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Your vibe attracts your tribe!
We can say that the first youth exchange organized by Wheeling2help brought together a caring, kind and passionate tribe.
We feel like the world is in safe hands with each one of those amazing people our youth exchange attracted!
Together we can create a climate for change!
The first days of our journey to “Create a Climate for Change” was full of laughter, community building, open sharing and surprises.
On the first day we explored who we are, what values bring us together and how we can connect to lead a more intentional life in harmony with people and planet.
We love to see how everyone stands by the values we intend to live by and express in the world, from reducing waste by upcycling jars to carry around for drinking, gathering old bread for upcycling, to creating gratitude moments.
Day 2 of Create a Climate for Change was all about learning about regenerative practices, such as composting and the permaculture design principles. We learnt how to start composting back at home, on our balconies, through a very fun exercise of mimicking and singing. Among some of the aha moments we shared is the fact that composting at home our organic waste is one of the most effective ways to create life again. A happy soil will generate a happy life!
We also discussed how climate change affects people from different climates and life paths differently, and began to brainstorm how we can think globally and develop our global consciousness, while taking care of ourselves and starting where we are.
We’re so happy to be around young people who are so empathic, informed and wheeling2act.
Creating a climate for change begins with our immediate actions.
That’s what we wanted to convey on the next day while doing a beach clean up in Raches with our youth exchange participants.
The impact of 40 people in 1 hour really made a difference for the small community of Raches, and we felt motivated to take the initiative to the next level by starting a monthly collective clean up challenge among our participants.
That’s how “Follow the trash” initiative was born. Next session: 21 October, anywhere in the world. Are you wheeling2help?
Day 5 of our youth exchange arrived with an invitation to reflection about our inner and outer worlds.
The day started with a breath awareness meditation guided by our dear Indian friend Ankit, which reminded us to take care of ourselves before we go on trying to take care of the whole world. This inspired us to further play with colors using our bare hands (or feet), allowing us to become one with our nature.
These activities created the needed headspace for our next sessions, where we debated the state of our world in terms of climate change and action by standing in different areas of the room to showcase our opinion on different topics. The conversation flew for a long time and we felt enriched by all the ideas and knowledge shared within this space.
More than anything, this day prepared all of us to be better listeners to ourselves and others, and to find common ground and understanding.
In the end, we’ve had such a good feeling that we can truly create a climate for change.
Day 6 of Create a Climate for Change found us learning about the SDGs and working on ideas we want to bring to life back in our countries related to the goals.
During the morning we got to know the sustainable development goals set by UN back in 2015, and then our participants worked on how they can contribute to achieving them from the perspective of 3 levels: home, work/ school and country. We heard some really great ideas during the presentations of each team.
Later in the day we focused on making our ideas more tangible using design thinking. The participants worked in their national teams on finding a specific problem they want to solve and went on to ideate how to address it in their countries. It was an exciting day which ended with a fun intercultural evening.
We’re grateful for everyone contributing so actively and creating a fun and safe space for exploration.
The intention behind our last day of the youth exchange “Create a Climate for Change” was to connect with nature. As David Attenborough says “No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they don’t experience”. So we went to the Vellas river and waterfalls to immerse ourselves, climbing, swimming, chilling and eating pomegranates straight from the tree. Afterwards we enjoyed our lunch at the St. Dimitrios springs.
It was a peaceful time, perfect for reflection. In the evening we all came together for one last gratitude moment and wrote appreciation notes to each other, which we couldn’t be more grateful for.
The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Are you wheeling2help?
*Create a Climate for Change is cofunded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission and it is supported by the Greek NA of Erasmus+ Youth Greece!