PROJECT MANAGER > ANNI VASSILIOU, Psychologist-Youth Worker SUPPORT CENTER OF KOMOTINI

SUPPORT CENTERS OF THE PROJECT ON THE EDUCATION OF MUSLIM CHILDREN 2002-2004 IN XANTHI & KOMOTINI SUB-PROJECT: Creative Youth Workshop TEAM OF CO-WORKERS THE PROJECT AIMED at creating two Creative Youth Workshops - spaces which would develop activities addressed mainly, although not exclusively, to Muslim Minority youth of the region. The notion of space refers simultaneously to a physical and human socialisation space, and a workshop of materials and tools which encourage a young person towards creative enquiry of oneself and the social context within which one is growing, as well as creative expression through various expressive projects. The youth were encouraged to participate actively in all the life-phases of a project. From dreaming and designing, through action and experience, to closure and appraisal of ones' experiences. The underlying aim was to provide a context for training in skills useful for becoming aware of needs and interests, developing initiative and creative participation in a group process, and more broadly that experiential learning which enhances psychosocial growth as one moves from childhood through adolescence into adult life. The Creative Youth Workshop space opened up gradually to the broader surrounding social space. Youth members participated actively in presenting their work, in opening up the space to other youth and the greater public. Many parents, educators and young adults approached the Workshops with great interest. As a result, a rich supportive web gradually evolved, encircling the Project. • PROJECT MANAGER • > ANNI VASSILIOU, Psychologist-Youth Worker • SUPPORT CENTER OF KOMOTINI • DILEK HABIP, Sociologist • OMUR HASAN, Sociologist • SEVIM IBRAM, Social Designer • BABIS KOUYOUROUKIS, Social Worker • MINA MACHEROPOULOU, Sociologist • SUPPORT CENTER OF XANTHI • SECIL AHMET OGLOU, Social Worker • ORHAN BOZ, Social Worker • PANAYOTIS PANAYOTIDIS, Environmental & Sports Activities Youth Worker • MAKIS SPYRIDOPOULOS, Athletics Trainer -Youth Worker

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2002 > CREATING THE PROJECT WEB The project began through a call for interest and fielwok contacts with the Muslim minority community and the Department of Social Administration of the Democritus University of Thrace, in order to form the group of co-workers for the project. The team of co-workers formed represents the polymorphy required by the project - its members are women and men of varied age groups and life courses within the multicultural society of Thrace, differing educational and training backgrounds, experinece and activity in the social sciences, the arts and expressive mediums and youth activities. > TRAINING THE YOUTH WORKER TEAM The second phase of the project involved the training of the Youth Worker team in the realm of Youth Work. Within this training cycle we created a workshop of co-enquiry and experiencial learning which journeyed us through a wide range of themes such as: the approach and methodologies of youth work, the tools and skills available to a youth worker, group process, developmental phases of a young person's life, the youth of Thrace and their social context, recognition of youth needs and the practice of designing, running and evaluating a youth project. The goal of this phase of the project was to equip the Youth Worker team with those tools necessary for running the Creative Youth Workshops in such a way as to fulfill its goals by encouraging that experiencial learning which emerges from active enquiry and creative participation as a member of a group of co-workers, coupled with a study of the field and the young person of Thrace.

JANUARY - MARCH 2003 > DESIGN & PREPARATION OF THE CREATIVE YOUTH WORKSHOPS OF XANTHI & KOMOTINI During this period, the members of the Youth Worker team focussed their attention on designing the opening phase of the two Youth Workshops and securing contact with the target group of young people. Informative meetings were held within the local communities and also with the formal educational and community instituitions. The two workshop spaces were secured and equipped. This phase ended in April 2003, with the inauguration of the Support Centers of Xanthi & Komotini.

APRIL - JUNE 2003 > GIVING FORM TO THE SPACE & THE FIRST YOUTH GROUPS With an aim towards forming two initial youth groups, a first meeting was designed and carried out in each Creative Youth Workshop. A total of 50 young people between the ages of 11 and 18 responded to our invitation. > FIRST YOUTH PILOT PROJECTS During the following meetings of the first youth groups formed, we worked around shaping the Creative Youth Workshop space - both in terms of the actual physical space but also in terms of its use and essence: what would we like to do in these workshops? How can we actively participate in shaping our group? How could we invite other young people to this space? > YOUTH WORKER TEAM TRAINING Youth Worker training continued in issues relating to the practice of the project, such as how to draw from youth material emerging to recognise needs, how to design a project which responds to those needs, how to design, implement and evaluate the various youth meetings of a project, how to follow the group course, the role of the youth worker and group process, making good use of the equipment and tools of the workshop for creative expression. As supervision of the youth workers focussed on the work in progress with the young, the team of co-workers was encouraged to integrate their previous learning and put into practice skills and knowledge previously acquired.

