out in the open toolkit Your mini guide to inclusive outdoor & experiential learning for LGBT+ youth
© 2019-2020 Piedzīvojuma Gars, Active Rainbow Coordination, Writer, Editor: Cathy/Aikaterini Manousaki Writer: Paula Udrina Design: Elina Primaka Photography: Elina Primaka Articles, Activities/Tools: by Participants of Out in the Open Project referred under their section. Piedzīvojuma Gars Active Rainbow - Educational Platform/NGO Address: Puškina iela 11, Riga, Latvia Address: Matisa iela 80-5, Riga, Latvia E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.piedzivojumagars.lv Website: www.activerainbow.com Facebook: Piedzivojumagars Facebook: ActiveDiversity Instagram: piedzivojumagars Instagram: active_rainbow Portions of this publication may be reproduced for use in non-formal education, provided acknowledgement of the source and notification of such use is given to Piedzīvojuma Gars and Active Rainbow at their respective emails. This publication was written as a result of the “Out in the Open” Training program. All content is the intellectual property of “Out in the Open” project, unless otherwise noted herein. This publication has been produced with the financial support of the European Union, under the Erasmus+ programme, through the Latvian National Agency, Jaunatnes starptautisko programmu aģentūra. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not represent the opinions or positions of the funders of this project. “The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”
CONTENT 04 Foreword & dedication 06 About the Project 07 About the Publication 08 Outdoor Education 16 LGBT+ Spectrum Education 22 Tools for personal growth 31 Outdoor Games 42 Articles from Participants about the TC/Project 66 About the Coordinating Organizations
Foreword & dedication Hello there! organized an Erasmus+ project together with our dear partners Vagamondo Whether you are a youth worker, (Italy), Drustvo DIH (Slovenia), Asociace Dice (Czech Republic), Ticket2Europe trainer, social worker, young leader, (Spain), Solidarity Mission (Greece), Rouge Noorsootoo Keskus (Estonia) teacher, educator, parent or just called OUT IN THE OPEN. During the project, we explored how can outdoor a person who stumbled upon this experiential learning be used as a methodology to promote the growth and document out of curiosity, we can inclusion of LGBTQIA+ youth. all agree that there should be global This toolkit that you are now either holding in your hands or viewing from improvements of the inclusion, growth your screen, is dedicated to creating safe spaces and providing with meaningful and well being of the LGBTQIA+ opportunities for LGBT+ youth in our youth work, local and international community. communities. Only in Europe, the low percentages We wish, that you get out of this mini of the legal and policy situation of guide, what you would like to get and LGBTQIA+ people in the European everything else you probably aren’t countries showcase the efforts and looking for. Let it be an asset that we collective actions that still need to be can use not only in our youth work, but taken in all different levels. In the 2020 also in our daily life, so we can continue edition of the ILGA-Europe’s annual creating a world where people can feel benchmarking tool, the Rainbow safe and free, valued and respected to Europe Map, we see some of our partner come Out in the Open in all the ways and countries involved in this project ranking: meanings possible. Latvia 17%, Italy 23%, Czech Republic 26%, Estonia 38%, Slovenia 42%, Greece Love & light, 48%, Spain 67%. from our team To make this situation better, we acknowledge once again the major role that education plays in shifting those percentages and making real change happen. Thus, we, Paula representing Piedzīvojuma Gars and Cathy representing Active Rainbow, created and 4
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About the project Out in the Open focused on improving Among the objectives of the project have been to the social inclusion and active • Increase the lifelong learning participation of LGBT+ youth in society competencies of participants during each phase by improving the competencies of youth • Develop new methods and approaches workers in outdoor education. connected to outdoor and the LGBT+ spectrum education The 3 phases training program, aimed to provide outdoor methods and tools • Organize outdoor activities with schools to youth workers who work with young in Latvia and introducing gender LGBT+ people - in order to become diversity to students pioneers in the implementation of those tools in the field of social inclusion and • Organise local activities in the in the search of LGBT+ young people’s participating countries during the Local empowerment. Action Phase, putting in action the learned practices The project consisted of 3 main phases: • Measure and evaluate the impact of the • 1st phase - Training Course, 9 -15 methods used and holistically the project September 2019, Rites, Latvia (training youth workers, mentors, volunteers, • Organize a networking Conference youth leaders, etc. on outdoor, event in Riga, Latvia during the Capacity experiential and LGBT+ spectrum Building Meeting education) • Produce this publication that you are • 2nd phase - Local Action phase, now reading. September - November 2019, each partner country (participants organizing The project has been financially supported and implementing their gained by the Erasmus+ programme, through experience in their local communities the Latvian National Agency, Jaunatnes and with their target groups) starptautisko programmu aģentūra. • 3rd phase - Capacity Building Meeting, 4-8 December 2019, Riga, Latvia (participants evaluating and measuring the impact of their activities and methods and disseminating the holistic results through the “Should I Come Out?” International Conference.) 6
