I N T E R L O C K

10.07.2023

PROJECT JOURNEYS IN SLOVENIA - JUNE 2023

Many thanks to projectleader Karl Murray of the Ubele Initiative for his guidance and implementation, we also thank our other partners Sindicatul SLI Neamt, Društvo Stezosledcev and Istanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi for their expertise, their input and participation. It was a great journey and informative experience working with them during project Journeys!

Visit our project-page https://stichtinginterlock.nl/Projecten/Journeys-21-23/ and read more about ‘JOURNEYS, exploration of Culture and Heritage’ an Erasmusplus strategic partnership with 🇬🇧 The Ubele Initiative UK, 🇳🇱 Stichting Interlock TheNetherlands, 🇷🇴 Sindicatul SLI Neamt Romania, 🇸🇮 Društvo Stezosledcev Slovenia & 🇹🇷 Istanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Turkey.
Co-funded by Erasmus+ UK.

Don’t miss any updates of our upcoming projects, follow us on FB, IG, In and Twitter!

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10.03.2023

PROJECT JOURNEYS IN THE UK FEBRUARY -
MARCH 2023

We enjoyed our visit to Selby Centre (many cultures, one community) where we talked with Nathaniel Colman (Philosopher and historian of ‘race’) and Arlene McKenzie, about “acts reclaming Cultural Space”, both are project managers of the Ubele Initiative. Visit https://www.selbytrust.co.uk/ to read more about Selby Trust.

We had an interesting visit to the Percy House (PH), where we had a presentation about the heritage of PH by Joanna Yeung (Heritage Project Manager Tottenham Hotspur Foundation). https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/the-club/foundation/about-us/percy-house-heritage/

We also enjoyed an educational introduction to the Rastafari community with a lot of new information by Arlene McKenzie and ended the day with a creative djembé workshop by Ras Happa.

Alvin Kofi (artist, painter, storyteller) showed us around Brixton, telling us about the city’s history.

Read more about Alvin: https://www.alvinkofi.com.

We concluded the project week with a visit to ‘Museum Of The Home’ in conversation with Michael McMillan about his exhibition The Front Room: Migrant Aesthetics in the Home. https://www.museumofthehome.org.uk/whats-on/rooms-through-time/a-front-room-in-1970/

We would like to thank our project leader Karl Murray and The Ubele Initiative for organizing this third study trip in the context of this project.

Due to the consequences of the earthquake in Turkey, we as a group have unfortunately decided to cancel the trip to Istanbul. In June we will close the project in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Don’t miss any updates of ‘JOURNEYS’, follow us on FB, IG, In and Twitter!

Also visit our project-page https://stichtinginterlock.nl/Projecten/Journeys-21-23/ and read more about ‘JOURNEYS, exploration of Culture and Heritage’ an Erasmusplus strategic partnership with 🇬🇧 The Ubele Initiative UK, 🇳🇱 Stichting Interlock TheNetherlands, 🇷🇴 Sindicatul SLI Neamt Romania, 🇸🇮 Društvo Stezosledcev Slovenia & 🇹🇷 Istanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Turkey.
Co-funded by Erasmusplus UK.

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22.10.2022

PROJECT JOURNEYS IN ROMANIA - OCTOBER 2022

In addition to various workshops, we have had interesting and instructive conversations with teachers about the challenges in education and the positive effects of European projects on their work.

We have held discussions with the Roma community about integration and their associated challenges in Romania.

We were introduced to Romanian folklore.

We enjoyed a presentation by students of the Colegiul National “Petru Rares”, Piatra Neamt, about their project Neves, which won them the first prize ❗️: NASA’s NSS Space Settlement Contest. And of course we also enjoyed the hospitality of the people and the beautiful landscape!

Up next for project JOURNEYS:

February 2023: study trip to 🇬🇧 London
May 2023: Presentation of project results in 🇹🇷 Istanbul
July 2023: Final evaluation in 🇸🇮 Ljubljana

Don’t miss any updates of ‘JOURNEYS’, follow us on FB, IG, In and Twitter!

