About Intercultural Sensitivity Workshop
The project’s workshop on intercultural sensitivity was led by Silvia from the Fundación Red Íncola in Spain. Before starting the workshop, warm-up activities and acquaintance games were played. During the workshop, issues such as what intercultural sensitivity is, how it is handled and how existing problems can be solved were addressed. During the workshop, the children’s picture book La abeja de más was also performed. This book has original illustrations and a plot and tells a story about intercultural sensitivity. Finally, feedback on the workshop and intercultural sensitivity was received from a web-based application called Menti.
At the end of the workshop, a story written by Athina Mangipa about migration, migrant children and intercultural sensitivity was also listened to. This story and its author can be found in the section below.
In a land far far away (or maybe not) a boy began his long journey to the unknown. Forced to leave his home -what was left of it- and with the sweet memory of what he once called family he was walking for days and nights through dry lands. His backpack was so heavy that he could barely walk. Eventually he arrived at a place that looked like a city. Not like his hometown. “My town has ruined…” he thought and started to cry. All of a sudden he heard children’s laughter. Then a young boy approached him. He looked deep in his tearful eyes. Then he took out of his pocket a needle and gave it to the older boy. He was confused. He didn’t know what he should do with the needle. The younger boy showed him his backpack. He took it off his shoulders and opened it. Everything he had inside -pain, sorrow, fear, uncertainty- had turned into waterballoons. Then he started to break one by one the balloons. The water “met” the soil and something magical happened. All the bad thoughts and feelings turned into flowers of… certainty, relief, hope. He was feeling light as a feather. “Welcome home” said the young boy who took his hand gently and smiled at him.