a space of your own come with friends and let’s all put together the pieces of the puzzle! Creative Youth Workshop

During the period of time the first youth groups were involved with giving form to the Creative Youth Workshops they dealt with a number of essential themes, such as: • what is «creative» and what is a «workshop» in essence? • who is our group? Who are its individual-members? • how can the Creative Workshop become a space that has room for me / for all of us? • how can this space become a space of my own / our own? (constructions in the space, color in the space, collection of material from nature, recycling material for new use, market research for acquiring material & tools) • practicing skills of cooperation, taking initiative & decision making for the achievement of specific practical goals related to giving shape & form to the workshop • issues of communication & relationship (awareness around how we relate and how we want to relate, awareness around what specific skills we need to practice in walking this path?) • what kinds of interests, issues do I want to explore in the space that I’m forming? • what different kinds of tools are available for exploring (from low to hi-tech expressive tools) Creative Youth Workshop

We named our workshop an uninhabited rock in the sea which became an island. An island on which each inhabitant may practice: RESPECT - COOPERATION - TRUST - INVOLVEMENT - COHESION - EQUALITY - LOVE - FREEDOM OF OPINION - DREAMS - CRAZE - FAITH • TO & FROM OUR ISLAND WE GO EXPLORING... • What makes us separate individuals, differing in many ways? We explore, aiming at getting to know each other on a deeper level, understanding each other as separate, remarkable individuals without being threatened by the difference we perceive. • What unites us, how are we similar, what is our common ground? We explore, aiming at dissolving illusion of difference, revealing true community, common goals and wishes. • Can we imagine a relational space where our differences enrich that which we create together rather than separate us? • If so, then what skills do we need to practice in order to achieve this? We explore, aiming at conscious choice to participate actively in a workshop of experiential learning in order to gain knowledge & experience, and awareness that we will be called upon to sail difficult seas, make mistakes, learn to process experience and draw knowledge which can be applied as we walk this relational path. Creative Youth Workshop of Xanthi

WE FILLED OUR WORKSHOP WITH COLORFUL HAND-PRINT GRAFITTI EXPLORING THE WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES OF OUR HANDS... • a hand can TOUCH, can FEEL its way around, can REVEAL something. • a hand can REACH OUT to the other, can ASK, can ACCEPT, can TRY something new. • a hand can MOVE in expression, can CONSTRUCT and BUILD, can AQUIRE SKILL. • a hand can EXPRESS in deed, can MATERIALIZE a thought, an idea, MOULDING different materials, HANDLING different expressive tools. • a hand can PLACE its own personal signature on the world through that which it creates. • a hand can COVER something, can HIDE, can HESITATE, can WITHDRAW, can REFUSE. • a hand can PUSH AWAY, can REJECT, can STRIKE, can HURT self and other. • a hand can DESTROY a piece of work, a creation. • we can learn to HANDLE issues of communication, cooperation, TOUCH upon difficult issues of difference & conflict, LEND A HELPING-HAND in resolution, SHAKE hands in consent. • we can learn to HOLD hands in order to create space for everyone to fit, each with her own unique experiences. Creative Youth Workshop of Komotini

…A FEW WORDS OF INTRODUCTION TO THE CYCLES OF YOUTH PROJECTS ONE OF THE GREATEST CHALLENGES of the Project was the participation of youth itself and the forming of groups. Quite a large number of youth participated in activities in passing. The Project changed in nature very gradually from an open workshop of diverse activities to activities with a life cycle (projects) as the trust of both youth and parents was gained. Eight different groups of children, pre-adolescents, adolescents and young adults between the ages of 8-25, 150 youth in total, participated in the various projects developed by the Creative Youth Workshops. These cycles of activities took various directions, according to the needs and wishes of the youth members. A common thread running through all directions was that the youth were called upon to utilize stimuli for creative expression, explore various different expressive tools and materials and practice skills of communication, cooperation and utilization of difference as members of a group. Direction of exploring various issues This direction gave space for expression around issues such as: growing up, adolescence as a phase of life, friendship and companionship, journeying, the world around me, differing and conflict, communication and integrating difference as members of a group, cooperation and common action, feelings and relationships, expressing our own viewpoint. Direction of construction & hand-crafting Out of this direction grew activities such as: shaping and constructing the space of the Creative Youth Workshops, acquaintance with various materials and expressive tools, imagining, designing and constructing a village of our own, bringing characters to life and to dialogue, storytelling and theatrical expression. Direction of exploring surroundings A multicultural youth group explored nature and themselves in a camping project. Various workshops in nature became meeting sites for its members. The project took on new form as the group explored ways to gain a deeper appreciation of their homeland - both geographically and socially. The project invited youth to journey the region drawing from their own multicultural roots for creative expression.

