EuroCamp - UpGrade
Between the 3rd and 10th August I had the chance to participate in EuroCamp for the second time. This year it was hosted in Malta, my home country. EuroCamp is a great opportunity to meet and integrate with youth and leaders from all over Europe, namely Catalunya, Italy, Belgium, Slovakia, Austria, Denmark, Lithuania, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Besides the time we shared getting to know each other, the different cultures, organisations and the way other people live and think we also had the opportunity to educate ourselves more about EU citizenship, rights and the different opportunities it provides.
During the week we had several workshops and activities on the theme. Some were organized in different places around Malta, so that the international participants could also have time to visit some places such as a city game on human rights in Valletta, doing tasks such as a flash mob and an awareness campaign in Mdina and a BBQ at the beach.
At the end of this camp I found it very hard to go back to my daily routine because we had a really good time together but fortunately we are still in contact. I was glad that I had the opportunity to participate in EuroCamp because it is a great way to get to know other youth and it helps me grow and learn more about the benefits of youth work.
Niall Muscat, ZAK Mosta
UpGrade: EuroCamp 2013 was an international activity organized by ZAK. It was an opportunity to learn about different cultures and make new friends from other european countries. It was a great opportunity to spend time, learn and work together with other people from different countries.
The activities and workshops that were organized during UpGrade helped me learn more about EU citizenship. Each workshop was fun to do in its own way and each one had a purpose where we learnt something different and useful such as learning about the freedom of movement and speech, which is also very important especially in the case of youth. An activity that I enjoyed was the international evening, which was an opportunity to discover new cultures and traditions and also to actually taste their food and drinks.
At the end of the week I felt very lucky that I experienced an opportunity like this and I would definitely do it again if I had the opportunity.
Martha Piscopo, ZAK Tarxien
EuroCamp 2013 was one of the best experiences I participated in. The participants and leaders together made this an unforgettable experience. Only memories remain but it was very fruitful to us youth.
Basically, EuroCamp is an activity spread over one week in which youth from 10 different countries join and spend a week together. The main theme was citizenship and EU. The whole concept of being a citizen of the EU was well discussed, and workshops varied from creating posters about what the European Union means to us, campaigning and doing flash mobs about it in Mdina and representing our different cultures and art in any way we wanted. We also explored our common rights and freedoms, and the opportunities we can have as EU citizens. Also we also deliberated about how we as young citizens can voice our opinion in order to be heard more and how our roles in society matter more than we think.
Mikela Zerafa, ZAK Zurrieq
