Posted: 1st December 2021

Narratives for Change: Our first transnational workshop

The very first international activity with the Future Narratives participants was happening! In November, young people and youth workers from Greece, Germany and Sweden travelled to Seville to meet each other, share our stories, and learn more about the power of narrative.

Some of us arrived a day earlier, others arrived just on time for our get-to-know and name game activities. It is not easy to bond with a group from the first time you meet them. However, we could see from the beginning that there was something special with the group, with the people and their stories.

The first thing we did was to play a name activity with a ball. Each person from the group was asked to share a special word that means something to us, a word that is important and incorporates our values and perceptions about life. We shared nature elements, emotions and activities that we keep very dear to ourselves. It was a nice sharing moment to learn a few things about each other’s interests and aspirations. The first evening was a great introduction to a week in which we would discover more about each other and ourselves through the power of stories.

Connecting through stories

Over the rest of the week, our programme encouraged us to think more about how stories could allow us to connect with each other, understand the stories we tell about our lives, and imagine new stories and new futures. We spoke about stronger leadership among young people and how others’ negative perceptions should not define and shape ourselves. Storytelling can be a useful asset to change ourselves and others around us.

However, the important thing is to persuade ourselves that we are the stories we tell to ourselves and not the stories other people say about us. We need to look for positive things in life and inside us, cherish them and use them to convince ourselves that we matter and we can achieve the things we dream of. 

Online workshops with Alim Kamara and Chené Swart

We were joined by two experts on narrative and storytelling, who shared their different approach to the power of stories. Alim Kamara is a British-Sierra Leonean rapper and storyteller, who, through his organisation Storie Storie, shares inspirational stories and helps individuals and organisations to develop the skills to share their own.

Chené Swart is a narrative coach and consultant who has been translating Narrative Therapy ideas and practices with organisations, communities and individuals from various cultures and contexts for nearly 20 years. She is committed to participate in and contribute to conversations and actions that re-author our world towards the common good, one narrative at a time!

Read more about our workshops with Alim and Chené here.

Exploring Seville

During one afternoon of our training, the group joined a challenging activity in the city of Seville. They had to go and collect stories from the locals, understand the histories, their everyday lives and dreams about the future. Initially, they had to just observe and make assumptions of what they were doing and thinking. Then, they had to challenge themselves a bit more and go to interview them. It was nice to go around historical places as a group, observing the people, their environment, their reactions and collecting their stories. Some of them might have been imaginary stories and some others might have been real life stories.

The timeline of biographies

In another session, we built a timeline of biographies that aimed to include the most important points and events of our lives. Starting from 1990 to 2021, participants noted down 8 things that have happened to them and have affected their lives.

You could see similarities and differences in their life paths but also, see how some specific events such as economic crisis, wars or the very recent pandemic crisis have affected their lives. In this sense, it was a good activity for research purposes and descriptive statistics. What we observed was that participants listed common types of life events such as travelling experiences, education, work and particular friends and family events. A lot of things were going on in the participants’ life during the period 2018-2021. But another thing we got from this exercise was the realisation and visualisation of how different life paths of different people can be connected without even having met each other before we travelled to Spain for that week.

Here are a few of the stories we shared:

“I started university in Afghanistan. During my studies in 2019, I worked in the women’s rights department with an American organisation. I worked a lot with the organisation because there were women in some provinces that did not have good access to anything. I continued my education and worked on this. After graduating law, I started 4 years in a midwifery institute. It was my second year in this university when the Taliban came and I came to Spain. Now I am in Spain with great hope that I can go on well in the future.”

“I have had very bad days in my life and no one could help me. I have to deal with a lot of problems by myself and I can’t do anything anymore but the only thing that makes me powerful is my mother and my best friend telling me “go on and do it, you are powerful”! It makes me feel strong when they say it. Although it is a simple phrase, when they say it, it makes me strong. All I need is to have this phrase. ”

“I wish to see my mom as soon as possible. It has been 6 years since she went to Sweden. She lives with my brother and now, she wants to come to Spain. We will prepare the house and cook delicious meals for her. We will kiss her a lot. I love my mom and she loves me too. I miss her kisses.”

The timeline of biographies was featured as an installation at our international seminar held at the University of Seville. Read more about our event here.

Goodbye, until next time!

By the final day of the workshop, firm bonds had been forged, and our group could share more stories and experiences in a more informal setting. Friendships had already been developed since the beginning of the training course but the activities helped the group to know each other, even know themselves better by providing space for personal reflection and opening up to people that have never met before. It was a very pleasant experience!

Goodbyes are not easy. But this time we know that it was just the beginning of this journey together. Stay tuned for the next Future Narratives activities, as we look forward to our next workshop in Athens.