During the second semester of the school year 2021/2022, the students from the primary school “Kuzman Josifovski – Pitu” from Skopje initiated and implemented numerous activities, within the Start the Change project. All together, with the support of their teachers, they managed to make positive changes in their environment and their voice to be heard.
To get acquainted with the term identity, the students participated in a workshop on this topic and made a picture book “This is me” in which they introduced themselves. They discussed the topic and then presented the picture book to their classmates.
Also, to mark the International Roma Day, they made the flag of the Roma community according to a given template. This was followed by sharing opinions and learning how to understand and accept differences.
In addition to these activities, young people became more familiar with the term volunteering and what it means to do good deeds. They drew and wrote how they once helped someone and presented their experience with humanitarian actions. After the activity, they developed a discussion about the possibilities to help, which was an incentive for the next activities within the topic. They included analyzing and discussing videos and songs related to helping, as well as designing and drawing an emblem that they suggested would be printed on T-shirts to be worn during volunteer work.
“I learned what the term volunteering means – help or work without getting anything in return. Helping is good for you and others,” said one of the students.
Third graders, on the other hand, came up with ideas for beautifying their classroom. They themselves offered several proposals and voted for them. Then, in order to get acquainted with the Start the Change project in more detail and how the voice of the youth is heard through it, they made a greeting card with the logo of the project and researched the project website.
Through all these activities, young people have shown that when their voice is heard, together they can make a positive difference. In this way, the goals of the Start the Change project are achieved.
