The importance of this project

The last two days the British media have been full of reports on the dangers of extremism. As well as reports on radicalised young people going to fight in Syria, there has been a lot of discussion about the probable visit of Gabor Vona, leader of Jobbik, to London this weekend. People are starting to realise that what happens in Hungary affects us here too.

Planning visit day 3

The visit concluded with a full morning of constructive discussions on the details of the project. We have a plan. Now for the real work of putting it into action.

Looking forward to seeing some new bloggers here soon.

Planning Visit day 2

We spent the morning learning more about each other's organisations. Particularly useful to find out about Catalyst in Communities' restorative justice programmes, Thessaloniki 2014, and our hosts Fekete Sereg Youth Association. We also learned a lot more about gangs in East London, with valuable insights from Hakim.

After lunch we travelled to Devecser and Sumeg for meetings with the Roma Council in each town, learning much more about the Roma in general and the specific issues in Hungary. As a whole the day has helped set the scene for the project ahead.

The evening was rounded off by an excellent dinner and wine tasting in the vaults beneath the old bishop's palace, accompanied by great music from local Roma group "Flower of Beazs".

Planning Visit day 1

Arrival in Hungary, travel to Nagyvazsony and settling in to our comfortable accommodation. Joined by Babis and Argyro from Greece.

Later in the evening Trevor serves traditional Goulash soup made by our project partner Evika, leader of the local Roma Council.