When space speaks: a theatre that was not only cleaned with a broom, but with presence, connection, and purpose. On Saturday, July 12th there was not just a regular Cleanup in Jesenice, there it was a tribute. A space that had been silent for a long time was able to breathe again on Saturday. The cloudy sky brought just the right amount of freshness so that summer fatigue did not take over and the work was not strenuous, but pleasant and encouraging.

At the DPD Svoboda Javornik – Koroška Bela location, Jesenice, 20 of us gathered – young people, not-so-young people, locals, volunteers, individuals with different experiences and life stories – with the aim of giving something a new opportunity as a community. To give space to the theatre. And to ourselves.

Meeting point

The DPD Svoboda Javornik – Koroška Bela meeting point is a place with a history, but one that has slowly been obscured by dust in recent years. We started from the outside and continued inside. Leaves, rubbish, old tin cans, cardboard, discarded theatre props and objects that once adorned performances, now waiting for someone to notice them again. We worked in groups – deliberately mixed. Young people alongside people with disabilities, those who are used to speaking loudly alongside those who are used to listening. And after just a few minutes, it was clear – we were a team. It was no longer just about cleaning, but about a joint project.

Cleaning up a space that is the setting for stories and imagination means more than just sweeping the floor. It means understanding everything that has been in that space. And everything that could still be there. While cleaning, we sorted materials, learned how to properly separate (atypical, unusual) waste, and understood the importance of responsible environmental behaviour. The conversation ranged from the local to the global and vice versa, which is why such actions never remain purely local: they become a micro-echo of the global movement for a more responsible, sustainable, and inclusive society.

Recycling

Once we had filled the van with all the waste and discarded materials, we drove to the Jesenice Collection Center, where we sorted everything appropriately and put it out for recycling. The explanation given by the employees was clear: what we do with waste speaks to how we understand and respect the world. But if we had to choose the highlight of the day, it would probably be the moment during lunch. When we sat together, without schedules, without tasks. Just people who had done something together and who had relaxed a little. Perhaps the space. Perhaps themselves. In any case, something became more open. What initially seemed like ordinary cleaning and sorting of waste turned out to be a powerful symbol at the end of the campaign—cleaning the cultural space and its surroundings became a metaphor for cleaning up prejudices, barriers, and silences between people.

The event, organized by the Sožitje Jesenice, Kranjska Gora, and Žirovnica Association and the PIPZ Institute as part of the Global Responsibility through Specificicus partnership project, was not just about the environment or volunteering. It was a reminder that sometimes space needs us to make itself heard again. And that sometimes we need space to remember who we are and what power and responsibility we have.

Text and photographs: PIPZ Institute and Sožitje Society Jesenice

Sloga is the national coordinator in Finland of the EU-supported Connect for Global Change program.