Youth Exchange in the Greek snow for Maltese Youngsters

This trip to Greece was truly life changing. We met so many new people and had such a great time. I could easily say it was one of the best weeks of my life.

Greece; usually not known for its snowy mountains, and yet what might sound a little bit odd came true for five young members of the Malta UNESCO Youth Association and their team leader Alexander Thenner. The multilateral youth exchange “Winter Creativity – Ecology & Healthy living” was organised by the Greek NGO “Kids in Action” at the Seli Mountain from 4th to 12th March, 2013. 

Sakis Krezios, founding member of Kids in Action and part of the organising team explains the idea behind the project, “The aim was to provide young people with the possibility to experience living in the mountains. We encouraged them to develop mutual understanding for the environment and its preservation, an appreciation of healthy living and of a harmonious relationship with community and planet.”

72 participants from 12 countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and the UK) worked in six creative workshops on the topic ecology and healthy living. Special task forces were dedicated to animation, administration and waste management & energy saving.

Furthermore, participants were provided with enough space for interaction with each other in order to discover the variety of cultural and other backgrounds and through that to foster their intercultural sensitivity.

Participant Matthew Fenech speaking about his learning outcomes in the photography workshop, “I learned a lot especially how to use my camera’s settings to adapt to different surrounding environments. Ever since I came back to Malta I started to take more pictures than usual.” 

For Michael Zammit the social aspects were more important, “This trip to Greece was truly life changing. We met so many new people and had such a great time. I could easily say it was one of the best weeks of my life.”

The project was implemented and funded according to the European Commission’s Youth in Action Programme and carried out entirely based on the principles of non-formal education by qualified and experienced trainers, facilitators and support staff.