Songs, Stories, Solidarity: a journey with Belarusian youth workers

Authors: Maria Pia NAPOLETANO, Charlie Rae ALLEN

During the second week of May, me and Charlie, two members of the Young European Ambassadors (YEA) network, had the opportunity to attend a Partnership Building Activity (PBA) in Poland. 

The activity was organised by SALTO EECA, an institution that supports cooperation between Programme and Eastern Partnership countries within Erasmus+ Youth and European Solidarity Corps.

This event had the objective of getting youth workers to:

• Explore cooperation opportunities with Belarusian youth organisations and informal groups.
• Understand the current reality of Belarusian youth work, both inside and outside Belarus.
• Visit Belarusian youth organisations operating in Poland and learn about their initiatives.
• Discover the Podlasie region, home to a historic Belarusian community, and explore youth work in a local context.
• Network and build partnerships for future Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps projects.

During the four days of activities, we participated in three study visits, had multiple networking sessions and traveled to Hajnowka, on the border with Belarus, to discover the Białowieża Forest, shared by the two countries and very important for both Polish and Belarusian people.

This was a unique opportunity for us as youth workers to participate in an event that seeks to support Belarusian young people, in the EU and in Belarus. Such events are very rare in the current political climate and so our presence was essential for us to enhance our knowledge relating to current difficulties faced by young Belarusians, in exile, as well as those still operating within the country. 

In the EU/UK/Belarus chapter of our network, our EU-Belarus Dialogue Initiative is an important platform to connect Belarusians living abroad, and young people from the EU and the UK. It seeks to build connections, share opportunities, and promote diverse topics relating to Belarus from an EU angle. This event enabled us to better understand the needs of the community we support, and how we can translate this into solid, actionable tasks within our Dialogue Initiative. 

The exchange was also an opportunity to discover more about Belarusian songs, language, culture, music and traditions, and visit many sites with a very high historical and cultural significance.

What’s next? We already have some objectives set out with our new Belarusian partners. We will meet again soon to organise targeted events for the Belarusian community, expand our network and strategise on how to raise awareness about the situation of young people living in exile and looking for opportunities in new countries. 

Apart from all the practical outcomes we’ll get from the experience, the things we’ll always remember are the personal stories, walking together in the forest, singing close to a bonfire and understanding how much we can and must support our Belarusian colleagues and friends. 

Participating in this event, and our subsequent work since, are significant ways forward in showing solidarity and playing our part in what is an increasingly complex situation. As young people, we need to work together for our voices to have an even greater impact, especially for those who are unable to do so freely. This event provided us with time to reflect on the difficult reality that faces many Belarusians working with young people, but also provided hope and expertise about the importance of our work, and how to improve going forward.