Summer Workshop Camp: Warsaw 2024 – is a summer workshop camp, a programme to develop the social skills of Roma youth and strengthen cooperation between NGOs from the Visegrad Group countries.
Twenty-four boys and girls from Roma communities in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary took part in the week-long summer camp, which took place in early August in Warsaw. The programme of workshops to develop social skills, lectures on the situation of Roma in the V4 countries and the work of NGOs, was set up by partner organisations: the Dom Kultury Foundation (Poland; project leader), Vzájemné soužití o.p.s. (Czech Republic), ETP Slovakia (Slovakia) and Amrita OBK (Hungary).
Summer Workshop Camp for the second time in Poland, for the first time in Warsaw! 2024 edition.
Photo: Zosia Szulc
This year’s events at the Summer Workshop Camp (SWC) funded by the International Visegrad Fund took place in Warsaw. The initiative, which is organised by the Dom Kultury Foundation for the second year in a row, moved from Oświęcim to the capital of Poland in order to actively spend time here on workshops, fun and above all integration of Roma youth from four different European countries. Male and female participants from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia took part in an almost week-long programme of cooperation, which was also an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience. For some, the camp was an opportunity to meet again, for others it was their first introduction to Polish culture, and to get to know the Roma and Roma people from Poland better. Therefore, one of the most favourite parts of the programme were games and activities with elements of Roma culture. It should also be noted that the group from Poland was diverse, as they were joined by people from Ukraine who now live and work in Poland and found themselves here after the escalation of hostilities in their homeland.
Although the main organiser of the camp is the Dom Kultury Foundation, various individuals and organisations making up the camp were responsible for running the programme, including ETP Slovakia from Slovakia, Armita OBK from Hungary, Vzajemne Souziti from the Czech Republic. Workshops were also led by trainers and coaches from Poland, including Agnieszka Caban, Rajmund Siwak, Agata Siemaszko.
In turn, additional attractions, i.e. a guided tour of Warsaw’s Old Town, team football games or a visit to the Copernicus Science Centre during the following days allowed the participants to learn more about Polish history and culture, integrate and smoothly move on to other interesting events. At Kwiatuchów, the participants of the Summer Workhop Camp took part in an art workshop in screen printing led by the amazing Estera Ant. The bags featured a design by Mateusz Kwiatek and Estera Antka (after consultation with Andrzej Grzymała-Kazłowski), which depicted the dragons that decorated the Roma carts used by wandering Roma groups. The imaginative workshop was much appreciated by the makers/women and also the owners of the new bags.
The penultimate day was also a space for reflection on the situation of young Roma people from the Visegrad countries. The debate at the Multicultural Centre in Warsaw was moderated by Agnieszka Caban, who asked questions about the Roma community in their countries: what unites them, what differs, what is the attitude of the authorities towards Roma in a given country, what are the goals, dreams and plans for the future of our participants. In the evening, it was time to sum up the camp and all the groups took part in an evaluation of the camp events, which will help the organisers to prepare even better activities in future years.
An evening of music workshops conducted by Agata Siemaszko, a renowned artist and singer whose work has been linked to the musical folklore of the Visegrad countries for many years, further strengthened the passion for learning about the cultures of their countries and minority groups and made the anticipation for the third edition of the festival grow!
Agnieszka Caban
Programme
The Summer Workshop Camp is realised thanks to a grant from the International Visegrad Fund.
The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
Summer Workshop Camp – Oświęcim 2023
