Speech less – Act more

Date/time
Date(s) - 19/08/2017 - 28/08/2017
All day

Locality
Lommel, Belgium

Project type

• Youth Exchanges

Selected participants

• Guest User
• Guest User
• Guest User
• Guest User
• Guest User

“I think it was great together, we even managed to visit the Dutch border;)” Adela

“I think the project was, for us, very beneficial by being able to live and be in daily contact with real asylum seekers who have gone through the tortuous way and have had to overcome many obstacles to get from Afghanistan to Belgium. It was interesting to listen their stories and even got goosebumps. I realized that diversity is not bad, but there must be dialogue and not one-sided communication (mostly they are only asked for demands and nobody take into account their needs, feelings, etc.) Personally this was for me the most intensive moment. In addition, we learned how to work with glass, create rhymes and make poems, visited the European Parliament, where we got know day-to-day functioning of the institution and had the opportunity to visit Brussels.” Zuzana

“Girls, great thanks for being able to meet you at such an amazing event and to represent Slovakia and ADEL Slovakia together. Days were full of experience, new experiences and many crazy ideas. I would also like to highlight the fact that I was able to share in these days a room with amazing young people from Afghanistan whose life stories are unbelievable … it forced me to reflect on the happiness I have only thanks to the fact by being born in a free country and having my rights!
I recommend everyone !!! Thanks again – ADEL “Juraj

Summary what was youth exchange about:

“Speech less – Act more” aimed to give young people between 18 and 25 years old an opportunity to meet each other across borders in Lommel, Belgium, to discuss personal, cultural and international issues related to human rights, more in particular the freedom of speech. Participants visited the German war grave cemetery for 1 constructive week of workshops and activities. Participants demonstrated how friendship can bring different cultures together and help not only the young generation but also the European community to face the conflicts of the past and work for peace in future.

The objectives of this project were first of all to involve youngsters with fewer opportunities, because we experienced the importance of bringing youngsters with different social, economic and cultural background together. First to give everybody the chance to participate in an interesting and fun week with peers. Second to teach everybody, by working, cooking, doing the dishes together, that everybody is equal, but also has his/her own personality. Third to show the local community of Lommel (and Limburg – by media -papers) that these teens (who often are misunderstood, underestimated,…) don’t deserve a negative image. Fourthly we discussed, worked around the freedom of speech because of the current affairs today: concerning world politics (Trump, Erdogan, Brexit,…), migration due to wars (refugees), but also to link it to the past (the cemetery). And this to raise awareness regarding their own opinion, responsibility and personality. Fifth we connected the previous themes to glass art and poetry/the spoken word. As a sounding board, but also as a mirror for their feelings and opinions.

During the exchange, we discovered the history of the war grave cemetery and her dead, spoke to a WOII survivor and refugee, discussed with Amnesty International and visited the European parliament in Brussels.

There were participants from Germany ,  Macedonia, Estonia, , Belgium and of course Slovakia.

Participation in the project

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