Being asked about their impressions concerning the overall experience, Marta Serwicka found peer education very interesting: “I really liked the idea of passing on the knowledge to my peers. We know that among our peers, we all have the same amount of knowledge, in our class, at school, and we know best how this information should be presented to our peers. We know how to select the most interesting elements. Of course we don’t all think alike so yes, there were debates, there was an exchange of opinions, but yes, that’s the point I wanted to make.”
During the guided tours of exhibitions, young leaders had various interesting and engaging discussions and debates with their peers. They also got the chance to address thorny topics about their everyday life at school, such as scapegoating and bullying. Students were able to express their opinions and emotions.
Karolina: “We very often said that it all started in a very innocent way. Jews’ rights were restricted and then the level of repression increased and increased. Then we also made references to the present day, to the difficult issues that we are confronted with on a daily basis; for example, at school, the estrangement, the isolation of certain students. We also mention that in many cases this is something that is somehow overlooked. Not only by students, by the way, but by teachers as well. I was quite surprised because I saw that the students I worked with noticed that and as they were visiting the exhibition, they were eager to express their opinion and they were happy to be able to speak out and speak up and express their concern.”
This was the topic that inspired Magdalena and Marta to create their own educational project. As part of the workshop they had with Mateusz in Berlin, they came up with an action plan and activities they would like to implement in the future. “What we wanted to focus on was anti-discrimination education amongst children from secondary schools, so roughly aged between 12 and 15, because we believe that it’s important to really explain the phenomenon of intolerance and discrimination to such young people. Anti-Semitism is not the only problem; we also have homophobia, movements against the Roma community, so intolerance is a multifaceted phenomenon. I think now is a good time to talk to young people and to really open their eyes to the problems that are out there, so that they can become more mature, so that they can grow up in an atmosphere that is inclusive.” – Magdalena Litwa.