Erasmus +

Living in the age of migration – knocking on doors,
knocking down prejudices

Introduction

Every day, thousands of refugees are forced to leave their countries to escape from wars, natural disasters, and other unfortunate circumstances in hope for a better life. Our continent has various resources and the European Union is trying to improve their lives by supporting the development of effective integration strategies and providing education through various projects especially directed to migrants.

The first Portuguese group and their adventure!

The Portuguese ERASMUS+ journey started back in 2019, when a group of students that were in the 11th and 12th grade decided to enroll in this project. They worked their hardest, gathering all the information and creating materials to be shared among the other students in this project and later on, with the rest of the school community, so that everyone around them could learn about the important topics they discussed with their fellow project members.

They made sure to capture the whole picture. They learned about the migrant community in our country, studied the diversity of Portugal and how it was represented in our school, including the stories of Sharad Poudel and Riya Upreti, both former Nepalese students that enriched our community with their life stories of hardship and thrived to get more informed about this current issue, always driven by the desire to help someone out there. 

However, the pandemic changed their future perspectives. Unfortunately, the project could no longer be developed physically, since there were restrictions on travelling, and had to be continued virtually.

The other students also welcomed the Croatian, the German and the Italian students in our country (before quarantine). They made sure to show some of the wonders of Portugal, taking them on a cultural promenade around Lisbon and Sintra, once they had visited school!

This year, ERASMUS+ could, once again, be resumed physically, but these students were already enrolled in university. So, the coordinators, Mrs. Rosa Monteiro and Mrs. Isabel Le Gué, had to pick new ones to fill the other students’ roles.

So we thank those who preceded us for leaving us with such informational and useful materials that reflect their dedication to the project, which has allowed us to follow their lead and make justice to all the hard work they put in before they left.

Some of our
motivational letters

"I’m interested in having a glimpse on how we can all interconnect and support each other to become more efficient and empathic when solving common problems."
- Beatriz Nunes

"This topic is something that has a very strong impact on me and I’m really keen on being a part of this team so as to acknowledge this problem in the classroom, then in our school and eventually with other countries’ teammates. Although this theme has been addressed a little bit more in the last couple of years there’s still a lot of work to be done."
- Margarida Fernandes

"The Erasmus+ is a project that can bring me a lot of new thoughts, ways of seeing the world through the eyes of people that don't have the same privileges as me, understanding their lives and what they've been through."
- João Cordeiro

Adolf-Reichwein-Gesamtschule
Lüdenscheid, Germany

Ekonomska i trgovačka škola
Dubrovnik, Croatia

Short-term exchanges of groups of pupils in Strasbourg, March 2022

Escola Secundária
Rainha Dona Amélia
Lisboa, Portugal

IISS G. Ferraris
Molfetta, Italy