In the light of recent events involving an armed conflict in the Albanian part of Kumanovo, CID decided to develop an activity that will facilitate the community to overcome the fear and pressure from those events by getting involved in a cultural and interactive experience: a youth camp.

The youth camp happened between 31 October – 3 November in Ohrid, Macedonia, and gathered around 50 children from Kumanovo high-schools. During four days the participants had the chance to get to know each other better and explore their creativity through recycling, painting, animation and street performace, with activities designed in the spirit of non-formal education. The team of facilitators was made of Florim Rexhepi, Mila Josifovska, Matej Manevski, Aleksandra Cvetkovska, Besart Shabani, Neil Raimi, and Nami Isaku, all members of CID. The project was supported by the OSCE Mission to Skopje.

Besides targeting the participants’ artistic skills, the youth camp focused on developing intercultural skills and encourage children to discover each other through things they have in common.

Mila Josifovska, who facilitated the workshop on recycling, was very satisfied with the outcomes of the workshop:

At the beginning the participants were a little confused because it was first time for someone to work in a group with different nationalities, but during the workshop they collaborated and they had great results. We consider this to be a great achievement for us because one of the objectives was to encourage trust and understanding between them and to work as a team. The participants were actively involved in the process. They cooperated mutually and developed creative products out of the provided materials. During the process we helped the participants to have clear ideas of what to make from the available materials.”

They created dresses, jewelry (which was very popular), bags, belts, etc. The materials used for work were collectively found in the forest area near the location of the camp.

The first spet was taken – and now that the participants became friends and are back in their regular environments, there is a hope for more cooperation and interaction between communities. The final results of the camp will be publicly exposed on the 12th of December, on the Main Square of Kumanovo.

More photos from the camp HERE

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