BLOGS

OUR PARTICIPANTS WROTE BLOGS ABOUT THEIR LEARNING EXPERIENCES DURING ''LET'S GET ORGANIZED FOR ESC'' PROJECT.

Hi, I'm Nuno Gaudêncio and I'm 42 years old. In this erasmus plus project “equal in life, different in gender” I am leading the Portuguese team of five participants. We are all from São Miguel Island, one of the nine islands of the Azores archipelago. For most of our participants, it was a unique opportunity to be in this type of program and, for many, the first time they travel. In this project, the Portuguese team had the opportunity to contact with elements from six other countries - Turkey, Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Spain.
It was a unique and very enriching experience because it not only allowed contact with the culture of Ankara - the city where this project took place - but also interacted with the other cultures of other countries through its participants.

In this way, and the topic to be debated, many work activities were promoted during the week in a diversified manner, discussing the issues related to gender equality in education, the media, violence, working life, family life and politics, human rights, tolerance and intercultural dialogue aiming at break gender stereothypes and how we young people can contribute to a more open-minded society and empowering youth so that the purpose of this project can be fulfilled - equal in life, different in gender.

It was very interesting to look at the evidence reported by different countries and we came to the conclusion that although we are from different geographical areas, we sometimes share the same problems, same cultures, same solutions and also good things.

Most of all, we have learned to value our country, our freedom and security, our culture and our power of choice.

Thus, and after the work, we conclude that each participant will be an ambassador in the dissemination of reflections in his / her country / school in order to make everyone aware of the theme "equal in life, deferent in gender".

Above all, and as we are all neighbors in the same neighborhood - planet earth - we must know how to live in peace and harmony.

Congratulations to the IYACA organization, not only for the way they organized this work week, but above all for the theme “equal in life, different in gender”.

Portuguese Team

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Hello from Bulgarian team, we participated in the project “Equal in life different in gender”. The
project took place in Ankara, Turkey from the 21st to the 28th of November 2019. Despite the long journey from Sofia to Ankara, we were warmly welcomed by the Turkish team. The activities were motivating, interesting, informative and diverse. They touched topical problems around us which usually get unconsciously ignored. They helped us develop ourselves in numerous ways: we improved our discussion, acting and learning skills. They were an incentive for us to talk more openly with others and be more confident about ourselves and our opinions.
While the project lasted, we were taken on a trip in the city by the organizers and we saw the Atatürk mausoleum, a big beautiful mosque, the Ankara castle and Ankara’s old town. The sightseeing left a great impression on us because it was something completely new for us . The friendships we established will last even after the project ends. Such relationships are invaluable because they provide us with the opportunity to implement the best of foreign cultures into our own. For many of us this was our first Erasmus+ project. Our expectations were surpassed and we are sad to have to go home but we are equipped with positive energy and emotions and the desire to put in action everything that we learned here.

Bulgarian Team

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Dear readers,

We are six participants from Lithuania which are part of European Union, a small country with great history, for a youth project under the title of Erasmus+ and half of us are here for our first experiences.

The project is being conducted in Ankara, Turkey by IYACA for the topic of Equal in life, different in gender. We came with the basic idea to meet new people and know about their culture and daily life in their country and gender equality.

Coming these lists possible expectations we were really surprised that we could learn not just about gender equality and standards in different countries, but also the historical background of the topic. Also, by talking to the local people during a session of public interview we could learn the problems in here and how it varies in a location specific pattern. By conduction simulation sessions as drama and situations the organizers indulged as into a non-formal way of learning and having new perspective towards these problems.

During the discussion we learned not only about gender equality problems but also, we managed to find various solutions. We were put into small teams from other countries and follow the standardized format of questioning, towards these problems. This contrast in the groups gave us the opportunity to look at the same problem from different aspects and points of view. You also got the opportunity to have multiple opinions from different countries, and this discussion led us to a very formal situation.
To conclude, although our trip seemed to be exhausting at first, it was worth the difficulties to experience a project like this and to bring all the knowledge that we gained back home. We all enjoyed this project a lot and we are looking forward to participate in other Erasmus projects already.

Lithuania Team

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Hola a todas y todos!!

We are the Spanish Team: Maria, Laura, Berta, Daniel, Santiago and Lorenzo. We came from Madrid all the way to Ankara because we are very interested in learning, debating and sharing knowledge and experiences about gender equality.

We’ve known each other before, and we had good expectations about the program, and we were looking forward to visit Turkey, meet different people from six different countries and improve our English. In our team there´s people that speak English and some that don´t, and that was not a big barrier for them because people were nice and always traying to communicate and they did friends anyways! They are very glad for that.

We discovered Erasmus + because Maria went in a program last year and she had a lot of fun. When we arrived to Ankara, she already knew some people that already participated last year and was nice for them to find each other. We were picked up at the Airport and next morning we already started activities to meet each other. The program brings you the opportunity to meet people from different countries of Europe and that´s very interesting to share opinions and see how people think or what problems have in their motherlands. We met people from Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Portugal, Netherlands, and Turkey and we share different opinions and we had a great time together even if sometimes we didn´t agree.

