We thank all donors from our betterplace.org campaign last year for your support, without you out training could not have taken place. This opportunity created an important learning space for all of us.
The training took place from 2.-5. December 2019 at the district school Ilse Löwenstein School in Hamburg with 17 students in 10th grade.
From December 2nd to December 5th, we (Rike and Veronika) were on a small inner journey with 17 youngsters. Not only did the young people get out of their comfort zone, but so did we. While some of the teenagers soaked up our offers of exercises and experiences and wanted to reflect upon themselves, another part of the group encountered great resistance to embrace the unknown and the unfamiliar. This time we have intensively experienced the most diverse facets and powers of puberty and through this developed as trainers. While 2/3 recognized the added value of the training, 1/3 may not recognize it until a later point in time. This is what often happens in life itself when we only really become aware of the added value of the experiences we have had later on.
This experience has shown us again how much some young people make themselves dependent on the opinion of others, how much they prevent each other from going their path in life. We want to support young people to become more confident and not to look at others as much, and at the same time, some young people need completely different experiences. We have learned that the way how young people perceive us as trainers, has a lot to do with their own story, their view of things and their attitude/relationship to themselves.
It was very nice to see how many jumped over their shadows, shared personal things and dealt deeply with themselves. Some have become more courageous, others may have thought about issues such as “my freedom, expressing feelings, trust” for the first time and have had corresponding experiences. Some have more courage now to travel and to have abroad experiences. Above all, our rally, in which the young people faced challenges such as “Give a compliment to a stranger!”; “Let yourself be blindfolded through the city for a few minutes!” made them grow.
Here are a few voices from our small survey after the training, which made us happy:
What do you personally take from the training?
– dealing with my goals
– having fun with each other
– dealing with my problems
– stepping out of my comfort zone
– thinking about certain things
– You should sometimes get involved in new things.
– What you can do when you are stressed
– That you should go your own way!
– That although we all have obstacles many things are possible
– I have learned to trust myself
– be more open
– teamwork
– I became aware of my values, my large comfort zone and my visions/goals.
– I have a larger comfort zone and dare to speak to strangers.
We look forward to the next training and are excited to see what will await us on the next journey into the unknown with teenagers.
