Ungdomar från Portugal samarbetar med ungdomar i Göteborg för att samla in pengar till CYC Shatila.
On the 11th of August of 2026, 31 teenagers, with the help of 6 adults, worked together to host a fair with the aim of helping the CYC Shatila organization, as part of the Erasmus+ collaboration project between the associations Dínamo Sintra and Mixgården, Göteborgs stad.
Who we are
Dínamo Sintra is a Portuguese youth association based in the Sintra region, whose mission is to encourage young people to play an active role in transforming their communities. They work at the intersection of youth, culture and social justice through spaces for cooperation, capacity building and self-expression, where young people can develop their role as agents of change.
Who we are
Mixgården is a Swedish youth center located in Hammarkullen that focuses on the wellbeing of teenagers and inspire youth to take action in their community.
Solidarity Action
During the week of 8th to 14th of August, these two associations and their young members came together in Sweden, in the spirit of solidarity and social justice. There, they carried out their solidarity initiative — a charity fair to support CYC Shatila in Lebanon.
In the fair, there were three areas of impact:
Fundraising;
Entertainment;
Awareness raising.
Fundraising
The fundraising team started the preparations by splitting up into three groups, the first group were baking cookies and sweets for the fair, the second were preparing some bingo cards and prizes and the last one was the face painting group. The face painting group did not have many things to prepare so they helped with baking cookies.
During the fair the team put up stations for the different groups and during the fair they were also selling hotdogs and balloon figures. The bingo was different, they sold bingo cards for a set price and whoever got a bingo got a prize. The price on face painting was set to 7 kr. The balloon figures were made by some of the teens.
Entertainment
The entertainment group was in charge of activities during the fair. There were minigames for the children to play but also sport related activities, everything in the entertainment section was for free so that everyone could enjoy the fair.
Some of the teens were in charge of a bouncy castle and of some sumo wrestling activity. The bouncy castle included a donation box if some parents wanted to help with the cause. Some of the minigames were tic tac toe with bottle flip, and match the color. Everyone of the activities except bouncy castle gave a small treat.
Awareness Raising
In the awareness-raising sector, the group not only designed posters and videos to promote the fair, but also produced educational content to help audiences understand the hardships facing Lebanon and other nations. The educational content produced was flyers featuring an adapted version of Lebanon’s history — written in accessible, simplified language for children — a crossword puzzle test their knowledge in the topic. It was also created a mini-museum illustrating the history that led to the creation of the refugee camp Sabra Shatila and CYC, using a timeline from 1948 to the present day. These two media formats were used to advocate CYC’s cause and inform the public on the existing struggles and world conflicts.
Results and Reflexions
As a result of this fair, the group was able to gather 261.52€/2883kr in just 3 hours, which has already been transferred to CYC Shatila. More than a fundraising initiative, the event raised awareness of global challenges and emphasized solidarity and empathy. Inspired by the CYC’s spirit — finding positivity in hardship —, it brought fun, engaging activities for children, proving that children can still be children despite their environment. With this action, 31 youth wish to share hope and inspire CYC’s children, showing them, through small actions, these kids are not alone.
