One Look, One Culture The Youth Exchange in Perugia

“One look, one culture” Youth Exchange will offer participants the opportunity to discuss the accessibility of European cities for blind and visually impaired people in social, architectural and cultural aspects. They will learn how to create work conditions in intercultural group where members can have special needs.

32 participants from Romania, Macedonia, Poland and Italy will help to improve Perugia’s accessibility for visually impaired people.

Participants will not only be able to exchange experiences in visual issues, but also to share their culture, traditions and cuisine. All of this will happen in a form that eyesight will not constitute a barrier.

Some of the questions the Youth Exchange wants to answer are:

• How to describe the visual world in a correct way?
• How to make new media accessible for blind people?
• How to educate your own small local group (friends, family) to share the topic of the culture’s accessibility?

The project will break barriers, stereotypes and open eyes! 

PARTICIPANTS’ PROFILE

The participants should be:

• Citizens or legal residents of Romania, Macedonia, Poland or Italy;
• 6 younsters/country, age 18-30, 3 of the visually impaired and 3 non-visually impaired;
• 2 youth leaders, age 18+.

The participant should be open to learning about new cultures, to be empathetic and open to cooperation with people with various disabilities. We are looking for energetic, smiling people, eager to increase their knowledge in the field of accessibility of culture and architecture for people with visual problems. In each national group there should be participants with visual disabilities and people who are unaware of the subject, in order to maximize the impact of the project and to bring together people from different backgrounds. This composition of the groups will allow an interesting exchange of experiences and will introduce different points of view into the project.

WHAT TO PREPARE BEFORE THE EXCHANGE TOGETHER WITH YOUR NATIONAL GROUP

• Prepare information about the situation of blind and visually impaired people in your country on social, culture and architecture space;
• Every national group should prepare a presentation about the own country. You can show theatre sketch, traditional dances, songs, quiz about national culture and history or/and local food. Be creative!
• Participants should take clothes for any type of weather condition and activity. Bringing sport clothes will help participant to feel more comfortable during the activities;
• Take your ID documents and keep your travel documents like tickets, boarding pass etc. Take really care about travel documents, without them, it will NOT be possible to get the reimbursement of travel costs;
• Take positive energy and big smile!

TRAVEL DATES

Participants are expected to arrive March 19 2019 before 7 pm. They will leave on March 28 2019. The project activities will start on March 19, after dinner and they will end March 27 after dinner.

Arrival and departure dates are slightly flexible: participants have the possibility to travel up to 2 days extra from the official dates of the project and still get the travel reimbursement. Meaning: participant can arrive the 17th and leave the 28th OR arrive the 19th and leave the 30th of March. For the extra days, we do not provide food and accommodation. Please contact us before buying the ticket for any doubt or for more information.

ACCOMMODATION

The participants will be hosted in a former abbey in Perugia. The rooms will be shared and will have mixed nationalities. Please keep in mind that the venue is 10 minutes walk from the first shop.

It is fundamental that you keep all your original travel documents: bus and train tickets, boarding passes… The reimbursement can’t be made without these documents.

BEFOR BUYING YOUR TICKET, PLEASE CONSULT WITH THE ORGANIZERS!

Participants will be reimbursed up until a maximum amount granted by the European Commission.

When you buy your tickets make sure you don’t exceed the following amount, or you will pay the difference yourself:

                COUNTRY           MAXIMUM REIMBURSEMENT/PERSON
(TO ITALY AND BACK):

• Poland             € 275,00
• Romania          € 275,00
• Macedonia      € 275,00

Participants will be reimbursed maximum one month after the end of the youth exchange, after providing all the original travel documents, including the train, bus and shuttle tickets of the return trip, which have to be sent by post to the following address:

Simone Lollini, Via Giuseppe Verdi 26, Assisi, 06081, Italy.

WHAT TO BRING

• Bed sheets or sleeping bag;
• Comfortable shoes;
• Outdoor clothes;
• Warm clothes (you never know);
• Swimsuit (you never know);
• Sunscreen;
• Slippers (or indoor shoes);
• Flashlight (if you want to go for walks in the dark!);
• Towels;
• Toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.);
• Chargers (if you bring your camera, phone, laptop, etc);
• If possible: traditional clothes, national flag, typical objects, food or drink from your country;
• If you need any helpful accessories like lupe, monoglass… take them!
• Yourself, your positive energy and good mood!

In case you are interested to participate, please fill out the application form. Application deadline is: February 12, 2019

Fur any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us, at office@babilontravel.net

PARTNERS

• Asociatia Babilon Travel- Romania
• Associazione Kora – Italy
• Fundacja Kultury Bez Barier- Poland
• Centar Entar Zamladinski Aktivizam CMA Krik – Macedonia