From the 10th until the 16th of August, Silvia and I participated in a Training Course in Poland about Social Media support for NGOs, organised by Fundacjia Sempre a Frente. This is a polish organisation born in 2010 and involved in the fields of prevention, psychological education and promotion of active citizenship for young people.
We arrived Wednesday night in a nice place called Nasutow, a little village in the administrative district of Gmina Niemce, a few kilometres from Lublin.
Ola and Magda, the first girl president of the organisation and both coordinators of the project, welcomed us with pizza and water and showed us where we had to live for some days. The room was big and comfortable, and the place, located in a middle of a forest, permitted us to rest well and be ready to start the week with the perfect energy.
On the first day, in the morning, we began with some fun games to meet each other and better know our names. We were 18 participants from Greece, The Republic of North Macedonia, Portugal, Lithuania, Italy and Poland. Everyone is involved in an organisation as a youth worker or volunteer or has a specific personal project to carry out, and we had the chance in the afternoon to show our organisation, our goal, our mission and all our work.
From the second day, the course got into the heart. We started to analyse social media, how to work with that and how many tools we can use to improve and facilitate duties. Everyone shared his experiences and his knowledge, and thanks to workshops, we could practice theoretical information.
Sunday the 14th, we went to visit Lublin, city chosen as the 2023 European Youth Capital. There they organised many games for us to discover the city and its history. We were divided into three groups and, as a treasure hunt, we had to find spots in the old town and learn more about Lublins’ story.
After this beautiful trip through the 20th century, between legend and reality, we had free time to see the city alone, trying typical sweeties, finding particular coffee and exploring hidden corners.
The last day for us was the 15th of August. The coordinators wanted to end the project with a workshop to create a social campaign. Everyone used his creativity to develop his proposal and show everybody the result to share impressions, ideas and constructive criticism.
Ola and Magda, to say goodbye, gave us a participation certificate, basically a youth pass useful for our cv and our future professional job, a Lublin’s’ postcard and a little gift representing the city and the most important buildings.
I’m very grateful to have had this chance. I will take forever with me new knowledge, a new experience, a new spot on my personal world map and for sure new people in my heart.
“Travel, because if you don’t travel, your thoughts don’t strengthen, you don’t fill up with ideas, and your dreams will born with fragile legs.”
Gio Evan
