Gizem Çelik
Hey everyone!
I’m Gizem would like to write this blog to share my Erasmus+ Youth Exchange experience in the Noisy-le-Grand, France from 26th of September to 4th of October 2021. I feel very lucky to get this chance and I am so proud to take part in this Project with ANKA Youth Association.
Since this project would be my 6th experience and I have been to Paris before. That’s why I was more excited about the training that will take place there rather than going to Paris.
The Project is about Diversity, and the training aims to bring together both youth professionals but also young people with fewer opportunities to raise awareness of diversity and equip them for a more effective and positive consideration of this dimension, either in their work with very different young people in their daily lives. I studied Political Science and International Relations in Bachelar Degree, and In Master’s Degree I worked on the topic of Rising Populism and Right Wing Extremist Parties in EU. And nowadays, all of us are facing nationalism and almost all people has lack of tolerance to other nations, this leads to racism unfortunately. I would like to attend this project cause I would love to change all ideas and I wanted youngsters to show and explain what is equal rights, diversity, cooperation and opportunities for everyone. Especially youngsters should understand this since they will reflect society and they are future of society. In a nutshell, I wanted to make a difference.
During Project, we discussed the topic, and we learned that diversity does not always go hand in hand with social cohesion and cooperation, which are prerequisites for equal rights and opportunities. Discrimination practices remain a problem in many societies, as does poverty and social exclusion.
Regarding the days we spent in Paris was a magnificient! We started with the perfect breakfast (more than one cup of coffee and French croissants) and then the day continued with energizers. During games we were able to observe what we value each other for and what values are most important. Not only games but also we had video presentations and workshops. We discussed and deepened the theme of diversity which makes us change the way of thinking in different areas. Moreover, we shared our knowledge how to handle all these problems and we tried to draw the positive picture from each situation by arguing each other, respecting, agreeing to disagree,, playing etc.
In conclusion, during training course I noticed that we are more similar than different. And at the end of the Project weall were connected with a good mood, smile and laughter. In general, I can summarize this training with the words of Pat Wadors: “When we listen and celebrate what is both common and different, we become a wiser, more inclusive, and better organization.”
“We are all different, which is great because we are all unique. Without diversity life would be very boring.”
Finally, no matter what, we all live in the same world, even if we are in different cultures, religions, languages, national and ethnic.