"The Journey" Virtual Activity was held on Zoom video-conferencing service. It was organized by Greece thanks to the participation of the 7 countries of the Erasmus+ KA204 I-TALES project: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain.

The online event included each partner artistic contribution to the topic ''The Journey'' after each partner organized three local activities where poetry/narration painting and music worked together.

It was a mix of activities poetry/narratives illustrated with old family migrants photos, videos, handcraft works, painting, and music symbolizing the difficulty that many migrants face.Art teachers and learners /second generation of migrants were involved to communicate and interact with each other to explore and increase the knowledge about the cultural aspect of the I-Tales project but also on issues affecting the refugee and migrants, with the purpose to help the migrants which are project participants but not only.

Specifically "The Journey" step aims to help migrants to overcome the bad memories and the difficult aspects during their own Journey.

Working closely with the local community involving Key stakeholders is having also a broader a good impact to reflect and increase knowledge of our common history in migration topic.

As Cavafy says'' dangerous will only arise if you carry them inside, or if your soul sets them up in the front of you''.

Here is a report with photos and some of the partners' contributions during the Zoom meeting.

For more, PDFs, poems, photos,videos, click here "local lab activities" sub page

Keep Ithaka always in your mind

Arriving there is what you're destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean. (taken from ''Ithaka'' BY C. P. CAVAFY)

Greece presented two poems, a narration and a song.

“Ithaca” by the Greek poet Konstantinos P. Kavafis speaks to all of us and reminds us that the journey is more important than the destination.

Baggage By ALEV ANTIL. the poem is taken from Refuge memories:

Do you still wake up in the night

and start listing what you’d take

if you had to leave

all over again

and start again?

The refugee rule:

one suitcase per single person,

two per family.

Istanbul unlimited friend’s stories…Life in Cihangir was beautiful

It's a story written in Greek and English by Greek migrants of the second generation.

She went deep into her family story from the departure to the arrival to the new country describing the difficulties that her family faced illustrated with old family photos. videos, music, and fragments from movies.

Not only the difficulties of ''The Journey'' are described through poems and narratives there are described and old beautiful memories'', friends, and food, keeping them alive throughout narratives and passing to the second generation for the preservation of the culture.
The writer describes also The New Life in the host country. Overcoming the difficulties during ''The Journey-My Journey and Your Journey we all have gained so much, so much experience and culture to share with each other.

Antra moy paei-My man is leaving''

The south Italian song ''Antra moy paei-My man is leaving'' which is written in grekanika based in greek with Italian influences. The song is written by Franco Corliano from The Greek village ''Calimera'' in greek means ''have a good day'' or ''good morning'' it presents the hard-working life of greek-Italian men who lived and worked in mines in Germany. Usually, they don't see their families...sometimes they never went back.

Italy presented 2 products of the local lab activities planned in the LTTA 2 "The Journey". Massafra learners group's activities were focused the theme of the sea, that sea between Africa and Italy thousand migrants cross everyday to reach the Italian coasts. The journey into the inner reality gave rise to simple sentences, born from memories, emotions and thoughts. Those sentences were rewritten and changed into something like “poems”, inserted in the product presented during the virtual meeting.

During the virtual mobility on 22 September the group of learners from Barletta Liceo Casardi, coordinated by Mirella Sasso presented the video "We are all migrants" produced during the various meetings and performed the musical piece that accompanies it. The intervention of the Valeria Martina Association was completed by the performance for voice and piano of the famous song"Caruso" by Lucio Dalla.

Caruso

00:00 / 00:22

Bulgaria presented two products, the poem “Tell me” created by the learners during the local activities labs "The Journey - The road to hope”

and the song “Andra Mou Paei”.

The labs were focused on the topics "Make my Journey easier by telling me about your customs" and "Honestly and frankly about the fear of the unknown in the new world, the insecurity of meeting strangers and a new culture, ways to open up to each other, accepting differences through cultural traditions."

Tell me...

Tell me, my little white cloud.

Where do you come from?

Where did you fly?

Didn’t you see my father’s yard?

Didn’t you hear

what my mother said?

My little white cloud,

what is my dear son doing

among foreign people?

Tell her, pleasе, my white cloud

that you saw me alive and healthy here.

Tell her “Hello” from me.

I was abroad for a long time

and little left.

Soon I’ll come back to my village

and I’ll hug my dear mother.

Cyprus presented a poem based on the life of a young couple who immigrated to the USA created by the learners during the local activities labs "The Journey ”.

Poetry /narration

Poem Based on the life of a young couple who immigrated to the USA.

Although millions of people was around them
they felt so lonely.
They fear what they will find on
their way and their living is forced
by fear.
They face people as their rivals.
They hide their tears trying to get a
“normal life” abroad.
They pretend they are happy but
deep inside they feel the emotional
pain and the fear of the unknown.
HOPE is always there though for the
new spring.

Spain presented two products: a story while showing handicrafts doll made in Mexico and a song. The participant while playing the guitar shared with us her thoughts about why she chose the song.

“México lindo y querido"

During my 13 years of emigration, this song was my guide for the spiritual process that every travel really is. The lyrics tell us a story of doubts, anxiety, depression, addictions, longing to finally go home, when you don´t really know where your home is, and at the same time acknowledging the beautiful life that surrounds us all, and an overwhelming need to liberate yourself from all obstacles (which might be your belief system you were taught at what you once thought was your home, for example) and finally be free. Essentially, for me, emigration is a caterpillars´journey; You must abandon yourself and what you believe in in order to find out who you really are and what you came here to do, to emerge as completely different creature - a beautiful butterfly.

Portugal presented "The Migrants" a set of three videos made during the local workshops. In one of them some of the participants narrate their "journey".

Lithuania presented the result of a workshop in which short narrations were written starting from watching some of the paintings by the artist Mikalojus Constantinas Ciurlionis.