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1 New Italian EVS volunteers at DRONI Elena is a 26 year old anthropologist from Italy. She grew up in Verona and moved first to Trento and then to Perugia for studying. She has always loved travelling; this atude brought her to Luxembourg for an internship, to London for an Erasmus, to Germany and Ireland for short-term jobs and finally here in Georgia! In DRONI she will work at the Tbilisi Sea School. She has some experience in working formally and non- formally within educaon which will hopefully enrich her volunteering. She is deeply interested in Caucasian culture, history, and above all collecve memory both from a personal and professional perspecve. Elena has done an ethnographic research on conflicts resoluon and peace-building working with youth coming from here. The first me she came to Georgia was last August, she fell in love with it and decided to come back! She has come here for a 9 - month project aiming at learning by doing and discovering. April, 2014 DRONI News Droni rules, not the kings! Hot news: New Italian volunteers Human Library in Zugdidi Georgian– French cultural exchange project at Tbilisi Sea School International projects and trainings In this number: New Italian EVS volunteers 1 10 days of silence– Vipassana meditation 2 Human Library in Zugdidi; It’s good to be different! 2 The Yellow Brick Road project 3 Tbilisi Sea School activities during March 3 Training Course ‘’Paths to Inclusion’’ in Ireland 4 Youth-Work Revised for conflict transformation 4 Julian is from Pescara, Italy. He did his Bachelor studies in Milan in Interfaculty between Foreign Languages and Polical Sciences. Aſter one year of professional experience as Internaonal Sales Execuve for an Italian company, he decided to move to the UK where he did his postgraduate studies in Internaonal Relaons and Democrac Polics. During and aſter his studies he worked as Fundraiser and Researcher for two NGOs in the UK and then he moved to Czech Republic where he was hired for a 4-month project at the OSCE-Prague office. Julian is enthusiasc and happy to work with the IDP students of the Tbilisi Sea School for the next 9 months.

DRONI Newsletter April 2014

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Page 1: DRONI Newsletter April 2014

1

New Italian EVS volunteers at DRONI

Elena is a 26 year old anthropologist from Italy. She

grew up in Verona and moved first to Trento and then

to Perugia for studying. She has always loved travelling;

this attitude brought her to Luxembourg for an

internship, to London for an Erasmus, to Germany and

Ireland for short-term jobs and finally here in Georgia!

In DRONI she will work at the Tbilisi Sea School. She

has some experience in working formally and non-

formally within education which will hopefully enrich

her volunteering. She is deeply interested in Caucasian

culture, history, and above all collective memory both

from a personal and professional perspective. Elena

has done an ethnographic research on conflicts

resolution and peace-building working with youth

coming from here. The first time she came to Georgia

was last August, she fell in love with it and decided to come back! She has come here for a 9-

month project aiming at learning by doing and discovering.

April, 2014

DRONI News Droni rules, not the kings!

Hot news:

New Italian volunteers

Human Library in Zugdidi

Georgian– French cultural

exchange project at Tbilisi Sea

School

International projects and

trainings

In this number:

New Italian EVS volunteers 1

10 days of silence–

Vipassana meditation 2

Human Library in Zugdidi;

It’s good to be different! 2

The Yellow Brick Road

project 3

Tbilisi Sea School activities

during March 3

Training Course ‘’Paths to

Inclusion’’ in Ireland 4

Youth-Work Revised for

conflict transformation 4

Julian is from Pescara, Italy. He did his Bachelor studies in

Milan in Interfaculty between Foreign Languages and

Political Sciences. After one year of professional

experience as International Sales Executive for an Italian

company, he decided to move to the UK where he did his

postgraduate studies in International Relations and

Democratic Politics. During and after his studies he

worked as Fundraiser and Researcher for two NGOs in

the UK and then he moved to Czech Republic where he

was hired for a 4-month project at the OSCE-Prague

office. Julian is enthusiastic and happy to work with the

IDP students of the Tbilisi Sea School for the next 9

months.