…A FEW GENERAL OBSERVATIONS AROUND THE WORKSHOPS The Workshops' young population represents Thracian society in a many-faceted way. Their members live in the cities but also in the many surrounding mountain and valley villages. Thus, the opportunity to respond to many and differing youth needs arose. Also, there was a live give and take between groups. Each project built upon previous ones, each youth group in turn both inherited and passed on themes, the two Workshops became communicating vessels which allowed for many varying forms to define the Project. The youth exhibited great interest in whatever might be handmade. They responded to the invitation to shape a space of their own with great enthusiasm, desire and skill. They practiced boundarying, taking care of and sharing their space and all expressed within it. The sense of crafting something new, from the beginning, with my hands, making my own story, stating our viewpoint in expressed form, relieve and, at the same time, motivate youth. The fact that combinations of various differing materials and expressive means - such as drawing, theatrical games, narration and written word, constructions, clay modelling, photography, video, computer processing -were incorporated into the activities, opened a pathway for a rich inner world of thoughts and feelings. Space given to multifold exploration of expression resulted in freeing the content of expression from narrow limits of written word and monolinguistic speech. Multilingualism and silence, the language of feelings, body and hands came to enrich the landscape, resulting in the birth of colorful, expressive individual and group works. That which often is experienced as a disadvantage was transformed into positive skill as the young discovered feasible and not necessarily correct ways of expression, ways which create space for difference and utilize individuality for a richer result. The Workshops became spaces for discussions and communication, not always easy in terms of handling feelings. Especially where the groups were multicultual, the resulting gain is great. The young cooperate to produce common work which seeks out and utilizes difference. In the process, they learn to give true value to the individual as a group member, discovering those skills necessary for living together in cooperation with great sensitivity.

> FIRST CYCLE OF YOUTH PROJECTS With the completion of the shaping of the spaces of the Creative Youth Workshops at the Support Centers of Xanthi & Komotini, the young embarked upon the first cycle of projects. The C.Y.W. of Komotini ran groups parallely to the summer language lessons provided for children and young adolescents at the Support Center, offerring the young people the chance to get acquainted with the workshop space, mainly through two different contexts that were created in the form of projects. PROJECT «Table of Tools» An open workshop of creative expression for children and pre-teens. Various different expressive tools and mediums were explored such as clay, paper-cutting, art & drawing, photography, collage and video arts. PROJECT «Through the eyes of a Teenager» An experiencial workshop of communication and expression. The goal was to explore various themes involved in the adolescent phase of life, through the creative use of various differing expressive tools and techniques. The projects were presented at a celebration organised in Komotini in Septermber 2003. JULY - AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2003 at the C.Y.W. of Komotini

PROJECT «So far, so good - in our own words» The first youth group to inhabit the C.Y.W. created a record of the course of the workshop’s first months of life. They processed digital photographs and journal entries, creating a journal using the PC as a medium for creative expression, created human figure inhabitants of the workshop from natural materials gathered by the river, recorded the group process in story form, and created a self-interview in questionnaire form to record the views of the members of the group. PROJECT «Nature: following the flow» A 9-day summer camp was designed and implemented by the river Nestos in August 2003. The project had 3 phases - PREPARATION: Where, how and why am I going? CAMP EXPERIENCE: through workshops involving storytelling, sound & image processing, construction and crafts, first aid & health, canoeing and nature exploration, and INTEGRATION: creative personal & group synthesis of the project, assimilation of experiencial learning & skills practiced thoughout the project. PROJECT «Open house» The young participated actively in the preparation and running of an «open howse» evening, presenting the projects worked on to invited friends, parents, teachers and community members, organised at the Support Center in September 2003. PROJECT «Journeying» In cooperation with their teachers, children participating in the summer language lessons provided at the Support Center got acquainted with the C.Y.W. through a project dealing with means of transport and travelling, in a workshop of storytelling and hand-crafts. JULY - AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2003 at the C.Y.W. of Xanthi

