Young people sent to Italy by LDA Georgia - Local Democracy Agency Georgia within the project ''YOU.TH'' - Khatia Khokhiashvili, Mariam Ambroladze, Teona Arsenidze and Ruska Shanidze share their impressions with us.

’’Our perfect and adventurous trip to Italy started on September 4th. The word "perfect" is too small to describe the emotions we received and experienced during our week in the beautiful and surprisingly peaceful Italian village of Morfasso. Having landed in Milan, we could not ignore the greatness of the cathedral and felt the beauty of the Gothic architecture from the terraces of the Duomo. We quickly ran to the 7th platform of Milan Central Station and boarded the Trenitalia train going to Fiorenzuola. An hour and five minutes later, the signboard of the train  showed us the approach of the Fiorenzuola station, and we watched the members of the  Sciara Progetti team from the large panoramic windows of the train with wide eyes. They greeted us with a smile full of hospitality, it was not difficult to understand that they were waiting for the four Georgian girls with interested eyes to arrive at a small station  of a small town.

The first day of the project was dedicated to getting to know the participants, 27 young people from 8 countries (Portugal, Estonia, Italy, Macedonia, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Jordan) presented interesting resumes to each other and played four different games to better match the names.

The next day of the project was devoted to the development of empathy skills. We played the Mirror game, the goal of which was to get to know the partner better and to repeat his body movements and position like a mirror. During the process, you become like a pre-selected leader and learn how to follow your partner without any mental involvement and you both enter a state of flow.

We tested theater as one of the best methods for informal education already on the third day. Discrimination on stage – we played on an improvised stage and analyzed four different but similar cases of discrimination for each country and tried to find solutions there. During the game, we observed our emotions, behaviors and attitudes, we discovered stereotypes in ourselves and began to break them, we tested our abilities in the theater and saw that we are all unique, but at the same time we are very similar to each other.

The World Café proved to be the most flexible and effective methodology for conducting discussions with such diverse and interesting participants. The discussion issues were as follows; is theater suitable for NFI? What factors should be considered when using theater as a working tool in inclusive education.

The YOU.TH project once again convinced us that we are part of the big European family. Twenty seven (27) representatives of different nationalities and cultures suddenly transformed into one team with common European values, a family that can boldly face the challenges before it and use all civil ways and methods to make positive changes, to ensure the well-being of each member of society.  

After one week of busy and fruitful trainings, we returned in Georgia, but we brought with us new knowledge, experience, values, competences and the best memories that beautify our daily life and help us realize ourselves and share the necessary experience with young people’’.

The project ''YOU.TH'' aimed at equipping youth workers with methodologies and practices that are mainly used in the field of theater and can be used to implement inclusive activities in non-formal education.