Five months ago, GEYC was recruiting four Romanian young people for the second edition of the European Fellowship in the field of human rights. One training course, a short film and many human rights promotion events later, our fellows are looking back upon their experiences and are now sharing them with us.
Alexandru Cerchezeanu
From Edirne (Turkey), "European Fellowship on Human Rights" was partially a distant and restricted involvement. Still, despite being the team's unemployed side regarding the activities that have happened since October, the amassed experience equates with utility, necessity, and pleasure. Even if I think about human rights and hate speech-related issues or – more catchy to me: the Balkans – the months-ago-me used this opportunity in order to familiarize more with the above mentioned. I am mostly content with the venue of the training from Montenegro. Although a few months have passed this is still the best story I want to share. An additional satisfaction is that from among the participants I was able to connect to people with similar interests and to interact with them like we had always been friends.
Andreea Udrea
This fellowship challenged me in more ways than I would have expected. First of all, I had the chance to contribute to the making of SIGEMBR, a short film that we created during the Balkan without Hate training course in Montenegro. Working on this movie was a very dear and special experience for me. This short film is the product of the ideas of 30 young people from seven countries and focuses on the serious matter of xenophobia. It is now used as a learning tool in all seven partner countries and it will soon be made available online worldwide. Secondly, I gained hands-on event planning experience by organising the European Digital Youth Summit, an event that is meant to encourage young people to participate in the fight against online hate speech. Last but not least, I had the great opportunity to make lasting connections with young, active people from both Romania and abroad. I am really happy to have been part of this amazing challenge. After these five months, I feel more motivated to fight for human rights and I will gladly do everything in my power to do so.
Andrei Stupu
I enjoyed everything that was part of the European Fellowship in the field of Human Rights, coordinated by Group of the European Youth for Change. It was a real learning experience, based on participating in the training course that took part in Montenegro and organizing EQUALIS and EDYS.
Loredana Dinu
For me, this was an unforgettable experience. From the moment I arrived in Prcanj, I loved the scenery. I attended the “Boka Night”, a parade of boats, at the end of which the most creatively decorated one won. This parade is the most famous summer event in Montenegro and in the past, it was a real attraction and curiosity for the politicians of the neighboring countries. The organizers were extremely friendly, special days were reserved for museum visits, a night for learning the bachata, intercultural evening. I also attended a course for canoe and I learned the secrets of driving it. I can say this experience has exceeded my expectations, as I interacted with different people with different ideas and mentalities, I visited beautiful places which I will always remember. In terms of project activity, “Balkan without Hate” is very complex and flexible to handle the participants’ wishes. I had different roles, which encouraged me to improve myself. After this experience, I created strong friendship with my colleagues from Romania and I am proud to have represented Romania with them, being so creative and positive persons.
See here pictures from the “Balkan without Hate” training course that took place in Prcanj, Montenegro, from August 19 to August 30. And stay tuned for SIGEMBR!