In 16th – 24th of May 6 students from Revuona Primary School of Prienai, and young students from Klaipėda, Kaunas and Vilnius took part in the project ‚Shape your Europe‘. The project was held in Poronin, Poland, not far from Zakopane, next to Tatra National Park. Youth from 4 different countries – Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Spain – came to the project to learn tolerance, share ideas, gain some journalism skills and learn from each other. The main idea of the project is the inclusion of blind and partly visually impaired people into society.
All the participants were invited to gain more knowledge about the unique lifestyle of people with sight disabilities, participate in the running competition for tolerance, also collaborate in small teams and implement new ideas. After the project, all the students from Lithuania discussed the experience gained in the project. Many of them said, that it was an unforgettable experience and it would be great to continue similar activities and implement in local communities. Everyone understood that the most important thing is not the appearance and we shouldn‘t judge the person from the first sight.
We should communicate with everyone with a tolerant approach, and try to see all the good qualities inside a person, character, dreams, future plans, things he or she wants to achieve. Each of the participants understood something more about people with disabilities and has changed the attitude towards disabilities in general. During this project, we had an opportunity to improve our English speaking skills and not to be afraid to talk in public. We had many different activities, worked in teams, communicated in English all the time! We managed to achieve our goals because we always helped each other in difficult situations and our leaders were really confident. Our teacher Edita Ramanauskienė helped us and looked after us every day.
By Danielius Aldakauskas
