One of Us
Start date: Sep 1, 2014,
End date: May 31, 2015
PROJECT
FINISHED
The project will take place in Velké Meziříčí, Czech Republic, from 13th to 20th September, 2014. Five partner´s organizations will get involved: The Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and Italy, each in a team of 6 members. Within the project we would like to join young people aged between 16 and 20, students of secondary schools or university students, who care about what is going on in their surroundings. Thanks to the method of non-formal education we will deal with social-economic problems such as racism and xenophobia, respect for the human rights, the elections, etc. These are the problems everybody might come across, no matter what our position or origin is.
Together we will try to define the problems in all the partner countries; we will consider their causes and effects, and prevention. We will introduce some organizations dealing with the topic. As the year 2014 is the year of elections, we will discuss the impact of our possible votes. What do the extremist organizations bring? Can we avoid their governance? Who are the devotees of the extreme right? Can we influence the situation in our country?
During the eight days of the programme we will deal with the problems of individual countries. The volunteers from “Nesehnutí”, an Independent Social Ecological Movement, which is a non-governmental non-profit organization, will perform workshop named "From prejudice to racism". Later on they will participate in the programme by giving us professional advice. The motto of their organization is “Freedom – Responsibility – Engagement”.
The participants of the project will take part actively thanks to the chance of creating a presentation and further activities for the members of the other teams. These presentations should reflect the situation in their home country. We will organize a pilot visit for the leaders of the partner organizations, so that they get clear and unified instructions for their task. After the pilot visit these leaders can hand in the instructions to the concrete members of the teams, so that they have enough time to get ready for the task. It should be appealing and attractive to the other members; their programme should combine discussions in groups, presentations, role-playing, games, etc.
The project will raise awareness of young people about the minorities in Europe, such as Romany or Jewish minorities, various immigrants from Africa or Asia. We believe that the experience of the Swedish group will be especially beneficial, as Sweden is well-known for being one of the most liberal countries in the world.
On the third day of the programme we will make an excursion to Terezín, a former concentration camp, to commemorate the victims of the Nazi political and racial persecution during the occupation of the Czech lands in World War II, to see the memorial sites connected with the suffering and death of dozens of thousands of victims of violence.
We will watch a documentary biographical film “The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton”, about Sir Nicholas George Winton, who saved 669 mostly Jewish children from transport to concentration camps by organizing their departure from the occupied Czechoslovakia to the United Kingdom. This film shows that an individual can change the fate of lots of people for the better.
The final output of the project will be in a form of presentation and performance in the local library. The participants will exhibit their collective work of art named “United colours”. The aim of this painting will be to symbolize a multicultural society and integration. Besides the picture there will be a musical performance. During the week the participants will form an “orchestra” (they will play musical instruments or use other objects to make sounds). The aim of the music performance will be to reach harmony and symbolize the European society. We will invite the public to get involved.
The participants of the project should leave our town with the feeling of being able to influence what is happening around us, either through various organizations or thanks to the chance to vote. They will spread and raise awareness of the EU citizenship and rights, of the necessity of tolerance towards minorities and their cultural differences. They will take part in building the contemporary and future European society.