About the Publication The “Out in the Open” toolkit, that you • Read on & be inspired by experiences are now reading - we like to think that is of participants, who share about their your mini guide to inclusive outdoor and growth during the project’s activities. experiential learning for LGBT+ youth that you didn’t think you need, yet here Note before you continue reading: The initials you are, exploring all about it. LGBTQIA+ stand for: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and + (all Inside this publication, you have the other forms of sexual and gender expression). The initialism LGBTQIA+ emphasizes the diversity of chance to: sexual and gender identities. • Understand the very basics of outdoor When referring to LGBTQIA+ or LGBT+ Spectrum, and experiential learning and its benefits we acknowledge the wide range of aspects that relate to the term: community, culture, human rights, • Explore the very basics of LGBT+ gender and sexual, education, diversity, social spectrum learning and why it is movements, etc. important to commit in creating inclusive learning environments • Find specific tools and activities you can use now in your youth work and adjust to your target group [Those are some of the activities we have used also during the TC, including activities that participants designed during the 1st and 2nd phase of the project] 7
Outdoor Education 8
“I regard it as the foremost task of education to ensure survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity; an undefeatable spirit; tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self-denial and above all, compassion” - Kurt Hahn 9
What is Undoubtedly, the first time being on a outdoor bike created some feeling in you, whether experiential it was joy, excitement or fear and stress. learning? As well most likely you experienced some physical sensations like muscle “Experiential learning in the most soreness or pain in your legs. Might be clear sense is education and learning that you were already thinking of how the through hands on interaction and speed should change if you’re taking a experience with the world that turn or you ended up falling in the nearby surrounds us; learning by doing” bushes or on the road, because your - Kolb, (2015) parent perhaps said they would hold the bike, but then they suddenly let it go. To make it more clear and understandable, let’s first take a look at experiential learning or simply learning by doing. To illustrate how this process usually happens we use David A. Kolb model. 10
Concrete Experience (doing / having an experience) Ac ive Experimenta ion Re lec ive Observa ion (planning / trying out what (reviewing / re lec ing on you have learned) the experience) Abstract Conceptualisa ion (concluding / learning from experience) So to simply put: while you are recalling So now there is a lot of impactful learning this memory now, you can share already to be discovered through observation that you were engaged emotionally, and reflection: factually you can describe physically, mentally and socially in it. what happened and what it created. This process is supported by guiding questions like: Did you enjoy going faster or slower? How was it for you to go in different speeds? What fears did you experience and what helped to manage them? What was the most exciting part of the route? And please, never skip a reflection because it is crucial for a valuable outcome in the next part. Abstract conceptualization or forming the learning. For example, when you fell in the bushes or on the road, most likely your parent didn’t guide any reflection so your first automatic learning outcome was that you can’t ride a bicycle. And this learning stayed with you until later on you realized that one of the possible reasons of your fall was that you wanted to look back and check if your parent was still there with you in your experience, which made you turn the steering wheel together with your head. Can it be? Reflection is forming our learning and 11
our defined learning is what guides our Now that we know how the very basics decisions and actions. It is crucial that of how experiential learning works, let’s put it in the context of LGBTQIA+ the concepts we create and use are youth. We have observed that most used methods to increase inclusion, well working for ourselves. being and activism involve mainly social, mental and emotional engagement, like But how do we know if they are sharing circles, discussions, debates, working? Well that’s the next part, creating art, using media, group work active experimentation which is pretty that involves mostly thinking and talking. self explanatory. We take our newly And while they are also experiential gained learning and put it into practice. learning activities and great contributors, Most likely, for some of you it turned we invite to take the next step in our out for you that you can ride a bicycle used methods, which is to bring these and have been riding it ever since, and youngsters outdoors (aka OUT IN THE for others the next step might have OPEN). been that you tried on different types of bikes and terrains and so on. And guess what? The cycle never ends, from active experimentation we have a new experience that we can reflect on