After two busy days in Vilnius, the “caravanners” continued their movement to other cities of Lithuania, covering 320 kilometers in one day and holding 3 events in two cities.

The first point on the Caravan’s route on August 20 was Kaunas.

An educational walk “Kaunas: Rethinking History” was held here, led by Mark Psonik, a licensed tour guide in Lithuania.

The tour was primarily aimed at internally displaced persons in Kaunas.

Kaunas is a city of interesting destiny, which has traveled a long and winding road from a fortress to the capital of Lithuania, but only temporarily…

Until 1920 Kaunas led a quiet life of a small trading city. And then a great honor fell on it – to become the capital of the revived Lithuanian state.

Kaunas citizens accepted the challenge with honor.

In 20 years the city’s population grew 4 times and the city became the most Lithuanian city in Lithuania.

During the Soviet period it was the most industrial city of the country.

Transformations in the minds of local residents took place at a crazy speed. The tour participants talked about all this while walking along the streets of this extraordinary city.

Then the Caravan went to a new station – Vilkaviškis.

There are 9.5 thousand people living in this city. It also has a Ukrainian community of 113 people.

It is for them, in partnership with the Center for Ukrainians in Vilkaviškis, the Lithuanian Red Cross (Vilkaviškis Department) and Vilkaviškis District Union of Rural Communities, two Caravan events were held, in which 31 people – every fourth member of the community – took part.

Workshop “How to find common ground with others? The Art of Dialogue”

This workshop was conducted by Kateryna Zeziulina (Ukraine).

Children from Vilkaviškis’ Ukrainian community shared their experience of conflict resolution through theatricalized skits, discussed constructive ways out of controversial situations and learned to negotiate peacefully.

Children presented such stories as bullying situations at school, aggressive reactions of peers, and clashes due to unwillingness to negotiate. During the workshop, participants learned new ways of conflict resolution and wanted to try them out when conflicts arose.

Children especially liked the interactive methods, games and theater skits. It turned out that learning through non-formal education is fun and exciting.

Workshop ” Citizenship Education for Adults: Themes and Features of Learning”

This meeting for representatives of public and educational organizations of the Ukrainian diaspora in Vishkavishkis was moderated by Yuriy Petrushenko (Ukraine).

Participants and participants of the master class were interested in the topics of educational events organized by the EENCE network, as well as in the experience of finding funding for civic education events.

After the master class, participants asked questions related to adult education, civic education, and methods of conducting quality educational events.

The Caravan team also joined the action of the local Ukrainian community and the inspection of the competition of children’s drawings for the Independence Day of Ukraine.

Separately, an informal meeting was organized with representatives of the Lithuanian Red Cross (Vilkaviškis department) and the vice-mayor of Vilkaviškis district municipality.

During the meeting the issues of assistance to forced migrants in Lithuania were discussed, new contacts were established and possibilities for further cooperation were discussed.

Nazarii Boiarskyi, coordinator of the Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland, tells us:

“Originally Vilkaviskis was not on our Caravan itinerary, but we received a message from the local Ukrainian community that they would like to participate. That’s why we are here. It is great that the local government and the Lithuanian Red Cross support the Ukrainian community and its endeavors. It was a pleasure to cooperate and I am sure that new interesting projects are ahead of us”.

The Caravan in Lithuania and Poland is organized mainly for citizens of Belarus and Ukraine who were forced to leave their countries because of repression and war, and for the aducators who work with them.

From August 18 to 27, the Caravan team will visit Vilnius, Kaunas, Vilkaviškės, Druskininkai, Bialystok, Tykocin, Treblinka and Warsaw.

The event is organized by a consortium of EENCE experts and organizations in the framework of the project “EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan”, funded by the Federal Agency for Citizenship Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb) with funds allocated by the German Federal Foreign Office, program “Enhancing cooperation with civil society in the Eastern Partnership countries and Russia”. The project is implemented by the NGO Incubator of Democratic Initiatives (Ukraine).

Read also:

The next phase of the EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan started in Vilnius

EENCE Citizenship Education Caravan in Lithuania and Poland. Day 2. Vilnius