WE AfriHug completes its activities after a 7-month project in Eastern and Western Africa. The last members of the team returned back to Europe and more specifically in Greece, on the 31st of July 2018, as initially planned. WE AfriHug constituted a 7-month journey full of challenges and adventures, full of knowledge, network and social impact in 7 African countries. The team achieved successfully all the goals set and implemented more activities than initially planned.
The team of WE AfriHug visited in total 7 countries in Eastern and Western Africa: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Togo, Ghana, Western Sahara and Nigeria. The first objective of the project was the Empowerment of Youth with Skills needed for the 21st Century through Training Seminars based on Non-formal Education. The team visited 6 High-Schools (Kenya, Togo, Ghana and Western Sahara), where the members implemented the Training Seminars aiming at the empowerment of the students through experiential learning. In Uganda, the team organized an Educational Camp, in which High-School students had the chance to participate in the non-formal education activities. In total 287 High-School students participated in the activities in the framework of the project.
The second objective of the project was to inform Universities about Erasmus+ and studying opportunities abroad. The team visited 7 Universities and educated 1560 students and academic staff for the opportunities offered and how they could use them in the future. One of the milestones was the development of synergies between Kenyatta University, in Nairobi in Kenya, Kyambogo University in Kampla in Uganda and Piraeus University in Greece. Practically this means that students and academic staff of these Universities will start soon their academic mobility.
The third objective of the project was the accomplishment of Sports Milestones. The team achieved in the beginning of the year to climb to the top of Africa, mountain Kilimanjaro, at 5.895 m after 6-day climbing, following Machame route. The significant factor for this accomplishment was the team spirit between the members of the team. In the end of February, 3 of the members participated in the Solidarity Marathon “Sahara Marathon 2018”, which took place in the Refugee Camps of Western Sahara in Algeria. By running 42.195 m. in Sahara desert, the volunteers expressed their support with the Saharawi people for the 42 years of their resistance and survival in the desert.
The fourth objective of the project was to conduct an Academic Research entitled as “Academic Mobility: Traveling abroad for Educational Purposes. Case Study: WE AfriHug project in Ghana”, in which the impact of Academic Mobility for Ghanaian students has been researched. The findings of the research will be announced soon. Moreover, during the stay in Ghana, the team participated in international training projects with African Youth, Experts, Youth workers, NGOs, Trainers and Policymakers aiming at contributing to Africa’s educational future. Particularly, the team participated in the European projects “STEP Forward” and “The Grapes of Wrath” in Tamale, Northern Ghana, in the 2nd Afrika Youth Movement Retreat & Forum in Accra and in the Changemakers’ Room Africa Edition in Lagos, Nigeria.
All the objectives of the project were accomplished after many challenges in the continent of Africa. The team had to solve several problems and situations with the aim to complete the activities of the project. Even though, the initial objective was for the team to transfer their knowledge, after 7 months, the team was lucky enough to gain much more knowledge and experience by adapting every time to every local community.
The success of WE AfriHug is a result of several factors, the competences of the team members, the people who supported them from the beginning till the end of the project but mostly to the people that the team met during their stay in Africa who are the key-people for the success of the project. WE AfriHug won the award Golden Laissez-Passer by garagErasmus Foundation after the participation of Konstantinos Maragkos in the competition for the Best Erasmus Talent of 2017.