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In the beginning of October, between 5-8th I participated on the 3rd seminar of Digitools project, organized in Lefkada, Greece. 


On Tuesday, at 6 oclock in the very morning we flew from Cluj with changing in Viena to Athens, from where we took the bus, and after another 6 hours of travelling we finally arrived to Lefkada. After we occupied our accomodation, we could take a rest and discover a little bit the surrounding and meet the new and also familiar faces. 

The next day, after breakfast and coffee we started the seminar with introduction games, in order to get to know each other a bit better, at least to learn the names. Teams were from Greece, Italy, Martinique and Romania, with 5 representatives in each team. After the games, the project facilitator presented to us what the seminar would be about, what our task would it be, how to do a tutorial video for the user, the features of an application from the user point of view. At the end of the day we participated on the intercultural event, where we, as teams presented our specific food, snacks, drinks, which we tasted of course. Then we learned new Greek, Italian, French style dances too.

Thursday was a boat tripping day around the Lefkada island, we also got some information about the island, thanks to the nice weather, we also had the chance to swim in two different places. 


On the next day, Friday, charged fully we continued with the program, we formed mixed, intercultural teams. As a team we were brainstorming, everyone shared their ideas about the platform and the tutorial video, what would work the most. Then we split the different phases of the tasks among us, some of us wrote the script for the tutorial, others did screenshot videos about the steps of the feature we wanted to show, recorded the voiceover for the tutorial, then the last phase was the editing of the video, to put together all the material. After the seminar, we had some free time to walk around, discover little bit more the island. 

Final day, on Saturday we showed our tutorials, then in groups we analyzed and documented all the steps how we did the tutorials.  

As a final task, we formed into other mixed groups and together we got it through a questionnaire, where all of us told our opinion about the main goals of a youth associations, ideas for development, projects, opportunities. 


As the final part of the seminar, we got our certificate of attendance, and everyone could share their feelings, impressions about the whole seminar. I can say I felt inspired because of the place, and people, I got loads of ideas inspirations from the others. It was a really great experience for me. 

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With the season and the weather changing, things change in our association as well. We welcomed four amazing young individuals to our quiet little town. They are here to make our community’s life a bit more colorful. They arrived from different parts of Europe.



Nerea left behind the warmth of Spain and moved to the rainy Romania. She is curious about all things traditional. From France, we welcomed Quentin, who already received one very important task from us; figure out how to make giant bubbles! Timotej swapped out the Slovakian winter for a Romanian one. If you see a blond lost boy wandering around, please give some directions to the office for our Jaanus.

Upon arrival they were ready to work. They didn’t waste any time and helped with decorations for a local event. On Monday, they met the whole team at ATA. Afterwards, they met most of the people they will be working with during their 10 months in our beloved town.

There are two main activities they will work on. The first one is something called NGO Support. Sound so official, isn’t it? This activity is related to the everyday life of ATA. They will help with event organizations, workshops, youth mobilities, content creation, and small things around the office.




The second one is Inclusion Support. This is more about assisting our partner organizations who work with the disabled. All volunteers who join this program will have the chance to sing, dance, do crafts with the disabled people who will share their love in return. At the same time, volunteers can support kindergarten and elementary school teachers where they can organize non-formal English workshops for the children.

The new team already had the chance to meet the activity coordinators to learn more about the tasks they are going to be responsible for during their stay.

At the moment, they are just getting to know the culture, the town, the country, but we have no doubt that they will soon part of the local community. At the same time, not only they will learn during this time, but also us, as we will get an insight into their culture and they will enrich our work with their colorful ideas. We’re excited to get started with the next 10 months!

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It all came to an end. A bittersweet one at that. But first, let’s all remember the fun we had! From snacking together in the office on the first day, through the countless group work and team activities, and of course, last but most definitely not least, on the Backyard Science Day, which was a big success. The participants tried their best and it really showed all the kids, and there were a lot of them, left the event with a smile on their faces. But, not just the kids closed the day in a happy mood, the participants also enjoyed their shared time with the local children. And let’s be real, no matter how old you are, it’s always fun to see a Coca-Cola volcano.

There was just a tiny bit of work left, in the form of the Youthpass certificate, that the participants had to fill out, as well as the evaluation form, so we can improve our work and know what we should pay more attention to. The program came to an end with the final evaluation and the Youthpass ceremony. Slowly it was time to say our goodbyes.

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Our brand-new youth exchange has started! We welcomed 21 motivated young individuals from Hungary, Slovakia, Turkey, and Romania. The first day was all about getting to know each other and the team-building activities. Unfortunately, once again it was proven that memorizing names can be challenging. But nothing is impossible! It just takes time and practice. And there is no time like the International Snack Evening to practice them. We closed the first day with some food from all around the world and some casual chit-chat.

The learning, studying, and working started on the second day. Participants shared a little about their local communities and what they feel could be improved at home. This shared information is the base of the program. We want all participants to have an idea, a goal in mind, that they want to realize in their communities when they go home. They have a chance to learn about what a community is, how it functions, how they can write down their ideas, how they can talk about them, promote them, and many many more.

