Supporting and loving each other, that is what AEGEE-Skopje is all about. President of AEGEE-Skopje Stefani Stevanovska tells us how being a member of AEGEE-Skopje changes the view towards Europe, how they keep new members active and about their plans for the future.

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us a bit about the establishment of AEGEE-Skopje?

Stefani : AEGEE–Skopje officially became an antenna in 1993, and during the years, it became one of the most active antenna in the network. This year we had a 25th anniversary, which we celebrated with the participants from the SUPS – Secret recipe for an epic Summer, as well as many active members and alumni. Currently, we have around sixty members. We focus on organising as many events we can, both locally as European ones. We believe that this is the best way to keep members motivated and to spread the AEGEE Spirit. This year, one of the best events we organised was the NYE event, in which we had around forty participants, who all left amazingly positive beginning. Also, SUPS was great, since the trainers gave interesting workshops and the participants left feeling accomplished and ready to organise a great Summer University.

Which typical, local traditions do you have?

We love to organise a motivational weekend yearly, to train and activate the newbies, as well as to get together with the active and older members. We have many teambuilding activities, games and workshops specially designed for the needs of the antenna, but we also have barbecue,  drinking games and much more. We strongly recommend this motivational weekend event to many other locals since the overall impact is very positive. On a local level, we try to co-operate with other organisations such as the Red Cross, because we love to help the community in Skopje. In the past months, we helped to organise a humanitarian folk dance concert and a blood donation action. Also, we co-operated with a NGO that works with autistic children to celebrate the World’s Autism day. Moreover, we promoted the Summer Universities in a very creative way, and a lot of people applied.

Which skills do you think that members of AEGEE-Skopje develop and how?

The best skills that AEGEE Skopje members have developed are organisational skills. Since we train new members from the beginning and we help them with organising some activities on both a European and local level. This really motivates them to keep on moving forward in our antenna and in their personal lives. Unfortunately, our educational system does not really offer many opportunities to do practical work, so this is a great opportunity for everyone. One example is the year when we organised two traveling SU’s: one with AEGEE-Istanbul and one with AEGEE-Beograd.

 How do you think that the view towards Europe changes by participating in AEGEE-Skopje?

At first, most of the people that join AEGEE-Skopje do not feel that connected to Europe, because we identify Europe with the European Union, which Macedonia is not a part of. However, their opinion quickly changes when they participate in an event outside of our borders and feel how welcoming and open-minded everyone in AEGEE is. Also, they see that our opportunities are almost equal to the opportunities that other young people in countries from the European Union have.

AEGEE-Skopje has a long history of organising exchanges with other locals. What are your tips for other locals who also want to organise an exchange?

The most important thing is good communication and teambuilding. For example, regarding a SU we organised in collaboration with AEGEE-Istanbul, we first had an exchange with them, where we met the whole team. We all had great time together and then  decided to organse a Summer University together. Also, it really helps if you have a motivated team that will work enthusiastically organising the exchanges and events. All in all, it is important to keep an open mind, help each other, know the weakness and strangest of oneself as well as of the entire team, try to work out the differences and find a middle ground for everyone.

The magazine produced by AEGEE-Skopje, ‘’Europe – No borders no limits’’ has been well received. However, currently it is no longer published, could you tell us the reason for this?

AEGEE-Skopje has been publishing every second month the magazine ‘’Europe – No borders no limits ‘’, but unfortunately, we no longer publish it. The magazine was awarded for “the best European student publication in the AEGEE Network”  in 1994 and 2000/2001. However, in the past we had more members that studied Journalism and creative writing than currently, so there are not that many students that could help publishing this magazine.

What are your plans for AEGEE-Skopje?

Our short term plan is to organise an epic Summer University – “Yes, I do!”. In a way, it is our baby because, since a couple of years, we decided to organise a SU alone, instead of in collaboration with another AEGEE local. We added new amazing things to the programme such as a Galichka wedding [An annual festival held in Galičnik in which selected couple get married in the traditional Galichka style, ed].This SU is entirely designed to show the culture, history and beauty that our country has to offer and to teach the participants our amazing traditions. Macedonia has been going through a difficult time and we think that this SU will also help the organsers to go back to our roots and focus on the positive things.  On a long term, we plan to organise a NWM, another winter or NYE event, motivational weekend and other surprises, just follow us on Facebook to see…!

AEGEE-Skopje is awesome because…

We love and support each other in every possible way, so that in the end we become like a family.

Is there anything you’d like to add?

Come and visit us anytime, during an event or any other occasion. We love to host members and to show them our city, it truly brings us great joy!

Written by Susan Nijsten, AEGEE-Groningen

AEGEE-Skopje, the only antenna in Macedonia and with 70 members, has become well known for its Travel Summer Universities (TSU). We spoke with Maria Davceva, External Relations Responsible, who told us about the results of the last Winter Event, which the Macedonian antenna organised for the International Volunteer Day. She also explains their involvement in “Democracy in Practice”  and focuses on previous experiences in TSUs.

