Stop the Discrimination of People with Disabilities

In partnership with Poraka Nova we have started a 7 months long campaign (from February until August 2023) against discrimination of people with disabilities. This project is focused on raising awareness about this discrimination (the existence, recognition and prevention of discrimination) in schools among pupils and the school’s professional services, as well as promoting the legal procedures in case of reporting discrimination to authorities. The legal procedures are made available and promoted through The Commission on Prevention and Protection against Discrimination (CPPD). The goal of the project “Stop discrimination against persons with disabilities” is to raise awareness of the existence of discrimination against persons with disabilities in all spheres of life in our society, as well as to point out to specific groups of people in Bitola the existence of legal regulations that help to sanction, prevent and reduce it in the future. Those groups of people are students in secondary and primary education, educational assistants and professional services in schools. This program will bring much-needed awareness against discrimination to school pupils through peer-to-peer education as a methodology. This project fits into our strategic priorities to work with youth on non-formal educational programs and focus on peer-to-peer methods. The topic fully aligns with our mission and the values we promote. In this project, we will work with youth and with school professionals working with these vulnerable categories of young people. Raising awareness of non-discrimination towards persons with disabilities includes: This is a project supported through small grants from the anti-discrimination program of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation – MCMS, financed by the European Union, and implemented by Poraka Nova and YMCA as partners. Follow our Facebook page for updates on the project activities!

Peacemakers Global Week

From the Macedonian group of participants This summer, about 50 young people gathered in Oslo, Norway within the framework of PEACEMAKERS GLOBAL WEEK 2022. It was a week of discussions, learning, action, and interesting meetings on various issues around global world trends that also affect young people. With participants from many countries, Global Week is an event where one gets a sense of how small the world is and where the cosmopolitan spirit is built. This event is an opportunity to better understand how young people from different parts of the world work and how they think about important world issues related to tolerance, justice, and peace. The “Global Week” took place in the period from 11-17 July 2022 in Oslo under the auspices of the Global YMCA-YWCA of Norway. There were participants from 3 continents, and we were four from Macedonia, Marina, Andrej, Tea, and Bojan. The activities during the entire event included various games through which we got to know each other and our cultures. In a very short time we realized that although we come from different countries, we all have different characters, we all come from different religious and national origins, and we all come from different cultures, we realized that we are united by one thing: our will to learn something more and our desire for a better tomorrow for all of us. The topics we worked on were related to discrimination, violence, stereotypes and prejudices towards young people from foreign backgrounds, racism, and racial discrimination, ethnic stereotypes and segregation, prejudices and discrimination towards refugees and immigrants, and a bit about global warming. In addition to the serious part, there was of course also the intercultural evening in which we presented our countries and cultures through our traditional food and a few words more about our country. We had endless fun and unforgettable days spent. We left Norway full of emotions, friendships made, and lifelong connections. We all finished the trip to Oslo with new experiences, learned things, friendships, and memories that we will always carry in our suitcase called life.

Synergy Training for Personal Development in Ravnogor

By Petar Kuzmanovski and Viktor Zafirovski From June 1-8 a synergy training was held in Ravnogor, Bulgaria organized by the Synergy Bulgaria team, which conducts such training for personal growth and development. The training was led by Markos and Julia, the leaders of Synergy Bulgaria, and was titled “Charge your future” like when you charge a battery on a charger. The training was attended by 23 young people who wanted to learn something more about themselves. The content was focused on achieving personal development through a series of specific outdoor and indoor exercises that challenged our limits. With that, the trainers tried to achieve a new kind of personal integration, of our qualities and skills that we want to improve to have a healthier and more fulfilling future. The event was attended by participants from several countries such as Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania. It also contributed to the international moment in the group, as there were participants from countries with which I had never been in contact. There were only two participants from Macedonia, Viktor and I, and the overall experience was very interesting and challenging. Especially the part that was about outdoor activities, like the part where we were left to fend for ourselves in the nearby surroundings around Ravnogor and how the synergy training made us understand the ideas of “creativity” in a new way and make it applicable in solving the problems we were thrown into. I think that all the participants were involved in everything and that they used a lot of the experiences to start thinking about how they can make changes in their lives in the future that will always feel energized. You can see a short video of the training here.

Empowering Summer Camp Youth Leaders (ESYL)

By Kristina Talevska After the short break, in May the ESYL training for camp leaders in the YMCA continued. Again in The Netherlands, in May 2022 leaders from several YMCAs from around Europe gathered to learn about camping, camp rules, camp games and other activities relevant to them as future leaders. This event was an unforgettable experience that will forever remain in our memories. For us it was a huge opportunity to learn new things, to meet new people and a new country, to expand our knowledge, skills, and creativity. After the necessary postponements of this camp due to the pandemic situation this whole event was a great refreshment and a return to reality. This camp took place near a small town called Leusden and is part of a large network of YMCA camps in the Netherlands. Several countries participated, such as Romania, Macedonia, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Spain, and of course, the hosts from the Netherlands happening between May 25 and 29. Within a short time since we arrived, we all bonded and it wasn’t long before we started talking to each other as if we had known each other for years, with no awkward moments, no shyness, no introversion. Everyone showed a genuine interest in the country the others came from, its culture, daily life, habits, food, and traditions. We don’t know if it was because of the effects of the pandemic wave, but it was certainly good to feel human warmth and togetherness as before. Since at this camp we were preparing and reminding ourselves how it is to work with other people, important topics we covered were leadership, being a good communicator, being a team player, what it means to be a volunteer coordinator, creating workshops, and feeling spontaneous throughout that process. The three of us from Macedonia, myself, Darko, and Andrej went through a program that helped us to return to the good old tested camping routines and to get new strength for the future.