Discover the Beauty Inside Yourself

International youth exchange in Soroca, Moldova, June 2010

 

Loesje participated in this youth exchange with a German group, making creative workshops together with young people from Romania, Italy, Moldova, Georgia and Armenia. The project aimed to stimulate the creativity of young persons with various social backgrounds and bring about the discovery of everything that is beautiful inside them. The exchange resulted in an exhibition with performances in the Soroca fortress.

During the exchange, beside the creative workshops, problems in communication between different cultures were discussed and highlighted with various icebreking games and teambuilding methods to improve the intercultural dialogue. Although what came out in the evaluation processs was that these topics were not adressed as much as needed and as a result it was hard for some people to integrate. However it was very interesting to see how well participants who had a language barrier in the beginning found other ways to communicate and were very eager to learn. Also the creative workshops helped participants from different social backrounds to express themselves and learn practical skills at the same time. And of course one shouldn't forget the beautiful surroundings of the former pioneercamp we were all staying in and the hospitality of the locals and the always happy and enthusiastic cantine ladies. It was indeed an interesting experience and a peek into a culture where everything happens a bit diffrently than one might be used to. And for many the exchange was stereotype challenging and norm breaking.