The antenna took part in the “International Volunteer Day”, celebrated every year on the 5th of December. It aims to motivate young people to become active volunteers in order to contribute to their society. Also, it encourages people to understand the importance and the benefits of volunteering. This December AEGEE-Skopje was part of the NGO fair in its city, where more than 50 NGOs presented their activities and future plans in order to motivate people to join them as active volunteers. They presented their past projects and future activities in front of thousands of visitors and managed to share  AEGEE’s vision and mission among them.

AEGEE-Skopje also participated in a project called “Democracy in Practice”. This is an AEGEE-Europe Project that aims to raise awareness among young people about the importance of human rights as the basis of a healthy democracy in order to promote social and political participation of young people in their local, national and European environment. This year there was an initiative to celebrate the Human Rights Day by doing interactive workshops across AEGEE antennae.
The Human Rights Day in AEGEE-Skopje was well accepted and integrated in the weekly meeting on the 11th of December. 15 members of AEGEE-Skopje, divided in two groups, participated in the activity drawing a “human rights tree”. After finishing their drawings, they had a short discussion about which human rights are violated in Macedonia. The members were really interested in the discussion about the factors (the roots) that make human rights flourish, such as: no corruption, health care system, social care system, education, moral, ethics, police, law, democracy, etc.

The last events that were related to motivating and training members were: a Local Training Course (LTC) about Democracy in Practice on 14.12.2015, and a motivational weekend on the 23.10.2015 (Mountain House Papradiste).
The LTC was a three hours course, during which new members gained knowledge from the beginnings of AEGEE, history and its structure, but also the activities in AEGEE-Skopje. They also went from newbies to motivated active members all through a series of workshops and thematic exercises .
The motivational weekend on the other hand, apart from information about the possibilities in AEGEE, its history and member bonding experiences, gave the members two whole days to be part of trainings in the areas of fundraising (how to achieve long-term fundraising success), human resources (emotional intelligence), and informational technology (protect your online data).
Although in both LTC and motivational weekend the basic workshops and activities were tied around the five different working teams headed by the board responsible (HR, PR, ER, IT, FR and Fundraising), their structure and goals are somewhat different (training them with knowledge vs. motivating them to use and point that knowledge towards a goal).

From the 7th to the 12th of January AEGEE-Skopje had its winter event “WinUp-It’s Snow Time”, which took place in Skopje and Mavrovo. The participants enjoyed a workshop about traditional Macedonian dances, lead by a professional folk dance group which taught them how to dance like a true Macedonian. The second workshop was about Macedonian Christmas traditions. It was interesting for the participants to hear and see pictures of the various traditions around Macedonia, considering that it is an Orthodox country. The participants were amazed by the Matka canyon and its untouched nature, the city tour in Skopje followed by the pub crawl in the Old Bazar and the fresh mountain air in Mavrovo. The Macedonian antenna was happy to have a really united and amazing group of participants in which they all felt connected.
“The gossip box was always full, it fulfilled its purpose of breaking the ice and improved the love factor of this event. The energy of the participants was endless, never ending singing, laughing and drinking of course. The party bus in Mavrovo has a lot of stories to tell” says Maria. The best way to spend time after New Year’s Eve is traveling, mainly in the capital of Macedonia where the winter event took place in the middle of the Christmas spirit in Skopje and the breathtaking Mavrovo. “We didn’t have snow, because our participants were so full of love that they melted it all” adds Maria.

About the TSUs, Maria says “A Travel Summer University is a great responsibility and even bigger pleasure to organise”. In fact, the antenna had two great summer universities with two amazing antennae in the summer of 2015, which it had a lot of workshops about their cultures, national dances and history, trying to make the participants feel their way of living. At the TSU with Belgrade “YUGOvision- Balkan is calling”, the participants had the chance to visit two countries which not so long ago shared the same name, language, monetary system and president. The monuments they visited and workshops they attended got them closer to the theme of their TSU, to their culture, history, life and to Yugoslavia. At the TSU with Istanbul “Greater than Alexander, more Magnificent than Suleyman”, the participants got closer to the history of Turkey and Macedonia through multicultural activities, which in the past has intersected more than once, leaving traces that are present even now.

About the last elections of the board, only one of the old members remained and that is the president Ivan. Members attend different universities, meaning that the prosperity of the 2016’s productivity is immensely high. Nenad has his Master’s degree in Business Law, Marija and Stefani are students of psychology, Elena is an IT student, Saska is attending business academy and Goran is an economist. “Together we are one team and for almost two years now, we have been spreading the AEGEE spirit” adds Maria.

During the 2015, AEGEE-Skopje slightly altered its logo. The old one consisted of the word “AEGEE” and the name of the capital city Skopje, as well as a map of Europe next to the word. The new logo is enriched with a picture of the biggest and most beautiful bridge, and also one of the greatest monuments in Skopje – The Stone Bridge. The Stone Bridge or “Kameni Most’”, as they call it, is a bridge across the Vardar River in Skopje. The bridge is considered a symbol of Skopje and is the main element is the coat of arms of the city, which is incorporated in the city’s flag. The Stone Bridge connects Macedonia Square, in the center of Skopje, to the Old Bazaar.

At the end Maria reminds that all AEGEE members are invited to apply and participate on the next TSU whose name is “Balkanize your summer from Danube to Vardar”, which is going to be organised in five cities (Serbia- Novi sad/Belgrade, Macedonia-Skopje/Struga/Ohrid).

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.