InterCOOLtura ИнтерКУЛтуралне N Н ОE ВWО SС Т И
ISSUE 5 SEPT/OKT/NOV/DEC/JAN/FEB БРОЈ 4 МАР/АПР/МАЈ/ЈУН/ЈУЛ/АВГ2013 2012
Meetings about volunteers Нови ученици and ICL in Europe
стигли су у Србију!
EFIL (European Federation for Intercultural страна 8organized the meeting of organiLearning) zational development coordinators of European AFS organizations from 13 to 18 January in Bratislava.
Авантура мини боравка
Крајем марта ученици на размени Informal AFSнаши meeting in Belgrade у Србији упутили су се у незаборавну Lucia Metzbauer and Chris пустоловину. Напустивши своје Maitz градове, AFS Austria кренули су у нове, неосвојене пределе
Building and strengthening the У циркуској шатри youth global education programmes on the local level У периоду од 11. до 13. маја 2012. организација АФС Немачке, поред других међународних
Србије, видели ове непознате During ourнеби trip ли to Belgrade, Chris and I had градове, упознали нове пријатеље и the opportunity to meet Vukica Karadžić научили још понешто о српској култури. again. We already had the pleasure to meet her during a theater workshop in the EFIL на страни 4 Summer Summit Наставак 2011 in Portugal...
Continued on page 11
Continued on page 7
Two teacher seminars were organized by Interзваница, угостила је и Србију. kultura and the Ministry of Youth with the topic Global and на intercultural Наставак страни 13 education for young people in Serbia.
IN THIS ISSUE Year in Serbia the best in my life! page 3
I was a contact person page 6
Cultural weekend in Belgrade page 10
I dreamt in German, but I didn’t understand a thing! page 4
Informal AFS meeting in Belgrade page 7
Teacher seminars: Novi Bečej and Kruševac page 11
From hilly Užice to Mexico page 5
New volunteers at Inter kultura’s training page 8
Meetings about volunteers and ICL in Europe page 14
ISSUE 5 SEPT/OKT/NOV/DEC/JAN/FEB 2013
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Dear friends, In some countries it is common practice to make New Year resolutions. People look back on the year, think about what it is that they need to improve in their lives and decide, for example, to give up smoking, to take up a physical activity or to see their friends more often. In 2012, there were so many activities in Interkultura that even a brief overview would take up most of this text. That is why I do not want to list them here; I will, however, point out that in 2012 Interkultura sent 23 Serbian students abroad on long-term exchange programmes, which is more than in 2010 and 2011 put together, and that we hosted 19 foreign students, which is also more than in 2010 and 2011 put together! What is it, then, that we could change or improve? What is ahead of us in 2013? We have every reason to be satisfied with our results so far, not only with the number of exchanges but also with the number of activities in which Interkultura volunteers took part both in Serbia and internationally. These results challenge us to work as hard and with equal enthusiasm in order to accomplish even more in 2013.
Naturally, with the increasing number of exchanges, our activities spread out to an increasing number of partner countries and an increasing number of towns in Serbia and are supported by an increasing number of volunteers. In the first half of the year, there will be ample activities for the exchange students, host families, new candidates and volunteers. There will be a new important event practically every other week. The end of January was the deadline for new candidates to submit their applications and the first major event is the selection weekend which takes place in Belgrade on 9 February. We are looking forward to meeting many successful candidates! Also in February, Belgrade will be the venue for the mid-stay orientation. The students from Brazil, Chile, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Thailand and Venezuela, hosted throughout the country, will get together to reflect on their experiences so far, exchange their impressions and develop a strategy on how to make the most of the rest of their exchange year now that they have completely adapted. March is the month for the mini 2
exchange – the hosted students will get the opportunity to spend a week in a different town, be hosted by another family and attend a local school in order to get to know a different part of Serbia, make new friends and share with them the knowledge of his/her own country and culture. The central event for Interkultura volunteers, the big volunteers’ camp, is scheduled for April. It will take place in the mountain resort of Divčibare. The volunteers will gain new knowledge and skills through lectures, discussions and workshops. In addition to the Interkultura training team, two international trainers will join us. The topics will vary from the very practical ones, such as how to organise selection and orientation, how to do a presentation or how to run a local chapter, to those that are the core and aim or all our activities, such as intercultural learning and global education. Also in April, Interkultura will be represented by two teachers at the international conference Spectrum of Education – Geographies, Cultures, Languages in Istanbul. In addition to the national ac-
tivities, Interkutura will host two international events in May. In cooperation with EFIL, we will host the international training for volunteers entitled Strengthening Youth NGOs through intercultural exchange, funded by the Council of Europe’s Youth in Action Programme. Over thirty participants from European AFS organizations are expected to be present.From 9-12 May, Interkultura will have the honor to host
the EFIL General Assembly. The significance of this event by far surpasses our organisation and our country and is without doubt the most important event this year for AFS in Europe. It is expected to be attended by over 70 distinguished representatives of European AFS partner organizations, AFS Intercultural and several non-European AFS partners. We owe gratitude to EFIL for entrusting us with the organisation
of this event which we expect to be an excellent opportunity for the promotion of Interkultura and Serbia. The 2012-13 cycle ends with the end-of-stay orientation for the hosted students, which will take place in Šuplja stena camp near Belgrade. Ivana Gazikalović-Pavlović, President
EXCHANGE STUDENTS SPEAKING Year in Serbia the best in my life!
