From 3-7 April,  Rural Migrantour's first IRL gathering was held in Kostanjevica na Krki, a beautiful little town on the Slovenian-Croatian border at the very tip of the Balkans that's home to Jana Milovanović, the Rural Migrantour project leader and director of Terra Vera. The town - surrounded by forest, strawberry fields and vineyards - is located along the Balkan Route taken by many seeking asylum in Europe. It is also the site of the famed international wood sculpture park Forma Viva that has brought artists from around the world since the 1960s together to explore politics through art.

During our time together, Meghann Ormond and Yetunde Oludare (Pocket Stories) facilitated  an intensive 3-day-long experiential learning process to develop project members'  participatory research and design skills and competencies necessary for the co-creation of Migrantour guided walking tours.  We focused on developing empathic listening, qualitative research, oral and visual storytelling, and participatory mapping skills that ultimately enabled us to co-create a Rural Migrantour route prototype in Kostanjevica na Krki itself.

The co-creative journey our group took together to develop a Rural Migrantour route included:

- Reflection on how the Migrantour initiative's values and mission resonate with our own;

- Exploration of our own life stories through photo elicitation, mental mapping and peer coaching;

- Guided visits to significant cultural and natural heritage sites;

- Conducting interviews with local residents with a diverse array of backgrounds;

- Identification of essential themes, patterns and symbols that connected our own life experiences with the experiences of those interviewed and visited;

- Identification of specific sites in the area that resonate with and symbolise the essence of these experiences and advance Migrantour values;

- Development of a compelling and attractive tour narrative and walkable route based on these sites.

We came out of the training experience with a real sense of connection to each other and, despite the short time there, also to Kostanjevica na Krki. And we also emerged from it with strong motivation to bring our learnings back home and make something really meaningful together with our intercultural companions for Rural Migrantour participants. 

Deep thanks to all of our amazing fellow Rural Migrantour project members and to our local guides, hosts and interviewees for an unforgettable week together full of good vibrations!

It wasn't easy to get to Kythera. But it was so worth it!

Kythera's name comes from the word 'ede' - 'the one who hides love within herself'. The island, though dry and bare at first glance, is home to diverse flora and many springs upon a closer look. The air is infused with aromas of sage, thyme and ripe figs. 

To make your way through the complex, mysterious landscape, you'll need a reliable guide. No problem. Our Paths of Greece hosts Eleni, Fivos and Rigas devotedly explore, restore, clean, and tag old paths on the island and throughout Greece to ensure their stories are remembered and that you have a memorable journey. 

During our gathering, we learned from great teachers. Aliaksandra Ihnatovich expanded our horizons about how to create photos and videos for social impact, and Spyros from Staridas Geography taught us to create digital map stories. These learnings will be applied to our Rural Migrantour routes throughout Europe.

The coordination meeting held in Svilengrad had the objective of sharing updates on project progress and assisting Rural Migrantour partners in the development of digital content for the project. Partners learned anthropological interview techniques from Rural Migrantour project leader, Jana Milovanović of Terra Vera, who interviewed two residents with emigration backgrounds who chose to return to Svilengrad. Videos from these interviews with Kosta and Bogdana can be found in Svilengrad's digital storymap and Svilengrad's YouTube project playlist.

Each partner presented their progress with developing the digital content for the digital storymaps using Knightlab. We also explored how to develop video and audio for creating a digital storymap using tools like CapCut, iMovie, etc. 

We also took everyone on a trial run of LAG Svilengrad's Rural Migrantour guided walking tour, with local coordinator, Mariyana Apostolova, acting as the tour's intercultural companion. She shared insights into local history and stories and, as participants, we got to interact with one another a lot as well. Curiosity about the architecture led us to explore the story of the local silk cooperative and to challenge project partners' knowledge about life behind the Iron Curtain. Visits to the  Thracian Tomb and the Byzantine Medieval Fortress  impressed everyone with their historic richness and tourism potential. Local foods and famous wines were tasted at a small boutique family winery.

A true experience of Svilengrad as a crossroads is had by crossing the border to either Turkey or Greece. We brought project partners across Europe's busiest border checkpoint: the one with Turkey.  We also visited the fortification used during the Balkan wars that became a memorial to these conflicts. The EU-funded memorial tells a story grounded in neutrality, reconciliation, and respect for both war victims and victors. We discussed this narrative and considered the site's tourist potential.

Our final project meeting was held in Camini, a tiny Calabrian hillside village revived after decades of emigration as a home for newcomers with asylum-seeking backgrounds awaiting permanent residence status in Italy.

Over these last two years, Rural Migrantour partners have been exploring the unique geographical, social and political challenges associated with creating tour routes addressing their areas' many layers of migration heritage. We found ourselves frequently not only examining the areas' most recent cross-border migratory experiences but also putting them into conversation with ones that are centuries and even millennia old. We also became increasingly alert to the nuanced local, regional and national contexts that shape dominant rural narratives about what/where/when constitutes a 'local' and a 'foreigner'.

One point is clear: whether rural or urban, past or present, migration should not be treated as an exception to some imagined sedentary norm.

During our days together, we also had the great pleasure of taking Camini's first Rural Migrantour guided walking tour. Migrantour intercultural companions Douaa, a writer, and Zakaria, an intercultural mediator, brought us through Jungi Mundu's array of creative labs that support the inclusion of newcomers as well as the many beautiful murals and artfully restored buildings that have helped to bring Camini back to life. Congratulations to them on the work they've done! May they continue to unpack and examine the many "bags" upon which Camini continues to be built.

Special thanks to the event's brilliant organiser and Jungi Mundu project manager Serena Franco, Jungi Mundu's co-director Rosario Zurzolo, the very talented siblings Douaa and Hamza Alokla, and everyone we had the opportunity to meet over these last days for their great insight, moving talent and incredible hospitality!