Youth Exchange in Nijmegen: “It’s just amazing…”

Youth Exchange in Nijmegen: “It’s just amazing…”

Wednesday morning, 9 o’clock. All the participants of the Youth Exchange at N.E.C. Doelbewust are there again, in the big sponsorlounge of N.E.C. Nijmegen. Some sleepy, some without a voice.  But the organisation has no compassion. A full programme awaits the youngsters.

Starting with having to invent a special project within their clubs themselves. Time for a brainstorm session. After the groups had their plan on paper, they had to present it to the others. The most interesting idea was brought up by the guys from N.E.C. A project that most likely is going to be implemented in the social programme of N.E.C. Doelbewust. That good. The guys from Nijmegen came up with the idea to use the sponsors of N.E.C. to help people find a job, write an application letter, learn them how to present themselves in an interview and how to succeed in a job. “Maybe someone from a bank can learn youngsters how to budget, how to spend your money, how to save money, that kind of things”, said one of the boys enthusiastically.

After this session everybody had to prepare for an interview with players from N.E.C. In groups the participants had to come up with a bunch of questions. And one of them had to be in Dutch… That brought up a lot of consternation of course.

Only after the lunch the players joined the group to undergo the interview. They had little problems with the questions, as had the UK-participants with posing that one question in Dutch. The players told the groups that they are from different parts of Europe and that they had to adapt living and working in Holland. The youngsters nodded. They now had an idea how it is to be abroad for a few days, having to do all by yourself, having to deal with people you don’t know and speak a different language. “Luckily so many people speak English”, an Aberdeen-youngster said. “But what will it be like if for instance you only speak Hungarian or Portugese and you have to live in another country? That must be really hard!”

After the interviews it was time for some physical action. The group went outside and the staff of Tottenham Hotspur introduced them to play blind football. The boys and girls had a lot of fun and suddenly realized how lucky they are to be able to actually see! “Just bringing the ball from one place tot another, that’s just so difficult”, said one of them. ‘You just don’t know where you are and really, your partner may be coaching you, but that doesn’t help too much. You’re lost seeing nothing!”

Also Everton in the Community came up with some nice games, after which the group was divided into four smaller groups in order to play a little football tournament.

In the evening it was up to the group of Everton to prepare dinner. A day earlier the group was welcomed to eat the food that the Liverpudlians from Everton prepared. “We made scouse”, staff member Lisa Lee said. “Typically Liverpudlian. Think of minced meat, cooked together with potatoes, onions and carrots in a gravy from beef stock. Really nice! Whether the others liked it? I think so, I heard no complaints!”

Amazing!

Lee says she is very happy with the Youth Exchange. “The kids are doing so well. And they learn so much these days. These exchanges are very important projects, not only for those who are present here, but also for the people back home who get to hear all the stories after we got back.”

Also David Smith from Aberdeen was more than satisfied with all that he saw and heard these days. “You know, these Youth Exchanges really work. It really changes these guys and girls. Look, if a teacher speaks, they don’t listen, but they are all ears when someone of their age from another country is talking. Then they are really interested, ask questions and want to know more and more. You know, they now get to see that there is more to life than just Aberdeen or their neighbourhood.”

“And they see that the problems concerning youth in London are the same in Nijmegen”, adds Omari Chambers from Tottenham Hotspur. They love to hear about that, talk about that. And the beauty of it is that they come up with ideas to help the other. In that way, they are helping themselves as well.” And the participants? The youngsters themselves? They come up with just one word, when asked about their experiences at this Youth Exchange: amazing.

The Youth Exchange in Nijmegen ends today with a football tournament, the Community Champions Cup.