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WE and 'the others'Camp in Kanjiža
On June 24-29, we realised the camp in Kanjiža Spa, the Aquapanon Hotel, where the youth from all five towns participated.
The five-day camp in Kanjiža was held for 49 participants: The camp participants presented their results, and together they learned to present themselves and their results in the best possible way through public appearances. With this camp, we started the creation of presentations for the project We and 'the Others. The main goal of the camp was training of high school students in presenting research results in the local community and preparing presentation of research results of local religious and other customs in Bosilegrad, Preševo, Novi Pazar, Bački Petrovac and Kovačica.
The camp for high-school students was realised according to the planned agenda with the engagement of four facilitators: Ivana Bogićević Leko (theatre director), Dragan Protić (architect and visual artist), Ružica Marjanović (high-school teacher), Aleksandar Gubaš (video and web artist). Since the group of participants had been too big, camp coordinator Zagorka Aksentijević Blažin and project assistant, Snežana Krstanović, took an active role in facilitating workshops. With the facilitators, the participants went through all stages of the future work in the project. The trip to Kanjiža was organised in the best possible way considering that the weather was extremely hot and the towns did not have regular bus lines to Kanjiža. The participants from Preševo, Bosilegrad and Novi Pazar had mini buses organised to Belgrade, and from there we went together to Kanjiža by a regular bus via Kovačica. Group from Bački Petrovac came directly by mini bus to the spa.
In the evening hours of June 24, the participants arrived in Kanjiža, where the first activity was to introduce and integrate the group. This was realised in a very cheerful and open manner.
Monday, June 25
The second day of the camp was devoted to presentations of students’ research in their home towns. All the participants were very well prepared. The students carried out their research on local history. They gathered material and made a presentation for the camp participants. They brought to the camp a comprehensive and quality material (various interesting objects, clothing, old and new photographs, testimonies of their co-citizens in the DVD and DivX form, individual written works of the students, recorded interviews). They all together shared great enthusiasm to present and see other students’ presentations, to learn something new, to exchange opinions and to find things they had in common.
NOVI PAZAR The group did the research on 'love customs' of their community: socially acceptable and unacceptable relationships, urban and rural customs related to courtship, engagement, marriage, family... Particularly interesting was the photo story (with drama effects) on "Romeo and Juliet from Novi Paza". The presentation contained a lot of photo documentary material. The group from Novi Pazar presented both Bosniak and Serbian love customs in a charming and humorous way, using the drama form. The presentation had both informational and entertaining component and the youth in public enjoyed a lot in it.
KOVAČICA The participants from Kovačica had individual and group research. To their peers in Kanjiža, they presented naïve painting of Kovačica, a specific aesthetics of village interior, local architectural characteristics, the fashion through history... They brought various things and made an exhibition. There were cloths from girls' wooden trunks, decorative objects, household gadgets – and everything was accompanied by interesting information about their owners, usage, meanings they had in Kovačica. The most attention was generated by the children’s games from the past, perhaps due to the fact that the participants involved the audience in the games as well.
BAČKI PETROVAC Stories, interviews and photographs, illustrating what women had been doing for their families and co-citizens came from Bački Petrovac to Kanjiža: The emphasise was on the humanitarian work where the assistance had been offered to everyone when it was needed – to Slovaks, Serbs, Rusins, Hungarians. The other topic was the so-called, ethnically mixed marriages. The largest applause was awarded to an autobiographical story (with a lot of photographs), where one of the participants showed the multiethnic origin of Bački Petrovac of his family.
PREŠEVO Preševo now and then – could be the title of the presentation from Preševo. Along with old and new photographs, they told stories on the lives of women in their town throughout the history, how the youth used to spend their free time and how it is today, the religious and ethnic customs of Albanians and Serbs and what has changed during time. The most interesting part of the presentation, according to the reactions of the audience, were the photographs and accompanying story about a theatre in Preševo, where men played both women’s and men’s roles, since actresses were unavailable at that time.
BOSILEGRAD The group was in national costumes, they spoke Bulgarian, Schop and Serbia. They depicted the atmosphere of village gatherings and dances, acted several situations illustrating local characters, habits and customs, sang songs, and the most exciting was the part with "martenice" (local Bulgarian custom adapted for the camp) – we all got red bands for luck (which we were wearing until the end of the camp), and we were told to wear them until we see storks. In order to ease a period of waiting to see a stork, they drew a stork, which became a symbol of our camp. In the evening we organised Music Postcards, where participants took an active role in presenting their music talents as well as local music heritage.
Tuesday, June 26
The morning activity was a big workshop. The mixture of different ethnicities was depicted by an interesting game called Building a town. Divided into 4 groups, the participants organised their towns. It was a drama form with a lot of painting elements where the participants were engaged both emotionally and creatively – as one of the young participants said: "We noticed how different attitudes and opinions blended into something new. For a moment, everyone was the same, but also different." Each group created their own town space, fragments of lives within that space, interpersonal relationships. They made costumes, scenography, created drama situations where the participants were different. The aim of the activity was to encourage young people to make their presentations in their towns even more humorous, relaxed and interesting, once they returned home.
In the afternoon we organised common sport activities and in the evening, through theatre forms, groups from one town presented the how they understood and what they remembered from the previous day presentations. These presentations were very humorous, often caricatured. It was interesting to watch and listen how others had perceived them, what they had remembered and chosen to repeat.
Wednesday, June 27
That day was devoted to the town of Kanjiža itself. Kanjiža is a multiethnic community with harmonised interethnic relations. Discovering everyday life of Kanjiža people and the culture of the place was important in terms of opening the perception in this optimistic way of living together. We organised a visit to the Regional Creative Center "Jozsef Nagy", an educational and cultural institution in Kanjiža that carries the name of famous choreographer born in Kanjiža and working worldwide. Today, he is managing Centre Choregraphique d'National Orleans. This was very important experience for the students since the host were very inspired to talk about the art as the best mediator among people and peoples. In the afternoon we organised a common activity of discovering the town of Kanjiža.
Thursday, June 28
Again, students were divided in their original groups from towns to re-create their presentations. Their task was to incorporate in their presentations the creativity they had been instigated to during the previous days, and to conceive a way to present other towns in their own town. Group for PR was created separately, with 2 representatives from each town. They were prepared to announce their presentations in the local media and present them on the website. Ms Hannelore Valier and Ms Marija Rudić from OSCE attended the short, joint presentation and handed out certificates to the students for the successfully completed education. In the evening, we organised a farewell party with games, in order to deepen their inter-personal contact.
On Friday, June 29, the group took their way back to their hometowns.
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