ALBANIA/NORTH MACEDONIA/SERBIA – Within the third RYCO Open Call for Project Proposals, supported by the Federal Republic of Germany, Škola za dizajn tekstila i kože from Serbia, in partnership with the Municipal High School “Gjorce Petrov” from North Macedonia and Raqi Qirinxhi High School from Albania, implemented the project “Threads of tradition that connect us” which took place from January 2020 to March 2021.
The project brought together young students and teachers from Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia to enhance their cooperation in the field of education, traditions, culture and customs in the Western Balkan region. It also helped them raise awareness of accepting differences between communities and exploring the importance of similarities that connect young people in the region.
“Within this project, students from Prilep, Novi Pazar and Korça will have the opportunity to get to know each other, to exchange impressions about folk costumes and traditions and also they will learn something new that will help them later in their professional work. I had a chance to meet my colleagues and interesting students from other places in the region and to find out about their experience in the field of education,” Project Coordinator Ms Ajla Rebronja stated.
Getting to know their peers from the region and gaining new perspectives about different cultures, provided youth with an opportunity to develop their skills, learn new things and make new friends.
“It is a great pleasure for me to participate in this project because I really like handicrafts and like to work with handicrafts. It was a pleasure for me to get to know students from Prilep and Korce, but I regret I did not have the opportunity to meet them in person. With some of them I remained in contact and I hope I will meet them one day,” Ms Esma Zilkic, project participant, added.
Speaking of this experience, another project participant, Ms Adna Hadzinumanovic said: “I am a student of the School of Design and I am very glad that I participated in a project like this for the first time. It brought me a lot of knowledge that I hope to use in the future and in further education. This was a unique experience. Thanks to this project I had a chance to meet my generation from abroad for the first time and I was positively surprised how much we have in common.”
During the project, the young participants also developed a virtual fashion show and shared their work online. To access the website where the projects’ outcomes and students’ work was published, click the button below:
“Threads of tradition that connect us” project helped youth acquire new skills that they can apply in their schools and other environments where they are socially and professionally engaged. Furthermore, it improved their knowledge of cultural diversity while they shared unique experiences with their peers in the region.
