In November, the YoWo Poland team took part in the Erasmus + training course “Sensitivity to Diversity” in Marseille organized by Association Hors Pistes. Throughout the week, we tried our best to take a step back and then look at various issues from a larger perspective. Many times, we have come to the conclusion that it is really okay to change your mind. Different but equal – we’ve learned a lot from each other and we are back from the course with countless paths to explore further! Read the following testimony from the course that Michał shared with us:

Another project is behind us, more changes have been made, and new challenges are ahead of us. This is how, in the shortest words, I can describe the project in Marseille. Its main theme was sensitivity and diversity, but the project would be nothing  without the participants. After all, what do these two elements have in common? People.

We live in a hugely diverse society. I realized it during the exchange of thoughts, work in groups and when sharing on plenary. Fortunately, the whole team remained open to each other. We have not had any contact with wrong or bad views.

You’ve probably been working on the story about Abigale more than once. We also reworked the story and, again, we had different thoughts about it. We talked about it, about the privileges in our world and what to do with them. After all, we shouldn’t enter into guilt, we should take advantage of those privileges. There is no need to close yourself in your world, to defend yourself through denial.

Until the project, I hadn’t realized the beauty of diversity that I can appreciate or reject. How to choose? Here comes the sensitivity that changes our perspective. By accepting others, I can now see their beauty, because it’s true, we are different. I used those views on the project.

The others’ knowledge and experience influenced my subjective perception of the world and added colour to it. Although many people do not realize what the Erasmus + program is, I was given the chance to participate in it. This is a huge privilege. Why should I not use it? Everyone who enriched me was in my place once.

With such a vision, the big question is: who will I pass it on to?

Article by Michał Kowalczyk participant of a Training Course “Sensitivity to Diversity”