Million Minutes and CSAN staff recently participated in the Young Caritas Europa Forum, hosted by Caritas Europa in Athens. This was a weekend gathering of young adults from organisations across the Caritas Europa network to share experiences, learn more about the work of Caritas in Europe, and to discuss how to encourage young people to be involved in volunteering throughout the Caritas Network.
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Rathbone, Caritas Youth
Bernie Goddard reflects: “We spent a morning learning about the work which Caritas Hellas does throughout Greece, and in particular the work that the Adama Project does with refugees and migrants. This includes supporting people through the asylum process, especially in looking for work. We then had an opportunity to learn about ways that young adults are working with refugees and migrants in countries such as Italy, Slovenia and Lithuania.
Many of these volunteers are involved in creating activities for children and families and delivering educational resources in schools, informing young people about the journeys refugees take and the difficulties they often face.
Our second day started by looking at what motivates us and how we can build charity in our communities. This involved a group activity that addressed how we can engage young people and young adults to actively participate within our organisations. This was a great opportunity to share ideas and look at how Caritas organisations work in each country and enabled us to reflect on our own methods of youth and young adult outreach in England and Wales.
We ended the afternoon with a scavenger hunt using scenarios which people often face when they are fleeing their countries, where my group looked at fleeing from climate-related impacts on livelihoods.
The weekend was a fantastic opportunity to learn, network and share the work which we all do within the Caritas social justice networks.
We wish to thank CSAN, Caritas Europa and all its affiliated organisations, for their hospitality and for providing us with an inspiring and thought-provoking weekend.