The border festival 'Where Does the Motherland Begin?' brought together youth from Belarus and Russia in Vitebsk
It became an integration, communication, and educational platform for students and young educators from various regions of the Vitebsk region and their guests and colleagues from Smolensk, Bryansk, Tomsk, Omsk, Yaroslavl, Engels, Volgograd, and Ulan-Ude.
For several days, young people discussed current issues related to their future professional activities, creativity, and volunteer movement, worked, and learned within master classes, seminars, and trainings at numerous thematic discussion platforms.
Symbolically, the festival began with the planting of a Friendship Alley by young educators – participants of the Russian-Belarusian gathering of young teachers. Future teachers from Belarus and Russia, together with the Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies, Vladimir Terentyev, planted about fifty trees as part of the republican labor campaign #ЗАДЕЛО, which will remind citizens of the beginning of a new format of youth meetings.
–. Our countries share common roots, history, art, and culture. Together, we honor the feat and memory of the soldiers who won victory in the Great Patriotic War. Not a single event in the Vitebsk region, whether socio-political or cultural, takes place without the participation of our friends and neighbors. Our peoples have been bound by centuries-old friendship, and we want to have a common future. This is the meaning of the new festival – to show young people that despite each of them having their own homeland, they should not forget that their ancestors read the same primer, were equally proud of their grandfather's budenovka, and their great-grandfathers fought together for freedom and peace. They need to carry this through their lives and instill the right principles and worldview in the next generation, – noted Vladimir Vladimirovich at the festive opening ceremony of the festival.
Deputy Head of the Rossotrudnichestvo Representative Office in the Republic of Belarus Leonid Makurov emphasized that the large-scale forum will allow the youth of the two countries to get to know each other better, establish contacts, and make acquaintances that could lead to joint projects in the future, not only of a humanitarian but also of an economic nature.
Rector of Vitebsk State University named after P. Masherov Alexey Egorov focused on the didactic component of the festival, which is designed to become an innovative form of upbringing and education.
– Today, it is not enough to provide a future professional with a certain amount of knowledge, to instill information in the fields of natural, technical, and humanitarian sciences. Such festivals contribute to the development of communication skills, they teach how to communicate. In addition, besides entertainment events, the forum also carries an intellectual message, giving young people new life experience, – said Alexey Vladimirovich.
Festival participants acquired educational content on various discussion platforms. For example, young teachers at Vitebsk Gymnasium No. 8 discussed current educational trends, the lifestyle of a young teacher, and modern teaching methods.
Activists of the youth volunteer movement presented their own charitable projects within the framework of a round table at Gymnasium No. 2, and a media project competition "If they say the word Motherland?" was held at VSU for aspiring journalists. Future diplomats and parliamentarians discussed the topics and forms of interregional cooperation at a round table with the participation of government representatives and experts in international relations.
Following the results of several days, the most active participants of the festival, as well as the winners of the competition projects, were awarded commemorative diplomas and prizes.
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The festival is organized by the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies, the Representative Office of Rossotrudnichestvo in the Republic of Belarus, the Smolensk public organization of the Russian Union of Youth, and Vitebsk State University named after P. Masherov. In addition, the main department for education of the regional executive committee, the main department for ideological work and youth affairs of the regional executive committee, and the Vitebsk regional committee of the "BRSM" public association provided assistance in holding the forum.