We are very happy about the coverage of our project in the Moritzhof Stimme. Here you will find the original article by Evelyn de Korte and then you can read the translation by Claudia Jaime-Tamayo:
Interactive project for young people of the KINDERVEREINIGUNG LEIPZIG e.V. (Children’s Association LEIPZIG)
Since the end of last year, young people (ages 13 to 16) from five high schools in Leipzig, Frohburg and Chemnitz have been preparing for their exploratory trips to Europe, where they met the partner groups from the respective countries.
Most of the exchanges were financially supported by ERASMUS+, the European Commission’s programme that made these meetings possible.
The groups had regular afternoon meetings under the guidance of their coaches (voluntary students), all necessary decisions to be taken in the organisation of such a project: Which partner country do we want to collaborate with? Which theme do we choose for the meeting? How do we want to travel? How do we manage the finance issues? They independently took over the planning and enthusiastically worked their way into topics that should fill the trip to the partner countries in addition to the geographical, cultural and social experiences. For example, the country presentation, the film or games evening and sports activities.
The trips and encounters of the pupils this year will take them to Portugal, Ireland, Finland, France and Greece, where they have been or will be with mates from these countries as well as Italy, Norway and Turkey until October.
Although the students have not yet mastered the English language enough, they have already proven that they can learn from each other, experience a lot together, create something together and thus make real friends.
The KV Leipzig project is more than just student exchange. The young people build up a friendly relationship with the young coaches, who accompany them during the months of preparation and on the journey. They learn and experience what it feels like to compromise, take responsibility and stay close to something for a longer period of time in order to reach their goal in the truest sense of the word. They thus prove, so to speak, the „subject of travel“, which in an open world where they were born and where they live, can only be of advantage to them. It is well known that travelling is an education where school – sometimes even the parents‘ houses – do not work. The KV Leipzig with its project manager for international work, Christian Schmidt-Rost, who launched this project with a lot of heart and soul, bears the overall responsibility for the itinerary.
The leisure centre „Paradise“ in Lößnig of KV Leipzig, located in our neighbourhood, also has a trip to Prague up its sleeve next October. Should the requested support from the German-Czech Future Fund flow, a group from the facility will go to Prague for a dance theatre exchange.
KV Leipzig, with the International Work Division leading the way, is meticulously investigating all possibilities for municipal, national and international support for the continuation of this project, which is so promising for young people, so that as many of them as possible can benefit from „subject of travel“. It turned out, however, that the city of Leipzig, which likes to present itself as a cosmopolitan, young city with a high birth rate, does not value international youth work very highly. We can only hope that this will change when schools, associations and parents become strong and demand what is good for our children. Christian Schmidt-Rost is always looking forward to the inquiries and support of interested schools, parents or even sponsors, because: Our children can also be lighthouses!