My year in Serbia is the best year in my life! I have never been so happy as here! I have found many friends! And I don’t want to go back to Russia! At school, I am so great! I think I am the only exchange student who does all the homework. I had all A’s except from Sports.
I don’t like Sports. I have a wonderful family- Jankov! They are all very good to me. I have two sisters and a brother: Olga goes to school with me, Sofija and Pavle study in Belgrade. My host-dad works in Ukraine, so when we are all together at home, it is like a holiday! I really like my hostmom, Stanimirka. She is very smart, we have conflicts sometimes, of course, but that is normal in every family. If I had the opportunity to change the family, I wouldn’t do it. I got used to my host-family. I don’t know how I am supposed to go home in 5 months! I found here my best friend! His name is Jovan, he lived in Russia for twelve years, his Russian is very good. I think he helped me a lot in the beginning. I am very
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grateful for that, he is a good person! I hope he will come to Russia to visit me. I live in Bočar, but I go to school in Kikinda, that is a town in northern Serbia. I need about 30 minutes to get to Kikinda. In Russia I needed two hours to get to school, so I am happy that everything is so near here. I always travel with my family. I visited southern Serbia already. I have to say, since I am from Russia, I need a visum to go to Hungary, Romania, Montenegro and Croatia, although these countries are so near to Serbia! I am sorry I don’t have it. But I like that Serbia is in the center of Europe. Everything is near. I wish you all the best! Valeria Vahitova exchange student in Serbia
I dreamt in German, but I didn’t understand a thing! Who would think that in two days four months will have passed since I first flew to the land of leather breeches… It’s like it was only yesterday… I live in a small town, which is an hour’s drive away from Stuttgart and Ulm. I travel first by bus and then by train. Luckily, the bus stop is right in front of my house, so I never have to wait for a long time. My family is a typical German family. They have rules for me and chores that I have to do. Everything is planned a few weeks ahead and I like that a lot. I have another host-brother from Italy, so I’m not alone in this. Beside him, the family has three children of their own, but they don’t live at the house any more. The best and the most important thing for me is that I have a dog that I go running with every day in the nearby forest. I have grown to like him so much that I think being separated from him is going to be the hardest thing when I go back to Serbia. It was extremely difficult at school during the first month, because I replied to everything with just a smile hoping that they didn’t aske me a question. But the next month already I wrote a test which I did just fine. Now it’s great. I have good students in my class who are always ready
to help me if there’s something I don’t understand. The only thing I still can’t believe is that we have to write a test in Physical Education! That was the only subject I was looking forward to… But nevermind, I’m getting used to everything. I really can’t complain about my friends. I found some great friends, both German and people of other nationalities who live in the area. Of course, a big plus is that I have a host brother, so I wasn’t alone in the beginning. I aced German. I’m kidding, but I really do speak and understand it very well, even some of the socalled Schwäbisch. A very unusual thing happened to me, and although I’ve heard about it, I didn’t think it would happen to me. Namely, in the second week of my exchange I dreamt in German for the first
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time… the only problem was that I didn’t understand a thing! In my free time I go out with my host brother and friends, or play an instrument, sing, watch a film in German, walk the dog, go jogging… I even started to train a combination of Thai kick-box and karate – it’s fantastic! I would just like to say to all future exchange students, being probably the only one in this situation – they told me at the beginning of my exchange: “You will have a host brother in the family, if it’s not a problem.” Having a host brother/sister is the best thing that can happen to you on your exchange, since you have someone who’s going through the same as you are, so you have a friend and someone to support you when it gets difficult… Greetings, StrahinjaTijanic
From hilly Užice to Mexico Some of the most important experiences of our lives were first only chances. You come across them and decide if you are going to make the most of them or not. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t, but either way you are never completely sure how it will end. Some of the things depend on luck, but most of the things depend on your desire, dedication and open-mindedness. For me, the opportunity to spend a year living, growing up, learning and changing in a different country was the chance not to be missed. An European country would have been too small of a challenge for me so I headed to a 25-hour flight across the ocean to spend the school year 2011/2012 with over 100 exchange students in Mexico. Landing on the hot Mexican ground with over 40 degrees, I knew that a hot year was ahead of me. I was fortunate to live in a city witch was the dream of every exchange student. Merida is the capital of Yucatan state, well known for its rich history, Mayan culture and the most famous and most significant archeological monuments of Mexico. Living in a big city, 30km from the sea, was much different from my hilly hometown Užice in Serbia. Merida is at the same time a cosmopolitan and old-fashioned city with a strong influence of Mayan civilization wherever you go. Mexican families are usually as big as their names. They all wondered how it was possible to have only one brother and one first and last name. That was so unacceptable that
