What do forty young people aged 14-25 from Austria, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia have in common? They are all united by the question of fundamental values such as peace, love and tolerance. In the face of global challenges that also limit the values of our human dignity and individual freedom, the organisations Initiative Angola and COD Jajce are calling young people together under the theme “What unites us all”.

As part of the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange Programme from 12^th to 19 ^th August 2021, the participants attended workshops that focused on dialogue between Islam, Christianity, Judaism and other religions. An important contribution to social coexistence is the experience of difference. Through respectful and open interaction, the adolescents were able to experience their own biography as an educational process. In workshops such as “What is an interreligious dialogue?” or “The world and other worlds?” the participants were able to recognise, reflect and examine their own values in exchange.

Some of the participants themselves became actors in the programme, so that their own biographical values were shared. Leisure activities such as organising “Olympic games” also strengthened the cohesion of the participants. In the end, it became clear that solidarity grows out of peace, love and tolerance. And what unites is the common experience in St. Johann im Rosental, which accompanies a lifelong.

Antonia Streckrodt