The 10 day youth exchange took place on 26th April 2005 and involved more than 50 people from over 8 different countries. The theme of the exchange was about fire rituals and fire safety, all of this culminating in the main spectacle, the rocket war, an event that takes place once a year in Vrontados on Chios Island.
We also had many activities based around the Easter holidays, traditions like the painting and breaking of eggs, the Christian celebrations as well as an extra environmental conservation project.
The Exchange included the following activities:
- Collection of information related to the rocket war in Chios.
- Exchange of knowledge and experiences related to the use of fireworks and fire for the celebration of important events and as an accompaniment to religious and other ceremonies around Europe.
- Protection of our country from fires.
- Dialogue with institutions and young people on this issue.
- Voluntary tree planting and continuation of the “Euroforest” that we had created in the MULTIMEDIA CROSSROAD exchange in 2001.
- Creation of web pages related to the above and publication on the Internet.
The objectives were:
- To provide information about the unique phenomenon of rocket warfare that occurs on the border island of Chios.
- To promote the isolated island of Chios, providing its young people with more opportunities for information, finding employment and participation in programs such as “Youth”.
- To help protect the environment and create discussions about fighting fires.
- To visit the “Euroforest” that we created in the MULTIMEDIA CROSSROAD exchange in 2001 and plant more trees
Multilateral Exchange of young people from 9 European countries, lasting 9 days, aimed at:
- Getting to know young people from other European countries, exchanging views on the concept of a United Europe, looking for ways to contribute in this direction through New Technologies and, ultimately, creating friendly relations, both transnational and personal, and our future cooperation.
- To the acquisition of knowledge and experience, both on a group and individual level, the exchange of knowledge and experience related to the use of fireworks and fire across Europe for the celebration of important events and as an accompaniment to religious and other ceremonies.
- Contributing to the protection of the environment and creating discussions on the protection of our land from fires.
- To dialogue on the fight against fires and the protection of the environment.
- To promote the Ruketopolamos custom in order to promote tourism in the area, to promote the natural beauty of the island and to contribute to its development.
The exchange of knowledge and experiences related to local customs concerning the use of fireworks and fire around Europe to celebrate important events and as an accompaniment to religious and other ceremonies. Discussions on contributing to the protection of the environment and the protection of our land from fires were made, while participating in the tree planting of the “Euroforest” by symbolically planting a tree continuing the “Euroforest” of the multimedia youth exchange “Multimedia Crossroad 2001”. The young participants also had the chance to observe the religious and other customs of the Greek Easter and compare them with those of each country.
The rusults of the activities that took part in this youth exchange were uploaded to the project’s web pages with the joint creation of articles for the construction of it. The joint writing of articles related to the theme of the project and their exchange and dissemination in the participants’ home countries.