Amnesty Against Extremism in Slovakia

Last year in October, Amnesty International Slovakia has launched a new educational project called Start the Change! One of its parts is called the Living Libraries.

Start the Change! aims at improving students’ awareness of the connection between migration and global inequality. The first step on the way to this goal was a training of teachers, during which they got acquainted with the topic of migration as well as various methods of introducing this subject to their students.  

During their training, the teachers also took part in an activity called Living Library, during which they had a chance to listen to the stories of Living Books, members of organisations and volunteers who actively help people on the move, but also people who themselves have had to leave their homes and flee to a foreign country.

Kaja has been a volunteer for many years now. When the so-called migration crisis began, she decided to join a group of volunteers who wanted to help the people on the move. While working with and talking to many female refugees, she found out about their acute lack of underwear. She consequently decided to start a public collection of underwear in order to help the women on move.

Peter works at Slovak Humanitarian Council, specialising in work with people on run placed in Slovakia. He has shared his experience about lives of people, who, after fleeing their countries, find themselves in a foreign country where they have to go through the asylum process.

Azim has a twofold experience with life of the people on the move. He comes from Afghanistan, where he witnessed how the situation in the country made many of them flee their homes. Eventually, he himself left Afghanistan for Slovakia. After the so called migration crisis began, he took part in activities aimed at helping the people on the move.

Danka is a dedicated activist working at Amnesty International Slovakia, where she monitors social networks. She talked to the teachers about her experience with hateful online reactions regarding people on the move as well as depicting of sensitive topics in audio-visual media.

Many of the teachers have decided to organise similar meetings with Living Libraries for their students in cooperation with Amnesty International Slovakia. Living Libraries, which are a part of the Start the Change! project, will be primarily dedicated to the subject of the people on the move.