After the training course for group leaders in Pancevo, Serbia, that lasted for a week in January, the crew behind Music for Human Rights project finally went on to their first youth exchange in 2017. Group leaders and participants gathered in Jerusalim, Israel, and the exchange officially started on February 28^th.

In the morning of that day, the project participants from Germany, Italy, Portugal and Serbia started their journey to Israel. In Jerusalem based Youth Village of HaNoar HaTzioni they arrived during the evening and early morning of the next day.

After the participants were settled they got a chance to take a long break and adjust to the new environment.

During the course of the day, group leaders and participants used their free time to visit the city center and the Old city – getting to know the culture of this Mediterranean country.

On March 2^nd we kicked off the day with a couple of ice breakers that included all of the participants and group leaders. The first one was the Pulse game or the Electricity game (read more about it HERE) and the second one was Tropical Rain (more about it HERE).

After the ice-breaking, 4 bands were formed randomly and the group leaders chose band leaders. Trumpeters from Portugal – Sandro Felix and Raul Roxo got a chance to lead the first two bands. The third band leader was an electronic music/DJ from Serbia – Slobodan Rekovic and the fourth Valentina Nicolotti, an Italian singer.

Once the bands were formed we proceeded to play the game we like to call Slava’s kitchen. The idea is to let the groups wander the space finding objects and materials which can be used to make instruments. The improvised instruments were later used to create music, which was presented the next day during the final performance.

Creating the songs for Slava’s kitchen used up the main part of our day. In the late evening the school organized a guided bus tour of the city’s panoramas which ended in the city center. We got back to the youth village later that evening.