The people behind the project

Special Balkan HotSpot & GYM Team

Balkan Hotspot

Anna Bellisario, 30 years old, Italy, Volunteering in Balkan Hotspot

Privilege for me is first of all linked to the luck of being born in the “right place” of the world and having the opportunity to access education, a fundamental tool that allows you to be aware of the reality that surrounds you and to have critical thinking.

Carolin Kretzer, 18 years old, Germany, Volunteering in Balkan Hotspot

Privilege means a lot of different things to me. When I think of privilege, I think of societal hierarchy, inequality, injustice, discrimination and oppression. I think about the fact that everything is interconnected and if you fight against one, its always also a fight against all the other forms of discrimination. I still need to learn lots of things and unlearn lots of bias that result from growing up in a society that profits from keeping these forms of discrimination alive.

Laura De Cesare, 28 years old, Italy, Volunteering in Balkan Hotspot

Privilege could be having a right to work, health, and life. Privilege could be choosing for your life. Privilege could be being healthy. Privilege could be being part of a community, and privilege could be being out of a community. It’s something that you can’t decide to have and, at the same time, is something that you can choose and fight to change.

Şahin Akkaya, 24 years old, Turkey, Volunteering in Balkan Hotspot

Privilege is something that everyone should have, but also something that no one should have. Have you ever thought that it is a privilege to be able to read this? Don’t you think that every moment of our lives is proof that there is someone who is privileged? Compare yourself to your neighbor. Compare yourself to a high class member of society. Compare yourself to a homeless man. Compare yourself to someone in Asia, Europe, Africa. Don’t you see? Privilege is everywhere…

Silvia Sanz Linares, 25 years old, Spain, Volunteering in Balkan Hotspot

Privilege usually comes across as an ill thing, a mean injustice impeding a better world. Yet, it could be perceived in a good light; privilege is power, and power —if used correctly— is a tool to drive change. Maybe, we cannot choose most of the privileges we are gifted with, but we can acknowledge them and use them to even the playing field.

Yusuf Taskiran, 24 years old, Turkey, Volunteering in Balkan Hotspot

When I think of privilege, I think of talking about restriction of freedom, inequality, poverty, pollution, discrimination... These are just some of the problems of our society. The causes are varied, but it is easier to find a common enemy every day. These are not just because you are, these are the cause of the problems you may face in everyday social life. In short, every discrimination you do not experience, every mistreatment you are subjected to, is a privilege offered to you.

Green Your Mind

Ana Beatriz Farinha, 23 years old, Portugal, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

Privilege can be big or small things that make some aspect of your life easier or better than other people’s and that can affect how the world treats you without you having done anything to earn it. Although one of the major features is that it’s the sort of thing we only notice when we don’t have it, after recognizing the ways in which we have privilege, we can use those advantages to help promote equitable outcomes for others.

Daniela Delgado, 20 years old, Portugal, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

Privilege is the mirror and guardian of power structures. It serves the ones who are already enjoying a certain status and perpetuates inequalities. Privilege becomes then the target of the fight against a world filled with injustices.

Eleni Kapnopoulou, 22 years old, Greece, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

Privilege to me is being lucky enough to not realise you have it. It’s being able to have access to things, goods and services, and feeling entitled to, without realising the difficulty for someone else. It’s important to understand how we are privileged and use that as a tool to help others.

Elizabedi Katcharava, 20 years old, Georgia, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

For me privilege is a very relative concept. I am same person everywhere however depending on in which country i am, which job i have, which friend group i am in and so on i might feel very privileged or extremely unprivileged.

Jessi Kume, 27 years old, Italy, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

For me privilege is a social construction deeply rooted in culture but also in inequality. To be privileged means that some people can have easier access to rights and opportunity while others struggle with discrimination. But we can turn things around and make privilege become a tool to create a more fair society by deconstructing the meaning privilege has.

Lilit Gevorgyan, 28 years old, Armenia, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

Privilege is being free of discrimination and having more opportunities than others just by belonging to the dominant group. In order to establish equality, we must change our views and treat people’s differences as features.

Madlen Batsiou, 30 years old, Greece, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

Privilege is many things. But when I think of it, I think of how close we can be to many opportunities, and at the same time how many responsibilities come with it. Acting, but doing it for something good, not the opposite. We should not be taking it for granted. You can’t change a lot of things, but when we can, we must do it in a practical and helpful way. To live with integrity is a difficult path, but not impossible.

Maria Panicali, 25 years old, Italy, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

Privilege(s) for me is something that you can’t choose but that you can choose to change. You can recognize your privilege, be aware of it and try to deconstruct it every day in your daily routine. Deconstruction is a self responsibility.

Nana Zazadze, 24 years old, Georgia, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

For me, privilege means being a part of the ESC project “Green Your Mind”. I consider myself extremely privilaged to be able to travel and explore such an amazing country as Greece. I am so grateful for the experience I’ve had and the people I’ve met during my time here.

Tatevik Harutyunyan, 23 years old, Armenia, Volunteering in Green Your Mind

Privilege doesn’t mean that people without privilege are always right and you if you have privilege are always wrong. Privilege for me is a chance to add a few very important things to the puzzle. It is an opportunity to change something for the better.