Greetings from Gdańsk: The active young people of our Partnership 12 met in the Polish harbour city. The international youth encounter is organised by our project partners Fundacja IRSE (Gdańsk, Poland) and Une Terre Culturelle in cooperation with BECAUSE U ART (Marseille, France).
The participants report about a youth encounter full of experiences, information and also fun – despite the serious background: The focus of the international meeting is on ecology and environmental protection. Every day they ask themselves the question: “How are you, Earth?” in order to develop sustainable ideas and promote solutions for environmentally friendly change.
On the first day, the young people got to know each other and their host city. They shared their expectations and wishes. And to make communication easier, they taught each other some words in the other language. Other activities in the first days included a great afternoon at the seaside and a visit to a community garden. They also met the participants of the other international youth encounter that took place in parallel in Gdańsk as part of Generation Europe – The Academy.
Even though the weather was a bit moody, the international group continued their work: the young people exchanged ideas about their local projects and what all this has to do with concepts of active citizenship. They also discussed different concepts of culture and cultural differences as well as similarities. They also continued to work on the main topic of the youth encounter, for example by visiting the Experyment Science Centre on a trip to Gdynia and dealing with a presentation on the ecology of the Baltic Sea.
Afterwards, the international group continued to work on project ideas for local actions with which they want to continue their commitment at home even after the youth encounter has ended.
We did it! Partnership 12 has just finished a wonderful youth encounter in Gdańsk, Poland. Twelve amazing days full of sun and rain, work and fun, sharing and gathering experiences. The last days of the meeting were intense work on local activities that will be implemented in the upcoming year. In addition, we talked about the qualities of an active citizen, visited the European Solidarity Center, learned how to recycle paper and made plant-based postcards. We also had time for city game, sightseeing the Old Town and a visit to the Hevelianum scientific center in Gdańsk. Reflecting on the question “How are you, Earth?”, the youths created environmental videos, proposed eco-friendly solutions for everyday life and wrote a letter to themselves which they will receive and read again next year. We celebrated the end of the youth encounter with bowling and campfire, already making plans for next steps of cooperation.
