ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: Youth exchange
Venue: Aksaray, Turkey
Dates: 16-22 July 2020
Participants: 5+1 Group leader
Host organisation: Aksaraycling Youth Initiative
Participating countries: Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey
Please read the info-pack.
Czech team: Jiří Hrabánek (GL), Anna Novotná, Daniel Vozňák, Karin Dostálová, Anděla Matějková, Vojtěch Šmerda
Project report:
Recycle for a life cycle was a project in a heart of Turkey in Aksaray where 4 teams from different parts of the world (Turkey, Czech Republic, Romania, North Macedonia) with 6 participants met to find out what each country do about recycling and how to benefit from each other.
Thanks to our amazing organizer Kerem who has been doing projects for more than a decade, we were able to broaden our knowledge and also develop our English language with other participants. There was no problem which Kerem would not be able to solve. We felt genuinely welcome which definitely helped us as for most of us was the first time to visit Turkey.
There were many activities carried thought out the week where we had to compare among each other to come up with the best possible solution how to change people’s perception about being more nature friendly. Every country presented with a different approach of education as we all thought that is the keystone to start with. It was not easy task as we had to understand the culture barriers. It was a big help when we had our culture night where each country spent enough time to talk about their country. During this activity we were also able to try the food, learn the dances which later on helped us to think about better solutions.
We created banners which should raise an awareness for other people and waste or how people should recycle. It came up that it is not the same in every country.
We did not stop only with brainstorming how to live more sustainable or what we do in our countries but straight after theory we visited multiple places in Aksaray, Turkey where we could see the recycling process with our own eyes. Moreover, we had more than enough time to talk to business owners and ask them any questions to be able to understand how to recycle, what to recycle and the actual use of the material.
With our full heads of new knowledge from the factories and brainstorming we were taken to the nearby cities to visit old mosques, ancients baths or canyons to see a little bit more of Turkey.
At the end of the project, we agreed that we learned that nothing is black and white. More and more companies are starting to think more green but it will still take time when the majority will understand the big picture. Everyone of us can start the ecolution. Start from small things and later on other people will join. Education about recycling or wasting needs to be brought up more often that people know how to do it and why.
In a nutshell, thanks to EYCB people have an excellent opportunity to visit other countries and experience something which they have never experienced it before. They can benefit it for the rest of their lifes. I am happy that I was a part of it. I hope more people will use this opportunity and see that the world is not a scary place.
Jiří Hrabánek
