Youth Exchange organized by the DOJO at Hertfordshire, the UK, 24-31 August, 2015
Greek participants of the 2-Gether-As-1 share their experience
Maira: Participating in the 2-gether-as-1 project in Hemel Hempstead in England was a lifetime experience and a dream come true. Not only was I able to perform one of my favorite martial arts, kick boxing but I also had the chance to meet and interact with people from all over Europe with whom I managed to practice and improve my communicative and language skills. Moreover I was given the opportunity to act as a team leader of the Greek group so as to enrich my leadership and organizational abilities. Lastly, camping in the lash forest of Hertfordshire and the day trip to cosmopolitan London are memories that I will hold and cherish forever!
Leonidas: 24th – 31st August 2015:2-Gether-As-1: A Youth exchange based on Martial Arts that achieved more than anyone imagined!This exchange was an A W E S O M E experience.People from Estonia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Croatia, England and Italy all present with a smile.With the exchanges dynamic group assignment all participants would find themselves mixed up, solving social issues, preparing things that seemed impossible in the given time frame.Our creativity and improvisation skills peaked during the week in the UK while facing all the challenges of the program.We had the chance to learn the basics of multiple martial arts with the coach of the English national team as a guest.We got to develop ourselves, share our community’s social issues and problems, our anger and find solutions to all of them.But the tip of the iceberg was the cleverly allocated free time – we had plenty of it to get to know every participant from other countries – personally I enjoyed it a lot, having hours of conversations with people about their lifestyle and culture.Taking all of the above into consideration I would say this was a 10 out of 10 experience, with every bit included for me.
Angelos: I was really excited about this project. Martial arts, meeting new people from different countries, London , what else could I ask for?So one by one, day by day all my expectations became reality: First day I arrived I met about 15 people for the first time. All friendly and excited as me! Next days we had lots of interesting activities and martial arts. I found my limits and also I discovered some skills. All of us were like a team, like friends knowing each other for years but it was only some days.I had a great experience I will never forget. I made new friends that I will keep in touch from Greece and all over the world. People were great, leader was great everything was perfect for me. I wish more people will participate in that kind of projects and have the same feelings as they take the way back to home…
Konstantina:
32 young people from 6 different countries (Estonia, Latvia, England, Croatia, Czech Republic and Greece) took part in this training course in the English countryside. The main aim of this project was to acquaint the rudimentary of Martial Arts to inspire and motivate the participants. This was achieved with a lot of fun, laughs and new friendships.
During this training the participants examined the issues of building bridges between the countries and respect among people for a better more virtuous humanity. The youngsters realized that with the power and beauty of Martial Arts can change the society and be more respectful and gentle. This is the oxymoron of Martial Arts as the deep meaning of them is not to launch violence, it is about to help and venerate the others and yourself.
Of course the discussions about these topics and the Martial Arts lessons carried out with a plenty of laugh and fun. The walks, the visit in the Radio Dacorum, the games and the night jollifications made them to be more and more ‘together as one’. People with wonderful hearts were sharing with you everything and the smiles were painted on every participant face.
Thank you all the participants, trainers and Inter Alia.
Dimitris Opinion in Greek HERE
boneva@interaliaproject.com
