Open Doors 4 Social Inclusion

Finally, last Sunday 27th November, the final event presenting the results of our EVS projects took place in the MultiKulti social center.

Rural development and Acceptance and tolerance have been the topics of our projects, and we wanted to share with the public our two months experience.

In furtherance of this objective we organised a photo exhibition, a human library and a public debate.

Everybody was invited, at 3 o'clock MultiKulti opened its doors for the public. The photo exhibition was comoposed by photos taken by the kids from the Tabanovce refugee camp and photos showing portraits and initiatives of people living in rural areas. The "huaman books" shared their stories and we had an animated moving debate about migration and about the future of the rural areas in MK.

see you for the next event, we let you with some pictures of the day :)

Weekend in Kavadarci!

Zdravo!

Saturday we took the opportunity to go to Kavadarci (in the south of Macedonia) with our coordinator, he used to live there and we wanted to meet people from rural areas for our project. It was also nice to discover the city and our coordinator's previous employment with the youth organisation, CreACTive.

How is the best way to meet local people? We spent the saturday night in local pubs and had the chance to meet other international volunteers (EVS, Peacecorps...) and local youth workers.

Understanding rural life is not always easy, so on Sunday we went to Marena, a little village near Kavadarci to visit and meet Vancho a local farmer who lives with his mother in a house in the countryside.

Their welcoming was perfect, they showed us the house and the garden, gave us an interview and invited us to eat and drink homemade rakija and ajvar, what more can we ask for :) ?

Under a beautiful blue sky, we walked to find the CreACTive farm, a 500 square meters land run by the association, where local youth and international volunteers work together, and can discover the permaculture techniques, eco-construction principles, composting and other environmental values.

Perhaps in the future the youth from Marena and Kavadarci could bring these ecological techniques to the rest of farmers and habitants in the area, it would be great.

Back in town, we returned to the pub for a meeting with one of the youth involved in the CreACTive projects, he told us about his experiences and we shared a good moment.

Intense weekend if we can say, but we enjoyed it. We love to meet new people and discover new places, and it was very productive for our 'coming soon' photo exhibition.

The trip back from Kavadarci to Kumanovo allowed us to have some rest. Our coordinators version of a direct bus, it wasn't. We stopped for 45 minutes in Skopje! but finally we made it.

Counting the days until the next discovering trip around Macedonia, we think it wont be before the end of our EVS period, which is almost over :(

Hope to see you around!

Photos From Halloween Party

Hello everyone,
Thanks for joining our party.
Hope too see you in another our event.

English course with children from rural area!

In the framework of our Intercult'rural project we are organising a non-formal English course with the 7th and 8th grade students from the Staro Nagoričane School.

  10 century Church of St. George, Staro Nagoricane

Every Wednesday after the school hours we are receiving the children in the youth center, located next to the school, for one hour of pedagogical games and activities. The objective of these classes is to make the children enjoy learning a foreign language.

After two sessions we can see that the children really appreciate having this unconventional activities. They participate actively and enjoy dicovering new ways to learn :)

On our side we are very satisfied with this activity, it's very nice to share our time with these kids and feel that they are grateful for our presence. Next Wednesday: numbers and colors!

Work in progress...

Raising awareness on human rights and migration

This week is global Human Right's week and Thursday was dedicated to migration/refugees.

We wanted to do a little action in Kumanovo to inform people about this day and talk with them about migration to know what they think about it. So with our "No borders"-hearts we went to the main square of Kumanovo and spent few hours there talking to young people that passed by and who were not too busy.

So what do young "kumanovians" think about migration?

* First of all, many people link the subject to emigration from Macedonia and told us they want to migrate one day too. They think migrating to foreign countries (mainly to EU*) is a good opportunity for them to learn new skills and get new experiences. Moving to EU* to study or to work is unfortunately quite hard for them because of visa restrictions, but they are hoping that in few years Macedonia will join European Union which would make moving much easier for them.

* Some people we met said that there are no human rights in Macedonia and the opportunities to find a job for example are quite limited. That is why opinion of many people towards refugees is rather negative. They said that the refugees arriving to Macedonia are not bad people and they are in need of help, but the things are though for us Macedonians too so we just do not have ressources to help them.

* "Refugee-crisis" seems to be something people in Kumanovo do not know much about and they are not used to meet a lot of foreigners in their lives. They do not really know what to think about it and for some it felt even little scary when the refugees first started to arrive in the country. However, those who have actually met refugees and heard their stories said it had really touched them and they believe that this kind of humain dimension to the situation might change some people's opinions.

* Despite some concerns Kumanovians might have towards refugees, many of them still think that everyone should have the right to migrate, especially those who are coming from war riven areas or are otherwise persecuted. They think that migrants should be seen as individuals like everyone else and treated equally with the natives.

Now, that we have a proper idea of the attitudes towards migrants that young people here in Kumanovo have, we will keep working on raising the awareness of the situation and see what we can do to change the attitudes even a tiny bit. :)

NO BORDERS!

*EU: European Union

Movie Night / Филмска вечер / Nata e filmit

Welcome to watch City of God with us in Multikulti Thursday evening at 7pm!

In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket (Alexandre Rodrigues) is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood. José "Zé" Pequeno (Leandro Firmino da Hora) is an ambitious drug dealer who uses Rocket and his photos as a way to increase his fame as a turf war erupts with his rival, "Knockout Ned" (Seu Jorge). The film was shot on location in Rio's poorest neighborhoods.