Also visit our project-page https://stichtinginterlock.nl/Projecten/Journeys-21-23/ and read more about ‘JOURNEYS’ an Erasmusplus strategic partnership with 🇬🇧 The Ubele Initiative UK, 🇳🇱 Stichting Interlock TheNetherlands, 🇷🇴 Sindicatul SLI Neamt Romania, 🇸🇮 Društvo Stezosledcev Slovenia & 🇹🇷 Istanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Turkey. Co-funded by Erasmus+ UK.

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22.10.2022

PROJECT JOURNEYS IN AMSTERDAM - MAY 2022

We got to know each other, talked about and discussed our countries- and our own cultural heritages, participated in interesting workshops and enjoyed educational presentations of each of the countries.

We also brainstormed about how the end-event/Presentation of JOURNEYS in Turkey should look like in total.

And last but not least, we enjoyed all kinds of delicious Dutch and Surinamese food and did some amazing sightseeing!

Up next: part 2 in 🇷🇴 Romania October 2022! 😄💪🏽

Don’t miss any updates of ‘JOURNEYS’, follow us on FB, IG, In and Twitter!

Also visit our project-page https://stichtinginterlock.nl/Projecten/Journeys-21-23/ and read more about ‘JOURNEYS’ an Erasmusplus strategic partnership with 🇬🇧 The Ubele Initiative UK and 🇳🇱 Stichting Interlock TheNetherlands, 🇷🇴 Sindicatul SLI Neamt Romania, 🇸🇮 Društvo Stezosledcev Slovenia &🇹🇷 Istanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi Turkey. Co-funded by Erasmusplus UK.

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01.02.2020

YOUTH EXCHANGE PROJECT MIRROR-2020 IN CROATIA

Through this Youth Exchange young people will have the opportunity to develop tools to improve their self-esteem and to increase awareness of the social impact on self-esteem.

The participants will lead non-formal education activities as energizers, role plays, exhibition etc. They will have to communicate through the Youth Exchange and during the dissemination activities so improvement of their communication skills is expected.

Since the Youth Exchange is led by the participants, they will have the opportunity to improve the skills they want because the goal is to enhance their own autonomy and to work in a free, independent and creative way.

All MIRROR-participants will travel to Zagreb, Croatia on February 22th until March 1st.

Read more about project MIRROR on our projectpage: https://stichtinginterlock.nl/Projects/Mirror-2020.

Don’t miss any developments and photo’s of project MIRROR! Be sure to follow us on FB, IG and Twitter!

Also click https://stichtinginterlock.nl/Projecten/Mirror-2020/Mirror-blog-APV-in-Kroatie/ to read Lisa’s blog (in Dutch), Stichting Interlock’s Mirror-projectguider and Mirror co-writer!

‘MIRROR’ is co-financed by Erasmus+ Croatia.

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23.08.2019

YOUTH EXCHANGE PROJECT GENERATION OF LOVE

Both youth theaters are a place for creativity, enrichment, inspiration and development of children, teenagers and young people. With theater, the youngsters are learning to use different techniques to express themselves and explore the world around them.

Don’t miss any developments of this project, follow us on FB, IG and Twitter!

More news about this project will follow soon on our website https://stichtinginterlock.nl//

Projectleader: Stichting Interlock #stichtinginterlock #interlockfoundation
Projectpartner: Youththeaterschool Southeast #jeugdtheaterschoolzuidoost
Projectpartner: Theatre Peckham #theatrepeckham
Co-funded by: Erasmusplus Jeugd  The Netherlands #erasmusplusjeugd

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29.05.2019

*GESLOTEN* WERVING VOOR NIEUW ERASMUSPLUS PROJECT BLACK TO THE FUTURE II !!

Deze reeks studiebezoeken zal bestaan ​​uit job shadow activiteiten, excursies en dialoogsessies, het project zal zich richten op het verhogen van de impact van je eigen jongerenwerk met (Afrikaanse) diaspora-jongeren.

We zijn op zoek naar vier (4) jongerenwerkers of andere professionals die werken met (Afrikaanse) diaspora-jongeren om deze reis samen met werkers uit de andere landen met ons te maken!

