SPEECHLESS RECONCILIATION

INTRODUCTION

Speechless Reconciliation is a project founded by Matej Keka in February 2021
in partnership with the Rotary Club Prague International.
This project is referred to as „Speechless Reconciliation“ because not all of the participants have a common language. Although translation will be available, the focus will be on 6 groups of young adults (16-18 year) from 6 different countries finding common ground and comprehending each other without language in common, through body language, facial expressions,
tone of voice and other cues.
We believe that an initial encounter that is coupled with a longer-term continuity of contact between several groups of these youth can be an engine that helps transform the way they live and think about each other,
and contribute to a more stable region.

PROJECT GOALS

“If I could design my future, what would it look like?”

Our vision is to create strong community leaders that will build a more equal and better world for others through establishment of global cooperation between SOS Villages and Rotary International and expand the project through organization of the summer camps into other countries (first in Europe and then on a global scale) as well as onboarding of new partners on the matching platform.

PROJECT GOALS

Short-term

The short term goal of the project is the organisation of summer camps for youngsters from houses for youth without adequate parental care from different countries of Europe and eventually the rest of the world. The topic of the summer camps is “If I could design my future, what would it look like?”

Long-term

The long-term goal of the project is to fulfill the hopes of youngsters with disadvantaged backgrounds from houses for youth without adequate parental care. Hope for a better life, hope for a better future, hope for a better community.

How do we achieve that?

We achieve that by organizing summer camps and by offering them opportunities for professional and personal development, through engaging with different stakeholders such as Rotary International, companies, universities, and other organisations from different regions of Europe and the rest of the world.

We already have a few committed partners from different regions of Europe. Its vision is to create strong community leaders, that will break the barriers that divide the communities in the region of former Yugoslavia. We will achieve that, by giving opportunities for professional and personal development to the youngsters from houses for kids without parental care.

the desired outcome of the speechless reconciliation

Our hope and expectations are that an expanding group of disadvantaged young adults will become empowered to create a strong network of understanding and collaboration across several countries, with a vision of peace and cooperation across Balkan and eastern European regions that will lead to a future of long-term stability and an enviable quality of life.

PROJECT PHASES

The first phase is the 10-days summer camp in the Beskydy mountains in the Eastern region of the Czech Republic, where with the help of the professional trainers the youngsters are working on designing their future direction. Groups of youth in the age between 16-18 years – 6 from each of the 6 participating facilities, one in each project country – will spend days in workshops, getting to know more about each other: their ethnic, religious, social backgrounds, personal histories, feelings, dreams for the future, and more, in order to build understanding between them and to expand their visions of what is possible in their own lives. Two months after the summer camp, the youngsters' plans are assessed, and various questions are asked to find out if the youngsters are still interested in pursuing the plan that they designed during the summer camp. If not, the alternative is offered.

In the year following the camp and the trip to Prague, different kinds of opportunities will be offered to the participants for their professional and personal growth. This is the second phase of the project. To amplify the impact of this phase, an online opportunities platform will be established to support both „demand and offer“. We believe that a perfect mixture of intercultural, professional and self-developmental opportunities will empower them enough in order to be able to create a lasting change in their communities and to prepare them for an independent living, with an emphasis on employability and community integration. Rotarians from the different clubs in the cities where the participating facilities are located will take on the task of identifying the possible opportunities for the young people. The other Rotary clubs and organizations from different countries will also try to identify the opportunities corresponding to the needs of the young people identified during the first phase of the project.