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Who are we?

Hello everyone,

After the intense EVS Party and planning our first movie night (we are waiting for you at Multikulti tonight at 7pm!), each of us four want to let you know why are we here and what are our first impressions of Macedonia. So here you go! :)

ANDREEA

Salut,

My name is Andreea, I’m Rumanian but I’ve lived in France in the last 5 years, oh la la! In the last 2 years I was woking in an association that promotes the European mobility programs. As my contract was finishing, and I wanted to travel a little bit, discover a new culture, but in the same time to continue my associative engagement...what could be better that an EVS.

3 months ago my friend Clarisse (from Planete Volontaire NGO from Marseille, France) said I have 2 EVS places in Macedonia.

Intercult’Rural? CID? MultiKulti? Kumanovo? what's all this...few days research gave...CID =Center for Intercultural Dialogue, MultiKulti=ze social center, Intercult'Rural= the name of the project, Kumanovo= city in North of Macedonia.

Interesting...we (if your are asking who’ we are, me and Dorian - see his profile below)  decided to apply, after 2 weeks of work we had our motivation video (watch it here) that we sent to CID.

End of August they said YES, 1 week after we bought our tickets...and here we are Monday 3 October 2016 registration in the Kumanovo police station, opening a bank account, having Macedonian traditional breakfast (kebab, salad, cheese).

The integration week started.. coordination meeting with Daniel, playing with the kids from MultiKulti, Macedonian classes, visiting the Staro Nagoričane village where we will work...the next 2 months will be intense!

  

 

On Saturday we went with the hiking group to the beautiful Kokino megalithic observatory site for helping in an action for promoting tourism. What an amazing view, being in a place with so much history is magic.

While they installed some information panels, I picked up some trash. Personal comment: It’s sad to see how people don’t respect their environment, We’ve never seen that much cigarettes butts in a square meter, a public ashtray will be very useful.

A second group went for a walk for marking a hiking path. It was nice to share the day with local people!

 

DORIAN

Hi, 

I'm Dorian, coming also from France but originally from Spain. Well, you have read how we decided to integrate an EVS project. After some years living and working in Marseille, where I had the chance to meet lots of volunteers and youth people from all over Europe and world, I had in mind the idea to get involved in this programme, and finally here we are, living our EVS dream and sharing this experience with amazing people  :)

Throught our intercult'rural project we will raise awareness about the youth's situation in rural areas in Macedonia and we will have the chance to work with kids and teenagers from a rural village.

As you can see the first weeks of the EVS are busy ones, but the first impressions are good: quite small city, very friendly people (and adorable children), healthy and tasty food, mad weather, we will not have the time to get bored.

JANNIKA

Здраво!


After a week in Macedonia I already feel like home here; I can get around in Kumanovo, I know where to buy the cheapest vegetables and where to go for a run, I know few words in Macedonian to get by in the supermarket (OK if they ask me anything more than if I want a bag, I am lost! :D) and my EVS colleagues are starting to feel like a family.

My name is Jannika, I am originally from Finland but have been living in three different countries for the past seven years, which is why I adapt to new environments quite fast, I think. I just finished my Master's degree in International Migrations and Ethnic Relations and wanted to gain some experience related to my studies and contribute to the current refugee situation with my knowledge. The EVS project in Kumanovo seemed like a perfect opportunity for me and so I decided to spend next three months in Macedonia. The project I am working in is about raising awareness of “refugee crisis” and promoting acceptance and tolerance among young people in Macedonia. During the next three months we are planning to organize workshops in local high schools, evening activities in Multikulti and events such as photo exhibition and public debate in the city. Also, we are going to do activities in refugee-camps close to the boarders and have fun with the kids in Multikulti whenever we have time.In my free-time I am a dancehall-dancer so I might also teach some Jamaican dancing to Macedonians if they are up for it. ;)

Kumanovo seems a small but interesting city. It is quite different than any other places that I have lived in and I love the mixture of different cultures and religions that are present. I can not wait to discover more Macedonia and put my hands into work to realize the projects we have been planning!

Hope to see you around! :)

Onur (Онур) - Robin (Робин)

Merhaba,

My name is Onur (Онур) or Robin (Робин). 

I born in Turkey but I can’t see borderlines. 

So all World is my country. 

I went to Czech Republic last year and I wanted to go abroad again. 

So I choosed this EVS* Project.

In this Project I’m working for acceptance and tolerance, beside this I’m doing technical works too because I study Computer Education and Instructional Technology.

I'm also volunteer at "Youth Service Center", "Turkish Women Union", "Tuğba Çansalı-Öğrenme Tasarımları/Learning Designing", "Ankara University Modern Archery Society".

Our work included some flash mobs and I love theatre, basicly this project so good for me.

Here I am. 

My motto is “live in the moment and try to be happy” and I’m very happy to being here. I lived in many cities, towns, small towns, and villages in my life and mostly I prefer small towns because it will be easy to go somewhere and mostly you will see the same friendly people.

I believe that Turkey and Macedonia have same culture. 

Like foods, melodies, clothes. 

So I don’t feel like stranger for this country. 

Just I don’t understand their language (yet).

We have movie nights every Thursday and you can vote for movie from our blog.

If you want to meet with us, we will be at Multi-Култи

Ciao.