In the period 2-9 September 2017, Filoxenia association cooperated with the associations Bonner Verein für Jugendförderung e.V and the “Jugendzentrum Lucky Luck organizations from Bonn, Germany to organise a special artistic Youth Exchange project “Europe/Mosaic” in Kryoneri-Korinthia, Greece.
8 young participants coming from Germany and 2 enthusiastic German youth leaders have met with other Greek participants from the village Kryoneri and Corinth.
During the project, the young people participated in many different activities such as: team building games, energizers, sport games, group work, intercultural events with presentations, visits and the most important, the Mosaic workshops.
The youngsters have got explained the theme of the project “Europe” and Mosaic as a tool to work on this topic. Before starting the artistic part, it has been an exchange and discussions in mixed groups about Europe.
Furthermore, they were taught to create a mosaic with theme “Europe” in the village's mainsquare on the exterior wall of the Culture Centre/ Polykentro.
After one week of common working, the young participants had a public presentation of the mosaic installation to the people of the local community, explaining the meaning of the installation, and sharing their interest on the project's topic with the locals.
Visits to archeological places in Corinth and Cap Heraion helped the young participants to understand better the European history. and heritage. Besides cultural nights and other activities, the participants had opportunities to learn about Greek and German culture. It has been positive, that they had the opportunity to make new friends, open their mind and learn new things.
One more thing which made the project memorable, were the outdoor activities with trekking to Lechova monastery and the cleaning of an old footpath leading to a cave, used during the World War II as refugium for a Jewish family, hidden in Kryoneri by the partizans from the Nazis. The little girl of that time, which is today an 80-years old lady with her whole family came from Israel to Kryoneri on September 7th, 2017, to pay tribute to the villagers, visiting also this cave. During a ceremony at the Kryoneri Amphitheatre the family as well as the mayor appreciated the voluntary work of the youth exchange's participants for cleaning the footpath and their contribution to the Memory.
In conclusion, this Youth Exchange “Europe/Mosaic” had brought a very new experience to the youngsters to learn more about Europe.
This project was supported by the German special programme for Greece Jugendaustausch - Sonderprogramm Griechenland.