We have participated in a one-month EVS in Bulgaria (Blagoevgrad) in which our focus was on the topic of Hate Speech. We tried to raise awareness, among local youth, about what are the consequences of this behavior and we offered them different tools and methods to fight against it. Over the month we had the chance to work in teams and learn more in depth what words such as racism, prejudice, stereotype and discrimination means. The deeper understanding of those key words permitted us to prepare in a professional and interesting way the public actions and the outdoor activities in the local high schools of Blagoevgrad. After two weeks into the project, we were divided in two big groups. A part of us were involved in the public action team, that had the job of informing the students, using presentations and role-playing games, about what Hate Speech is and how to combat it. The other part had the duty to entertain scholars in the schoolyard by playing together games that had as a basis the principle of inclusion. This balance between introduction to the topic of Hate Speech and the outdoor activities proved to be a very good strategy and everyone was pleased by this combination.
Volunteers 4 Tolerance in Blagoevgrad