Jana Eyssel our representative from Gottingen attended Footstep 10 in Cheltenham and has twice been on Global Ventures with us. Jana volunteered to help out at Footstep 12 and was fantastic in organising and facilitating before and during the conference. Here are her reflections.
The week I spent with the other participants of the Global Footstep 12 conference was a very enriching and encouraging one. I had the duty (and the pleasure!) to pick up the three participants coming from Kisumu, Kenya, at the Frankfurt airport and travelling with them to Cadca, Slovakia, where the conference was held. These two days served as a perfect introduction to the conference. I enjoyed talking to the Kenyans and to show them around – sometimes it was like seeing my country and Europe with different eyes.
Having arrived in Slovakia, we all had a very pleasant weekend with our host families, I found myself in a family introducing me to traditional Slovak sweets and liquors, and playing a lot of games. For the conference, the participants moved to a small town close to Cadca. Living and spending all the time together, we could get to know each other and I enjoyed having the possibility to talk to people from all over the world about important and serious things, but also to having fun with them. The projects’ presentations were very interesting and the people were linking their projects to each other. At the end of the week, many “small” links between two or three projects or people were established, but also the network as a whole had been strengthened. I hope we will stick to our plans and goals! I also enjoyed learning so much about different cultures. The task for everyone to prepare one typical meal was an ideal introduction to all those delicious national cuisines. Also, singing Kenyan songs at the fireplace and hearing about Desmond’s beehives was a great pleasure!
I hope to see you all again soon!!
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