…the TEAM OF YOUTHWORKERS PONDERS ON A YEAR’S COURSE GROUP something united, support, conflict, tears, joy, creation, adventure and CAMP... ...INTERESTING how we were, who we were, that we met, that we became a team, that we separated into Creative Youth Workshop of Xanthi and Creative Youth Workshop of Komotini, that we began uphill, we struggled, that we did not dissolve, that we remained united as a group, that through calamity and struggle we achieved something beautiful and SATISFYING... ...COMPLEXITY, many ideas, cooperation, creations are all we did from the beginning of the work. Among these we had storms sometimes. Today I am here and I notice that although we are in two separate cities, portals, we all experience similar things, e.g. each Creative Youth Workshop is constructing its own village. There is COHESION!... …WHERE are we going and what will we do these days that we meet, we wondered, we had questions relating to some aspects of the Creative Youth Workshops, in essence I understood that all of us really put on a struggle so that the C.Y.W. can exist, and so that we can all be real, and really MEET... …I WONDER how a group of 9-10 Humans, coming from 3 different cultures, could create such close ties between themselves and create their own groups. Surely there must have been great faith in what they were doing and surely there must have been between them great INTERACTION... …I DISCOVER myself, my wants, my musts, my pulse, the pulse of the one next to me, my needs, those of the ones next to me, my craze, the craze of those next to me, is there anything around me? Behind the wall? I want to SHARE... …TOGETHERNESS. In this atmosphere, in this spirit we discussed and we touched each other, we agreed, we played and we understood in the course of continuous, perpetual FLOW... …CHAOTIC seemed the Creative Youth Workshop. A voice reminded me not to fear it. I had forgotten how much I had liked this theory. Besides, we had drawn many fish and seas, fish with open mouth, ready to devour. Were we in the end perhaps searching for a hippocampus? I'd like for everything to be tidy and heading on a straight course teleologically. But we had come to almost adore the spiral shape. Besides, when else, even if I have wanted to, have I had things INORDER and CLEAN... …VESSELS which may be half-full or half-empty. Vessels which may be full of water, or orange juice or hemlock and their content changes continuously. Vessels which you never say are completely full but you always have more fluid to put inside. Vessels which communicate and one is the counterweight of the other. Vessels which are COMMUNICATING.

> SECOND CYCLE OF YOUTH PROJECTS With the beginning of the new school year - in October 2003, the two C.Y.W. developed new activities for the already existing youth groups, but also for new participants in a second cycle of projects, opening the workshop spaces to new age groups of youth who wished to participate, children and pre-adolescents. PROJECT «Handmade» A group of children & a group of pre-adolescents explore various forms of handcrafts in a workshop of creative expression. The young are encouraged to develop skills of expression and creative synthesis on an individual level but also as members of a group. Expressing in their own way how they experience their meetings, the young give the workshop a name of their own: «Table of Creative Acquaintance» and «The Cooperation of Communication». PROJECT «A village of our own» A group of children explores the realm of fantasy, communication and creative expression through various expressive mediums such as drawing, theatrical games, storytelling and written texts, crafts, photography & video. The group members imagine, design and construct their own village - their home & garden, the common spaces, the surrounding environment. OCTOBER - NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2003 at the C.Y.W. of Komotini

PROJECT «Creative routes from village to city» A group of pre-adolescents creates a space of communication and creative expression, encouraging its members to explore issues related to their life phase: building frienships and opening up in relationships, journeying from the home village to the city as an exprerience of opening outwards to new horizons and the various stimuli they receive from the multicultural environment of the city. PROJECT «Through a teenager’s eyes» A group of adolescents creates a space of communication and creative expression, encouraging its members to explore issues related to their life phase using various expressive tools and techniques such as drawing, crafts, relating expreriences, dialogue and written texts. Through a course of individual and group processing of issues, thoughts and feelings, the young discover, give form to and express their own view of the world around them. OCTOBER - NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2003 at the C.Y.W. of Komotini

