#PurpleRoute – Niš Local Stop

Niš was a blessing! Not only because we felt way better and got time to rest, but also because we got to know a lot of nice people.

Unfortunately the highschool, in which we were supposed to deliver a workshop on the first day, cancelled at the last minute, but nevertheless AEGEE-Niš organised a public workshop spontaneously. We had a long and good discussion around GBV in the digital world and learned a lot again about the situation in Serbia – being it getting to know examples from cyberbullying between YouTubers or bloggers, but also learning about an extended version of creepshotting by people that host instagram accounts that only serve the purpose to expose the victims by posting pictures of them being drunk.

In the evening there was something special waiting for us: We had a speeddating-discussion-round – edition Gender Equality. Milica, the main organiser of Niš and also my colleague from the Social Equity Working Group, prepared questions around the topic and invited befriended NGOs who tackle the same issues as we do. We got to discuss about: Is the Gender Pay Gap a myth or a fact?, Should the man be able to decide about an abortion? Can boys cry and should they wear make-up? and many more! For each table we had five minutes and when the time was up we swapped and got to discuss with different people about another topic. It was great and very interesting to hear about different opinions.

The evening ended in a karaoke night!

With a little delay we delivered our campaign hub workshop at the University of Niš during our second day. We had a beautiful auditorium and therefore space for many people and a lot of great campaign ideas. We all loved with which motivation and eager the groups presented their campaigns in the end: Tackling gender stereotypes in sports, improving sex education in schools or striving for a better implementation of laws around gender based violence. We would love to see and of course support all of these campaigns!

Afterwards we got a city tour where we explored the old citadel, the city center in the sun, some memorials at the river side and finally the student canteen where we had dinner. At night we celebrated the birthday of AEGEE-Niš before we had to catch a very early bus at 4:40 back to Bulgaria.

Thank you, Niš – we had a great time!