until the end of the year my name was Ana de Serbia (Ana from Serbia) Mišević (my last name) Gual (the last name of my host family). Mexicans are a very cheerful nation. One of the first words you learn is fiesta. They have a party for everything. End of the week, church and state holidays, birthday of mum, grandmother, aunt, distant cousin, remodeling your garden, buying a new door, changing water in a house pool are always reasons for celebration. I thought we, Serbs, hug and kiss a lot, but In Mexico people greet each other with a kiss on the cheek and a hug even if you see the person for the first time, which was a thing I needed to get used to in the begining. They get their drivers license at the age of 16 so most of my friends had their own car which made going out with them a lot easier. Sunday is a family day when the whole family goes to church and after that, we usually take a road trip or just go to the beach. The school and the school system were quite different from the one I was used to back home. Uniform and an ID of the school was necessary for you to enter the school ground. Piercings and tattoos were forbidden and no boy could have his hair long or wear an earring. Teachers value creativity and practice work so for the first time after elementary school I went to buy markers. Mexicans have really slow rhythm of life with a lot of time dedicated to their family, food and culture. In Mexico you need to learn to perceive time 5
in a different way. It is quite normal, and even expected, to meet someone one or two hours after the time you agreed. One of the biggest challenges was adjustment to the food. There is a lot of spicy food there. For me to avoid crying and choking I had to begin eating chilly peppers by the level of their spiciness. When you get to the point where you eat Chile Habanero you can proudly say that you are a real Mexican. After all, I can definetely say that this was a year where I was given the opportunity to see a new world, visit places that never seemed real, meet different people, change the way of thinking and get a completely unique experience in my life. This was a year of laughter, tears, new friends, new places and therefore, this was the year of my life. Thank you, AFS Ana Mišević
I was a contac t person When I opened my e-mail to check on the news, on this one very usual morning, I was taken aback by a very interesting offer. I got the honor to be a contact person to a girl from Russia. Reading the e-mail, at one point I got scared, thinking I wasn’t prepared for such a responsible assignment, but my will for new experiences won and I took the challenge! At first, I would like to acquaint you with the role of a contact person, since at the beginning I didn’t know either which responsibilities I would actually have. Contact person is a volunteer who is there to help both the family and the exchange student to get to know each other better and to overcome any posible
problem or conflict. At least, that is how I understood it at first, but the story got more serious, because I grew to love little Julia as if she were a memeber of my own family. Our friendship began when I welcomed her at the airport, together with her host-family. We were waiting for quite some time and when the door finally opened, this blonde, cheerful and smiling girl came running, giving us all warm hugs and kisses. After that, we went to her new house, where we went through all the rules Julia had to stick with during her stay with the new family. Her stay in Serbia was at first maybe a little different from what she expected; some problems occured and even though the 6
family, Julia and I really wanted to overcome them, we decided that it was for the best, that we find a new family for her. Having changed the family, she also changed the school, where she felt a lot better in. Her knowledge of the Serbian language also reached a really high level and I was especially surprised when I saw her after a two-week break and when we spent the whole 3 hours talking only in Serbian. Julia and I were meeting quite often, we spent hours walking, talking and drinking coffee in her favorite coffee shop on the Republic Square. The meeting point was usually the famous Horse, and we also often went out to eat palaÄ?inki, as Julia used to call
pancakes. Her stay came to an end, because her program lasted only for three months, but she’s already making plans to come back to Serbia. She told me, she will bring home the feeling of love, acceptance, friendship, the image of the cheerful people, but also the knowledge that every crisis can be dealt with.
