Follow-up from Spain Participants 

Elena Gil Moreno

Hello, my name is Elena Gil. I am Spanish and from the 20th of July until the 28th of July I was in Stronie Slaskie, Wroclaw, Poland; in an Erasmus+ project called "TC WOMEN EMPOWERMENT". I knew about this project thanks to the association Egeria Social Development, which collaborated with the associations ACPELIA (Cyprus) and OPEN SOUL (Poland) to carry out the participation in this project. Here, four participants from countries such as Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Cyprus, Greece and Poland met to discuss a main topic and to get to know each other's cultures and opinions.

The activities were guided by two female trainers: Erma and Ekaterina, both Cypriots. Together, they guided my companions and me through a great mental evolution, carried out throughout this week, through activities related to gender roles, against machismo, against misogyny and in favour of equality. On the other hand, they were our main companions during this experience, teaching us in the same way intrapersonal and reflective activities that made us better people and a better group.

The main objective of the first days' activities was to get to know each other. In this way, the two leaders were in charge of asking questions to each other, judging and refuting each other's judgements and asking each other about our hobbies, occupations and personalities.

Days two and three then focused more intensively on the project, reaching the climax of the project. These activities were more intense than the rest, taking up more hours and more mental activity. On these days, a greater involvement of all the participating people and groups was sought, with the aim of opening the minds of all those present and, in the same way, their eyes to the situations experienced and known in the different media with the primary objective of establishing their own opinion and critical attitude in the face of unequal situations.

On the fourth day we had a break, as the Erasmus project was located in Wroclaw, giving us the opportunity to visit one of its cities, Ktozto.

After this break we continued on days five and six with a different technique: sharing with other countries, the current situation in our country and making a presentation to our colleagues on any topic to be discussed, demonstrating everything we had learned during the project, the previous knowledge and how we would like to apply this knowledge together once we return to our respective countries.

Thanks to these activities, I have personally seen a great growth, reinforced my already existing feminist thoughts, increased my knowledge about other countries' cultures and their opinion on issues such as divorce, abortion, or freedom of speech. In addition, I have been able to promulgate this knowledge through social networks, in meetings with colleagues or even in get-togethers with friends, to whom I would definitely recommend the experience.

I am very grateful to have been able to be part of this Erasmus+ project, especially for the fact that it was a project focused on feminism, something so necessary for society today that will move us towards greater societies, open-mindedness and an equal world between men and women.

Pedro Tarache:

I went to an Erasmus+ in Stronie Slaskie, Poland. We did it from July 20 to 28 and that was when our magnificent experience began. To get to know each other a little we started with an activity in which to the rhythm of the music we would change our drawings and we would look for the person we were assigned to draw some part of their face. It was fun since you had to talk to the other classmates because we still didn't know their names. Also another of my favorite activities was making a poster about what women looked like in different magazines, seeing the image they wanted to give. It was an incredible experience and one that I would repeat a thousand times.

My Erasmus+ in Poland has been a magnificent experience, we have learned about equality, we learned about the situation of women in other countries, we learned about the culture of other European countries and we have known how to work together to improve the situation of women and what techniques We can apply to improve this big problem that we have today. Thanks to Acpelia and Egeria Desarrollo Social.

Rocío Ramírez López:

The project started on August 21, 2023. We arrived at the airport in Poland and were picked up by a bus to get to the place where we were going to spend the next ten days. This almost three-hour trip allowed us to get to know each other a litle bit. This was already my fourth erasmus and I could more or less get an idea of that feeling of meeting a lot of people from other countries for the first time, as I remembered it was incredible. We closed that day having dinner and sleeping since we all went through a long trip. The next day the activities started. The first day we worked a bit on getting to know each other and doing the group activities. We had a very interesting schedule because we made the days productive both to work with the Erasmus theme " Women empowerment and to spend free time and get to know everyone. In the dynamics the organizers made sure that they were entertaining as well as interesting to be able to later discuss the topic One of the things 1 like most about these experiences are the international nights". In them we dedicate the nights for each country to talk about their traditions and culture in addition to tasting typical food from each place. It is a very enriching experience, not only you learn from the dynamics of the project but also from all the people who live the project with you. As I was told in my first project: ' When you go to one, you can't stop'.

Divya Deepak Babani Espinoza:

During the 20th to the 28th of July I took part in an Erasmus+ project, a Training Course (TC), called "TC WOMEN EMPOWERMENT". It took place in Stronie Śląskie, a beautiful city in Wroclaw, Poland.

I got to know about this project through the social media of my sending organization, Egeria Desarrollo Social. After applying for this Erasmus+ and getting selected we had a previous meeting with our NGO to search for flights and buy them. A few weeks before going to Poland, we attended an online video call with the host and sending organizations and the participants. They explained the aim of this project, the activities which were going to take place and they solved any doubts that we had. We could also join a Facebook and Whatsapp group to keep up updated.

The first day we arrived, our trainers presented themselves. They were two women from the Cyprus organization ACPELIA, Erma and Ekaterina. Then, they guided different activities to get to know each other, building teamwork, such as sharing our personalities, preferences or hobbies. The two following days were the hardest, as they were fully focused on the topic of this Erasmus. Erma and Ekaterina gave us some fundamental information and clarified some concepts and stereotypes through various games. These two days were really emotionally consuming as we were addressing sensitive stuff which happens in our society. However, it was interesting to know by the debates we held the different views about the same issue from all the participant countries. The fourth day was our free day. We spent it in the unique and marvelous city of Ktozko. The next two days we had to make a project by groups about one social problem regarding the topic of this Eramus, and find a solution for it. Finally, we did a review about the whole project, the competences we gained and our feelings about it.

To sum up, it was an amazing project in which I could reinforced my knowledge about feminism but also I had the opportunity to work on myself through the activities that Erma and Ekaterina offered.