„Alone! No more!”, training course, Çanakkale, Turkey
Between 7 to 15 December 2018, participants from 8 countries (Greece, Romania, Macedonia, France, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy and of course, host country -Turkey) took part enthusiastically in the activities promoted under the slogan „Alone! No more!”. The NGO „Esenler Youth and Sport Association” was the main organizer of those activities.
Çanakkale, a city which saw the fall of the well-known Troy, located in the southern region of the Dardanele Strait, was chosen to be the place where we built a puzzle-like, complex image of the nowadays situation of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees. We came to an interesting conclusion: this aspect impacts every country in a different manner, related with the social, cultural and economical values and context. But we have also reached common ground: our main goal was to find and propose solutions applicable to every level. We hope to see a reduction in biased attitudes and racist approaches, by increasing the harmony of cultural, social, economic and psychological aspects between refugees and the local population.
The learning activities took place in various learning environments – a regular classroom, the City Hall, even on the streets of Çanakkale. The local authorities presented their policies regarding the refugees and even allowed us to speak to some of them. They came from all the zones devastated by military conflict: Syria, North Africa, Afghanistan and their life stories are impossible to ignore. While working directly on the streets of Çanakkale, we had the opportunity to come into contact with the locals as well, getting to know more about their opinions, their worries, their lifestyle in general. It was a touching moment, full of impact. We realized there are much more things that we have in common than we had ever imagine.
The case studies, the debates, the role-plays, the sessions of brainstorming and the city-rally were the methods through which we reached our objectives. However, they brought us closer, making way for some long lasting friendship. Now, if we will ever visit Greece, FYRUM, France, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy or Turkey, we know that we have at least a friend in each country. It was a great opportunity for us to improve, professional but even more at personal level, to see that we did not lose our humanity.
Together Romania Association 