International Youth Conference in Georgia
by Ani Jibghashvili
"The youth conference "Principles of Social Life - guiding existing social forms toward social health" took place in August in Georgia, Matsevani. Around 60 participants from different parts of the world gathered around Youth Society Parzival's newly built education space. During 5 days we had a chance to come closer to the ideas of social threefolding, discuss how we see these forms in different communities today and how can we transfer theory into practice.
The atmosphere was free, creative, and alive. Mornings started in tents with Georgian singing as our live alarm, delicious food was something to always look forward to, morning lectures gave us a lot to think about, in the afternoons we could work closer together and express ourselves on our workshops, and very importantly we had plenty of time to get to know each other, share our thoughts, ideas, plans or worries and be sure to receive a fruitful response. Bonfire evenings accompanied by guitar and singing, talks and games lasted till late at night till we could give up this closeness and return to our tents.
As one of the organizers and a host of the event for me the most memorable moment was after screening the movie about the construction of our educational space to see and feel how something was born in people's hearts, the belief that we can all do something and that it's possible, we are all experiencing it right this second. The feedback I heard from the participants was the same: the conference gave them an impulse to create something, to start somewhere, and to trust the process. It sparked the decision to stay connected and work together, to support each other in our own initiatives. And for our whole team, it was such a magical moment to be able to share this space with all those beautiful people.
We would like to thank each person- all the people who were organizing this event with us, to the lecturers, workshop leaders, and participants, who created this atmosphere with us."
Ani Jibghashvili,
Conference organizer from the Youth Society Parzival