More than 30 Kolping Youth members from all over the world took part in something completely new on February 25th. Namely, in order to adjust our activities to the pandemic due restrictions, Kolping Youth Europe decided to introduce a new digital offer called Kolping Talk. Through these online events we aim to initiate an exchange about different topics and projects. The idea is to invite interesting guests to share their experience and to discuss together with other Kolping members worldwide.
On our very first Kolping Talk participants had the chance to learn more about Kolping Youth activities in Africa thanks to our special guests Alain Serge Baba (Kolping Cameroon), Paulinus Ezechukqu Kanu (Kolping Nigeria) and Elisabeth Adolf (Kolping Germany).
Alain Serge Baba introduced the participants to the history of Kolping Cameroon, their vision and mission and the goals they work towards today. The projects in Cameroon focus on promoting education, the training of young people for the job market, agropastoralism and practical trades such as the dyeing of clothes and the manufacturing of soaps. Elisabeth Adolf from Germany shared her experience from a three weeks long youth workcamp in South Africa organized by the Kolping Youth Community Service. During this workcamp, the participants stayed at host families, supported a social project in a school and had the chance to see elephants. In the end, Paulinus Ezechukqu Kanu from Nigeria presented the work, goals and challenges they are currently facing. He emphasized that the training programmes of Kolping Nigeria aim to tackle the high rate of unemployment among young people and deal with fashion and design, media and computer, animal farming and various trades. After the presentations, the guests answered questions from the participants, e.g. about the role of the Kolping Youth within their Kolping Societies. The event ended with a networking session where participants could continue further discussion in small groups and get to know each other a little bit better.
We would like to thank everyone who participated, especially our guests for their interesting presentations. Don’t forget to join us on our next Kolping Talk that will take place on March 25th, 18:30 (CET) where you will be able to hear something interesting about “TATICO – Fair Trade Coffee from Honduras” from Patrycja Kwapik and Magdalena Szczudło (Kolping Poland).