On the 28 of November, 2014 the story of the global campaign against human trafficking #UAgainstHT [United Against Human Trafficking] begins. Youngsters from Ukraine, Sweden, Romania, Italy and Georgia, who came to participate in the Erasmus+ project visited the Lyceum "Transilvania" in Deva, Romania to raise awareness on human trafficking.
"Break the Chain" Project, arranged under program of the European Commission Erasmus+, held in Romania at the end of November, 2014 gathered participants from all around Europe to explore the topic of human trafficking. They not only learned and shared cultures, but also applied obtained knowledge when generating ideas for local and global campaigns.
When planning an action to implant during our stay in Romania, we thought of different ways to impact local community, but chose to focus our efforts on raising awareness of children - one of the most vulnerable group of human trafficking. It is very important for future generations to be informed instead of growing in indifference and becoming potential victims.
On the 28th of November we visited the Liceul Technic "Transilvania" in Deva to raise awareness of children on a serious issue in a creative way. We wrote key messages on balloons and presented them to pupils. "Keep yor passport", "Katia, 18", "He thought he will find a better job", "Looking for a better life they end up in a brothel" - sounded simply, but challenging at the same time.
In addition, lecturing in Romanian Andreea Maris, organizer of the "Break the Chain" provided an essential information about the meaning, relevance, data, preventive measures against human trafficking. Stories, listened with special attention helped to realize, that human trafficking may happen with anyone and in any time, regardless prepared or not they are. Furthermore, everyone should be aware and never stay aside, because everything depends on us. It matters whether our decision will be yes, to abstain or to say no to human trafficking, understanding the problem and desiring to tackle it at roots.
Messages on balloons, combined with a lecture made pupils feel involved and interested in the topic, so they were not only all ears, but also addressed questions, full of curiosity. It made us feel welcome and happy.
Lao Tzu used to say, that the journey of thousand miles starts from the first step. We did it, visiting Romanian school. And that's just the beginning of our way.
Photos: Oksana Tykhovska
