On the 24th of June, Kolping Youth Europe hosted the fourth Kolping Talk. Two young youth workers from Novi Sad (Serbia), Mladen Ilic and Stefan Strbac, presented their work in this field and shared their experiences regarding youth work and volunteering during the pandemic.
Stefan presented ideas for using digital tools in the work with young people. Mladen on the other hand shared with us a story about very big Novi Sad’s volunteering service that, even though it was founded many years ago, recorded the maximum number of volunteering hours during the outbreak of the coronavirus. The volunteers of Novi Sad were working during the lockdown on catering the food for elderly citizens and, together with the army, on mobile hospitals all over the city. Both Stefan and Mladen proudly shared with us the information that Novi Sad was the European Youth Capital for the year 2019 and will be the European Capital of Culture in 2022. After their presentations, participants asked questions and shared their own experiences regarding this subject. As always, we see our Kolping friends from all over the world and expand our network. These kinds of events are not just educational for our members but also a chance for all of us to spend some free time with young people who share a similar view on life and ideas as we do.
We are looking forward to the European Youth Week in Serbia next year when we can all meet in person and learn more about innovations in digital youth work.