Coopération Nord-Sud

The project

In May 2021, as part of a previous initiative, we organized a week of conversations in French. At that time, we also promoted contact between young students and refugees, but mainly through recreational activities. In view of the significant participation in that week, we realized that it was the right direction to meet the needs of young people.

Now, thanks to the "Playing Connection in Tandems" project, a group of young people aged 13 to 26 meet once a week to study together and engage in sports or recreational activities. They really study in "tandems" or in small groups and the students help refugees learn languages and catch up on lost time at school due to their long journey.

The group is made up of young people from different nationalities and socio-cultural backgrounds, half of whom are young asylum seekers (mostly unaccompanied minors) and the other half are students from Luxembourgish and international secondary schools.

The project has officially come to an end, but activities continue as part of the new, larger-scale "Chrysalis" project, which also involves adult refugees and many new volunteers.

The achievement

Initially, we planned to create stable tandems between a student and a refugee, so that they could form a stable couple who could always study together. But we realized that a student was not always able to meet all the needs of a young refugee, such as the need to study both French and Luxembourgish. Furthermore, the participation of different individuals was not always consistent.

During the project, we therefore adapted to the needs of the young people and became much more flexible, a requirement that we also asked of them. Indeed, the students showed great adaptability and creativity, and the refugees demonstrated great commitment and a strong desire to learn and improve.

There were therefore no fixed tandems, but that did not prevent some more stable tandems from forming and a great friendship from being born! Indeed, a group of young people gather every Saturday afternoon, happy to be together.

Of course, there is always some coming and going among our beneficiaries. Every week, new young people arrive and want to participate in a tandem. The older ones leave the group to go to university or because they have found a job, but often they come back later to tell us about their professional experiences or the new house they have moved into.

In the last months of the project, it was no longer necessary to "go and find the young people". The young participants spoke to their friends, who decided to come and try the tandems, and then they stayed…

Objective

With young people, one must be patient and loving. We must always welcome them and listen to them. We must dedicate time and attention to them. At the same time, we must become idealists again and dream with them.

Coopération Nord-Sud fights for the defense of human rights, both in Sub-Saharan Africa and in Luxembourg. Defending the right to asylum and the dignity of people arriving in Europe after a long and dangerous journey is a priority for us.

Thus, we aim to promote the integration of refugees through language learning, professional placement, and the creation of social networks to help them become full-fledged citizens.