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GPKT Activity Update 13

‘Friends Across Borders’
Trgoviste Children’s Art Competition February 2005

At the GPKT Education Comittee meeting in January 2005, Committee members supported the proposal to organise an art competition for school children from the GPKT municipalities in Trgoviste, the newest town to join the GPKT Project. As well as strengthening co-operation and exchange between the schools and children of the four municipalities, it was felt that an art competition would also be a very positive and neutral event for the first GPKT meeting Trgoviste would host.

This art competition was the second such GPKT event – the first, a similar competition day including sporting activities, was hosted by the Presevo '15 Nentori' school with EWI support in November 2003. Led by the GPKT Education Committee and organised by the participating schools with EWI support, this second competition involved children and teachers from: 'Branko Radicevic', the host school; '15 Nentori' and '9 Maj' schools from Presevo; 'Musa Zajmi' and 'Vuk Karadjic' from Gjilan/Gnjilane; and the 'Toli Zordumis' school from Kumanovo.
 

On 26 February 2005, school children from all four municipalities, and from Albanian, Serb, Macedonian and Turkish ethnic groups, gathered in Trgoviste for the competition. This was the first multi-ethnic event to be held in Trgoviste, and the positive atmosphere and enthusiam expressed on the day were a credit to the efforts of the schools involved. Indeed, the number of children participating in the event was much larger than planned, indicating the high level of interest in the activity: approximately 60 children in total attended, accompanied by around 20 teachers from the schools involved, and around 10 volunteers from the GPKT Youth Council who came to assist teachers and EWI staff. It should also be noted that this was the first visit to Serbia for the Kosovar ethnic Albanian children, and the first visit since the conflict for many of the teachers who accompanied them. All delegations of children from Presevo, Gjilan/ Gnjilane and Kumanovo were multi-ethnic, and the particpants from Presevo and Gjilan/Gnjilane travelled together on the same bus to Trgoviste.

The event began with warm welcomes from Mr. Milorad Nikolic, the Vice President of Trgoviste municipality, and Mr. Stojko Davidovic, Director of the host 'Branko Radicevic' school, who both underlined the importance of such co-operation and relationship-building between the different communities in the region to ensure a more positive future for the next generation. Split into three age groups of 7 to 10, 10 to 12 and 12 to 15 years old, the children painted pictures on the theme of 'Friends Across Borders'; during lunch, a judging committee of teachers from all four municipalities was formed to select the winners, and small prizes of art materials were awarded. At the end of a fun and exhausting day, all the children took home certificates of participation, the paints and brushes they had used on the day, and their 'Friends Across Borders' T-shirts, printed in different colours for the event.

All the paintings will be framed and exhibited in the four municipal buildings to allow children and teachers the chance to visit the exhibition in their own municipality. On EWI's invitation, the event was also filmed and reported by Radio Presevo and Decija Televizija from Silovo, Gjilan/Gnjilane, and footage of the competition has been distributed to all schools involved, alongwith thanks for their participation and support.

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