Youth exchange ''Let's throw the trash away- deep down in the biggest gorge of the World!''

Youth exchange "Let's throw the trash away - deep down in the biggest gorge of the World!" was implemented in Municipality of Pogoni, village Kouklioi from 31st of October until 7th of November 2012. 

30 young people from Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, Romania and Greece took part in the youth exchange hosted by Youth Center of Epirus. 

Main aims of the youth exchange were:

• To improve the knowledge of young people about the European Union and its offered opportunities to the youth;

• To promote intercultural dimension and networking among young people of the EU; 

• To promote European citizenship and daily activism among young Europeans; 

• To promote international collaboration among the involved partner organisations.

During the youth exchange, participants created huge symbolic bag of "trash" - written negative realities that people have to face from others in our society. The bag full of society problems was "thrown away" symbolically in the biggest gorge of the World- the gorge of Vikos. 

Some thoughts from the participants:

• The program of the youth exchange was really good, because it gave me time to learn new things and also to relax from daily life, I learned a lot about other cultures and discovered different people. Mia, Romania.

• The biggest achievement of the youth exchange was that we had an opportunity to learn from each other. We, participants, came from different countries and we have different points of views, but despite it, we understood each other, learned from each other and made friends. Evelina, Lithuania.

• I enjoyed the environment we were in during the week. I loved to see Greece, all trips we did were amazing. Gabor, Hungary.

• It was a new experience to meet people from different places. And my personal achievement from this youth exchange is that I learned a lot of new things, especially to listen to other people, even though it’s difficult. Giulia, Italy.

• One of my personal achievements from this youth exchange, that I’m proud of, is that I can say “I love you” in Greek – “Sagapao”! :)  Evija, Latvia.

Youth Center of Epirus wants to say a big thank you to Municipality of Pogoni in Epirus of Greece for hosting the exchange and  support.