DAY 1 :
Hey, do you want to know how is our stay in Bansko going? If yes, we will share our adventure with you every day till the end of the training. First, let me tell you, or remind you - for the one who forgot - what is the training about.
The Legacy of Inclusion is a Human Rights Education training for high school students which lasts for four days and takes place in Bansko. Yesterday, we started the first out of three main stages of a pilot activity financed by the European Youth Foundation of Council of Europe.
During these days, students will participate in different role games, interactive activities dealing with the main topic of the training: fighting discrimination, or better said: inclusion. In fact, this training aims to fight against every form of discrimination. So, students share their experiences and the issues they faced concerning discrimination, helped by their teachers, ABS team and the facilitators. Together they do their best to offer a free of prejudice and steroetypes experience. This may sound utopic, indeed it works thanks to the students who decided to leave at home grumpy mood and to bring only good vibes.
For instance, yesterday we played several ice-breaking games, to get to know each other and make participants feel comfortable. I didn't think it would be that quick to make students feel at ease. After the first activity we could fell that these days are going to be great.
DAY 2 :
Second day! Now that all participants know each other, they have no fear to express themselves. Therefore, this sunny morning was the perfect moment for students to put themselves into discriminated people's shoes. This activity is called "Empathy map". Devided into groups of 4 or 5, the participants represented one group of discriminated people and had to write down what do they see, think, feel and hear from the others. The perfect exercice to emphasize on Human Rights.
In the afternoon they participated in role games inside and outside of the conference room to take advantage of the good weather. They all had post-its stucked on their forehead and had to guess who they were helped by the others, always in a friendly and creative atmosphere. Talking about creativity, one of the afternoon's activities was called Forum theatre – participants were divided into groups and had to create a short play dealing with bullying at school, home, and other discrimination issues. Apparently, we were accompanied by real actors and stage directors!
DAY 3 :
Today is our third day. The day started with a funny group activity : a speed dating! Even though we were not looking for the perfect match, we found it. All these activities strengthen the relationships between students.
Then students had the opportunity to question themselves about the way they see and judge people at first sight. On a sheet of paper with a picture on the top, they had to write down their first impression of this person. Once it was done, the facilitators hanged the papers on the wall so that everybody was able to see what was written down.
The main reaction was laugh, it allowed them to take a step back and think about what they wrote. Above all, they realized that prejudices are absurd.
Afterwards, they had an awareness session about ABS' projects, The Youth Information Center and the No Hate Speech Movment, to discover the various opportunities they all offer to young people willing to take part in European but also global actions. This was also the occasion to learn more about the variety of means at their disposal concerning mobility in Europe. As you know, tomorrow will be our last day and I can bet that no one wants to leave Bansko.
DAY 4 :
For their last day, students had some time to think about how to put in action the things they learned during the passed few days. After discussing the issues on discrimination, they had the opportunity to put into practice their newly acquired knowledge through a team activity. They were divided in 4 groups depending on the school they are studing at, so as to be able to continue the initiative and work on their personal projects. Each team received papers with the name of real places in Blagoevgrad and had to create an initiative around these places. Facilitators provided them with some time to form the outline of their own ideas and the key points how to achieve them.
During that day, they were thoughtful how to bring together some of the information about Human Rights and discrimination, which was presented to them. Finally, every team presented its project and how to implement it. In place of a goodbye, in an atmosphere full of emotion, each and every student and teacher received a certificate for the skills they acquired. But this is not the end as everybody will meet again in a few weeks for the presentation of student's final projects.
To conclude :
These past four days, the first out of three phases of Human Rights Education training for high school students and teachers called The Legacy of Inclusion, took place in Bansko. It is a pilot activity financed by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe. During the training course we gathered 24 students from 4 different high schools, their teachers, the facilitators as well as ABS team. Students participated in different role games, interactive activities dealing with the main topic of the training: human rights education, fighting discrimination, no hate speech and tolerance. Together they had the opportunity to experience a free of prejudice and stereotypes experience. Thanks to ice-breaking games, students had no fear to express themselves. Good mood, many questions, creativity and empathy were there. At the end of the training, students had created strong relationships and above all, had the opportunity to implement their own local campaigns in different schools and places in Blagoevgrad. Facilitators provided them with some time to form the outline of their own idea and the key points how to achieve them. To finalize this training, students will meet again in a few weeks to present their campaigns in a good atmosphere, as always during the international day of Tolerance on 16 November 2017 in the center of Blagoevgrad.
