As for Karolina, she decided to implement a project called Memory Walk in her hometown of Opole. Young people and inhabitants discover or rediscover the history of the place through monuments scattered across Opole. “We work with middle school students and first we ask them what they know about the monuments. Why they were erected? What do they commemorate? What emotions they evoke?” Karolina gives them some background information about the monuments to complete their knowledge about this history. The last day is dedicated to filmmaking. Students walk the streets and ask questions to passers-by about the monuments, through a survey prepared in advance by the group. “They offer their short opinions, then we record them and we create a short video that is supposed to promote the awareness of history and the history of my hometown.”
Karolina realized that her project made students become interested in their roots. “Only when we started talking together did they become motivated to really talk to their relatives to find out more about the local history. […] It was a great pleasure for me to be able to enhance my knowledge, but also encourage others to learn more.” Even with her young age, she felt it difficult to connect with the younger generation but it was rewarding when she managed to get through to them. “I also learned how to work with such middle school students. These are young kids and very often it is very difficult to actually reach out to them, get your message across to them, there is like a barrier. When I overcame this, I really started to understand their worldview and I understood that everyone of us is who we are, that we have the right to be who we want to be and we should respect that. We should live in harmony together and this whole experience actually made it easier for me to have positive relations with others.”
The three of them spoke enthusiastically about the Youth Leadership Program. They believed it to be very successful. “We are really very much impressed with your [Edward Skubisz’] actions and the way the project was carried out in our school. After we completed the project, after we returned to Poland the next year, we wanted to ask our class teacher whether it was possible to be involved in the next edition of the project because we felt very much inspired to act, and this was a great thank you and congratulations.” This success will keep going on for a long time whilst Edward Skubisz from the Dom Pokoju Foundation keeps working with young leaders on their personal educational projects.
The three of them spoke enthusiastically about the Youth Leadership Program. They believed it to be very successful. “We are really very much impressed with your [Edward Skubisz’] actions and the way the project was carried out in our school. After we completed the project, after we returned to Poland the next year, we wanted to ask our class teacher whether it was possible to be involved in the next edition of the project because we felt very much inspired to act, and this was a great thank you and congratulations.” This success will keep going on for a long time whilst Edward Skubisz from the Dom Pokoju Foundation keeps working with young leaders on their personal educational projects.