During April 2013 – 2014, we selected and worked with 8 young people from the Chinese and Somali communities (three Chinese people and five Somali girls aged between 16 – 18 years) who then participated in this project. These young people had the opportunities to develop a wide range of skills such as presentation, communication, team work and research skills. The group also had the opportunities to meet young people in Greece, and develop their knowledge and understanding of immigration and active citizenship.
In April 2014, two of the Wai Yin Society youth workers took this group of Somali and Chinese young people to Greece for a stay of 8 days, 7 nights. We went to a city called ‘Arta’, which was a very long journey for both workers and young people. As it was a long and tiring 5 hours in the coach from Athens, we planned an extra night in Athens before we travelled to Arta, which gave the young people opportunities to feel relaxed and rested.
The Greek young people came to the coach station to meet and welcome our group. Initially, they were very shy and did not communicate very much. One of the young person from our group said that she ‘will not meet any friends’. However, during the week, everyone (Chinese, Somali and Greek) started to build good relationships with each other and developed a lot of new skills. On the last day in the city of Arta, the young people didn’t want to leave and some even started to cry. Overall, the trip was amazing and everyone get on very well. Now the young people still keep in contact with each other between EU states by social media.
Recently, the Chinese and Somali young people met together to prepare their final presentation for the youth organisation, Wai Yin’s Senior Management Team and Board Members. The event is planned to take place on Thursday 24th July 2014 from 1:00pm to 3:30pm.
