Values Quest Exchange Visit in Macedonia, 21st - 27th July, 2007

As you have experienced, this summer has really been the hottest ever! It was hot because of the weather conditions, but also because of the atmosphere made by twenty young people from Macedonia and the UK.

As part of Values Quest project, a UK-Macedonia project promoting human values and active citizenship among youth, in the period of 21-27 July, an exchange visit happened in Macedonia. Ten young people from the Meops Cup Youth Centre, within the Sefton Youth Service from the UK came to Macedonia. Their hosts were the members of the Macedonian VQ team, members of the Blue Sky Youth Network. Together, they had a chance to visit some historical and tourist sights in Macedonia and to learn more about the local culture and tradition. They had a small tour around Skopje and saw the City Fortress, the Old Bazaar and some old churches, and later had dinner in a traditional Macedonian restaurant. However, they also saw the new, i.e. the modern part of the city, went to a café and danced on a dance machine, and had a first-hand experience of the life of the young people in Skopje, and in Macedonia.

The Values Quest team visited the Monastery St.Jovan Bigorski, situated in the mountains in Western Macedonia. The English group had an opportunity to learn more about the history of the place, and feel the spirituality and the calmness of the monks living there. Because of the heat, the young people were in search of cooler place, so they visited three lakes: Mavrovo Lake, Matka Lake and Dojran Lake.

The day at Matka (natural resort near Skopje), July 23rd, was reserved for Snap the Nature, an all-day event at national level, promoting creativity in using natural resources. The Macedonian VQ team was responsible for the organisation of the event, while the members of the English VQ team joined one of the two workshops: crafts or photography.

The following days, the group stayed at Hotel Sirius in Strumica, the venue of the Blue Sky Summer School ’07. There they discovered the “heaven on Earth”, the swimming pool :) They had a really good time, splashing each other and refreshing themselves, but also doing water teambuilding games, which were a lot of fun. They also visited the beautiful Smolare Waterfalls and spent some time in the nature, working together on preparing their presentation. They also had an opportunity to get involved in the creative workshops of the Blue Sky Summer School. At the end, they made a very amusing project presentation for the Summer School participants.

Both, the members of the Macedonian and the English VQ team, enjoyed the exchange visit in Macedonia, had time to get to know each other better, start functioning better as a team, learn more about the others’ culture and, most importantly, have fun together! :)

Written by: Ivana Trajanovska