and form new learnings. Why Outdoors? Outdoors is a tool that brings people mental health as well to relationships together, regardless of their background. with ourselves and others. Though Learning through outdoor experience is in this tool kit we will focus more on a powerful stimulus which places us in authenticity - while being in a natural unique settings where we are often quite environment we are truly DOING THE unsure of ourselves. We are offered the REAL THING. And if you look at Edgar opportunity to move beyond our comfort Dale’s Cone of learning you’ll see that this zone, build meaningful connections, face is also the way how to create the most our issues and fears while fostering our long term impact. physical and mental health, living a full- body experience. Let’s say that we want to strengthen cooperation and inclusion within our It gives us a new context with a whole group of participants. There are many bunch of benefits to our physical and ways to achieve it: making a video 12
Scale of cooperation How come one group ‘runs like • a world of survival, in which people clockwork’ but another ‘is completely resist stuck’? • a world of avoidance, in which they The Scale of Cooperation is based on withdraw from tasks and relationships the notion that there are three different ‘worlds’ in which people coexist: • a world of cooperation, in which they focus on growth and trust Survival: you’re under pressure, you push back, it’s win or lose, you or them, talking about each other and against each other about the work and the results. Avoidance: this is the most fascinating of the three ‘worlds’, for the people in it don’t usually show what they’re avoiding, or why: they may not want to survive they may have doubts and be thinking about the direction and the process they are in, about details that are not yet clear to them they may not have any goals they may not – or no longer – want to cooperate Cooperation means sharing, mutual appreciation and acknowledgement, having a joint goal, making use of each other’s qualities, learning from and with each other, and finding win-win solutions together. Struggling Avoiding Coopera ing Creates resistance Creates distance Creates trust Fight Con lict Cri icism Talking Avoiding Talking Feedback Consolidate Flow about with Di icul ies | Possibili ies “The Scale of Cooperation can be used wherever teams operate. ” This model has been developed by a team of trainers and youth workers from the Netherlands, Poland, Germany and France. 25
Feedback Feedback is information on how we are on our way to our goal. Feedback is a gift. The person receiving the feedback can make a choice to “take it or leave it”. Feedback is also based on facts, and not interpretations. It is not criticism. The way it is delivered and the content of it is important to how one continues to act, so here are some suggestions on how to give and receive quality feedback. GIVING BOTH POSITIVE AND REACTION OF FEEDBACK RECEIVER CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: • Share your gratitude to the person • Choose appropriate time and place giving you the feedback by simply thanking them. • Make sure that the person receiving feedback really wants to get it, which • If you do not understand, ask for means ask them first concrete example and/or situation description • Consider whether you want to express your views in public or private • Do not believe everything people say. Give yourself time for reflection. Also, • Keep eye contact it’s your choice, to take this feedback or leave it. Whatever works for you. • Talk about things that have occurred relatively recently • If the volume of information received is too large then say so and arrange to • Praise only if you really think so; flattery continue conversation later. is not the purpose of feedback • Give concrete examples • Tell how you feel • Avoid valuation. Talk about how receivers behaviour affects you. Don’t say: “You do not respect me”, but “I feel unrespected, when you...” • Talk about one thing at a time • After giving feedback, find out how it was perceived • You are responsible for how you formulate your opinion. You are not responsible for the way you are perceived! 26
Johari window The Johari Window model is a simple and useful tool for illustrating and improving self-awareness, and mutual understanding between individuals within a group - as well as personal development, interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, team development, enhancing communications and inter group relationships. It was created by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in 1955. Known to self Not known to self Known to OPEN AREA BLIND AREA others Not known HIDDEN AREA UNKNOW AREA to others The model is based on two ideas, first Here the information about the person’s that trust can be acquired by revealing attitudes, behaviour, emotions, feelings, information about you to others and skills and views is known by the person learning yourself also from others’ as well as by others. This is mainly the feedback. Each person is represented area where all the communications by the model through four quadrants or occur and the larger the arena becomes window panes. Each four window pane the more effectual and dynamic a signifies personal information, feelings, relationship can be. motivation and whether that information is known or unknown to oneself or others 2. Blind area, blind self or “blindspot” - in the four different viewpoints. what is unknown by the person about 1. Open area, open self, free area, free themselves but which others know. self or “The arena” - what is known Here the information about the person’s by the person about themselves and is attitudes, behaviour, emotions, feelings, skills and views is known by others also known by others. in a group but the person is unaware 27
