The Erasmus Family: when the dust settles, we will just go back to doing what we do!

I feel the need to write. As much as I am saddened, I am somewhat angry at a sector I have been part of for almost 30 years. In October 2021, I spoke at the Tool Fair in Porto and commented how it was the first large in-person gathering post-covid and we just went back to normal – no reflection, no checking in on what had just happened – as if nothing had happened.

In November 2022 after returning from the Tool Fair in Marseille, I wrote a blog reflecting on how I knew a lot of people there but didn’t really ‘know them.’ I said many of us had ‘grown up’ with Erasmus but we never have space and time just to be together. I made the point that up until then we had never suffered ‘collective grief.’ No-one from within ‘the family’ had passed.

Within 6 months, that changed. Leo Kaserer had passed. Motivated by Leo’s passing and acutely aware that many of us were of a certain age, I initiated a project that would capture non-Erasmus / non-work stories from people that had occupied the sector for quite some time because whilst we knew their work, we don’t really know each other – the person, the human.

Within a few months of Leo passing, and somewhat ironically as I was working on one of the stories, I learned of the passing of Martin Kimber. Martin was well known in the UK for his Erasmus work and the immeasurable impact he had made on many. He had passed suddenly. For those of us who knew him, shock and disbelief.

It highlighted further the need to capture stories before they are lost to the mists of time, because unless we make a point of spending time with each other, ‘the field’ never creates opportunities to just ‘be together.’  I made the point that we are always dong, doing, doing and never being, being, being.

Twenty-five beautiful stories emerged as part of Beyond Erasmus: Stories from Outside the Box.

The ‘Big Events’ still come and go. Tool Fairs, Bridges for Trainers, European Youth Work Conventions et al, but still no time for practitioners to come together just to be together, just for being, being, being and not for doing, doing, doing,

‘The Field’ never makes time for those that make the sector what it is. We’re always pushing product, creating new tools, initiating and developing, but never being, being, being.

Earlier this year, with the help of a few others, I initiated a project called The Get Together and just a matter of weeks ago, practitioners from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa committed to attending - at their own cost -  The Get Together just to be together. Just to be, not to do.

No policy debate, no strategic thinking, no reports to be compiled, no tools to parade, no networking or partnership building, no objectives or outcomes to be honoured and assessed, just practitioners coming together as human beings and connecting, just spending quality time in the company of each other and being, being, being.

Today, I learned of the passing of Mark E. Taylor. Fundamental to the development of Youth Work across Europe, he carried a spirit with him that was humane, humble, kind, witty and his presence touched so many in so many different ways.

I had asked him to provide a story for Stories from Outside the Box. He declined. Ironically, he said he didn’t have one. In any case, he didn’t want to provide me with one.

We have lost two highly respected practitioners within 18 months. Both fell ill, demonstrating the fragility of life, but they were not old in the sense that we might count as old.

This will become the norm. The passing of the torch as it were. People come and go. This is the way, the Circle of Life and all that. And yet, we will continue to do what we do. We will continue to pursue policy, programmes, strategies, models, badges, certificates, and so on.

Unless we stop and have a conversation about the reality that gets up with us at dawn, we will not create the space and time to connect, to reflect, and just to be, and just to be with one another.

And until we do, we will continue to fill our social media spaces with tributes, kind words, and regrets about not visiting when we should have or when we had the chance. We will quietly raise a glass in honour of those that have impacted upon our lives time and again. And then after reflecting a bit, we'll just get back on the horse so to speak and go again.

Life is short. Life is Fragile. We are all vulnerable. Let’s do something about it.