - How to be tolerant against refugees, how to decrease radicalisation among youth and also what happens to the departure country, destination country and what are the solutions to different refugee bound problems.

Villiam Poldma - Migration and integration - mostly touching the topic of recent refugee crisis and its effects, solutions, impacts, problems in and on European countries involved.

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

Stella Raudsepp - The project offered many opportunities for self-growth. Since all of the activities required teamwork, public speaking and argumentation, I felt the greatest improvement in aforementioned spheres. In addition I gained heaps of new knowledge about the migration situation in the participating countries, which advocated empathy and self-analyses.

Marek Runga - I understood what difference between Immigrants and Refugees was, and what kind of different problems are facing other countries with refugees

Elina Tahk - Sleeping is really important. One must be able to manage time.

Raimond Pold - Biggest learning moment was, when we listened everybody`s opinion about refugees and wrote down why are immigrants leaving, how to integrate them and what are different country´s icebergs of visual and hidden values. Also i learned to be even calmer when public speaking and also like even lead the conversations and show others the way. Also i realised my English wasn’t 6 out of ten, because i could speak infinitely.

Villiam Poldma - I was well aware about the topic, but I learned a lot of insights about different separate countries facing and handling this problem, got even more detailed view of each individual's country's perspective on the subject.

Do you have any plans to continue active in the field? If yes, what?

Stella Raudsepp - Yes, I would like to facilitate an engaging project like this myself.

Marek Runga - No

Elina Tahk - Maybe in the future.

Raimond Pold - Yeah i have some plans. I wanted to go to the project leaders training course, but health problems interrupted my participation. Me and my estonian friends, who are already active in these projects, are maybe submitting application to one more project and then we are going to Portugal for one year.

Villiam Poldma - Most of the solutions were touching the surface of the problem and not the cause. And it's hard to get to the cause if not a collective genuine interest and intent to solve it all over the world by people is not developed. One can do only as much as to bring awareness to the subject to awaken the interest and intent among the people. Apathy and ignorance is the main problem among the masses, especially the youth.

Would you recommend it to your friends? I yes, why? If not, why not?

Stella Raudsepp - Erasmus+ Youth Exchange projects offer the best form of non-formal education as well as valuable opportunities to experience companionship, different countries and discuss interesting topics with other bright minds.

Marek Runga – I’m always recommending these projects to my friends, I telling them that it`s best way to get new friends and learn about other cultures plus you have interesting topics to talk about.

Elina Tahk - Yes. Why not.

Raimond Pold - Of course i would recommend it to my friends, because you can talk about hot topics with new people who could be your new best friends or hosts when you go to their country. It is a good opportunity to be social, face your fears, travel to super awesome places, and get to know different cultures. Also it can be taken as an active cheap vacation and better than just lying under the sun with your family or friends.

Villiam Poldma - I would definately recommend it to friends, because it raises the awareness about the problem while meeting a lot of people interested in the topic at the same time.

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

Marek Runga -  I am really grateful for the facilitators in Poland, they did really good stuff, and It was good surprise that they brought us to Morskoe oko.

Elina Tahk - Olge mõnusad.

Raimond Pold - I also wrote a rap song about refugees and social problems, some lyrics are in the video we performed in the project. I also wrote many different songs in Poland, because that place gave me inspiration. :D

Villiam Poldma - One of the best projects I've been to so far, considering the environment, build-up and people involved. I am very grateful!

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