We starten in München, Duitsland
Van 15 oktober t / m 19 oktober 2019

Eigen bijdrage € 100

Inbegrepen:
- Vlucht: Amsterdam - München vs
- Hotelkosten
- Lokaal transport
- Maaltijden

Als je hieraan zou willen deelnemen stuur een bericht naar: info@stichtinginterlock.nl.

Kijk op https://stichtinginterlock.nl/Projecten/Black-To-The-Future-17-18/ voor een impressie van Black To The Future 2017-2018!

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24.02.2019

RECONNECT AND REDISCOVER II IN AMSTERDAM - FEBRUARY 2019!

After an amazing week in October 2018 in London, we were delighted to welcome our guests from Hackney CVS on February 16th 2019 in Amsterdam Southeast for a week filled of creating, exploring, discovering and more!

It was great to see that the connection and good chemistry between the groups was still there!

As planned, the participants showed the guests around Amsterdam Southeast and also organized energizers for the group.

We went from getting educated by ‘CONNECT’ about soft drugs and recognizing a possible addiction, to ‘Expressing Yourself’ through art/dance/theater and creating beautiful graffiti after a very interesting presentation about the history of Graffiti by Mick La Rock.

At ‘OSCAM’ Ricard Soesanna had informative talks with our participants about talent, fashion and creative entrepreneurship in Amsterdam Southeast.

Our visit to the ‘Bijlmerpark Theater’ and the good and deep conversations about the African diaspora with Kodjo from ‘UNTOLD’ were also considered as a highlight of the week.

Jerry Afriyie talked about Dutch racism, the history of black Pete, the emotions around the event Sinterklaas and how youth should empower themselves. After Jerry’s presentation there were some interesting discussions about the topics!

We visited the beautiful Concert Building in Amsterdam for an interesting and educational presentation by Orville Breeveld. Orville also gave some very useful entrepreneurship-tips while talking to our participants. After the presentation we got a fascinating backstage tour of the whole Concert building.

We want to give a big THANK YOU to the group leaders from both cities: Deji, Beth, Jaydane and Charlotte from Projectpartner Hackney CVS London and Judith from Anansi-swazoom & Nikita from Bonte Kraai-swazoom Amsterdam!

Also a huge THANK YOU to all the participants of this project!

Project RECONNECT AND REDISCOVER would not have been possible without your input and love! Until the next time!

Read more about this project on our page: RECONNECT AND REDISCOVER 2018-2019.

This project is co-funded by Erasmus+ The Netherlands.

Don’t miss any developments and photos of our future projects, follow us on FB, IG, Twitter and In!!

#youthwork with #impact aim for change have effect in #communities and #makeadifference

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11.01.2019

YOUNG MEN SPEAK OUT IN LONDON AND AMSTERDAM!

We closed our project-year 2018 with project Young Men Speak Out!

December 28th 2018 was the last activity day of our youth exchange ‘Young Men Speak Out‘ (against Female Genital Mutilation, FGM) in Amsterdam.

During the first exchange week in London in October 2018, we informed the group about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and during the workshops we discussed and talked about the consequences for woman. We practiced in small groups how to start a conversation/tell the story to friends and family members and took snap-shots while the participants were practicing. These snap-shots were used to create comic conversation-cards to help the participants to begin conversations about FGM with their friends, family and community.

During the second exchange week our participants applied the learned conversation-methods while using the comic cards to start conversations with other youngsters during ‘Indoor Soccer Tournament HIRDA AFT Winter Cup 2018′ in Amsterdam. We were honored to meet and interview Mayor Abdirahman O. Osman of Mogadishu (capital of Somalia) who was also attending the Soccer Tournement. We handed over the conversation cards to the Mayor and talked about our project YMSO, empowering the Somalian youth and about (FGM) in the Somalian community.

Below you can see the comic conversation cards we made during the project. Please download and use them to start your own conversation about FGM!

We are even more proud of the young men who participated in this project. They were able to question the myth and opinions on FGM which affects millions of young girls. FGM is practiced in more than 29 countries across Africa, parts of the middle east, South east Asia and countries where migrants from FGM affected communities live.

