21.07.17, Saschiz – Smiley, nostalgic, happy: these are the faces we saw yesterday evening in Saschiz.
The event was called “Erasing Generations”. The idea was to bring parents, grandparents and youngsters together and get them to connect to each other in an unusual way. The result could not have been more successful.
Reinvent Yourself, team of volunteers of Wild Carpathia, had organised this evening with little expectation. “It’s a small village”, we thought. “It’s not so easy to get people to participate. There won’t be many people for sure.” Against all odds, the community surprised us. People started to come in, and they were families. Grandmothers in heels and teenagers with their smartphones and the perpetual skeptical attitude that accompanies their age. We got scared. For a second we didn’t feel prepared enough to live up to their expectations. But then something happened. As we started to speak about childhood games and meeting friends in the time where smartphones didn’t exist, the people who came to listen, the people we thought would get bored or be disappointed, actually started to connect to each other. They started to talk, share their experience, compare games, recall memories. “I played the same game as you when I was a child”, “I don’t remember the rules”, “It was like this”, and then suddenly one of the ladies gets up and starts to draw a table on the floor with a black marker. She then removes her shoes and gives a demonstration, her body is speaking, this is how the game works, join me. The moment is so beautiful that their words don’t need translating. We don’t need to understand everything. All that matters is that they feel involved and connected. We can very well stay aside, out of the picture, and enjoy.
From that moment on, it was easy. We knew which questions to ask, which people to push and which ones didn’t need pushing. The flow of positive energy was contagious. The ones who stood up to play had fun; the ones who stayed seated and watched were all smiling, like you would do when you witness something beautiful and unexpected. We shared old pictures and recent ones, as well as the stories behind those pictures and the treasured family moments everyone has. We (literally) pulled together old, black and white photos with digitally modified grandpas on Snapchat. Erasing generations. Sometimes it’s so easy.
The last part of the day was dedicated to drawing a family tree. Three generations together, building the story of their family. By the end of the evening, they brought with them positive feelings, memories, the family tree they had drawn, and one board game we gifted them. I cannot describe our happiness when we heard them making plans to play that game on that same night with their families. We asked them to describe the day with one word: “unexpected”, “surprising”, “beautiful”, “childhood”, “nostalgic”, were some of the words we got.
For us, the volunteers, this day was surprising and inspiring. We got a taste of what we can make happen with a little effort. It isn’t always easy to work with people who don’t know you, don’t speak your language and are more or less diffident about you. However, if you pull an effort in their direction, if you reach for their hand, they can be open and welcoming. This is the lesson that I assign to this day, a lesson to remember in future activities. Make an effort. The community rewards.
Thank you all, from Wild Carpathia.
Pictures by: Daina Laizane, Michaela Sergi
Article by: Michaela Sergi
