RE(DIS)COVER : Témoignages au fil des jours

Nos participants ont donné leurs impressions jour après jour

JOUR 1:

Hey!
Big « Hello » from Strasbourg. Today we managed to start our project for international young people named Re(dis)cover Youth Work by Y-E-N organisation. The first day was diverse and significant. I met 15 new people from different countries from all the world and made friendships. From 7 am to 10 pm we had a lot of interesting conversations, discussions on our experiences, our feelings and vision on the future. So, I have to expect a lot from the further days. Hope coming days would be as exciting and interesting as today.
– Dan

JOUR 2:

The second day of our seminar was a highlight itself because of its different kind of milestones throughout the way: from pandemic challenges to being a member of a Parliament proposing laws and being responsible for its people up to presenting our individual background as our mother organisations and looking forward to one of the most awaited exchange moment: the intercultural evening. So, in the first morning session ,we had the chance to learn from Katarina that even during a global crisis, good and sustainable things could still happen if You have the eyes open to the ones in real needs, this time, the youth workers and their mental health.

Before lunch, we played the role of a member of the Parliament of Dignityland, so we could learn more about human and social rights, different policies and also put in common the situations from our realities. The afternoon, for me was very special because it was the time to present our « roots » as the sending organisation. It was surprisingly to see so many types of organisations, with a lot of different targets, all aiming youngsters and their harmonious development and also the infinite opportunities they have. It was as well nice to see that Y-E-N actually connected us, all being from different countries from all around Europe.

After learning each one of us about the others, the intercultural evening facilitate the interest in each others’ cultural and gastronomical background. So we shared traditional food, gifts and informations about our countries. Happy and joyful after such a diverse yet great day ? Definitely! I am looking forward with curiosity to what the next days will bring to us.
– Cesara

JOUR 3:

The third day of the project started with the « VIP » meeting. We had the opportunity to listen Brigitte’ s experience for over 20 years on youth working. We talked about youth exchanges, mobile projects and interesting facts that happened in her journey. The second part of the morning continued with a session dedicated to Body and Mind with Valentina. We experienced the benefits of the yoga as method to take care of ourselves. In the afternoon, together with Bistra, we became « moving creators », learning to communicate with each others through dancing moves. At the end of the day we had a session called « Tool fair » where each group had to found some tools to solve some social problem.

– Martina

JOUR 4:

The fourth day began by concluding the session of the day before, in fact we explored for different society’s issues and which tools the youth workers can use.

In the second part of the morning we talked about the figure of the youth worker, his characteristics, his values and the difference with other types of helping professions.

In the afternoon session we started talking about the project design and some of its peculiarities and difficulties. During this session, the more experienced shared their experiences.

The following session was dedicated to reflecting on these issues by dividing them into groups of three and ask to share more about.

– Martina

JOUR 5:

Today we started with an energizer; we played a game with the chairs and music and Martina won. Later Naira did a presentation on « project cycle », that is the journey to prepare a project. We start from a problem, we plan how to solve it and then we get to a conclusion, leading to a follow up; that means that a project can lead to the creation of another one. Then Naira explained us who/what are the donors, like for example EYF and Erasmus+. After the coffee break we did « partnership building » with Valentina. We divided into two groups; each group had time to discuss about different topics, such as « areas of expertise » and « areas of needs ». After discussion, we had ten minutes to present to the others what we talked about as a group. After lunch, we had free afternoon and went to visit the city center. We went to have dinner at a typical Alsatian restaurant and tried the « Tarte flambée ».
– Camilla

JOUR 6:

The participants worked together in groups to create their common projects together. It was beautiful to observe them deep in discussions or creatively preparing their presentations and action plans.

The results they demonstrated were reassuring us as facilitators that we managed to create and hold space for productive collaboration between organizations and learning opportunities between professionals. We closed the seminar by going though our program and experiences during the 6 days, evaluating the project and giving out certificates and warm wishes for future cooperation.

-Bistra