1. HOW TO ACTIVATE PASSIVE
EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP
Presentation of the Hungarian Team
3rd Comenius meeting – Izmir, 20-25 October 2013
2. Our Comenius Team:
Réka Tatár – Photo Exhibition
Barnabás Szatmári – Gloomy Sides of
Hungarian Society
Anna Molnár – National Strategies
Norbert Tápai – Volunteering Experiences I.
Viktória Wolcz - Volunteering Experiences II.
Teachers: Ágnes Bató and Judit Gera
4. • Besides the fact that Hungary is catching up to Western Europe, there
are gloomy sides to our society, too. There are abandoned industrial
and military buildings, poor residence areas and some run-down
institutions.
5. • Due to the recent economic crisis and the growing number of
unemployed people, the problems of discrimination and segregation
into slums is getting more serious.
6. • Homelessness is a huge problem in bigger cities,
especially in the capital.
7. Because of the country’s economic situation, the state
cannot spend enough on the social security system, so
hospitals and care homes are in a difficult situation.
8. In this situation, paying attention to
- the improvement of the situation of disabled,
disadvantaged and homeless people,
- the development of hospitals and nursing homes,
- the financing of the social safety net, and
- the handling of household debts
is a difficult task.
9. On the everyday level, however, it is possible to do
something. We can
- donate clothes and food for charity
- help giving out food to those in need
- take care of underprivileged children in schools
- volunteer at non-profit organizations, hospitals or centers for
the disabled.
10. National Strategies
A) Community service for high school students:
• Community service is an obligatory activity for Hungarian
high school students who want to take the state’s school-leaving
exam. The new law says that after January 2016, they
can only get their high school diplomas if they have
completed 50 hours of community service.
11. B) Volunteer centres
The Volunteer Centers
aim to support the work
of Hungarian volunteers
and the organizations
which employ them. In
these centres, you can get
training, information and
advice about how you can
help people in need. In
Hungary, every county or
bigger city has a volunteer
center.
12. Local Strategies
• Social Practice in Waldorf Schools:
In every Waldorf School, 11th graders have to do a social practice for two
weeks. They usually work in children’s hospitals, nursing homes, homeless
care homes, with underprivileged children and mentally or physically
handicapped people. This helps to improve their social skills and strengthens
their responsibility for others.
13. Sunny Side Foundation
• The aim of the foundation is to support mentally and physically
disabled people. In addition, they work to show healthy people what it
is like to live with a handicap.
14. Center for Mentally and Physically Disabled
Children
• Anna and two of her classmates worked here. They had to help the
children and young adults with eating, learning and they also played
with them a lot.
• She wrote: “I started the day in the gym. We did abs training with Pityu, (but this
time we stopped at 30, because his muscles hurt. It is not good to make him continue,
because he has Down syndrome, and it’s bad for him.”
15. Hearing-impaired Children’s School
• Some of our schoolmates worked in a special school for hearing-impaired
children. They helped them during the classes and took them
on a trip to the zoo.
17. Rainbow Autism Foundation
• Barna was working in an institution for autistic children and kids
with Down-syndrome. Autistic people can’t accept new things
easily in their life. However, they can concentrate on one thing very
strongly.
18. Disadvantaged children’s institution
(Ágota Foundation)
• Réka worked in a center for underprivileged children, where she helped
them with their homeworks and played with them.
19. Disadvantaged Children’s Institution
(Ágota Foundation)
• The children are from Roma families or poor or single-parent families.
The volunteers also organized small parties and other different events
for them.
20. Children’s Hospital
• Only a few students can work in the children’s hospital, where they
have to work hard to cheer up kids with cancer.
21. Red Cross and Homeless Assistance
Center
• Some students worked at a homeless assistance center, where
they gave them bread and tea in the morning. They wrote: “After giving
out the food, we were working in the garden, and some of the homeless guys came to
help us - they told us their stories and said nice things to us. :)”
• Other students worked at the Red Cross, where they had to sort
clothes and shoes, which later they gave to poor and homeless
people.
22. Nursing Home
• Some of our classmates worked in a nursing home, where they
helped the elderly in their everyday lives. One of them wrote:
• “Contrary to my expectations, the newspaper reading session went well, most of the
old ladies understood what I read. After this, we played a word game. I told them to
say animals starting with the letter “K”, then plants, then names. I think they liked it,
and they tried to participate.”
23. Quotations from student diaries
• “They say that if you work with mentally disabled people, that will
help you break down the walls you have built against them. But I
didn’t think this would happen to me. I guess this helped me develop
a lot.” (Center for the Mentally Disabled)
• “Éva, an autistic girl said today: ‘I am as imperfect as you guys.’ I
think she was right.” (Autism Foundation)
• “Today I didn’t have to read all the horoscopes, because only 8 ladies
came to the reading session.” (Nursing Home)
• “Today I helped Niki with her painting, and it was a nice experience,
though I was really afraid of her in the beginning. They are so
strange, but with every day, it’s easier to be here.” (Center for the
Mentally Disabled)