With her I realised once again, how important the role of Interkultura is in my life, how many people I’ve met this way and how much every minute of volunteering enriches me. I’m sorry that Julia came here for such a short period of time, but I am glad that I had the chance to get to know a new culture and a person who is full of will
Informal AFS meeting in Belgrade Lucia Metzbauer and Chris Maitz AFS Austria
During our trip to Belgrade, Chris and I had the opportunity to meet Vukica Karadžić again. We already had the pleasure to meet her during a theater workshop in the EFIL Summer Summit 2011 in Portugal. Additionally we got to know Bojana Ilić and enjoy delicious Serbian food and coffee with them. We were very interested in their stories about current challenges of Interkultura Srbija. Coming from AFS Austria, which recently celebrated its 60’s anniversary, it’s fascinating for us to hear about the first years of your young organisation. Thanks to your hospitality and your insight knowledge of Serbian history, culture and language, we could make the most out of our short trip, which lasted only for three days. Considering that, we see how you make both exchange students and host families feel very well taken care of and we hope that you can keep up your level of enthusiasm and also infect many more volunteers to keep AFS Interkultura Srbija growing and blossoming in the future.
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for a change and joy in life. For a friendship it is not important how long you have known someone, but how you met them and how you spent your time with them. Julia, thank you for enriching my life. Jelena Petrović
New volunteers at Interkultura’s training Interkultura’s volunteers’ training took place on 20 October 2012. That was the opportunity for returnees to share their experience from the exchange, but also for us new volunteers to hear about all those fascinating stories and learn something more about what Interkultura actually does. We started the day with an energizer, so that we could be sure that everyone is fully awake and get a little extra energy before doing the tasks that stood before us. And so the actual training began. First we talked about the history and goals of Interkultura, and then we heard something more from the students who had returned from their exchanges. They shared all those wonderful moments from the
exchange with us talking about the host countries, families and people they met, friends they’ve made for life. After the lunch break and another energizer, we slowly came to the second part of the training. It was hosted by volunteers who took part in the summit and volunteer trainings abroad, this time in Latvia and Hungary. Listening to their experiences was equally interesting and inspiring. Latvia gathered volunteers from all over the world, where every team presented their AFS, but also found out more about the functioning of other AFS organizations in the world. The Serbian team who spent time in Hungary worked on the inclusion of young people with
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disabilities. Everything they have heard, seen and done sounded simply unbelievable. Inspired by this topic they also came up with a few tasks for us, new volunteers, which really made us think more about this topic and it only enhanced our desire for making the world a better place. Soon the training came to an end, but of course only for a little while – since this day brought us all together and these unforgettable moments mean a lot to each and every one of us. On this day we became a part of this wonderful community and we will tend to work together in order to help Interkultura achieve all of its goals in the future. Nevena Sićević New Interkulturas volunteer
Novi Bečej upon arrival to Serbia
At the end of September, Novi Bečej was the host city for the exchange students who came to Serbia this year, but it also hosted their host siblings. Teacher Biljana Banjac, who is also host mother of Juan from Mexico, organized this AFS weekend, which was the on-arrival orientation at the same time. The students were hosted by families from Novi Bečej, with whom they went out talked about their hosting experience. On Thursday, 27 September, we celebrated the Intercultural Dialogue Day, and on Friday there was a picnic organized for the students and their hosts, where
they had the opportunity to learn about Novi Bečej, to take a look around it and see some of its historic monuments. The students attended a school class after which a few of them gave an interview for the media, where they talked about their experience, as well as about their motivation to go on exchange to Serbia.
impressions. In the afternoon, the students held a presentation about their home countries to their hosts and to the teachers who were at the seminar organized by Interkultura at the same time.