As the big final showdown, the participants will have to put their newly acquired knowledge to the test. They were busy today preparing an event for the locals of Cristuru Secuiesc. They are organizing a kids’ science day in the association’s backyard, for elementary school children. We are very much looking forward to see how the smiles light up those little faces.

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As the summer heat is slowly dying down, our association is working hard on the preparations for our next Youth Exchange, Youth for the Town. The mobility will take place in our lovely little town, Cristuru Secuiesc, between the 1^st and 7^th of September. The topic of the youth exchange is something quite close to our association’s heart. The program aims to enable young people to act and provide solutions for issues within their local communities. Living in a small town has its challenges. And every now and then people have a great idea that could take care of those issues. Frustratingly, they usually do not know where to start realizing these. The Youth for the Town youth exchange aims to change that, it aims to educate young people on how to realize their ideas and how to give back to the community. Throughout the program, the participants will learn about project management, event organization, critical thinking, etc.

Does this sound like an interesting program option for you? And you happen to be between the age of 18 and 25? Are you motivated to help your community? Do you want to learn about project management and event organization? If you answered the questions with a YES!, then I would recommend checking out the information package of the youth exchange. -> INFO PACK

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us!

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The Strategic Partnership “Emotional Management tools to fight social media dependency”, funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program, ended with the launch of two outputs, in document format, which aim to help high-school teachers, educational professionals, youth workers and anyone working with youth and teens better understand the false images that teenagers have due to internet and social media dependency and their destructive nature. keep reading

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The activities we prepared for the children allowed them to have a lot of fun. We colored the tent with ornaments we made from different types and colors of paper and cardboard. Each volunteer had a task at 7 different stations. Reading books, experimenting, face painting, they painted plastic plates with colorful paints, there was a corner with toys for babies.



Many parents brought their babies and we played games together in that corner. They had a lot of fun with Çofukkar balloon guns and water balloons. We painted many children’s faces at the face painting station and they all really enjoyed it. At the experimental station, they experimented with making bubbles with a simple plastic bottle, detergent, food coloring and socks. Many children had their photos taken in the photography section we prepared.



As volunteers, we made lemonade and offered it to everyone who attended. A lot of children came to the tent to have their faces painted because we distributed tickets at the festival area and encouraged the children to come to the tent. In fact, when they saw each other’s faces painted, they wanted to come, so the plug was not enough and we made many patterns. The children were very interested in the tent, we decorated the place with balloons, octopuses we made from paper, colored papers. This was quite interesting!



As volunteers, the whole team worked very devotedly to decorate the tent and organize the activities with the children. Coordinators helped with what non-English speaking children wanted. Parents seemed very happy that their children were spending time with such activities. The children with their faces painted wanted to take pictures with a few volunteers. We all had a pretty fun time. We reached our goal! I hope we can reach many children and make everything better by doing much more beautiful activities!

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 The past week has been about children and different cultures.   


Let’s start at the very beginning! In many cases, during our events we have heard from parents that they would be open to opportunities organized for children which would be about learning English and learning about new cultures. Since volunteers came to us for 2 months not long ago, we decided to organize a multicultural camp where children can not only practice English, but also learn about other cultures.    


In order to organize the camp, on a beautiful Tuesday in August, we moved out to Siklód with the children, so that we would not be disturbed by the noise of the town and the atmosphere of the camp would be more intimate in the heart of nature.  The program of the camp was compiled by international volunteers – there was a morning training, they could enjoy the Lithuanian games, they had an introduction to Turkey, and the children could also learn a lot about Ethiopia.   What none of the camps should miss is the water battle, which wasn’t in the program but seemed like a good idea.   


The kids had a lot of fun and took part in a lot of adventures during the 3 days. As for the English language or other cultures, several children surprised us, as they were completely open to international volunteers, spoke English well, were tolerant of the cultures of other countries.    

We hope that we can orgaize it next year, in the meantime, watch the video we made during the children’s camp. 

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Hello my name is Kürşat. I’m coming from Turkiye.I’m 20. I have been in Transylvania before and it was so good and I really wanted to come again and I have a chance to see again. Spending time with the children makes me excited always. When I see them happy I become happy.



We have a chance to work with the children so as a medical student it will improve myself too much. And my field of interest is camping and ıt’s so excited for me. This project is exactly for me. Cristuru secuiesc’s nature is perfect. The lakes, mountains,forests It’s like paradise. I’m so happy to be here.

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Hello,

My Name is Handan. 20 years old Turkish girl.
Today I would like to share my experiences and opinions about Erasmus+ and EVS(ESC) program. I will be in volunteering project in Romania for ATA until 17th September.



My Journey with them began when I was soon-to-be-19-year-old in Lithuania. And contuined with Spain then Romania. All of them gave me self-space to learn, develop New skills, being independent and make uniqe friends that I will never forget. 🤍