Masunga Mostar

Finally, the day where words would become reality, where Scandinavian learning was to be tried out in Bosnia. i Herzegovina, where we were to host a workshop on a Saturday with 50 youngsters in age 15-18 years.
First concern; would they show up?
Despite a lot of planning and rehearsing there is always something you forget, like finding a projector for the power point presentation. The first improvisation of the day – we did it the Løken-way.
In general improvisation became important for us. First of all only 29 guys showed up, not as many as expected, but definitely enough to carry through the program.
The energy was low among the participants in the beginning, but a check in and an icebreaker lifted the energy level.

This is the program of the day if anyone should be interested:
9.00 : Presentation of project: “Picture your future”
9.20 : Presentation of the Work shop program
9.40 : Check in / clarification on expectations
10.40: Break
10.50: Icebreaker: Picture each other’s faces (40 min)
11.30: Break
11.40: Value assignment: “Circle out 5 values that means the most to
you.”
12.30: Break
13.15: World Café: “How can I as an individual have a positive impact
on the future of Mostar?”
“How can I have a positive impact on my own life?”
“How can I achieve my dream/vision?”
15.15: Break
15.30: Presentation of headlines from the facilitators
16.00: Check out: “Mention one thing you take with you from the
workshop.”
16.15: End of day

Already from the beginning we were an hour ahead of the program. Apparently these guys were not as talkative as team 13, no one held a speech in their check in, as we usual experience.
Before introducing the value assignment we did a Masunga. In second round they really got it, and the security guy came running to check out what was going on.
We have to start counting all the countries that we are doing Masungas in.

They worked hard in the “World Café”, talking, drawing and discussing. We walked around and tried to figure out what was in the air, but to be honest we had no clue whether they were actually talking about their future or the party Friday night, since everything was in Bosnian.
In the presentation of headlines in the end it showed that they had been very engaged. The need of uniting the youth in Mostar and make things together they could be proud of, was mentioned several times. Further more the need of going abroad to get good education, and then make people return to Mostar to start new things, was a big topic as well.
We ended the day with a check out, where the young guys where much more diverse in their expression than the check in. It was nice to experience the change through the day.
We went straight to Abrasevic for beers and evaluation. Hanne and Mathilde (French girl working at the democracy office) gave us feedback, which is very useful for our report later on. We went through every step of the day and the final conclusion was a SUCCESS. We did realize, that we hadn´t taken the target group that much into consideration, while planning the workshop, that’s why the improvisation became so important. Not necessary a bad thing to practise and we managed very well to make the program fit the surroundings.
Abrasevic is now warming up for the psychedelic party tonight, so this is where the writing stop and the dancing begin.