Empower for better community development

Empower for better community development

From November 5 to 13, 2021, we participated in the project "Empower for better community development," located in the largest winter resort on the Balkan Peninsula, in the town of Bansko. From the moment we arrived at the Bansko hotel, we were met with a professional approach from the organizers, who introduced us to the basic goals and rules of the project.

On the first day of the project, the organizers focused on getting to know each other and breaking down barriers among participants, who came to Bansko not only from Slovakia but also from Poland, Romania, Turkey, and Italy.

Immediately after a few sports and knowledge-based activities, we realized that despite different nationalities, we had a lot in common, and so from the very beginning of the project, we formed one large group that stayed together until the final day. After the initial day, during our free time, we discovered a whole range of options that the Bansko hotel offered us. We had access to an indoor pool, sauna, table tennis, billiards, and a tennis court. Of course, we made full use of all available options.

In the following days, we began to fully work on the project's agenda, which consisted of various workshops focusing on breaking down stereotypes and prejudices in society.
We also addressed terms such as racism, xenophobia, and hate speech, and we explained their fundamental differences. As the Slovak group, we were very surprised to find that we have many similar problems in our society regarding racism or xenophobia, just like participants from, for example, Romania or Poland.

Since similar projects also focus on exploring the given region, we spent one day on a trip to the beautiful Rila Monastery, which is the largest and probably the most famous monastery of the Orthodox Church in Bulgaria, also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
As the weather was good that day, we had the opportunity to see truly magnificent scenery of the Rila Mountains, located in the area of the monastery. The next day came the most difficult part of the project, saying goodbye to the organizers and participants with whom we remained in contact even after the project. From Bansko, we traveled by bus directly to Sofia Airport, from where we waved goodbye one last time and thanked this amazing country for the experiences.