PROJECT «The C.Y.W. tree takes root» Having completed a cycle of activity and acquaintance, a multicultural group of adolescents continues its course at the C.Y.W. creating a workshop which explores the surrounding natural and human environment. The project is implemented in three phases - IN SEARCH OF ROOTS: drawing from rich personal and cultural roots of the group for creative expression and communication, EXPLORING OUR REGION: acquaintance and contact with the mountain and valley human and physical space surrounding the city, and RECORDING OUR OWN VIEW - CREATING A JOURNAL: the group members gather impressions from inner & outer journeys, material such as photographs, videos, texts, stories - and create a synthesis of their experiences using various expressive tools. PROJECT «A village of our own» A multicultural group of pre-adolescents becomes acquainted with the C.Y.W. space. Inspired by images which adolescents have created in the workshop space - the image of an island & a tree - the group members dream up, design and construct a village of their own. A common space is created, both imaginary and real, which invites the group members to live together in such a way as to include each inhabitant, with all that each brings with oneself. The project encourages the young to imagine and create their own story - both in terms of the village they are constructing and their course as a group within the C.Y.W. OCTOBER - NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2003 at the C.Y.W. of Xanthi

> THIRD CYCLE OF YOUTH PROJECTS January of 2004 found the young members of both C.Y.W. opening a new cycle of exploration on the path that each youth group had been following since the beginning of autumn. PROJECT «Handmade» On the «Table of Creative Acquaintance» of their own inspiration, the children placed the issue of «friendship». They created handcrafted pieces of work with clay to express what friendhip means to each one. Around the map of the world, colorful beings took their place: a fish called «Trust» - a heart with a sun center called «Happiness» - a bird called «Breaking Free» - two different flowers called «Love» - a cat called «Tenderness» - two children holding hands called «Helping Each Other». Exploring the materials and expressive tools of the workshop they themselves named «Cooperation of Communication», the group of pre-adolescents explored the issue of «freindship» crafting art from clay and colorful wool thread. They named their creations: «The House of Feelings» - «Brightness» - «The Circle of Life with Variety of Colors» - «Flower of Love» - «Source of Life» - «Basket of Tastes» - «Communication» - «Selection». Following this, the group crafted colorful candles in glass candle holders. They gave these pieces of work the title «The Brightness of Our Feelings». PROJECT «A village of our own» Having completed the phase of constucting the village, the group of children explores various imaginary characters who live there, creating marionettes, masks, dialogues and small stories. To express their imagination, thoughts & feelings, the children use drawing, crafts, storytelling, theatrical games & role-playing, the videocamera and tape-recorder for interviews. JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH 2004 at the C.Y.W. of Komotini

PROJECT «Creative routes from village to city» The group of pre-adolescents uses video-films as stimuli to explore issues such as: friendship, hanging out together and our group at the Creative Youth Workshop, supporting my wishes and the interests I want to develop, my life in and outside of school, life in the village and in the city. The group members try out expressing themselves in various ways: through poetry, the creation of imaginary characters, dialogue and role-playing. PROJECT «Through a teenager’s eyes» Through different crafts - ships which journey made of natural materials, personal artifacts for themselves and their bedrooms, masks of imaginary characters that come to life, drawing and discussion - the adolescents continue their individual and group processing of issues, thoughts and feeling that compose their own view of the world around them. JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH 2004 at the C.Y.W. of Komotini

PROJECT «The C.Y.W. tree takes root» The new year found the group of adolescents attempting to design and produce their own calendar for 2004 - a work with room for all and all differences. This calendar was the first complete communication project of the group with the outside world, and the members decided to send it to friends of the C.Y.W. To celebrate the New Year, the group prepared a joint welcoming party with the group of pre-adolescents, where they got acquainted and gave birth to common wishes for the coming year. Contact between groups continued resulting in a party of colors during carnival time. Following this, the group focussed on preparing the second phase of the project - EXPLORING OUR REGION - by creating the imaginary character-explorers of the group and formulating queries to be explored. PROJECT «A village of our own» Having completed the design of the village, the group of pre-adolescents enters the phase of constructing individual homes and common spaces. During the course of the task, group ties are further developed as the members process issues of difference and cooperation and the significance of each member for the group as a whole. Constructions of the village and the way the members relate to each other while working become stimuli for the processing of issues: the walls of the Transparent Hotel become «windows through which I look at my life» in order to express my own views and wishes. The difficulty of working together becomes a good reason for expressing «what a group means to me» through drawing and giving a first shape to the story of the group. Conflict among group members leads to exploring «who I am within the group» in drawing and becoming aware of the role each individual plays within the group and what each expects from the group. JANUARY - FEBRUARY - MARCH 2004 at the C.Y.W. of Xanthi

