Last week me (Demetri) and Sergio, the volunteers from Hors Pistes we got the chance to participate in the Youth Exchange “Stay Human 4” in Rome, Italy. Stay Human’s goal is to educate and empower young people to advocate for human rights and to get inspired to do small actions in their own communities. We were 27 participants in total, including the facilitators, coming from France, Italy, The Netherlands and Bulgaria. The Youth Exchange was created and facilitated by the people who took part in the “Stay Human 4” Training Course in Netherlands, a few months back.

Different cultures, different personalities, different backgrounds, all working together and getting inspired from each other. We were able to see the differences regarding the human rights violations in each country, and we talked about solutions and how can a small act, can have a huge impact in a community. The atmosphere of the Youth Exchange in general was incredible. We visited Rome, we danced a lot, we had national workshops and each country created a plan, soon to be effective, to make a small action in our communities. The volunteers from Hors Pistes, we got the chance to facilitate an exchange for the first time and it was an unforgettable experience.

It was all a mutual exchange of knowledge based on experiences and in the end we all came to the conclusion that we must focus on the things that bring us together as a community and we must work together to build a better world, more accepting and tolerant, for us and the future generations.