It's the first year that UEMA organizes one-week colonies, the premiere; and although the young people have already come home, we've caught them in Zestoa over the past few days. Sixteen young people between the ages of 15 and 18 decided and let the game be organized after having breakfast on their own in a classroom at the Granja Escuela and we met with Jokin Uranga, head of the educational area of UEMA and summer camp coordinator, the monitor Aizpea Aristi and Irati Mendizabal, a 14-year-old oiartzuarra youth.

“The goal of Salto! is to make a leap from inertia to consciousness and thereby generate a multiplier effect,” explained the association of Euskaldunes municipalities in the presentation of the summer program, and “with an attractive program linked to leisure and Basque culture, sensitizing young people on the subject, we want to take a step towards collective empowerment”. But have the objectives really been met? The journalist has asked the three journalists this question, and the three journalists, each from their field, have been happy about their work. “We didn’t want to organize some training colonies. For this, a full schedule is prepared during the course and we have not wanted to ‘get bored’ with talks or serious workshops. We believe that many things are covered by pleasure and pleasure, albeit indirectly. The objective of these colonies has been to meet the young people of the Basque municipalities, share their daily lives and see that in other towns they also live in Basque; and on the return, each one will play in his people the role of supporting the language. After all, we are small islands,” says Jokin Uranga.

“For seven days we have had a wonderful group atmosphere both among the youth and among the monitors. Through games and activities we have worked on the awareness you mentioned. Yesterday, for example, we had a day dedicated to Basque music and culture, and in laughter, we were able to listen and meet various Basque groups. One of the games was to give the young people a word and gather as many songs as possible in relation to that word. They were at ease and served us to see how many we know how to sing, what are the themes that appear in Basque music, etc.”, says Aizpea Aristi.

The young Irati Mendizabal has also made a “very positive assessment”: “We have brought together seventeen people from Oñati, Oiartzun, Bermeo, Otxandio and Igorre and we have made an incredible relationship. We have done everything, we have traveled the river, we have gone to the mountain or to the beach, the ginkanas, the verbenas... it has been a very nice experience, worthy to repeat”.

A smaller group has met than expected, and the organization has acknowledged that it has “cost” to attract young people. “On the one hand there are as many as. The approach of the youngest may be easier than that of the 15-18 age group,” said the coordinator. “And on the other hand, if you organize some colonies of bertsolaris or sports, it can be easier, because these young people meet weekly, to do something more concrete it can be easier to gather people together. In our case, the camp is larger, has had a more general offer, and being the first year, in addition, young people have no previous references”, he continued. But the three have wanted to underline the "advantages" of the small group, which has been a group of measures to establish a closer relationship between all. Words of Uranga: “I’ve been back and forth, I haven’t been as monitors 24 hours a day with young people. From the outside I have been able to see the development of relationships, and the salsa that has been created between the youth and the monitors has been very good.”

Training of monitors

The monitors have previously received a preparatory session for a weekend. To start with, they've worked on what the UEMA is, its trajectory, its objectives, etc. ; and then they took advantage of the weekend to prepare the colony itself. Anyway, most of the monitors come from the municipalities of Euskaldunes, and previously they knew the association. In addition, for a couple of years they worked at the Youth Meetings organized by the UEMA itself in Orio, so they knew how it worked.

UEMA Educational Project

At the base of these colonies is an entire educational project. Citizen awareness and awareness is one of the main lines of UEMA in recent years. In this sense, two years ago the education project on the centers that breathe in Euskera was launched, and in the last courses the technicians of the association have worked with students of Early Childhood Education, ESO and Baccalaureate in all the municipalities of UEMA. The objective of the project is to disseminate among students the discourse of linguistic ecology and to value the respiratory spaces, in addition to making young people see the importance they have in the process of normalization of the Basque Country.

Last year they began to work to develop the project in its entirety and overcome the limits of regulated education. Project. A weekend of Salto! The Youth Meetings were organized by UEMA in Orio in 2017. And this year has taken a step further: they have decided to prepare a week camp instead of a weekend stay, so that they can work in a more relaxed way all the content that was worked during those three days and reach more young people.

Although for next year it is not yet clear whether something is going to be organized in the same format, UEMA plans a weekend or a couple of weeks for these young people to continue interacting and empowering themselves.

Irati Mendizabal, 14 years old and natural from Oiartzun

“We wanted to go to the camps and at school we got the news of Salto!. We thought it was a nice opportunity, and I didn't regret it at all. We've had a very good time and we're going home very well.

I have lived in Irun, I have not always lived in Oiartzun. I noticed a big change in the language of one town to another. In one place, I went from speaking in Spanish with the whole environment, to speaking in Basque with everyone. If I still go back to Irun and speak in Basque with a friend, there is someone who says to me, “Why are you speaking in Basque?”

But in Oiartzun, neither do everyone who knows, and I think that's going against the Basque people. It’s our language, and I think it’s important for us to talk about who we know is important.”