> FOURTH CYCLE OF YOUTH PROJECTS During spring 2004 the youth members of the two C.Y.W. brought the various projects in progress to closure and opened outward to their social space in polymorphous expression. COMMUNICATING COOPERATION As warm as communication is So is it easy to melt a cold material such as plaster As honest as communication is So is it white as plaster As much joy as communication gives So too the coloring of plaster WHAT FRIENDSHIP MEANS TO US Friendship soft as mud Brittle the friendly heart If this heart cracks It cracks like clay THE BRIGHTNESS OF FEELINGS May friendship not blow out Like a candle with a breath Let friendship not go away Like water evaporating May friendship become rain, A world-wide rain May friendship become sea A sea of love And may it flood us PROJECT «Handmade» The young relate their course at the C.Y.W. expressing the meaning of all they have created and also all they’ve exprerienced in time « I always wanted to have a place where I could spend my days pleasantly and make new friends.» «The workshop took me to other worlds. It was a space where I expressed the artistic world I had inside. It’s as if the world began for me there. I learned to share with my friends there - it was anyway a space where we shared friendship. To quarrel in such a room was something bad. Because our room had been built on the foundations of friendship. Our room smelled of respect, even if you quarrelled in that room.» «All we did had multiple meaning. You might say how can friendship be related to a cup, but for us it has great relevance. For example, it is said that you must honor a cup of coffee that is offered to you for forty years. Now what can you say about a pencil-holder!? Of course it too has its own meaning. It shows us the variety of friendship, just like the pencils it holds, it symbolizes unity, it creates the foundations of friendship and ensures unity and cohesion.» «Here we got to know group work, hand-craft, love and exchange of opinions. That became a new light for us. Because in this art-studio we came to understand working as a group with our own capabilities.» «Just like our heart which must always illuminate, so too in our group the brightness of our soul that has been born will remain forever. I love you Creative Youth Workshop and I never want to part from you!!!» APRIL - MAY - JUNE 2004 at the C.Y.W. of Komotini

PROJECT «A village of our own» The group makes progress in creating their own scenario as expressive skills are developed and practiced. The workshop has become a space where the children feel comfortable to explore issues of friendhip, cooperation and matters of the heart, issues which involve the relations between them & the handling of difficult moments and feelings. As time passes, they contribute more and more to the actual designing of the content of their meetings. They fill the space with their own ideas, wishes and expression. The project has come to fruition. As the children themselves playfully expressed it: «If my body were a seed and I sowed it, it would become the tree of friendship and cooperation. An orange tree would grow - to me, an orange tree means friendship». PROJECT «Through a teenager’s eyes» myself & my selves - dreams of journeys to come my family tree - my body - my family & my home dreams of life to come - growing up school life - friends & relationships - shaping an opinion All these themes find their space for exploration, as an experiential workshop of communication & creative expression emerges around the table. painting - writing - movement & dance - singing Collage - pottery - crafts - creating jewelery Colorful artwork and texts which express individual & group points of view of the world are used to create a journal relating the groups’ experience. APRIL - MAY - JUNE 2004 at the C.Y.W. of Komotini

PROJECT «Creative routes from village to city» Through theatrical games, dialogue & role playing, art & craft, the group of pre-teenagers explores routes that journey them from their home village into the city. Exploring growing up as a broadening of horizons, they create their own monuments to place on the map of the city. Expressing a message the monument brings to the city, they speak about the way they too wish to bring themselves into their group & the workshop. APRIL - MAY - JUNE 2004 OUR MONUMENTS SPEAK THEIR MESSAGE I want a space of my own. I want access to communication. I want to come gradually from the periphery to the center. I want what I create to be seen, like if it was in the Central City Square. I want friends & a humane atmosphere in relations, to give and receive help. I want there to be room for us all - a real Panthracian Football Field with democracy. I want a natural space, with trees, without noise, pollution & traffic jams. at the C.Y.W. of Komotini