Page 2: DRONI Newsletter April 2014

2

10 days of silence – Vipassana meditation

10 days of silence, 10 hours per day sitting and meditating starting from 4 o’ clock in the morning, disconnected from the entire world, not

even pencil or book allowed to have. This is how I spent my 2 weeks in Turkey and it is called Vipassana meditation - seeing things as they

really are, staying in the present at the most extreme degree possible.

In order to realize the true nature of our existence we were observing our natural breath and sensations throughout the body, learning

not to react to them and practicing mindfulness 24 hours per day. 24 hours per day practicing mindfulness means being aware of every

activity we do without any judgment, craving or abortion: when walking, using the bathroom, making your bed, getting dressed, opening a

door, brushing your teeth, drinking water, feeling pain or other feelings.

To see your own mind clearly and sense your body fully is to see ultimate reality. This experience results in short-term calmness, bliss and

leads to wisdom and permanent freedom from suffering and all kind of miseries. So called "Nibbana" in Pali (old Indian language) -

enlightenment. Vipasana is the ancient technique started in Myanmar and rediscovered by Buddha in India 2500 years ago. It is not

connected with any religious practices or ideologies, trying to help all the humans reach the so called “Dhamma” – inner freedom. At the

moment there is all over the world Vipasana centers running and everybody can join the courses for free. http://www.dhamma.org/

All of us suffer from the mental sickness of desire, attachment, craving for pleasant emotions, neglecting what we don’t like. Vipassana

was like an operation of my mind and total liberation of all kind of negativities and impurities. Just don’t think Monika became an angel, it

requires continuous work everyday, self-discipline and big determination.

May you all experience this ultimate truth. May all people be free from misery. May they enjoy real peace, real harmony, real happiness. Fully liberated with love and peace.

Monika Peldaviciute

The Human Library is a voluntary project organized by open-minded youth

tries to promote human rights, fight against stereotypes and raise

tolerance in the society!

During one month a group of four EVS Volunteers from Czech Republic:

Jana, Jan, Martina and Richard will work to set up the event of Human

Library on 26th of April. This year will be the fifth time for DRONI

organizing this event. But it will be the first time it will be held in another

place than Tbilisi.

This Library that will be inhabited not by paper books but by living books;

people who decide to tell their own story because they have been

discriminated and are victims of stereotypes. Everyone will have the

chance to come in the human library, choose the human book she/he

wants to read and start a conversation with her/him.

The group took a day train from Tbilisi to Zugdidi on 24th March. They arrived in the evening and moved to their new home in

Sukhumskaja street 106. Their housemates welcomed them heartedly with a delicious cake and chacha. They spent a night brainstorming

about ideas for the preparation of our event. The following day they went for a walk to take a look at the places where Human Library

could be organized.

In warm and sunny weather they walked around the botanical garden and the palace to the lively city center. They visited a rhetorical

performance of local youths in Art gallery and quickly presented our project to the audience.

At the end of the day they bought necessary supplies in the famous local Bazar and came back to our house to contact local organizations.

Currently they are working on the promotional materials and communication on social media. In the following days and weeks there are a

lot of people to meet, materials to create, articles to write and work to do. Nevertheless they are eager to create an unforgettable event

here in Zugdidi. It's good to be different!

Human Library in Zugdidi; It’s good to be different!

Page 3: DRONI Newsletter April 2014

3

their communication skills, interact and

exchange while entertaining themselves.

On March 20 Alice and Ioanna gave a

workshop on cultural life, practices and

traditions of the counties of Georgia,

Greece and France. Children created their

own collages of the three countries. The

workshop aimed at creating the first parts

of a big cultural map for raising children's

European awareness and geographical

knowledge. This first approach was an

introductory session to a five week project

on intercultural exchange between France

and Georgia based on informal learning.

This is a project between the french

community centre, Château Des Échelles

in Ambérieu-en-Bugey, France and Youth

Ioanna and Alice, the new DRONI EVS

volunteers together with the support

of local volunteers continue their

weekly visits at Tbilisi Sea School’s IDP

settlements. On March 6, children

participated in an outdoor session of

activities related to the Mother’s Day.

