From October 1st to October 3rd, the annual Membership Meeting of Kolping Youth Europe was held in the very center of the world, Ludbreg. It was the first gathering after two years of only online meetings, and looking back on it we only can say that we would like to turn back time.
Eighteen young people from nine European countries (Albania, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland) made nice memories together, learned together and made new friends. A part of the group came earlier on the 30th of September, and the rest arrived on the 1st of October. Our program was very diverse and thanks to our great hosts from Croatia, Viktoriia and Marko, we visited many places in the city of Varaždin. The whole group enjoyed time together, and between the coffee and lunch breaks we visited the main landmarks of the city, and made wonderful photos in the “City of Angels”. Additionally, Mons. Antun Perčić, priest of the Kolping Society of the Varaždin Diocese, welcomed the participants in the Cathedral and congratulated them on their dedication and work, especially in these challenging times.
On the 2nd of October, the President of Kolping Youth Europe, Sven Messing, together with Vice-President Heinz Strässle, presented the work of the organization in the previous year. Members were informed about the activities of Kolping Youth Europe in 2020/21, current developments regarding the organization’s statute, and the financial situation. In addition to innovative online educational lectures and friendly gatherings conducted at the European level, there were various interesting activities at national level held in person that were presented by representatives of each country.
After lunch, we had a tour through Ludbreg, the “center of the world”, visited the new museum in this very cute town and heard stories from the Middle Ages. During a walk, we visited the Church of the Holy Trinity in Ludbreg in which a miracle happened (wine become blood). After this amazing tour, we continued with a workshop about international youth work led by Heinz Strässle. After an inspiring and detailed presentation, we split into three different groups and worked on three different topics – the organization of an international youth event, an international online event, and the development of an international campaign. The different teams worked on these topics and presented the great results to the whole group afterwards. As young people are full of new ideas, the results of this workshop will be an important basis for the work of Kolping Youth Europe during the next year.
In the evenings, an intercultural program took place. We heard interesting facts from each country, learned traditional dances and tasted traditional food. The evenings were full of great energy, music from all over Europe, dancing, karaoke shows and a lot of fun among participants.
And then… Sunday came like a blink of an eye. We were supposed to slowly pack our bags and prepare for leaving the Ludbreg. The participants had the opportunity to spend some time in Ludreg together, while the board had their meeting and did some work that will hopefully provide us to also meet in this kind of heartwarming events in the future.
Katarina Jeremić, Serbia