of it. Others may interpret the person 4. Unknown area or unknown self - differently than expected by the person themselves. The blind spot is reduced for what is unknown by the person about efficient communication through seeking feedback from others. themselves and is also unknown by 3. Hidden area, hidden self, avoided others. area, avoided self or “facade” - what Here the information about the person’s attitudes, behaviour, emotions, feelings, the person knows about themselves skills and views is unknown to the person and the others. This includes that others do not know. also the information of capabilities, talents etc. This can be due to traumatic Here the information about the person’s past experiences or events which can attitudes, behaviour, emotions, feelings, be unknown for a lifetime. The person skills and views is known to them but is unaware till they discover their they keep it unknown from others. This hidden qualities and capabilities or can be any personal information which through observation of others. Open the person feels reluctant to reveal. This communication is also an effective way includes feelings, past experiences, to decrease the unknown area and thus fears, secrets etc.. This is common, as to communicate effectively. we tend to keep some of our feelings and information as private as it affects the relationships and thus the hidden area must be reduced by moving the information to the open areas. 28
VICTIM - ACCOUNTABLE CHART Victim/Accountable Chart is one of the Implemen ing Solu ionACCOUNTABLE most essential tools used for personal Finding Solu ionVICTIM development, that promotes self- Taking Ownership awareness and accountability. Acknowledging Reality It helps us to understand why we may Wait & Hope not be getting the results we want – from work or life. It supports in realizing how Excuses a person sees and acts towards others and themselves - becoming aware of Blame their actions, gaining new perspectives and acknowledging what is actually Automa ic Thought happening within them in terms of emotions, thoughts, actions taken and feeling is powerlessness, whereas in actions not taken. The chart can be used the accountable part, “things happen and shared within different contexts and because of you” and the dominating it is definitely a powerful tool to practice feeling is powerfulness. in our daily life, to improve its quality and create the results that we want. All the different levels are at the same Especially from the position of a youth time intersectional, and can also go worker, it is a great asset in listening in circles of experience. From our and decoding a (young) person’s way experience with this tool, we see that of thinking about themselves and their when an individual truly accepts, actions, in order to be able to support chooses or takes accountability for their them in realizing in which position they thoughts and actions, their commitment are and how they can move towards their rises, along with their self-esteem and accountability. self-motivation, as the results they are achieving are their own. Telling someone The 8 different levels allow us to step to be accountable is not of help, as it is back and look at the choices we make encouraging them to take it themselves. and how we handle different situations. These are all behavioural actions that While accountability doesn’t guarantee we go through, and the more we get to that a person can always get the results practice and reflect using the tool, the that they want, it does have an enormous more aware we become and eventually impact for the person’s growth. It means in control of our lives. In the victim behavioural part, it is that “things 29 happen to you” and the dominating
that the person has acted with integrity Wait and hope: In this part the person is in their choices and actions and can stand just doing that. Waiting and hoping for a behind them, because they are congruent miracle, without actually doing anything with what is important to them, what at all. They think eventually their family they value. There is no right or wrong will change their minds, and become more way and there shall be no judgment. open-minded. Only, acknowledgement of what is working and what is not working for a Acknowledging reality: the person person, and how they make the decisions at this level looks at the situation as it to seize the available opportunities and is - seeing what is there already around make life happen for them, rather than them, fact wise too. So, their family is watch events happen to them. closed-minded and they are gay. They see that this is the reality and they think that A brief example within the context of “I need to do something about it if I want an LGBTQIA+ person’s experience, with to live freely as I am and without hiding their struggle of wanting to come out to it, instead of waiting and hoping that their family. Please, keep in mind that this something will eventually change” is a hypothetical example and it is not the case for everyone. Through this example Taking ownership: in this level, the we can simply see how V/A chart is person takes ownership for the problem or demonstrated. situation they are in and accepts that they are responsible for creating the solution. Automatic