11 - 24 January 2005 Lublin, POLAND

Nasutow is a magnificent place in the Polish countryside, but it is much more attractive when 40 young people from 5 countries are gathered together.

Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia, Wales and Italy have sent their representatives to prove that “homo culturalis” really exists and we had our secret weapon for doing this – the THEATRE.

At the beginning there was the integration. Games, games, games… Talk, talk, flirt (ups)… We presented the participants, the organizations, the regions, the towns, the countries, the projects – everything that could be presented. Thus even in the beginning, everyone felt like knowing the other for a life time. However the working method was based on interaction, so the participants were not expected only to listen and assimilate, but also to try to find out by themselves different things for the others. Here the quizzes took place and a lot of awards and prizes were given.

But this was the easy part. It is not very difficult to integrate young people, who have the same aim and motivation. The real challenge was to integrate the seniours and the children, who were also supposed to participate in the project of proving that the above-mentioned being is not extinct. In order to facilitate the work, our group was divided in two. Half of them worked with children, while the other half – with seniours. The first task was to create positive emotions and a creative atmosphere in the workshops. Everyone was surprised with the easiness of cooperation between us and the children and seniours. So nobody was afraid any more – neither they nor we, and the work went smoothly. We sang and dance together, talked, exchanged stories and experience. Step by step we were coming closer to the real work in this exchange – the creation of theatre performances. Among us there were more experienced and less experienced people. The main thing was that we were helping each other. Two performances were made. The performance where the children participated was a tale story. A Welsh fairy was helping two small children to reach their aim. The three of them were visiting different countries. In each country they watched something special and compared it with their dream. There were dances, sport tournaments, concerts, but the one that the children chose was knowledge.

The performance with the participation of the seniours was more serious and touched the main problems of the present society. It was a modern variation of the “Babylon tower”. At the beginning everything was nice, everyone was happy and all people lived in understanding, but they were devastating the Earth and were punished for that. So different nations and countries were formed and people were separated. Disasters came – wars, terrorism, natural catastrophes. The only way for the humanity to survive was to live in peace and understanding. And people were trying. A small ghost was walking in the different countries and collecting impressions about the people and the change of it. At the end all people unite in their efforts for making the world a better place.

We did it! Marvellous performances! But not everything was work. The participants visited local places of interest, other Polish towns, DISCO… Fun and work being done together is something that should be aimed at on every youth exchange. And at last but not least in importance: One big THANK YOU to our hosts from “Nowy Staw” foundation for their devotedness and professionalism. THANK YOU Monika and Ewa!