This project's aim is to foster an understanding of the European refugee crisis while simultaneously creating a response to the situation of refugees in Europe. The project supports the social inclusion of refugees and migrants, giving child refugees the opportunity to get actively involved in the project's work. It confronts pupils with the realities of escaping from wars and conflicts and expulsion, the arrival in a foreign country and a new life in an unfamiliar place. In addition to the strong emphasis put on social inclusion of refugees and migrants, as set forth by the EU Commission, the prevention of marginalisation, intolerance and radicalisation is of similar importance. The project enables the participants to increase their social and intercultural competence, their knowledge of civic responsibility, and to develop a deeper understanding of and openness towards social and cultural diversity as well as the shared values of the European Union. This project can thus make a major contribution towards the struggle against discrimination and racism and prevent radicalisation. Within the framework of three transnational project meetings overall, groups of ten children each from Spain, the Netherlands and Germany, aged from 12 to 14, will come together. In three stages they will get the opportunity to trace and 'experience' the routes refugees take to reach Europe. During these meetings they will work in multinational teams as well as stay together in host families where possible. The gathering in Spain will mark the start of the 'journey to Europe' with its focus on "escaping from wars and conflicts". This will find its expression in a film in which the participants themselves will also take the part of the refugees. When in Germany, the teams will concentrate on the second stage, "arrival in a foreign country". Together with child refugees the participants will create a piece of music relating to this experience. The third stage, "a new life, a new home", will be explored by the teams in the Netherlands. Here, the participants will work on putting together a comic as well as a 3D sculpture. Thus enacting this "journey to Europe" will highten the capacity for empathy in the pupils. Futhermore, the children will come into contact with different attitudes towards and different ways of social inclusion of refugees, which will expand their intercultural scope. This will enable them to analyse their own position and to understand their own perspective as one possible perspective amongst many that could therefore be changed in order to look at the world adopting different points of view. This creates a basis for the prevention of violence, for tolerance and the participants' intercultural understanding that will remain effective once the project has come to an end. All project partners involved are seeking to continue the work in terms of further projects with refugees, focusing on a variety of questions and concerns. An additional focus of attention could be a project on teacher training.
The project’s aim was to help young pupils engage with various aspects of the European refugee crisis. It has made the participants become aware of the situation of refugees while simultaneously helping them realize that it is up to Europe to find joint solutions. The project facilitated social inclusion of refugees, giving child refugees the opportunity to get actively involved in the project's work. At the same time, it has developed the empathetic skills of the participants while confronting them with the realities of war, conflict and expulsion, the consequent resettlement in a foreign country and a new life in an unfamiliar place. In addition to the strong emphasis put on social inclusion of refugees and migrants, as set forth by the EU Commission, the prevention of marginalisation, intolerance and radicalisation has been given equal weight. The project has enabled the participants to further develop their social and intercultural competence, their grasp of civic responsibility, as well as to develop a deeper understanding of and openness towards social and cultural diversity along with the shared values of the European Union. This project has thus made a major contribution towards combatting discrimination and racism and could be a step towards preventing radicalisation. Within the framework of three transnational project meetings in all ten children between the ages of 12 and 13 from Spain, the Netherlands and Germany respectively came together. In three stages they were given the opportunity to trace and 'experience' the routes refugees take to reach Europe and start a new life. During their stay, the children lived and worked together in multinational teams that exposed them to the challenges of differing codes of conduct and communication in a foreign country. While English remained the project's language throughout, keen to understand one another the pupils equally employed their Dutch, Spanish and German language skills. A creative approach seemed the most appropriate with regard to the pupils' age. By means of film, music and graphic art they sought artistic forms of expression to approach the subject matter in a way they could personally relate to while simultaneously exploring different points of view. In Zaragoza the participants started the “journey to Europe” by learning more about the first stage, the so-called “escape” stage. Along with the causes and reasons for escaping they discovered the emotions, fears and threats that commonly go with it. They wrote a screenplay and made a film taking on the role of refugees themselves and trying to give expression to the emotional impact of escape. In Bremen the participants worked on the second stage, “arrival in a foreign country”. They concentrated on their own understanding of “homeland” and considered how and whereby homeland could be experienced and found. They inquired if homeland could have particular characteristics and sounds and collected and recorded these in the surrounding area. This collection of auditory data was then turned into soundscapes. In Bremen they also met with young refugees who shared their and their families' past experiences, their present life in Bremen and their wishes for the future. They were given the opportunity to talk to one another, putting a human face on the question of “homeland”. The third stage, "a new life, a new home", was explored by the teams in Nijmegen. Stories of young persons’ flight were told in the form of drawings and lino-cuts, dramaturgically reduced with a focus on a number of key moments. Within the framework of this project the participants encountered different aspects of the refugee crisis. They came into contact with different attitudes towards and different ways of social inclusion of refugees. This enabled them to analyse their own position and to understand their own perspective as one possible perspective amongst many that could therefore be changed in order to look at the world adopting different points of view. This created a basis for the prevention of violence, for tolerance and the participants' intercultural understanding whose impact will remain effective beyond the project.