IN MAY 2004 at an event which took place to mark then ending of the school year, organised by the Support Centers of the Program, the young members of the Creative Youth Workshop organised creative activities for the participating students. They invited students of primary and secondary school age to express thoughts and feelings around the school year which was ending and the approaching summer. APRIL - MAY - JUNE 2004 ON JUNE 5th the young members of the Creative Youth Workshop celebrated the Day of the Environment by planting their own tree - an olive tree - in the park of the Outdoor Cultural Center next to the Museum of Komotini in cooperation with the Town of Komotini. Along with the olive tree, the young shared and «planted» their own wishes for whatever each one wishes to take root and grow - in their own life, that of their friends and our world. at the C.Y.W. of Komotini

PROJECT «The C.Y.W. tree takes root» …springtime finds the group of adolescents outdoors -exploring their surrounding social & natural environment and bringing the project to closure by compiling a journal of images and texts. The young become aware of a long journey they have taken by participating actively in various projects. THE YOUNG WRITE ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE... « We started out in April 2003, with a vision to form an autonomous multicultural team of creation & cooperation. While in the beginning we were far apart from each other, gradually, through the projects we worked on, we got to know each other better and began to form bonds of friendship. It didn't take us long to form our space - our island. We created a story out of our experience, took interviews from one another and recorded all we'd done in our first steps in a diary of our own. Our reward was a 7-day camping trip on the river Nestos. There we were able to get to know each other better and feel more unity as a group. Upon our return, we began a project aiming to get to know our cultural roots and ourselves in greater depth. As the new year approached, we created a calendar of our own for 2004. Our next step was to prepare ourselves to explore our region and to visit different places.» APRIL - MAY - JUNE 2004 at the C.Y.W. of Xanthi

PROJECT «A village of our own - storytelling workshop» What does «group» mean to me? images arise out of thoughts & feelings expressed in fingerpaints they tell a story... ONCE UPON A TIME there was a landscape full of trees, with a very beautiful river, with a waterfall and above there were birds who surely had the loveliest view. In that beautiful landscape with the yellowest of suns there was a group of children and adults. This group did not bother nature and the beautiful landscape, they were friends even with the animals. These people were from different races but they didn't mind. They had created the most beautiful dance that a human could, aiming at cooperation with nature. This team was very special, because each individual who was in that group had their own color. With the colors that each had chosen, they had divided them into four subgroups and they had put them in a large circle of colors. Every now and then the members of the group would dip their hands into their color and tie their hands in a circle. One day, in that beautiful landscape which existed, they went a little further away from where they lived. They found a place a little way over the river, which had the biggest plane tree. At that spot, the team agreed, the circle of hands which is created with colors will be done around the plane tree, and stay alive as long as a plane tree lives. APRIL - MAY - JUNE 2004 at the C.Y.W. of Xanthi

IN MAY 2004 at an event which took place to mark then ending of the school year, organised by the Support Centers of the Program, the young members of the Creative Youth Workshop organised creative activities for the participating students. They invited students of primary and secondary school age to express thoughts and feelings around various themes such as the four seasons or journeying, and to craft colorful hand-butterflies. APRIL - MAY - JUNE 2004 ON JUNE 5th the young members of the Creative Youth Workshop celebrated the Day of the Environment along with students attending classes at the Support Center by planting the garden outside the Support Center in cooperation with the Town of Xanthi. Along with the flowers, the young shared and «planted» their own wishes for whatever each one wishes to take root and grow - in their own life, that of their friends and our world. at the C.Y.W. of Xanthi

> NEW CYCLES OF YOUTH PROJECTS: SPIRALING TOWARDS THE FUTURE IN THE FOLLOWING MONTHS, as the pre-mentioned youth projects drew to a closure, new cycles were begun as the young members of the workshops took initiative around their own ideas for activities, while the Creative Youth Workshop spaces opened up to invite new youth groups into projects. The specific shape the projects took were a subject for exploration with the young themselves; as each one actively expressed their own wishes and listened to those of the other members, the young became co-creators in the evolution of the spiral which had been set in motion. Each project builds upon a previous one, each youth group inherits and passes on seeds of ideas and knowledge gained through experiencial learning as each project has the opportunity to be born, grow, fruit and come to closure. The two workshops became communicating vessels allowing many different forms to define the project. At the same time, as the workshops opened up to the surrounding local community, presenting and sharing the work created by the youth groups, a valuabe human support web was created by young adults, parents, educators and members of local authorities and institutions. It is the building of this communication between young and adults, this web of relations, which can create that human and physical space which will ensure that the spiral which was set in motion by the project will continue to open cycles in the future.

PROJECT MANAGER > ANNI VASSILIOU, Psychologist-Youth Worker SUPPORT CENTER OF KOMOTINI