Our young men are against FGM and will carry this message out in their communities.

Change starts with them!

We hope to be able to continue this project with other young men and other organizations in Europe.

Read more about this project on our project page: YOUNG MEN SPEAK OUT.

This project is co-funded by Erasmus+ The Netherlands.

Don’t miss any developments and photos of our next projects, follow us on FB, IG, Twitter and In!!

#youth-work with #impact #aim for change have effect in #communities #makeadifference

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03.11.2018

RECONNECT AND REDISCOVER IN LONDON -
OCTOBER 2018

We had a great activity week in London; lots of learning, workshops, talks, visiting sights and sightseeing of course.

Staying in apartments and having a heated pool on site made the experience complete.

After we met the UK participants it seemed like a plug and play start of the week. The two groups connected well after getting to know each other and exchanging their hopes and fears for the week.

The Sunday started with some great warmup energizers and activities run by Deji, after that we worked on the subject of racial identity.

Monday we had a day off to go out and roam the city and other areas.

The next day went from visiting the East London Business Alliance (ELBA) in Docklands discussing/comparing employability in Amsterdam and London for diverse young people in the corporate business, to a mindfulness session in Hackney with practitioners from ELFT.

After our interesting discussion-day about ‘Identity’ together with youngsters from Hackney Quest Charity we ended the day with having some really excellent ice cream banana splits and such.

Thursday we started out with presentations and discussions about Drill music and its impact on UK’s young people’s culture. We also visited the exhibition on Roots, Rhymes and Records in the Hackney Museum.

Friday we ended up making the Tree of Life. During this whole-day-exercise each participant made his/hers own tree of life, reconnecting with their own heritage and presenting this to the group.

The activity week ended with the Head, Heart, Feet evaluation.
After warm hugs and high fives the group parted Saturday and we reluctantly returned home.

Thank you Deji, Beth (Hackney CVS) and crew for having us, looking forward to welcome you all in February 2019 for Reconnect and Rediscover part II !

The objective of project RECONNECT AND REDISCOVER is to let young people from Amsterdam and London explore their heritage and talents.

Participating in this project are 10 participants and three group leaders from Amsterdam, The Netherlands and 10 participants and three group leaders from London, The United Kingdom. Our participants are young African diaspora adults between the ages of 18 and 25.

Read more about this project on our project page: RECONNECT AND REDISCOVER.

Don’t miss any developments and photos of this project, follow us on follow us on FB, IG, Twitter and In!!

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30.10.2018

YOUNG MEN SPEAK OUT IN LONDON -
OCTOBER 2018

Sunday October 21st was the kick-off of the activity week in London.

In this week our participants had an opportunity to discuss the topic and work on their leadership, presentation and teamwork skills with our partner The Ubele Initiative.

They were introduced into the work FORWARD does in the UK en in Africa. There were talks about their knowledge and were further educated on the effects of FGM on women.

On the last activity day the participants were introduced to FORWARD’s motivational speaker – Suleiman Hasni.

In this last session of the week, Suleiman explained FGM from community perspective to the participants and had an open discussion with him.

After a full week of activities in London we all are looking forward to the second part of the project in Amsterdam in December 2018!!

This project is funded by Erasmus+ The Netherlands.

Check out our project-page on our website YOUNG MEN SPEAK OUT for more information and follow us on FB, Twit, In and IG so you won’t miss any developments of project ‘YOUNG MEN SPEAK OUT’!

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20.09.2018

LET’S GO! YOUTH IN ACTION PROGRAM IN FINLAND - 

OCTOBER 2018

The Dutch participants can’t wait for this adventure to start. They will leave for Finland with two teachers from JTSZO in the Crocus Holiday in October!

During this Action program the Dutch and Finnish participants will get to know each other’s culture, follow active indoor- and outdoor workshops, explore the city and learn some of the Finnish history.

The group will also enjoy some of Finland’s traditional food.

Project LET’S GO! is co-funded by Erasmus+ Finland.

Don’t miss any developments and photo’s of the groups adventure in Finland! Follow us on FB, Twit, In and IG!

