The MultiКулти youth center is open from 10:00 until 22:00, and welcomes young people from the age of 6 up to the age of 25 and even older. The nature of the center is very open to the young people to do what they want to do. Activities are regularly started and initiated by the young people. The youth workers work in an adaptable, flexible, regularly changing environment based on the young people’s needs, wishes and ability. This is a grassroots work in its nature and in the true spirit of youth work.
The daily schedule of activities looks broadly like this:
Mondays: most of the time we have ping-pong competitions, followed by Albanian classes in the evening. We have had a number of ping-pong tournaments with diverse groups that included prizes. These have been single and double games.
Tuesdays: on Tuesdays we have mostly creative workshops (art, crafts, etc.) during the day and Drama workshops in the evening. Such creative workshops have included making a Christmas tree from recycled materials, making paper from recycled paper, decorating for a Halloween party and then having the party and making Christmas decorations.
Wednesdays: usually they play ping-pong in the morning and dodgeball in the afternoon, followed by Albanian classes in the evening. Dodgeball is a favorite of the young people and a great way to build trusting relations with them. The Drama workshops included a number of different activities such as performing Shakespeare as if it was in Kumanovo today, Mime, interpretive dance and making costumes.
Thursdays: this is an open day and young people choose what they want to do during the day. This can be basketball, football, art, relaxing, ping pong or any number of things they are interested in. Such activities chosen by the young people are coloring in, basketball, ping pong and just relaxing while listening to music and talking. Evenings are reserved for the movie night activity, for young people aged 12+. Some of the screened movies have been Sully, Star Wars, Star Trek, Rabbit Proof Fence, Freedom Writers and Kubo.
Fridays: during the day there is a movie screening for those under 12 years of age and the evening is for drama workshops. Friday movies included Zootopia, The Karate Kid and Secret Life of Pets.
Occasionally weekend activities are held for special events such as a living library, parties, etc. However the weekends have been booked up by other activities until recently and we will see how things progress in the new year.
The events/activities are about anything and everything while sticking to the idea of promoting acceptance, diversity, understanding and critical awareness. Out target group during the day is 6 – 14 years old and in the evenings 12+. Since the reopening of the youth center after its renovation, we have cooperated with several actors from Kumanovo and Skopje, such as the schools Naim Frasheri, Vuk Karadzic, UNDP Macedonia, CIVICA Mobilitas, Legis, OSCE Mission to Skopje, LEGIS, as well as international partner organisations and supporters like Project 2020 CIC, National Endowment for DEMOCRACY, European Commission, etc.
Daniel Carter, youth worker
The activities in the youth center are supported by CIVICA Mobilitas.