BLOGS
Gaja, Slovenia
I am Gaja from Slovenia and I was a participant in the project Don’t Be Shadow Learn Your Right. From the training I returned different, inspired, with a desire to re-attend new projects. I've learned a lot from both, a trainer and other participants. The workshops were tough, but they paid off. I stepped out of my comfort zone. I improved my skills in public speaking, general about human rights, debating... Above all, it was a great opportunity to get to know people from other countries (with whom I believe we will stay in touch), hear their views on real-life issues, to learn about their culture, food and drinks, to practice my English,... In short, this training gave me a lot and I am grateful for this experience!
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Elena, Romania
Attending the project Don’t be the Shadow, Learn your Right was a great opportunity for me to be connected to an interesting network of young people with various backgrounds but similar interests into human rights. I didn’t expect to be part of such interesting debates on topics as minorities special rights, right to vote, refugees, legalizing prostitution, discrimination, social exclusion or sexual education in public schools but since I am an activist for human rights and I also try to promote active citizenship among young people I was very proud of my generation.
The greatest achievement of projects as the one provided by IYACA is the exchange that has place at individual and group level. Working in groups but also individually helped me to pay more attention to others understanding and thinking on specific topics and to be aware that not all of us are having the same expectations from society as I do. Being connected as we were during those 7 days, constantly debating the topics proposed by the trainer during activities and those that came to our minds on our free time gave me positive energy and restored the hope in humanity. Mixing debates and presentations with role play, various games, forum and image theater as main work tools offered to all of us the chance to avoid the formal format of education system, we were able to learn by doing and talking, sharing both experiences and cultural heritage in a friendly environment. I wish this kind of projects will provide at least the same opportunities it provided to me to many more young people around the world because they help us in developing ourselves and establishing networks that may last forever.
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Eugeniu, Romania
The topic was kind of new to me but I did enjoyed the whole experience and learned a lot about human rights. I think we did more practical things than theoretical and that's a good thing for me because I do learn more easily. I especially liked that we had a lot of debates and had to speak in front of people, with those we also improved our English and maybe for some of us our self-esteem. I enjoyed the cultural nights and I learned a lot about other cultures.
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Serdarhan, Turkey
Hello everyone!
I start by introducing myself first. I am Serdar, I am 20 years old, I am studying law at Istanbul University and I have been interested in various Erasmus + projects since I was 14 years old. I recently took part in “Don’t Be Shadow Learn Your Rights ’, hosted by IYACA in Antalya. I was very excited to be in Antalya in February and to feel the sun after a long time.
Moreover, the fact that we worked on human rights was very exciting due to the faculty I study. Finally, on 20 February, I came to the hotel. It was a sunny morning in Antalya. It was a bit strange for me, but I was one of the lucky ones because some of the airplanes had delays or were canceled up to some hours due to the storm in Istanbul, so almost half of the participants couldn’t arrive on the first day. So we started the project after spending the first day with team building activities in general. The project was even better with the efforts of all participants to add something to the activities. The weather became cloudy after the second day. Of course, I was also sad with this also my friends that came from Northern countries were very sad. The project went very well, and in our free day even though I went to Antalya for the first time, I visited Kaleiçi, where I tried to guide the other participants as I was the host, and it was simply GREAT. On the one hand, I was going to get upset because I knew that in a few days I must leave my friends with whom I spend 6 days together. I was studying at a high tempo. Within this project, I have met a lot of new people and I learned a lot of things I was not knowing. I think these kind of projects are the things that should be experienced. I would like to open a parenthesis to IYACA before I finish writing, and it was one of the best organizations in many projects that I participated in and out of the country. Everything was great. Thank you for everything.
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Kemal, Turkey
Hello, I am Kemal Erdem Coşar who is one of the Turkish participants of the project. When I learned that I was going to take part in the project, I directly started researching on human rights and the topics related to the project. Since I am interested in this topic, I had also background which I used during the sessions. We spent a week together and it was both joy and educational. At first, we have played some games to break the ices between us and later on, we started to focus on the topic. We have shared our thoughts in different ways such as theatre, presentation and teamwork. It is clear that having a project with people from several countries who have knowledge on the topic enlightened my perspective on universal issues. Also, I improved my English skills by having presentations and guiding the other participants when we had free time to discover Turkey. Moving to the cultural nights, now, I have more information about the participants’ countries and tasting their foods and drinks was the funniest part of the cultural nights.
To sum up, I am totally more open-minded, creative and free. In such a short time, I have improved my linguistic and social skills. Therefore, I am thankful to Serdar Dobur who is the president of IYACA and Sinan Biçer who is the organizer of the project for letting me take part in the project. I would like to end up my blog with small advice; If you have any chance to participate in an international project, just decide to join and go beyond your limits!
Hello, I am Kemal Erdem Coşar who is one of the Turkish participants of the project. When I learned that I was going to take part in the project, I directly started researching on human rights and the topics related to the project. Since I am interested in this topic, I had also background which I used during the sessions. We spent a week together and it was both joy and educational. At first, we have played some games to break the ices between us and later on, we started to focus on the topic. We have shared our thoughts in different ways such as theatre, presentation and teamwork. It is clear that having a project with people from several countries who have knowledge on the topic enlightened my perspective on universal issues. Also, I improved my English skills by having presentations and guiding the other participants when we had free time to discover Turkey. Moving to the cultural nights, now, I have more information about the participants’ countries and tasting their foods and drinks was the funniest part of the cultural nights.
To sum up, I am totally more open-minded, creative and free. In such a short time, I have improved my linguistic and social skills. Therefore, I am thankful to Serdar Dobur who is the president of IYACA and Sinan Biçer who is the organizer of the project for letting me take part in the project. I would like to end up my blog with small advice; If you have any chance to participate in an international project, just decide to join and go beyond your limits!
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