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01.08.2018

PROJECT RECONNECT AND REDISCOVER

Participating in this project are 10 participants and three group leaders from Amsterdam, The Netherlands and 10 participants and three group leaders from London, The United Kingdom. Our participants are young African diaspora adults between the ages of 18 and 25.

Project Reconnect and Rediscover will have impact on how the participants look at their own environment, their cultural heritage and how they see the world they live in. They will learn how to use their own talents in helping others and how to use their talents in creating social projects within their own community and abroad.

By exposing the participants to the experiences in this project we expect a change in their employ-ability and improve their career prospects.

Project Reconnect and Rediscover is co-funded by Erasmus+ The Netherlands.

Read more about this project on our project page: RECONNECT AND REDISCOVER.

Don’t miss any developments and photo’s of this project, follow us on FB, Twit, In and IG!

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20.07.2018

YOUNG MEN SPEAK OUT - JULY 2018

During this project young men from Amsterdam and London between the age of 18 and 25 will be challenged to make a difference in their community to say NO to FGM!

Our participants will work on their leadership, presentation and teamwork skills and will be provided with the tools to make the subject open for discussion.

This project is co-funded by Erasmus+ The Netherlands.

Go to the project-page on our website YOUNG MEN SPEAK OUT for more information and follow us on FB, Twit, In and IG so you won’t miss the developments of project ‘YOUNG MEN SPEAK OUT’!

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07.05.2018

FOREIGN SISTERS IN LONDON: APRIL - MAY 2018

After the first half of project Foreign Sisters in October 2017 we were very much looking forward to this visit from April 28th until may 5th for the second half.

We enjoyed our great and instructive week during our second part of project Foreign Sisters!

The English participants had welcomed the group from Amsterdam at Heathrow airport. After the reception we jointly went by tube to the hostel at Swiss Cottage.

After checking in we kicked off with dinner so all the participants had a chance to renew their friendship, and there were lots of stories to be shared! The excitement for being in London for the first time was definitely there.

During the various workshops, the girls exchanged personal experiences with each other and discussions were held in groups about the problems they encounter as young women in their daily lives.

In between workshops during the week we visited Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Southbank and other tourist sites. A visit to Goldsmith’s University was appreciated by all. We were impressed and emotional by the stories during our visit/tour to Grenfell Tower.

On Saturday goodbyes were said, hugs were exchanged and the wondering and questions came: How can we continue this program?……

Again we would like to give a big THANK YOU to our Dutch groupleaders Judith and Censey from Anansi-Swazoom and Holendrecht-Swazoom for doing such a smashing job during this project!!

We would also like to thank Adiam, Poppy, Laurie, Amblessed, Jessica and Odiri especially for their input and guidance.

*PROJECT FOREIGN SISTERS is an exchange program between 16 girls from the organizations Interlock from Amsterdam with project guidance from youth workers from Anansi-Swazoom & Holendrecht-Swazoom and 16 girls from project partner Kori in London.

The main objective of ‘Foreign Sisters’ is to bring together two youth groups and comparing each other’s worlds. The main theme here is the development of their female identity, followed by the themes of racism, exclusion and discrimination against black women in the two European cities.

Among other topics, the exchange project discusses the following topics: relationships, teenage pregnancies, exclusion and discrimination for participating young people with similar ethnic backgrounds.

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12.03.2018

PROJECT BLACK TO THE FUTURE (BTTF) IN AMSTERDAM

FEBRUARY - MARCH 2018

After our study visit to Cologne and London in 2017 we were delighted that it was our turn to welcome the colleagues to Amsterdam on Wednesday February 28th 2018.

Team Interlock had put together a program with history, present and future of youth work in Amsterdam Southeast and the Netherlands. We kicked off with a welcome diner in a Surinamese Javanese restaurant on Wednesday evening.

Thursday, first study day we started with a visit and presentation at the Black Archives The stories told by miss Jessica Abreu (co-initiator of the Black Archives) were very inspirational, we learned a lot about the history of Surinam and the Netherlands.

