Anti-bullying week

Bullying is repeated and unwanted attention experienced by a group or an individual. It is prevalent in so many places including schools. Many people experience this behaviour so we felt it was an important issue to speak about with young people here in Xylokastro. Orfeas in cooperation with an English language school and the volunteers created an anti-bullying workshop for the teens in the school. Along with other activities across anti bullying week.

The anti-bullying workshop.

We began with a group discussion on the various kinds of bullying and how to act in each of these different situations. We discussed, physical, verbal, sexual and cyber bullying, and exclusion. The students then shared how they would act if they were to experience or see such behaviours.

We then proceeded to show a short video of 100 people sharing whether or not they had been bullied. This was to highlight that there are endless reasons why people are bullied and to not place the blame on yourself.

After this video we asked the students to make a heart and act as if it were their own. They then handed it to their neighbour, we requested that they write hurtful things on the hearts, and crumple them up. They then returned the heart, smoothed it out, however the heart was still damaged. This exercise was to emulate how words stay with you and cannot be taken back.

We ended with a roleplaying scenario, wherein the group was separated and had to act out different bullying scenarios. The rest of the groups would then discuss how the victim and perpetrator should act. This was to instil the importance of doing something when you see something wrong.

Anti-bullying Youtube video.

A video was also created by an office volunteer. It entailed young children creating art around the subject of bullying. It showcased that in collaboration with schools around Xylokastro, Orfeas organisation, organised a workshop on anti-bullying week. Through crafts, discussions and more, the children gained insight into what bullying is and what the effects are. We are very grateful for the school’s participation and thoroughly appreciate the opportunity.

Leaflets were also created that covered much information regarding anti-bullying information.

Short-term involvement.

Our short-term volunteers also got involved. They all created posters that had a different kind of bullying on each one. This was in order to raise awareness in a creative and positive way. Each poster contained information on the topic as well. A short video was made and shared on our socials.

Doing all of these projects and activities is worthwhile as it creates awareness around the topics of bullying. It starts an important dialogue between young people and adults and removes the stigma and taboo surrounding the topic. There is much shame and embarrassment when it comes to bullying, by speaking openly about the topic it takes away the power it can have over people.