The time spent in Novi Bečej will remain as a nice memory to volunteers, students and their hosts, and we are all looking forward to Saturday was a work day for vol- the next meeting. unteers, students and hosts because two parallel orientations Tamara Milošević were held that day- one of them Katarina Vasiljković for the exchange students, and Marija Kolundžija another one for the host siblings, in order to compare their experiences, problems and positive 9
Cultural weekend in Belgrade At the beginning of November, the exchange students in Serbia, together with their host brothers, sisters and Interkultura’s volunteers, had an opportunity to explore the capital and participate in its rich cultural life. The weekend started with a visit to the National Assembly of Serbia, inside of which they were able to see the conference rooms and get some information about the functioning and its history. After that, they visited Ethnographic museum where they saw folk costumes and heard something about the history of our people. Next was city rally, a group activity in which our students had to do certain tasks which included discover-
ing different monuments, buildings, and important marks of the city. This activity also served for them to prove their resourcefulness by finding a way to do some interesting tasks- like boiling an egg! In the evening they were taken to the cinema, to see the last James Bond movie- Skyfall. Saturday was also a busy day, filled with cultural activities. After a great tour in the Nikola Tesla museum, where the students were able to actively participate in some of Teslas experiments, the volunteers took them to see the exhibition of Gustav Klimt’s paintings. After that, they were given some free time- for taking a walk, shopping or resting.
During that time, some of them were guests on the Serbian National Television, where they presented themselves and told something about their experience in Serbia. In the evening they went to the National Theatre to see the opera Carmen. Interkultura celebrated its fourth birthday on Sunday, together with its volunteers, exchange students, their host families and returnees. We spent almost entire afternoon together, we sang, ate, drank and had a great time! Everyone left the celebration with a big smile on their face, which was the proof of a fun and high-quality weekend! Tamara Milošević
CONCEPT & THEORIES Teacher seminars:
The Novi Bečej and Contact Kruševac Hypothesis CHARLOTTE STEINKE, INTERCULTURAL LEARNING SENIOR INTERN, AFS INTERNATIONAL
Putting the AFS Mission into Practice
they belong. This includes national, groups (“out-groups”) they don’t religious, gender, age, sexual identify with. When there is limited orientation, and disability culture contact with members of out-groups, The goal of our work as AFSers is to groups. contact usually porary attitudes towards them are often Two teacher seminarslearning were orwere held Intercultural in two towns in Serbia Europe.As a follow-up to provide intercultural reduces prejudice and leads(Novi to greaterthe negative shaped by stereotypes and ganized by Interkultura anddevelop the in September and October seminar,and many participants opportunities to help people trust and forgiveness for past mistakes prejudice. Sometimes, members Ministry of Youth with the topic Bečej and Kruševac). organized activities to mark the of the knowledge, skills, and memberswere of thedesigned relevant groups. out-groups are even seen as less human. Global and intercultural for global education week. Teachers understanding needed to educacreate a moreTheofseminars
tion people Serbia: high-school teachers who are from towns all over Serbia held justfor andyoung peaceful world.inBut how Allport believed that inter-group “when an intergroup-friendship is building and strengthening the interested in the topics of global international days, presentations do we make this happen? contact would significantly improve established, and EU stereotypes youth global education proeducation,prejudice youth mobility, andare discussions for their stuThe AFS Orientation the relations between different grammes on the local level. educational goals, intercultural dents and spread the spirit of reduced dramatically” Framework guides our work by cultural groups. He thought if These seminars were a part of exchange programmes, as well global education. combining experiential members of both groups had enough the project supported byfor the preparation of young These positive effects can even intercultural experiences all our as the personal contact, prejudice and Ministry of Youth and sports and people for the life in contemMilena Miladonović be passed on to friends of the person audiences with structured and planned learning opportunities to support cultural adaptation and increase comfort with difference. A recent study by Thomas F. Pettigrew and others (Recent Advances in Intercultural Contact Theory, published March 2011 in the International Journal of Intercultural Relations) has once again proven why our work in AFS – particularly when following the deliberate approach of the Framework – really makes a difference.
who had an intensive experience with those from other groups.