We could have stayed for hours listening to her story’s.
In the afternoon we enjoyed a presentation at the University for Applied Sciences “Dear White HvA”.

The aims of Dear White HvA:

• creating awareness about institutional racism and micro-aggression in the classroom
• making experiences of their students visible, where they can share their stories of exclusion and discrimination.
• also sharing their positive stories (empower students) and contribute to a safe learning space with open dialogue about inclusive educational environments. They do this through Listening - Dialogue and Sensitivity.

Our Bijlmer-tour started on Friday at the Bijlmer Museum (Grubbehoeve), then a walk to the memorial of the plane crash and we countinued with a tour around the neighbourhood. Due to the very cold weather the tour had to be cut short. In the afternoon we enjoyed a presentation on youthwork done by UNTOLD and talk about the WINTI culture.

Saturday was a working day with workshops lead by Karl Murray and Toby Laurent.
Sunday we started the day with a visit to the Tropen Museum with special permanent exhibitions on the Dutch slavery past and history on Indonesia and New Guinee.

We combined the three studyvisits in Cologne, London and Amsterdam in one short video for you.

Click to view the video (16-03-2018) of project Black To The Future on our Dutch-page. Enjoy!

Don’t miss our projects, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

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04.11.2017

REPORT FOREIGN SISTERS IN AMSTERDAM -
OCTOBER 2017

During the various workshops, the girls exchanged personal experiences with each other and discussions were held in groups about the problems they encounter as young women in their daily lives.

During Empowerment workshops, the participants discussed self-esteem, self-confidence and self-assurance, under the guidance of empowerment coaches.

The 2nd half of the project will take place in London from April 28th until May 5th 2018.

The project is co-funded by Erasmus+ The Netherlands.

We would like to share a part of this week in Amsterdam with you through a Youtube-video.
Click and watch our Youtube-video: www.stichtinginterlock.nl/Projecten/Foreign-Sisters-17-18/

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

The main objective of ‘Foreign Sisters’ is to bring together two youth groups and comparing each other’s worlds.

The main theme here is the development of their female identity, followed by the themes of racism, exclusion and discrimination against black women in the two European cities.

Among other topics, the exchange project discusses the following topics: relationships, teenage pregnancies, exclusion and discrimination for participating young people with similar ethnic backgrounds.

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30.10.2017

21-10-2017 KICK-OFF PROJECT FOREIGN SISTERS!

It is finally time, today after months of preparation in both Amsterdam and London, we are officially starting with our *Project Foreign Sisers!

Our partner in London, Kori, will be arriving with a group of 16 girls this morning in the Netherlands. In the afternoon we will be starting with the program, a personal introductory round and the first workshop.

*The Foreign Sisters project is an exchange program between young people from the Interlock organizations in Amsterdam with group support from youth workers from Swazoom and young people from project partner Kori in London.

The main objective of ‘Foreign Sisters’ is to bring together two youth groups, comparing each other’s worlds.

The main theme here is the development of their female identity, followed by the themes of racism, exclusion and discrimination against black women in the two European cities.

Check out our Foreign Sisters project-page to follow the progress of the project and for current photos. Also follow us via Facebook, Twitter en Instagram!

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20.10.2017

PROJECT BLACK TO THE FUTURE (BTTF) IN LONDON - OCTOBER 2017

We went to Karl Murray’s workshop on evaluation and ended op on our second day at the Tate Museum.

On the third day, Friday, everybody had some time to explore the city of London to reassemble at the Tottenham Hotspurs talking about the great community work the Spurs are doing, amazing work.

A visit to the African Heritage at the Victoria & Albert museum amazed us all.
On Saturday we visited Brixton had some talks with people before going to the Black Cultural Archives. After a workshop on mapping by Toby we visited Trafalgar square, Africa on the square, festivities for the Black History Month.

Final day, Sunday, we (team Interlock) leaded a workshop on Inter-generational learning, Michael Hamilton a workshop on appreciative inquiry, we ended with a closing round.

A farewell diner at ‘Uptown Cuisine” ended the week in a festive way. All participants were excited about the week past and looking forward to meeting each other again in Amsterdam end February!

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