Together, they listened to the different opinions and viewpoints and put their experiences during the road trip into words and images. In this way, they wanted to wake up everyone, from the general public to politicians, and urge them to take action.
During the road trip, from 1 March to 10 March 2019, the young people visited Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Hungary. They visited refugee camps, aid organisations such as Are You Syrious and local politicians such as the mayor of Bihac (Bosnia).S.M.A.K. asked graphic designer Edouard Schneider and Kurt Stockman to join them on this trip. Kurt Stockman would visualise the trip and Edouard Schneider worked out a flag project. Together with the youngsters, Edouard interviewed people they met along the way about things they considered important in life. From their answers, they developed a personal flag together. With these flags, they will represent the people they met at the European Parliament to draw attention to the often inhuman situations for people on the run and the many people who are so distressingly abandoned. It is often forbidden to take photographs in the reception centres and many rescue workers and journalists have already been threatened with imprisonment. The flags are a method to create a personal portrait of these people.
This road trip was an experiential learning process in which young people and their supervisors were challenged to put themselves in the shoes of people who are fleeing and to think about a fair and humane asylum policy.
An initiative of Flemish Refugee Council in cooperation with Uit De Marge, StreetwiZe - Mobile School and S.M.A.K.
7.Mar.19