thoughts: the person is Thus, they own it. thinking that their family won’t accept them for who they are - being a gay Finding Solution: The person is person. Their family might disown them brainstorming and starts thinking of all or kick them out of the house. The person possible solutions that would fit them in thinks that they will never understand and order to come out to their family. One of are afraid to open up and talk about their the solutions they come up with, is for experience with them. them to talk first to one of their family members, one of the parents, and see first Blame: the person from one side can their own response. blame themselves, putting a weight on them, that being who they are is wrong Implementing Solution: the person and it’s their fault that they are in this chooses one of the solutions and situation and/or blame their family, for implements it by taking action. This step being closed-minded people and giving is the best part, as actions create results. them the fault. Now, it can be that the talk goes well and their goal is achieved. It can also be that it Excuses: the person in this stage is doesn’t fully go as they wanted and then making excuses for not taking action, they can choose to implement another saying to themselves “It’s not a good time solution and so on. now to talk to them”, “They have too many things on their plate”. 30
Outdoor Games In this section we present part of the outdoor games used in the course and rope activities that were created by participants. 31
Unknot the team Teamwork Age and Max 10 people (more people takes more time) level of the 12+ years old participants No specific level or background. Length of the Minimum 30 minutes (reflection included) activity Aim The aim of the activity is to develop skills of communication (listening, expressing ideas) in a team. Description of First you need a rope that has as many simple knots on it as many the activity you have participants (the rope is used as a line, do not tie two ends of the rope). Each participant is placing their right hand on the right side of the knot on the rope (For example, first person will put their right hand behind the first knot on the right side). When all the participants have their places then their goal is to untie the rope from all the knots. Activity will end when all the knots are untied. Learning Teamwork; active listening; communication. points Terms Teamwork; communication. Pro- knowledge for No needed. participants Pro- Trainers should have tried the activity at least once before doing it knowledge for with a group. trainers Preparations Room or space for the activity; rope and materials 32
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Walking on the rope Teamwork and trust activity Age and 15+ people level of the 12+ years old participants No specific level or background. Ready to take the responsibility. Length of the Minimum 30 minutes (reflection included) activity Aim The aim of the activity is to develop skills of responsibilities in a team. Description of Participants are forming a circle while standing and holding the activity rope with their arms stretched out. 3 of the participants will not be in the circle. They are leaning back while holding their bodies straight. They are leaning until the rope is tightened in a maximum level and they feel balance and support amongst each other. When participants have reached this level, then 3 of the participants (who are not in a circle) will start their activity. One of the three will start walking on this rope and 2 others will support from inside and outside of the circle to guarantee the safety of a walker. Walker will make a full circle. All of the participants who want to walk, should be able to try it, but first make sure that the group is ready to support. Learning Teamwork; their own level of strength; balance and support. points Terms Teamwork. Pro- knowledge for No needed. participants Pro- Trainers should have tried the activity at least once before doing it knowledge for with a group. trainers Preparations Room or space for the activity; rope and materials 34
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Bomb Refusal Teamwork Age and 15+ years old level of the No specific level or background. participants Length of the Minimum 40 minutes (reflection included) activity Aim The aim of the activity is to develop skills of making strategy as a team and cooperating for a common goal. The objective and rules to read to participants: World is in danger as there is a bomb activated due to system error. We trust that you are the team to defuse it and save the world! Description of Your task is to defuse the bomb by opening the code in the the activity right (ascending) order. 1. Inside there are cards with numbers from 1 - 35 face down. 2. You all will have a chance to go inside and look at 2 cards at a time. 3. You will enter the room one by one and spend a maximum 10 seconds inside. 4. Each of you can go 2 times. Second round starts right after all of you have finished the first round 5. Once you look at cards, you have to close them and leave them as you found. 6. IMMEDIATELY after last person comes out - defusing of bomb will start 7. Defusing will happen in complete silence. All of you enter the room in silence. 8. Together you have to open numbers in growing order. If you touch a card - you have to open it 9. Let’s hope that you will defuse bomb with first try, but if not you will have 3 tries in total. Each try will cost you 5 points. 10. Before you go in you can use as much time as you want for planning strategy. 11. For strategy planning and the whole task you have 20 min. 36
