An eight month joint cleaning project and workshop have been operated since February 2010. The project targets children, their school staff and parents living in Struga city, located in western Macedonia. In total 2,000 people have participated in this project. Elementary school students from four different schools (Macedonian schools and Albanian schools located in Struga city, and Macedonian schools and Islamic Albanian schools located outside of Struga city) gathered together two times a week. 15 students from each elementary school, in total 60 students, joined the workshop every Wednesday. They enjoyed singing, drawing pictures, making origami and dancing together. Every Thursday, they cleaned towns and villages together. JCCP also introduced Japanese culture during the project and workshops. This created many chances for different ethnic groups to communicate with each other, and was enjoyed by the people who participated in the project. Additionally local people who didn’t join the project also appreciated the efforts, because all of the garbage was cleaned up around parks, the city centre and schools in Struga City.
Because the approach and final result have been regarded so highly, the government and educational institutions are working together to continue this project in the future. JCCP is very glad to hear that people are still operating this project after JCCP finished its role in introducing the project to urge communication between different ethnic groups. JCCP hopes that this project will continue in the future.