We are proud to share that Empower organization was part of the Erasmus + project “Bridges of Solidarity”. Youth exchange took place in Patras, and Serbian team had a chance to spend nine days, from 8 to 17th of July in sunny Grece with 30 participants from Spain, Italy, Romania, Turkey, and our hosts Greece of course.
Preparatory activity
The Serbian team met for the first time in Youth club in May in Cacak. The team was made out of three girls and two boys, almost all fresh out of high school, and ready for a little bit of activist work just before college!
Before we started our journey to Grece we had a couple of meetings talking about project, and sharing opinions about migrations, immigrants, prejudice people have about these topics, and us as well.
Advanced Planning Visit (APV)
From 5th to 7th of April APV took place, and all team leaders had a wonderful opportunity to meet in Patras and start their cooperation before the exchange. Team leaders had a chance to present their organizations and share different experiences that can help creating most productive activitis for the participants.
Between hard work, we also had time to learn more about Greek history in archeology museum and see the famous Patras “Rio-Antirio” bridge.
In the evenings we made intercultural nights, so every night we could try different food, beverages, folk dances and learn more about every country’s history.
Project “Bridges of Solidarity” had a deep impact on every participant, and empower all of them to fell strong enough to make a change.
The Trip
Our trip was a little different from other teams, we were driving through Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Greece to get to Patras. But it was worth every step of the way!!!
Youth exchange
Between 8th and 17th of July Patras was the home of 30 young activists who had the opportunity to learn more about migrations, share personal experiences about the subject but also develop intercultural skills in a safe and stimulating surrounding.
Our goal was creating a society with less discrimination, racism and understanding how prejudices are created.
In nine days each organization had the opportunity to prepare their own activities and show to the whole group from their angle one side of migration story.
The topic that we were processing is serious and each participant had his own way of understanding and dealing with weight that exchange brought to us. War, migrations, children labour, human trafficking, famine, and many more problems were part of our everyday activities, all in purpose to understand better, step out of our comfort zone and come back to our country aware and ready to make steps in the future to prevent these misfortunes.
Between hard work, we also had time to learn more about Greek history in archeology museum and see the famous Patras “Rio-Antirio” bridge.
In the evenings we made intercultural nights, so every night we could try different food, beverages, folk dances and learn more about every country’s history.
Project “Bridges of Solidarity” had a deep impact on every participant, and empower all of them to fell strong enough to make a change.