Games, energizers and pantomime

strengthened children's participation

and entertained them during the

workshop! On March 13 a second visit

took place. This time they visited

Tbilisi Sea School and gave a

workshop on comics. Children found

self- expression by drawing comic

faces illustrations which they

mimicked by the end of the session.

This activity helped them improve

Association DRONI in Tbilisi , Georgia aiming

at linking socio-cultural realities between

Georgia and France for alternative

educational purposes. So far children have

created created a video of themselves

saying Gamarjoba! while introducing

themselves to the children in France and

completed parts of the map collage

focusing on the two countries’ traditions

and cultural life. Next sessions are aiming at

making the link between the two countries

even stronger by the rotating cadavers;

portrait collages of all kids from both

associations mixing characteristics and

identities while learning from each other.

The Yellow Brick Road project

Tbilisi Sea Scool activities during March

The Yellow Brick Road was a synergy project held

by Olde Vechte Foundation in Ommen,

Netherlands with the participation of 8 countries

including Georgia and DRONI participants.

According to the participants, the training was

very different from the ordinary projects. There

were various activities like jumping in one foot,

inner beauty, trust walk, minimum and maximum

dance etc. Participants went through many

different stages of thinking about themselves and

the others surrounding them. There were various

activities focusing on self-concentration and self-

discipline as well as meditation around life

purposes, goals and ambitions. Participants were

very much satisfied with the different structure

and rare opportunities for deeper interaction and

exchange given during the project.

Page 4: DRONI Newsletter April 2014

4

Youth Association

DRONI

Gambahidze str. 3/6

0179 Tbilisi

Georgia

Tel.: +99532306703

Fax: +995322920999

Facebook: https://

www.facebook.com/

droniorg

www.droniweb.org

Edited by:

Sakellaraki Ioanna

[email protected]

+995 568 17 4994

Training course “Paths to Inclusion” in Ireland

From March 10 to March 16 was held a

training course “Paths to Inclusion” in the

small eco-village of Cloughjordan in Ireland.

The project was organized by VSI- Volunteers

Service International which is branch of SCI

network in Ireland.

Project participants from Georgia were

Youth Association DRONI and Children and

Youth Development Fund which formed a

good balance between representatives of

public and non-governmental institutions.

The main topic of the training was inclusion

and participants from 13 different countries

were sharing their experience on how they

work around this topic. Participants had the

possibility to meet with local people, see real

eco-village and be part of their everyday life

for one week.

After the project participants stayed few

more days in Dublin to celebrate St. Patrick’s

Day. It was a real national celebration. All

generations: from small children to old

people were outside to watch the parade

around the whole city. The day after

participants spent their last moments in the

countryside nearby Dublin, at the seaside of

Howthof full of positive emotions about the

unforgettable time.

From March 12 to March 20, in the framework of

the EU “Youth in Action” program, the NGO “Social

and Youth workers” (SYW) in collaboration with the

Federation of Youth Clubs of Armenia (FYCA)

carried out “Youth Work-Revised for Conflict

Transformation” learning course. The participants

were representatives of NGOs from Belarus,

Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Georgia, Hungary,

Moldova, Romania, Armenia and Turkey.

“Youth Work-Revised for Conflict Transformation”

is one of the unique initiatives, which not only

served as a source of knowledge and inspiration for

young people’s interest, but also helped in

overcoming the controversies present in our

society, making them the immediate part of that

process”- mentioned the project coordinator

Mariam Sahakyan.

During the initial stage of the project each delegate

presented the conflicts related to his/her country's

society, the primary grounds and incentives of their

emergence as well as the role of young people in

case of conflicts; how they can intervene.

At the end of the project the participants

expressed their gratitude by sharing some notes

for useful knowledge, good memories and the new

friends they made. Finally, they

left Armenia “gaining knowledge from one of the

ancient cradles”.

Youth Work-Revised for Conflict Transformation