Learning Planning and ability to brainstorm, dealing under pressure, self points evaluation of mistakes. Terms Teamwork, Strategy. Pro- No needed. knowledge for Trainers should have tried the activity at least once before doing it participants with a group. Pro- Extra rules only for the instructors (do not read them to knowledge for trainers participants): 1. Shout “TIME!” - instructor shouts “TIME” for each person once they spent 10 sek in 2. Total time - In total time for exploration is only a number of players X 2 entries X 10 seconds. If someone spends too much time inside they steal it from others. 3. Second round of going in starts immediately after last person from 1st round comes 4. Defusing starts immediately after the 2nd round of exploration. 5. Defusing happens in silence 6. If they make a mistake - team leaves room to think about new strategy. Instructor says “You can use as much time as you want but there are __ min left to complete all task (20 min in total)” 7. In between tries instructor has to rearrange and change layout of cards For the points: If completed with 1st try: 20. With the 2nd, 15 and the 3rd, 10. If not completed, for participation they get 5 points. Preparations Preferably a room. For effect, for it to be dark with no light, and and materials use props to create atmosphere. You can give participants lights to enter and see. Paper and pens to write the numbers for the code or use any other material of your choice. 37
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Calculator of effectiveness Teamwork Age and 14+ years old. level of the No specific level or background needed. participants Length of the Minimum 40 minutes (reflection included) activity Aim The aim of the activity is to measure your effectiveness as a team. On the floor, there is a rope set in a circle and numbers written on paper or in other material displayed. Description of The objective and rules to read to participants: the activity Your task is to push all 35 buttons of the calculator in ascending order in less than 36 seconds. 1. Each member has to push at least one number 2. In playing area can be only one person at the time 3. One person can push several buttons in the row - it’s not necessary to step out 4. If you make mistake - several persons in playing area or you touch wrong button - you get two penalty seconds for each 5. In total you have 3 tries to do that. Each try costs you 3 points. 6. This is the start/finish line. Time starts when you cross it and ends when all of you get back. 7. For strategy planning and the whole task you have 20 min. No trying out or stepping in the area during planning! Learning Teamwork and planning, strategy and development points skills,communication and coordinating skills. Terms Teamwork, effectiveness Pro- knowledge for No needed. participants 40
Pro- During the activity: You can use these extra rules, but do not knowledge for reveal to the participants: 1) Area above (air) playing field counts trainers as well 2) look carefully - sometimes they touch other numbers accidentally. Preparations and materials For the points: If completed with the 1st try: 15. With the 2nd try 12 and with the 3rd try 9. If not completed, give 5 points for Reflection participation. Room or space for the activity; a rope to use to make the circle, the numbers displayed in a written format or any other creative way you choose. Leave them with the thought “what can they get out of this”,by asking questions “What will you improve in....?”, “What knowledge will you take with you?”, “Based on what you experienced in this task how will you improve your team work?” 41
Articles from Participants about the TC/Project 42
Below, you can find snippets of the articles and testimonials, that participants wrote reflecting on their firsthand experience with outdoor and LGBT+ Spectrum education after the Training Course. Articles and testimonials are another supportive tool, that contributes to personal growth. It’s a fundamental tool about reflection, self- evaluation, promotion and visibility. The findings and discoveries of the individual and team reflections provide with a new foundation for measuring impact, and becoming inspired. The articles have been divided into respective chapters, each of them revealing new information about the project and personal insights connected to oneself, emotional growth, non- formal education, outdoor and adventure learning, LGBT+ inclusivity, the methods used during the project and many more. The chapters are divided per participating country. Each chapter has a given title by the editors. Every chapter can be read individually. Enjoy! 43
1 The power of Coming Out (in the Open) 44
PREFACE “Being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transsexual is not always easy. Since a Young age, let’s say, since you’re an infant, people ask you in a facetiously way, if you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Being a kid, is amusing. You keep on discovering life, you get in Touch with the world, and at the same time, it’s when, as a person, life teaches you that the future is yet to come and that being prepared is a must. After some years, adolescence comes along, and by that time, bad, tough, and difficult experiences can teach you, or somehow hurt you. It is when, as almost a Young adult you will have to face by your own the responsibilities and the problems that will build you as a person. During teenage years, hormones work at the speed of the light, and sexuality is a topic generally extended among this age. Teens start discovering their own body, and attractions, in different ways are expressed. Probably, by that time you will notice what is like having the first love, the first ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ and each other along will discover sex. Well, this is something that can sound romantic, but imagine that in your case, you are not attracted to your opposite gender. What happens? Is it correct? Can it be shocking? LGBT+ is a topic that, nowadays is popular to discuss about and to know others opinion can be not so overwhelming or not exactly what we were expecting. 45
