Nerimanda Bajraktari talks about TransformERS project in Bulgaria.

Last week in Sofia, Bulgaria was organized the youth training course aimed to increase the awareness of young people towards creating some grasp for Human Rights. The venue was in the Vitosha Mountain, and training last 1 week. There were participants from 7 countries, including also some African countries. When we arrived, we were amazed by the place. It was far from city center, in the middle of nature and a mountain and near to a lake, something that was deeply needed from all of us. We started the training as soon as we were in the hotel. There were to many interesting topics to be discussed that increased the attentiveness of all participants. Except the interesting topics, the training also included somelearning games, cultural night, trip to Sofia and the farewell party.

Most of the topics were about understanding were do we stand and how do we understand Human Rights. Does each of us understand, that not everybody has the same possibilities regarding Human Rights? We all know that this topic is highly

connected with the fact of were do we live, we all know that not all countries respect Human Rights the same, and discrimination and stereotypes are a way of living. But this can change by educating the new generation towards the concept of everyone of

us deserves to be respected and not judged.

In the training were also included some learning games, according to my opinion this is the best way to deeply understand on somehow others feel. In the games most of us were given a role (ex: each of us had a role, we would move forward only was all right with the role described), or were given a story but in both sides (ex. In one side was a man, and in the other side a woman). When playing we understood better how it feels to be in the judged side of the story, how difficult is to deal with stereotypes and against discrimination. One of the nights was also the cultural night. In this night each of the groups represented their country with the traditions,

traditional food and also traditional music was included.

The training was a great experience, the trainers were so prepared and friendly that made the training more interesting. Except this also the participants were so nice, we spent great time together sharing ideas and insights. The facts that Internet wasn’t working appropriately made us appreciate and enjoy our time together more, understanding that being so influenced by social media we forgot the fun that we can have by staying with each other.