Sharing experience – Zare Kakoyan
I am Zare Kakoyan and am student at the Humboldt University in Berlin. I recently attended the seminar ,,Islam is Not the Enemy,, in Spain. This was a project of EU, Erasmus+. For me the project “Islam is Not the Enemy,” was my first Erasmus Plus project and it was more exciting for me. Everything was new and interesting for me. The topic is a favourite thema of me, because I want to get involved in the history of religion, because religions have many challenges in the 21st century. The seminar consisted of theoretical and practical parts. Through the practical part and the games, we made the topic very well known to us in a very short time. Nowadays the topic is very topical and relevant. I think it is very right to do this seminar in Spain, because there is a mixture of the two biggest religions in the world.

We spent a truly inspiring week in Malaga and we learned so much about Islamophobia and how to deal with prejudice and how to influence people in a positive way through communication. We shared our points of view and it was really interesting listening to those of other people. The debates got us so much involved in the topic and we learned how to defend different beliefs and find legitimate arguments for each mindset. This exemplifies very well how stereotypes are formed because if you want to believe in something you will always find ways to justify it. We enjoyed all the activities and felt a lot of friendship chemistry towards the other participants on the project.
Amazing dissemination campaign from the Bulgarian participants at our training course in spain! Huge impact of this project on the local communities.


The project “Islam is not the Enemy” organized by ASUL in Malaga, Spain was an amazing experience which I am extremely grateful to have been part of. Each day, activities that were both informative and interactive were done so that each participant would feel included and would leave the training course with some knowledge on the topic.
Taking part in the Erasmus+ training course ‘Islam is not the Enemy’ was an inspiring opportunity to learn more about the dangers of Islamophobia and radicalization. Along with 24 participants from 6 different countries we worked together to find ways to tackle the growing anti-muslim sentiment that has been widespread through Europe recently.
My experience in Malaga was outstanding. I am very thankful for having had the opportunity to fly to another country to participate in a training course that dealt with one of Europe’s biggest modern challenges, Islamophobia. I came back home feeling more informed about the issue and more ready to help even further to tackle issues like that in the future.