OUT IN THE OPEN during the week, through many risk activities that obligated us to work as It was during summer, in this case, a group and collectively, expressing August, that for some special reason, trust and help between us, was the way the stars decided to connect three to reach the aim goal of every single different people from the Kingdom of activity. Using this method, was a way to Spain and inviting them to attend a long understand that ‘the coming out’ is not TC in Latvia about LGBT+ movement always easy, and, that having somebody and discover along with a large group of whom we trust is so necessary. Europeans this amazing topic in one of Nevertheless, we should permit people the Pearls of the Baltic Sea for a week. to help us, and to give us support when we really need it. Out in the open, is more This amazing, touching and emotional than learning about LGBT+, it’s about TC taught us many things about life, relations, affectivity, courage, emotions humanity, sociology and love. In a way, and feelings. 46
At the end of the week, we held some really interesting activities with high school students in a high school near Riga, where we talked openly about gays, lesbians, transsexuals, etc., and, honestly, we were impressed of how an ex former Soviet society is changing so fast and at the same time, how the new generations are so open about this topic. We loved it.” Authors | Evlira Fuentes-Guerra, Tamer Sobhy, Marcel Vivet Bansells 47
2 The power of a single (group) hike 48
Between September 9th and 15th Maja, Michaela and Ana have gone on a journey to Latvia, to the 1st phase of the project Out in the Open. It is a training for youth workers who work with LGBTQIA+ youth about outdoor education. Before departure we knew little about what awaits us once we arrive to Riga. Well, we knew that we would have to walk, that we will be doing things outdoors, that it might be physically challenging, that we would spend quite some time in forest and that we would learn about new methods for working with LGBTQIA+ youth. We knew that youth workers from Italy, Estonia, Spain, Greece and the Czech Republic would join us on this adventure, that we would spent the first night in Riga and the rest of the training would take place in a small village called Rites. At least that’s what the infoletter said. What have we experienced? Let’s read on. So, most of the second day we walked, encountered different challenges and stops, through which we got to know each other better and started to build group dynamics. During our journey we climbed over ropes, got tangled in spider webs, walked with our eyes blindfolded (half of us at a time), we have dipped our feet in some mud and enjoyed Latvian forests. It took us much more time that one would expect to walking approximately 10 kilometres because while walking we also got to know the work and achievements of other participants, we laughed, searched for the right path and started to trust each other. 49
We finished our walk in a village with On the fifth day we headed to a nearby just a few houses, one of them was our high school where we implemented accommodation and learning venue. The workshops with groups of high school house and its surroundings have been students. We prepared some outdoors or rebuilt and taken care of by volunteers of experiential activities for the workshops our hosting organisation, Piedzivojuma in advance a day before. Despite some Gars. They have been the ones who also complications and fears we successfully prepared our programme and activities presented a small piece of the LGBTQIA+ along with the Active Rainbow collective. reality to young Latvians. In the next days we encountered different Last days were dedicated to ourselves, to tasks and ventures that took place out self-care and gave us the message that in the open, in the surroundings of our we should not be to hard on ourselves, temporary home. We played games that that we should respect ourselves and we didn’t manage to solve and some that take time to feel good. Among other we succeeded at. We played during the things this meant massages in our day and also in the night. support groups (we made them at the beginning and met in them daily to We also reflected and talked a lot about discuss our thoughts and feelings), our roles in the group, group dynamics, building and enjoying an outdoor sauna how we experienced them and felt on one of the already cold autumn during tasks and in the group. We spoke evenings. about our values and beliefs that society put there. We digged into the LGBTQIA+ “On the first day of the training course, topic and learned about new theoretical I felt a bit scared among new faces and concepts that will come in handy in our challenging tasks. But with time and with work. every new activity I started to feel more 50
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