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Youth Exchange – Migration Lab 2.0 – United Kingdom

Find a group of people who challenge and inspires you. Spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.

Erasmus creates hundred of project opportunities for Youth, all around the world. This article is about one of them,
titled “Migration Lab”. Organizations from the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Greece, Lithuania and Romania, came together
and send their representative participants to attend this Youth Exchange. The project was hosted by Abroadship in Kennington,
London, United Kingdom, from the 13th to the 21st of December with 37 participants in total.

“Migration Lab” was designed to provide awareness to the youth from different parts of the world about immigrants. Participants in this project partook and
created different activities and shared their experiences.

The 8-day project started with a basic introduction to the topic of migration, to build a solid base of the crucial topics and terms related to migration. The project
then moved to the serious and more complex ways of learning including role plays, presentations and theatrical performances, attended by the facilitators.
The next days were led by the participants and given the chance to explore their creative skills and work as a team. They improved their leadership and team-building skills during the activities, and also find different feelings of empathy and gratefulness as a bonus throughout the activities. The team appreciated each other’s efforts and inventiveness.

Each day used, to begin with, the morning circle for sharing their thoughts about the day and a short recap. Reflection groups were made, that encourages each participant to share their communal thought of the day, collected and disseminated by the team leader, and later shared with the facilitators during a meeting. Energizers were also introduced to keep the participants active and moving alongside the other helpful activities and chores that can make one responsible and organised in daily life.

Each evening was designated for an intercultural night that brought together the mixed culture of 6 countries in one program. Food, dances and Games were organised by each country team to represent their respective country. Closing the project involved creating testimonials and memorable videos to keep all the fun intact in the camera. Yearbooks and articles in different languages came into the structure. Also, an Oscar night was organised to set the last goodbyes and close the project with good memories and joy. Participants took part in all the activities enthusiastically and learned not only from the facilitator’s constructed modules but also from each other, and left with a lot of joyful memories, friendships, skills and knowledge about immigrants with a very empathetic and soft cover of their heart. “I have leared so much in a week that I would not have learned in a year” said one of the participant.