The first part of our German, Georgian and Ukrainian youth encounter on the topic of minorities “At home in a foreign land?” began on August 9. On the first day, all the participants arrived at the hostel at different times. They came from different countries and cities, which is why we didn’t start our program until the evening. We met in the Zwingerpark and had dinner together.

We spent the second day getting to know each other better. Our two partner organizations, the German Youth in Ukraine (DJU – Deutsche Jugend in der Ukraine) and Unification (Georgia), introduced themselves and their projects. We then continued with a workshop on the topic of minorities in Germany: legal status and problems. We concluded the first day with a picnic together in the Zwinger Gardens.

On the third day, we went to Bautzen, where we visited the umbrella organization of the Sorbian minority “Domowina” and the Sorbian bookshop “Smolerjec kniharnja”. We were then divided into two groups. The first group visited a Sorbian museum while the second group was allowed to take a look behind the scenes of a Sorbian radio station.

On the fourth day, our partner organization, the German Youth in Ukraine, held a workshop. They introduced themselves as an association and talked about their tasks and projects. Afterwards, the participants had some free time in the afternoon.

The fifth day began for us with a joint discussion with the Ukrainian organization Plattform Dresden e.V., during which we heard more about their activities to support Ukrainian refugees in Dresden. Afterwards, our partner organization DJU held a workshop on the war in Ukraine.

The participants spent the penultimate day working on their assignments. They developed wall newspapers on various minorities, which were then presented on the last day.

We started our last day together by evaluating the work assignments of our groups. We then reflected on the week together once again. Afterwards, we had planned to celebrate our farewell at a lake, but unfortunately the weather put a spanner in the works and so we switched to the Kulturpalast. There we spent time in the Library of Things and then went out for a farewell meal together.

On September 1, we’ll be heading to Georgia for the second part of the project. We will report back!