There is nothing more beautiful than building a better world with like-minded people! People who can teach you a lot and at the same time are ready to listen to you.
This is the feeling we experience every time we work with our VIVA project partners. This time we would like to tell you more about our last international meetings with them, which was much more than a training, and the inspiration and activation of our own skills and potential.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The meeting took place between 17th and 23rd November and enabled more than 20 participants from Romania, Greece, Iceland, Belgium, Italy and Bulgaria to present their methods in the work with visually impaired people. The main focus was on enhancing the confidence and skills of visually impaired people, as well as the fact that in today’s world it is no longer sufficient to be competitive only on a national level, but also on an international one.
Participants went through a visual awareness training and discussed the importance of knowing the environment around them and what the factors to consider when organizing an event with people with special needs are. The topics discussed were various – from discussions related to social entrepreneurship to workshops for analyzing our individual strengths and weaknesses, from games for spatial and creative thinking to training in organizing events and the use of theatrical skills in our work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have also introduced two of our methods – ‘Bread in the Dark’ and the game ‘Bakers without borders’. Two events “Bread in the Dark” were implemented the “Bread in the Dark” team, who presented the initiative and shared their happiness of being involved in such an international project as VIVA. One of the mornings was entirely dedicated on planning how the game could be successfully adapted for visually impaired people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are looking forward to our next meeting, which will be from 3rd till 9th July but until then we will keep you updated about the events and initiatives of the project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if you are curious to get involved in our work or you have an idea how to adapt the game ‘Bakers without borders’, contact us at atanaska@bread.bg!

During the first VIVA project meeting, which took place in the city of Volos from 16^th April till 18^th April 2019 with the kind hospitality of the Greek partners from the University of Thessaly, the partner organizations could meet and discuss how to collectively develop a training program on social entrepreneurship for visually impaired young people. The training program will focus on the development of leadership, inter-cultural and entrepreneurial skills. Key methods to support the training process will be the innovative program Bread in the Dark and The Game: Bakers without borders offered by the Bread Houses Network as well as team-building practices based on drama techniques.

 

The first training is scheduled for the middle of November in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The purpose of the project was social inclusion and personal transformation of visually impaired people through the Bread IN the Dark method for community cohesion and bread making with sighted people. Bread in the Dark events were connecting sight-impaired facilitators with sighted people in 100% darkened environment where the mixed group engages in bread-making as a catalyst for dialogue on various existential questions, experienced tangibly through the processes of kneading bread as metaphors for life.

The project included training and group work with visually impaired and sighted people, mixed Bread IN the Dark bread making events and darkening of the Sofia Bread House to ensure 100 % darkened environment.

Period of implementation: August 2017 – January 2018

Financing organisation: Vivacom Regional Grant