Corso gratuito di italiano base per studenti, rifugiati e richiedenti asilo

 

Babel Tea ogni mercoledì al DAM con i volontari del SCU e del Corpo Europeo

 

NoBorders Festival, volunteers become actors and musicians for solidarity and inclusion

The 1st of October took place the NoBorders Festival, a multicultural and inclusive event involving young people, languages and cultures from all over the world, that filled with colour the Amphitheatre of the University of Calabria. The Festival, organised by the Cultural Association Entropia, was part of a European Solidarity Corps volunteering project that involved more than 40 volunteers from Italy, Spain, Portugal and non-EU countries (Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Uruguay, Afghanistan, Burkina, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Syria, Guinea, Guinea Bissau). In just two weeks, the volunteers organized the festival through their participation in four diverse workshops: theatre, art, communication and music, characterised by linguistic and cultural diversity.

The event started with the NoBorders Food stand where Afghan, Ecuadorian and Spanish dishes were prepared and offered by volunteers. The first performance of the Festival showed the migrants' journey: the conflicts and threat, but also the beauty and strength of diversity. The performance, which involved the volunteers themselves, was the outcome of the theatre workshop led by Paolo Spinelli. The second performance, led by the orchestra director Checco Pallone, was a jam session with a mix of styles, talents and rhythms from around the world. Closing the event was the eagerly awaited concert by Moti Rivoluzionari, an emerging music group from Acri, which brought to the Campus the energy that had been missing for months.

Daniela Ielasi, president of the Entropia association, thanked the team of volunteers of the European Solidarity Corps for their commitment and enthusiasm in promoting and building together the multicultural festival of inclusion, inviting all young people present to follow the example of the volunteers, to commit themselves, to be active citizens and to develop a critical conscience. The festival's message was also one of solidarity with Mimmo Lucano, who a few hours earlier had received a harsh and controversial sentence, and who in Calabria has become the symbol of resistance to a system that excludes and leaves the last ones behind. Marta Petrusewicz, culture councilor of the city of Rende also thanked the association, the volunteers and the participants, expressing the pleasure of being in a varied and international environment from a linguistic and cultural point of view.

The NoBorders Festival project gave the young participants the opportunity not only to get out of their comfort zones, but to return to social environments after more than a year of isolation. The opportunity to share their life stories, create new ones, forge new bonds and work side by side to build a community without borders. Anna, a Spanish participant who said after this experience: "For a long time I was trying to understand what I should do with my life. Now I can say that I have understood: I want to work with migrants and refugees, and help them on their path to integration". Or Lassina, a young refugee from the Ivory Coast, who has been in Italy for less than a year, who said: "For the first time since I left my country, I felt part of a group. I felt welcomed and understood, despite the difficulties due to the language".

ON AIR & C. is the latest Youth Exchange organized by Entropia about inclusion through digital radio

Radio as a tool for youth activism, inclusion, cultural and linguistic exchange, promotion of mobility and European values. On Air & C. is the latest Youth Exchange organized by the Cultural Association Entropia as part of the Erasmus+ program. After almost two years of forced pause due to the pandemic, the association has returned to one of the activities that have become an integral part of the mission of recent years. From the 1st until the 10th of September, 30 young people from different European countries were trained and confronted on the theme of communication, focusing on radio as a traditional tool of expression. Facilitated by the staff of the Association,the participants were engaged in activities within a training course, conducted by using non-formal methods that led to the creation of podcasts in different languages.

The project, of which Entropia was the leader, involved four other associations in Europe: Young Folks from Latvia, Master Peace from Romania, Youth Empowerment Group from Malta and Keliauk ir tobulek from Lithuania. Belonging to an international and diverse group allowed the more and the less experienced to work side by side, utilizing previous skills and acquiring new ones. A much-needed and long-awaited return to sociability, according to the participants, which made the project a very intense experience as reflected in some of the participants' statements (released anonymously when evaluating the activities). "I learned a lot from a professional and technical point of view, e.g. how to create a podcast, but also from a human point of view," wrote one of the participants. "After the lockdown and isolation these months," said another, "I was a bit scared by the confrontation with new people, especially in a different language, but now I'm really happy to have participated. I'm going away with a big bag of emotions that I missed." “I had never participated in an international exchange project before, I didn't really know what to expect and I was a bit lost at first. Now I don't want to leave and I think this has been the best experience of my life," was the comment of another.

The group produced several podcasts, some in English and some multilingual, to explain what a Youth Exchange project of the Erasmus+ program and specifically the On Air project is, to talk about youth activism and participation, but also about the main challenges that young people have to face nowadays. The European programs of mobility and non-formal learning are still not known enough among girls and boys in Calabria, but they are very useful to bring them and the whole region closer to the Europe of change, the Europe of youth and cooperation. To listen to the podcasts of On Air & C. click here.