10:10 Teen Project Team Visits Kosovo
10:10 TEEN PROJECT TEAM VISITS KOSOVO March 2011
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10:10 Teen Project Team Visits Kosovo
March 18th 2011 / This week our 10:10 Teen Project Team visited schools in Pristina and Prizren, both in Kosovo, in order to present 10:10 Teen Project .
There is a lot to be understood about Kosovo, particularly if you are working on educational projects and/or with children and youth. Situated on the south of Serbia, the Kosovo province is an important link between central and southern Europe, and between Adriatic and Black Sea. Kosovo has mostly mountaineous terrain and 39% of the province is covered by forests. The territory of Kosovo belongs to the eco-region of Balkan mixed forests. Kosovo is rich in natural resources – nickel, lead, zink, magnesium, lignite, chrome, kaolin and bauxite. Kosovo is often referred to as a disputed territory, following the collapse of Yugoslavia, and it is still a volatile area, with frequent fights between Kosovari (Albanians) and Serb minority. Kosovo is extremely vulnerable to organized crime and money laundering, and its citizens are the poorest in Europe.
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10:10 Teen Project Team Visits Kosovo Kosovo has about 2 million inhabitants, but only 100,000 phone lines, and only half of those have any kind of internet connection. The current situation in Kosovo makes it very difficult for any NGO campaign to be carried out, particularly the campaign focusing on climate change, as the highest priority is improving economy, human rights and decreasing corruption, trafficking (both people and drugs) and money laundering. Still, with positive attitude, you can achieve just about anything, and it is always better to have an all-inclusive campaign, rather than to pick only regions that are safe enough or developed enough. And thus, we were on our way!
The biggest towns in Kosovo are Pristina (the capital, with about half a million people), Prizren (on the photo), Pec and Kosovska Mitrovica (each with close to 100 thousand people). During our visit we went to Pristina and Prizren.
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10:10 Teen Project Team Visits Kosovo
(intermediary class in Prizren school) During extracurricular English classes with three different groups (beginners, intermediary and advanced) 10:10 Teen Project team presented 10:10 Teen Project, and explained how students can participate. Considering the fact that many of them do not have internet connections, we agreed that they can submit their entries by regular post. We also talked about carbon footprint and climate change, asking them if they can identify changes that are already visible in the nature and their environment, and are caused by climate change.
(advanced class in Prizren school)
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10:10 Teen Project Team Visits Kosovo
(Beginners class in Prizren school) Beginners’ class surprised us with their knowledge about how can carbon footprint be reduced, and we asked them how much of them recycle or save energy. Anita and Teuta (on the photo) explained they do not recycle, as it is very difficult to find a recyclables collecting depo in their area, but since both lived on the outskirts of Prizren, they told us that both their parents and grandparents compost. The advanced class told us about their efforts to save energy both at home and in school, and they said they are happy to be involved in such a positive and creative campaign. We all agreed that Kosovo is a beautiful area, and that more should be done to protect the nature. “One of the things we can all do is reduce our carbon footprint – if we all do it, ultimately the whole region will be better off, and we will be doing it for our children.”, said Dima, an advanced class student.
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10:10 Teen Project Team Visits Kosovo We agreed to come back soon, during spring time, and have even more pupils and students join us in 10:10 Teen Outdoor Class! (brilliantly suggested by Anita). So, dear Kosovo friends – until we come back, we will be looking forward to receiving your entries by post, and we know you will make us smile with your stories about beautiful nature and how to protect it! Many many thanks for your hospitality and the great time we had during our three-day visit! We will see you again soon!
During our Kosovo visit we visited three schools and talked to about 40 pupils / students, age 7 – 17.
Our visit wouldn’t have been possible without the help and support from Embassy of Canada in Zagreb, Croatia
and Nektarina non Profit’s international EverGreen Project
Both logos were visibly displayed on all 50 10:10 Teen Project A3 format posters we gave away during our visit. Thank you!
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