“Bridges, Not Walls” in Lithuania

The topic of the project was peace building and conflict awareness which were explored through various workshops. For example, the session “Conflict Onion” aimed to uncover the roots of conflicts, while the role-play activity “Chain Reaction” showed how arguments escalate. Besides, together with teams from Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Poland, the representatives from “Poruch” delved deeper into ways of expressing personal identity and also learned more about active listening. One of the goals of the project was also to promote critical thinking, especially in the context of social media, as well as strengthen intercultural understanding through very bright and informative cultural nights. Finally, the participants were involved in creating videos about peace that inspired to live in harmony.

The Ukrainian team that was led by Valeriia Kovtun is very grateful to the organisers of the project, our good Lithuanian friends Vš| Džiaugsmo slénis and their amazing project coordinator Gabrielė Milienė, for providing a platform for us to talk about the war and peace building in Ukraine, and also share what “Poruch” does to contribute to peace, sustainability and people’s wellbeing in our country with other participants. We really appreciate how well this presentation about the aforementioned topic was received and how many meaningful and important for us conversations followed.

Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that the atmosphere on this project was extremely friendly and conducive to beneficial discussions about peaceful conflict resolution, active citizenship and related topics, which made the participants from Ukraine, most of whom were taking part in an Erasmus+ project for the first time, feel very comfortable. For example, Iryna Klymenko describes her experience in the following way, “For me, it was a great surprise to realize how an exchange can turn into a small life of its own, where in just ten days you experience an incredible range of emotions and events… Moreover, the opportunity to dive deeper into a topic that you wouldn’t be able to explore in such detail at school or university was especially valuable. It also gave me another chance to highlight the challenges that all Ukrainians are currently facing.»

Zlata Shulichenko adds, “This project was truly full of emotions, experiences, and life. I was genuinely pleasantly surprised, as my experience was entirely positive from beginning to end. During this project, I met so many wonderful people, each of whom taught me something new. I’m truly grateful for this unforgettable experience.»

We would like to express our gratitude to our partners Vš| Džiaugsmo slénis for organising such a thought-provoking and at the same time heartwarming project, as well as all the other participants for creating a safe place to talk about important problems of our time. Together, we are building a better future!

Funded by: Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.