„This is our Europe!” – this sentence from a social media content shared by one of the participants became the slogan of that 30  youngsters in an Erasmus+ youth exchange where the common objective was to get to know each others’ social systems and culture.

Six-six young people from Greece, Lithuania, Hungary, Portugal and Romania participated in a project supported by the Erasmus Plus Programme of the European Union. The project title was: NEETs for Children in Need. This was the third youth exchange organized by the Er hangja Association since 2015.

Day 4 started in our lovely Sacueni finding us starting going to the train station where the team had to catch the train. Our destination was Oradea city. Arriving at the station we observed that there were a lot of Romani people waiting for the train as well ! Usually trains on Sunday are not full so there were only 2 cars so we voted to deal with that phenomenon!

On  a nice spring morning 30 young boys and girls woke up at 8 a.m. facing a day full of fun, serious talks and a lot to learn. In the newest day of the NEETs for children in need, realized in Sacueni (Romania), we, the youngsters, did presentations about the social system of our home country; saw a short film about the situation of the refugees in Greece; did some energizer games; had a Romanian themed night; discussed about what’s our role and what can we do to help children in need. On our conversations there were themes like abortion, refugees and the culture of which country that was represented (Romania, Lithuania, Greece, Hungary and Portugal). We also had great coffee breaks.

We woke up just to see the snow falling down on the roof outside, and we thought that it was going to be cold. But we found warmth in the face of the participants! We went for breakfast and started meeting each other, because most of us are in international rooms. After the meal that fulfilled us with energy, we played name games and energizers.

The youth exchange NEETs FOR CHILDREN IN NEED will take place between 20-26 April 2017 in Săcueni, Romania with 30 young people from Romania, Hungary, Greece, Portugal and Lithuania.

The main topic of the youth exchange will be the social-economical-educational inclusion of young generations which will be approached from two sides. On the one hand, the majority of participants directly involved in the project will be NEET (not in employment, education and training) youngsters willing to develop skills, competences that can enhance their chances to employment. On the other hand, we intend to decrease the risk of social exclusion of institutionalized children (orphans, semi-orphans) through various programs carried out by the participants of the youth exchange in the local orphanage.