EUROPEAN ERASMUS+ EXPERIENCE BY FUNDACIÓN TAMBIÉN IN TÜRKIYE
Sharing experiences, contacts, knowledge, and professionals from other countries gives us the opportunity to broaden our expertise and life experiences. This later allows us to continue and improve our work in promoting adaptive sports for people with disabilities.
The need to raise awareness about disability and achieve its normalized inclusion within society is the same all over the world. In a globalized world, sharing different experiences, practices, and knowledge regarding the work being done to promote this inclusion is a fundamental task to continue moving forward and achieve full inclusion.
The «Barrier-Life Free» Project, within the European Erasmus+ Program, has allowed us to travel to Türkiye, where we spent three days at the Remziye-Yakup Holy Special Education Vocational School in the District of Bayrampaşa. This school offers vocational training to students with disabilities so they can adapt to social life, become self-sufficient, acquire the necessary skills for employment, and participate in social and cultural activities.
Junto a Fundación También han participado otras instituciones europeas lo que ha llevado a producir un clima y un intercambio mucho más enriquecedores.
El Surf Clube de Viana de Portugal, la Academia de Música Clivis desde Italia y la Asociación ISKD de Turquía fueron nuestros partners durante esos 3 días en los que compartimos mucho más que conocimientos.
We participated in workshops and cultural visits with the Turkish students and representatives from other European associations, who taught us new methods and approaches that we will put into practice in the future.
We took part in crafts, vocational training workshops for adult life (such as household tasks, cleaning, and textile crafts with linens), and a Turkish cooking workshop that we loved—especially later when we all shared the meal and had a fantastic time together. We also joined physical education classes where we played ping pong and air hockey, and attended music therapy sessions followed by a short concert given by the students. We even tried an «Ebru» art workshop, a traditional Turkish painting technique described as “painting on water.” These were new activities for us that we truly enjoyed and have brought back to our country to share with our beneficiaries in future programs.
A cultural visit to the city was a must, where we enjoyed its most iconic buildings and absorbed the essence of this Muslim country so full of history.
During the meeting that brought this fruitful experience to a close, we were able to share all the lessons and experiences we had internalized and lived through. This meeting marked the end of several wonderful days of cooperation between organizations from other countries, which allowed us to discover other engaging and innovative activities, exchange best practices, and give us renewed momentum to design new projects that promote the inclusion of people with disabilities.
This European Erasmus+ experience has also provided us with a solid foundation for the future phases of the project and very strong collaborative bonds with all participants. These cultural exchanges focused on disability create truly beautiful and enriching moments.
