Inakosť na dosah ruky: začiatok

What do you have in common with a woman who wears a hijab? What connects a child from Rohožník with a boy from Delhi who spends the whole day selling flowers on the street? At first glance, nothing. And that is exactly why we decided to change that.

Since January 2026, something rather special has been happening in Rohožník. The civic association Jemná cesta has launched a year-long project called Difference Within Reach — a non-formal education programme for children and young people aged 8 to 14, inviting them to discover the world not through a textbook, but through their own hands, through scents, tastes, sounds, and stories.

Every Month — A Different Culture, A Different World

January belonged to India. The children worked with natural pigments, spices, and sand mandalas, and talked about whether a person is truly poor if they do not own many things, but have a strong family and deep traditions.

February brought Syria — not politics, not war, but the question: what would you take with you if you had to leave your home in five minutes? Each child created a symbolic “home in the palm of their hand” from fabric and Arabic words.

And that is only the beginning. Japan awaits us with calligraphy ink and a tea ritual, France with conversation over cheese and fondue, the Roma community through rhythm and body movement, the Balkans through questions of memory and history, and December’s England in the spirit of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.

Why This Project?

Because prejudice does not come from a bad heart. It comes from the unknown. And the most effective remedy for fear of the unknown is personal experience — to touch, taste, hear, and create something with your own hands.

This project is not about teaching children to “like everyone”. It is about teaching them to ask questions before making judgments. To distinguish between fact and myth. To understand that difference is not a threat — it is richness.

We have applied for support for this project through the Bratislava Self-Governing Region’s grant scheme, as part of a call supporting youth and tolerance. We are still waiting for the result — but neither the children nor we wanted to wait. Since January, we have already been discovering the world together through all our senses, and the joy it brings us is the best proof that we have set out on the right path.

To find out more, follow us on Facebook and Instagram or visit www.jemnacesta.sk

Because the world is bigger than it looks from the window. And Rohožník can be a place where children learn this.

Article author: Zuzka Rečná