From November 12 to 16, 2019, 17 students (all Year 7) from the Nelson Mandela School, a state international school in Berlin, and 21 students from Spoleczna Szkola Podstawowa in Swidnica (Year 7 and 8) came together in Palac Morawa to get to know each other and to work on a joint project with the topic of NATURE in the creative fields of Visual Arts and Theater.
The cooperation project, which is supported by the German-Polish Youth Association, has taken place for the fourth time already. The language of communication is English, which is spoken well by all of the participants. Palac Morawa, with its spacious rooms and great facilities, its history and surrounding nature, is the perfect spot for intercultural projects increasing the awareness of our responsibility for the world community.
This year, the 41 students worked on the topic of “our nature” as on one side the contrasting emotions within themselves (human nature) and on the other side the juxtaposition of contrasting art elements, i.e. man-made items against natural material. After getting to know each other with social games, the group was mixed (Polish/German) and split in half to work parallel on theater scenes and art pieces assembled of finds. A visit at the school in Swidnica included a fun game testing everybody on their knowledge of nature.
On one afternoon all students were split up into smaller groups to take over a social job demonstrating their responsibility for the fantastic place of Palac Morawa. Bookshelves in the library were cleaned, dusted and sorted, pastry was baked, a supply storage was tidied, carnival masks were created for the kindergarten children, a social game was invented, the park was cleaned of fallen leaves, wooden logs got sorted and organized and the bonfire was prepared.
Finally the results were presented to an audience including Melitta Sallai and received a well-deserved applause. Enjoy the photo gallery to get an impression!
The farewell party on the last evening was meant to say “goodbye” to each other – however, we all hope to see each other again soon at this magical place.
Bernard Szulc (D)
Florentine Baumann (D)
Katarzyna Bajcarn (PL)
Sylwia Lubieniecka (PL)