“Youth Mobility in the Age of Crisis” was an 8-day Seminar hosted by TDM2000 Polska from 16th to 23rd of February 2015 in Wroclaw, Poland.
Participating in the seminar were 8 partner organizations represented by delegates from the United Kingdom, Malta, Romania, Macedonia, Germany, Croatia, Czech Republic and Poland.
In the beginning of the seminar we went through a lot of diverse getting-to-know and group building activities, such as poetry and song writing, role playing and dancing which helped us to form a strong rapport among the group.
During the intercultural nights we had the opportunity to exchange experience and national customs. We split into country groups and shared with each other what to expect during traveling in our respective countries and what it’s like to be a guest. We did this through sharing foods, drinks and practical experience from our countries.
Once we were comfortable with each other…
… we began to have good discussions and sharing of knowledge and experience regarding the topic of migration. We had activities and did various exercises to explore our existing knowledge about migration and mobility as well as to build upon it.
These activities were mostly facilitated by our experienced facilitator: Kamila Fiałkowska – a TDM2000 Polska member and PhD student currently working on her thesis on migration.
We have discussed what the situation of migration in times of crisis is and how it affects the mobility of young Europeans. We have also analyzed minority-majority relations and discussed the issues related to integration, inclusion and exclusion. Media reporting on migrations, media stereotyping, politics and society views related to migration were also tackled and discussed during this seminar.
The seminar has provided us with insight information about the Roma community which is one of the most migratory and discriminated minority group in Europe.
Anna Kudarecka from Angelus Silesius House (Dom Spotkań im. Angelusa Silesiusa) talked about the Roma community in general, their history of migrations and most significant periods of Roma history. She also introduced the work of Angelus Silesius, a local NGO that works in the area of Wroclaw.
Additionally, Maciej Mandelt from Association Nomada was sharing local reality of Roma community in Wroclaw, the problems they are facing and migrations they undertake.
Towards the end of the seminar we planned and run workshops on the theme of migration. We used some available non-formal education resources for inspiration to personally create activities for educating young people on the topic of migration.
Many of us build a strong friendships and partnerships between our organizations, which we may use in the future to cooperate and organize new projects. The presentation of Erasmus+programme and the opportunities that it provides, as well as developing ideas for future projects on the last day of the seminar certainly helped us on this regard.
Leaving Wroclaw we feel more empowered and competent to talk about the topic of migration. We will spread the knowledge to our fellow partner organizations and beyond.
– Article was composed by Alexandr (Czech Republic), Zara (United Kingdom), Martina (Germany), Aleksandar (Macedonia), Rastislav (Czech Republic) and Karen (Malta).
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