We started our DigInclude project 2 years ago. While it’s coming to its official end, we are far from really ending it. It is just impossible not to carry with a different meaning of work – and life, too. It is impossible not to build on all the learnings we experienced, and not to leave all the emotions behind. During these 2 years we had sparking eyes, great motivation, willingness and impatience to do; we had successful activities, bright insights, forward-looking ideas; as well as we had struggles and pressure, too. We’ve committed ourselves to quite some results during this project, and most of those we even exceeded. One thing however proved to be way more difficult than everything else: bringing together an international community of disadvantaged groups with the aim of learning and growing together. We have managed to move 100+ people during this project, who did learn and grow together, yet, the community we visioned is still to be born. Some of my personal reflection points on the why:
- People forming a community is not coming from an external force, it is an organic process that takes time as well as effort of each individual. In a community people want to connect, both want to give and take, are willing to dedicate their time and are open for others. In a community people belong. Belonging is coming from various feelings such as trust, self-love, self-acceptance, compassion amongst many more. All of these are being built through shorter or longer process depending on each individual. Which is beautiful and ok.
- Digital communities – that we envisioned – are more difficult to build. The “ah yet another group to join” feeling is not an easy one to fight with. Values in constant noise (digital noise) are difficult to find. Digital versus in-person will never win. Creating and maintaining meaningful relationships and building trust via laptop or phone takes even greater effort from individuals. The lack of digital culture and problems with intentional tech usage make it more difficult for people to prioritise their online capacities. Taking conscious digital actions and sticking to healthy digital habits is a process, which is different to everyone. Which is natural and ok.
- A space can be ready, while individuals might be at a different place mentally, emotionally or capacity wise. Which is again ok.
And what are we taking away from this? Patience, trust and gratitude.
- We need to be more patient if we want to see a strong, interconnected, sustainable community. A forest is not being born in a day either, or not even in 2 years. 🙂
- We need to keep the trust that the value and meaning we bring with our work is needed – which we get plenty of confirmation about. We also need to trust the process: a good seed in a good environment must blossom. 🙂
- We need to remind ourselves how grateful we are for the people who are with us already now on this journey, their active participation, their feedback, their appreciation, their encouragement are unbelievably valuable for us! They are the sun, the light and the water that the seed needs. 🙂
Speaking of gratitude and growing… We are very grateful for this opportunity we were given with this project. We’ve definitely grown a lot not just as an organisation, but as individuals supporting its mission. It’s been a special project that we’ll indeed carry with us for a long-long while.
Another, super important thing to be grateful for: One of the things we’ve discovered during this project is the difficulties around self-confidence and self-acceptance of people of disadvantaged groups. We felt the urging need of supporting them on the journey of getting to love who they are, so we designed a mentor program that we decided to try with one of our participant. Although we could not finish the whole program, already after just some weeks of meaningful conversations and guided activities, we could feel the shift in how they approached the whole project and how they stood up. Reading their testimony now, almost 2 years later, is another lesson or reminder to trust! Here is what they had to say about their experience:
“We started working together 2 years ago in a self-confidence coaching session. I was open to it because I knew I needed it, it helped a lot that I could talk to women as women, because I’m surrounded by men due to my profession (IT field, I work as a designer).
DigInclude has opened up a world for me, partners abroad have been completely open, welcoming and curious about my situation, the process and how to collaborate. They learned a few sign language signs and were not afraid to laugh together, and to resolve situations when there was a barrier to communication.
During the 2 years there were many mentoring sessions with “homework” which were very exciting. Some were out of my comfort zone and some were things I have tried to apply ever since.
One of the most difficult tasks was to ask people close to me to make a list of why they love and/or appreciate me and I am important in their lives. Even just the starting point was difficult, to find people from whom I MEANT to ask for cooperation. It was a very good experience/journey because it gave me the experience that we don’t say enough to those around us that they are valuable and important to us. It made me realize what makes me important to the different people I know- and NONE of these were about physical outlook, which in the end didn’t surprise me, but as a woman I put quite a lot of emphasis on my appearance to make me more likeable. It made me realise that we need to give more positive feedback and affirmation to each other around us, because it feels mutually good for everyone. This small thing can bring a little bit of energy, peace of mind and “sunshine” into one’s life.
The other task was to try to do things that I would normally do while having my phone around, without the phone in the hectic everyday life, where the internet is now an integral part of our lives. These included walking, driving home, shopping, waiting for the bus, baking and cooking. I started to consciously avoid using the phone, and although I missed it at first, wanting to be ‘online’ all the time, over time I learned to be ‘with myself’ more and more. Managing my thoughts appropriately, dealing with stressful thoughts appropriately, my anxiety that I used to feel offline, on my own, decreased significantly.
I don’t have the stress of looking around on public transport anymore, I don’t worry about “what other people think”, I can feel comfortable and at ease. There are situations that are difficult, but I am in the process of changing that (e.g. eating alone in a café, eating alone in a restaurant, going to the cinema alone.)
In the 2 years I’ve been here, I’ve come to the point where I can stand up for myself, I can speak my mind even if I know the other person has a different opinion. Maybe it’s a small thing, maybe not : my eating disorder has decreased very significantly. I have a better relationship with food and my body. Thanks to the feedback, it has become strong in me that my likeability is based on internal attributes alone. And I take care of my body for health-preservation purposes, but I don’t force any diet or exercise, with the motivation that I will be “better accepted” as a result.
There are tasks that I have been doing professionally and in my personal life since we started this.”
This is how DigInclude officially finished and has not ended yet. ❤
DigInclude is a joint project of SignCoders and the Hekate Ageing Conscious Foundation. We’ve worked together to develop digital skills in communities of disadvantaged people. The project had the following main objectives:
- Building Hungarian and Dutch communities, long-term community learning and progressive online community spaces in the context of adult education.
- Training young people with disabilities and disadvantages in digital skills, digital literacy and digital well-being, and supporting their successful employment in the digital world.
This article was born as part of the Erasmus+ project “DigInclude – Developing Digital Skills in Disadvantaged Groups” and co-funded by the European Commission. THANK YOU!
Hekate 