The Contact Hypothesis
stereotyping would decline and intergroup friendships would develop.
Necessary Factors
However, Allport warned that intergroup contact would not always lead to this result. He suggested that contact can only successfully reduce prejudice in inter-group contact situations when the following conditions are met: s %QUAL STATUS s #OMMON GOALS “after building opportunities for contact, the s !CQUAINTANCE POTENTIAL THE In this study, Pettigrew and next step toward increasing intercultural possibility to get to know each his colleagues show how other as persons, not only competence is to provide structured contact between individuals superficial interactions) intercultural learning opportunities” from different cultural s 3UPPORT FROM AUTHORITIES LAW groups can improve the or customs He wrote that it is common for human relationship between the individuals In their recent study, Pettigrew and beings to think in terms of their own involved, as well as improving their colleagues showed that Allport’s four group (“in-group”) versus all other feelings toward the groups to which This is a powerful argument in favor of the so-called Contact Hypothesis, which Gordon W. Allport introduced in his book “The Nature of Prejudice,” in 1954. Allport indicated that increased inter-group contact reduces prejudice – however, not in all situations.
Selection for the exchange programme In December 2012 Interkultura organized the first selection of students interested in going on an exchange in the school year 2013-14. Like in the previous years, Interkultura offers the exchange programmes in over 20 countries of Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa, both for selfpaying students and scholarship-seekers. This possibility attracted a lot of students to apply, so Interkultura’s volunteers organized workshops, general knowledge tests and interviews in order to determine their preparedness for the exchange. The next selection is planned for February, after which the final list of students going on the exchange will be made.
Balaton, Budapest and Big Motivation Eight Interkultura volunteers participated in a chapter exchange with five European countries in October 2012 as part of the project of chapter exchanges between Hungary, Portugal, France, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It should always continue after half a year in another of the participants’ countries. Hungary was the first one, Portugal is planned to be the next one, followed by Serbia. Hungary was the first one in October last year. Volunteers from five countries gathered to dis-
cuss the inclusion of people with dissabilities, but also to meet their peers from other AFS organisations across Europe. Eight days in Hungary were thoroughly prepared by the prepteam, which consisted of two volunteers from each country. During the chapter exchange, volunteers first spent four days on Balaton on a horse farm, and then four days in Budapest. Program and workshops were a great part of every day, but there was still enough time for having fun and learning about Hungar-
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ian culture. The hosts presented us with their food, culture and landmarks, but also left space for each country to show their typical food, on International dinner. Days on Balaton passed quickly in meeting each other, long workshops and developing follow-up projects which were supposed to be completed after all of the volunteers returned to their countries. The next four days in Budapest, volunteers had a chance to discover the city on their own through city-rally. They also visited a Spa and an Invis-
ible Museum, where they spent 45 minutes in complete darkness while being lead through different rooms, street and woods. The expert workshop helped everyone to finalize their follow-up projects, so a goodbye followed soon with everyone wishing to meet again as soon as possible in Portugal.
Interkultura has special words of thanks for AFS Hungary for starting this chain of exchanges, but also for our new volunteers who have become more active volunteers since this chap-ex. If you also lack motivation, you know where to come, we are expecting trip to Portugal next! Bojana Ilić
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Meetings about volunteers and ICL in Europe EFIL (European Federation for Intercultural Learning) organized the meeting of organizational development coordinators of European AFS organizations from 13 to 18 January in Bratislava. They discussed volunteer development strategies, project management and the integration of intercultural learning (ICL) in AFS, as well as the mutual support and cooperation among organizations. Milena Miladinovic participated in this meeting, representing Interkultura.
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InterCOOLtura N E WS ISSUE 5 SEPT/OKT/NOV/DEC/JAN/FEB 2013
Editor: Bojana Ilić Design: Branislav Mihajlović Nikola Vuković
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