We were very interested in the gender topic and we talk a lot about it in our previous countries, so we expected to go deeper on discussion in some activities. But that´s normal because we were a very diverse group in terms of ages, experiences and points of views. But at the end, we think everybody listened to others and actually learn new stuff and even changed opinions!

We really wanted to learn about Turkey as well and turkish organizers receive us with open arms and we felt like home. We went one day to see the city but we would have like to do more activities outside (we are very outside people) instead of all inside the hotel. The day that we did the city tour we really enjoyed ourselves a lot: we went to the independence museum that was very useful to learn more about Turkish history and the importance of the figure of Ataturk (after the museum we started seeing his pictures everywhere!). We entered to a mosque and we went to see Ankara´s skyline from the top of the castle. We walked through all town streets where you can find lots of thinks to buy and the best: we ate amazing Turkish food and coffee. We are in love with cig kofte and baklava.

From this intense experience, we go back to our countries with very good memories and friendships. So, we recommend this program to other teenagers and hope that it can become more popular among students, independent of their social class, gender, and race.

Even if though your expectations were not accomplished

Spanish Team

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Hello world!

We are Cătălin, Savin, Ana, Adi and Aida – Romanian teenagers. Unfortunately, this is our last day in IYACA’s project “Equal in life, different in gender”. Tomorrow we’ll be home, but all the sweet memories will come with us.

What did we do here? What did we learn here? So, so many.

We made a lot of new friends, one’s for life. The experiences were amazing and unforgettable. We talked a lot; we learned a lot about gender equality/ inequality and so many other inequalities in different countries. All these experiences will help us to be better persons in the life as youngsters and adults, too. And maybe after this experience we can change the mentality of our friends and our family.

We improved our English language, we learned to listen to others, to be pacient and respect others’ opinion. It was great to meet old friends from other projects. We liked to visit Ankara with it’s great buildings like Ataturk Mausoleum, Kocattepe Mosque and the fortress. The last hours will be the saddest ones because of the friendships we created while being here. The activities were interesting, this made us interact with each other. We also learn how to invest in ourselves and in other people, we like the freedom of speeach thta we had and functioning as a community, also the late night conversations we had in the meeting room or the stearwell.

Romanian Team

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Hello everyone,

We are Turkish team. We met in Romania thanks to another project. We decided to write another
project after we came back to Turkey because we want to see each other again. We started to prepare template of Project. We applied with project, which is Equal in Life, Different in Gender.

We are here now. At first, we have hesitation how it will go. We feel so good at the end of the Project. We knew people in different country and culture. We had good time with these people. We had presentations and workshops during whole day, and we had fun at night. We have developed ourselves in different area which are language, meeting people living in different country and so on. We have learned something about Gender Equality in different country. They share some statistics about Gender Equality. It was good experience for us.

Turkish Team

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Helloo!!!

Can you imagine : eight days, seven countries together in a hotel in Ankara. Activities on gender, discussing problems in society and making new friends. One colourful experience for everybody. One powerful exchange.

This youth exchange subject was gender. It took place in Ankara, Turkey and there were seven countries represented: Bulgaria, Romenia, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and our country The Netherlands. During this exchange we exchanged our opinion and learned from eachothers perspectives. We found out that their are lots of differences and also similarities on each country.

We went with five persons to Ankara. During the trip to Ankara we spent a lot of time to get to know each other. We discovered we came from all over the Netherlands and we had the same intention: to learn more about gender in other countries.

A short look inside of one of our team member experience ‘On the 3rd day we went clubbing and it was so much fun. Together we danced the night away, the next morning it was less fun. Tho I had a blast of a time with my new friends, which i just have known for two days.

On the 5th day the organisation took us on a city tour around Ankara. This was an amazing experience, standing on the top of the castle while overlooking the whole city. We also went to a mosque. For many of us this was the first time to visit a mosk. Walking around this huge hall with the sunlight coming in through the colored glass. It was magical. You can learn so much by entering a different world.

On the 6th day we had to do a workshop. There were seven different tables with topics. Everybody was divided into separate groups. With that group you discussed the different topics of the table you were sitting at. There were some intense discussions about education, gender equality and politics. At the end of the workshops we have gained a lot of knew information and opinions. Even though some opinions were 360 degrees different we are all still be friends.

Over al this was one of the most inspiring weeks of my life. I ave learned so much, made friends for life and experienced different cultures. Thanks to IYACA and Erasmus+ and above all thanks to all the fantastic people I met this week. I will miss you all!’

We think all of us had a blast of a time this exchange. We will take persons with us in our hearts and we will remember this exchange as an inspiring, powerful and also a loving experience which nobody can take from us. Love y’all!

Annemarije de Groot - Netherlands Team