An Erasmus+ Youth Exchange “Stand Together” took place on 25 March- 3 April 2019 in Willemstad, Curacao
Fairy tales always end well. Does it always? 32 young people from 4 countries gathered together to deal with tales and gender-based violence in fairy tales and life. In the youth exchange “Stand together” young people from Ukraine, Georgia, Tenerife, ie Spain and Curaçao met on the same island of Curaçao. What is it? Where is it? The fabulous island of Curacao is located in the Caribbean Sea not far from Venezuela, but at the same time it is a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Is it possible to work on something serious in such a climate? Yes, it is. We managed to become acquainted quite productive with cultural differences or similarities, to understand what it gender, sex, sexual practices, gender stereotypes, learned about the heroes and heroines of each country, to deal with sexism in advertising, what kind of violence that happens and shared stories from our lives. It’s impressed that everyone and had something to tell.
We also discussed formal and non-formal education programs, focusing on education that will promote equality and inclusion, help to face violence, and share how our countries look on March 8th. We tried very hard and surprised our colleagues with “the celebration of femininity and beauty” and the presence of women who say: “We do not need any rights, we have everything, we are ready to be a kitchen slave.”
Among the short-term relaxation in the pool, which more often resembled a soup of people, we still had time to find a solution for all the challenges that were able to sound. And to disassemble the Cinderella, the history of her life, her life choices and the lack of freedom of choice, and also to come up with alternative realities of Cinderella’s life and life after the happy end.
One day, the entire group visited the Felis Foundation, a host organization on the island. By the way, Felis means F – felicidad – happiness, E – espasio – space, L – libertat – freedom, I – and , S – speransa – hope. In fact, this is an informal center for children aged 4 to 12 from districts, most of them grow up with domestic violence in the family. And with these children we played games, and they did with the children theater based on the fairy tale “Goat Dereza,” showed Spanish tales, played football with Georgians, studied the Georgian alphabet and wrote their names in Georgian.
Bohdan Malanchuk:The youth exchange in Curaçao was for me the first such a youth exchange of this kind. During the exchange you can take a lot of things: the main thing to want take it. At first, I stopped afraid to speak English. For the last few years, I understand English very well and I can say something, but this fear always was – I’m saying it incorrectly. The exchange has deprived me of it almost completely, so now I am more calm in my speech, and just talk. I’m not afraid to make mistakes. In addition to a deeper understanding of the topic of “gender-based violence”, opened up for me another side – an independent training session. Why is it cool? Because immediately after acquiring knowledge, you can share them with others (as all know, it’s best way to remember), and even more, you do it in English. Definitely useful experience. And, of course, cultural exchange can not be forgotten. On TV / in the Internet, you see one picture, although in reality everything is completely different. Because I love the culture of other peoples, it was unrealistic for me to interact with other countries. Ask more about their culture and different thoughts in the country. Summing up, I will say that youth exchanges in Curaçao are not only fun or learning. This is the right combination of enjoyable and useful, which I am very grateful for Erasmus+.
Project video by participants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8cJW8gsE4I&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0iMDDzA-0pZOoVHPCUcZQd_V5BftK3nzxKlZ0fad0qQlL_CfJvV9bNhXU
Project report by participants.
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