Maximizing Youth’s Talent and Heightening Self-confidence Erasmus Project

Project Title

Maximizing Youth’s Talent and Heightening Self-confidence

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Ethics, religion and philosophy (incl. Inter-religious dialogue); Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

“The truths which the religious teachings comprise are but so disfigured and systematically disguised that the mass of people do not recognise it as the truth.“ (Siegmund Freud)
The project was inspired and based on the second oldest written epic mankind knows, Homer’s Odyssey, which tells the mythical journey of Odysseus, who first takes part in the ten-year-long Trojan War and then suffers a ten-year-long journey on the Mediterranean Sea. The myth in general is an image that helps us to glimpse the hidden or mysterious aspects of the human condition. The myth was always a story that reaches beyond the specific experience of the individual who speaks to us all, because it expresses a collective, even universal experience.
Using Homer’s Odyssey as a guideline we intended to create a system that lets young people experience an odyssey of their own. Working together as groups the participants of this learning experience first developed an understanding for the various mythical characters appearing in the epic as well as of the challenges Odysseus and his crew faced. Then each group designed a challenge and prepared its presentation well, using audiovisual media. Then each group attempted to create solutions to the challenges created by the other groups and presented them in a video. Afterwards each group went through all the challenges that the other groups created with the aim of coming up with creative and good solutions. They have presented their solutions in a video again. Then the participants role-played the scene in a short game setting in order to find out if they succeed with their idea or not. Finally each group reflected and reported on the outcome of the role play and, very important, transferred its universal principle / truth to current personal lives (also via video). For example, the externally installed gods in the Odyssey have been interpreted as an expression of the longing for a higher instance justice and thus were actually “inner” gods or one’s conscience.
Odysseus knew that he has done a lot of atrocities in the Trojan War and his guilty conscience plagues him. As a result in the further course he failed everything as he saw only the negative. Or, the Cyclops as a being that accepted no rule and no (other) gods and, in addition, seemed to be invincible was a metaphor for the terrorist organisation IS, or for a overpowering, violent father etc.The idea presentations and reports of the actions (video, maps, texts, etc.) are published on a web platform that served the purpose of sharing the results with the public.
The special feature of the platform is that it takes its audience on their own journey in which they choose their preferred path through the challenges by picking one of the presented solutions. In addition to the web portal a manual has been prepared, which allowed youth workers and teachers to foster universal and European values and competencies inspired by the Odyssey and empowered their students to self-knowledge and design. The manual enables others to run an even and to transfer the challenges to modern day situations, problems and challenges (such as situations of refugees in Europe).
The web platform (https://myths.eduproject.eu/) is freely available and it is easy to publish event results on it and turn them into an interactive story system for the viewers. We wanted to launch this education project, because we believed that everyone in the world and especially in Europe should know about Homer’s epic or at least about its main lessons in becoming an enlightened and self-assured human being and citizen. Participants learned about human values and challenges, decision making and anticipating consequences, humanity and religion. They were trained to transfer their findings into their everyday life to evaluate and solve upcoming individual, social and political problems and challenges. Knowing more about the principles of humankind helps them to master their life as responsible, sympathetic and successful social citizen.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 152864,68 Eur

Project Coordinator

Youth Services Coordinator within Ministry for Gozo & Country: MT

Project Partners

• Ingenious Knowledge GmbH
• Omilos Neon Ellinon
• Pakkhús Ungmennahús