The project “Living in Latvia - 4” officially has come to the end but participants are certain that it has given long-term impact as new social networks have been developed and a lot of knowledge acquired during last seven month. Some of experiences and useful pieces of information are included in the publication which is available in the printed version and also here.

The EDC team is also satisfied about the cooperation with the project participants and believes that the project has provided bases for successful integration process in the future and everything should be good. Why? There are at lest three reasons.

Openness to everything offered by the project. Participants’ enthusiasm to participate in the seminars and language clubs, their determination to study distance education materials in more detail at home, the willingness to take part in expeditions of exploring Latvia, to visit cultural events, museums, to question the experts serve as the evidence. This is also proved by their readiness to yield oneself to the adventure – to speak out the sentence in Latvian for the first time, to taste the strange product „tīrkultūra” and to take heart to go independently to the culture centre „Ziemeļblāzma”. The run of the project is very intensive; it takes time, interest, particularization and absorption but it turns out – it is worth it because each of the so different parts of the integration program supplements the other and allows standing more firmly on one’s feet here - in Latvia.

Mutual support and assistance. Which is the tastiest bread in Latvia? Where did you find your family doctor? Which school should we better choose? Which documents did you have to hand when you registered your business? These are the questions that the participants ask not only the experts but any staff member of the EDC and each other. Project events never end at the time indicated in the agenda. They continue with discussions, sharing experience, giving advice, exchanging e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Participants form the network of mutual support and assistance which will continue to provide the sense of safety also after the end of the project.

Respect to Latvia and its inhabitants. Latvia has given some participant of the project the possibility to escape from the war, another – to reunite with the family or receive education. Therefore the participants’ attitude to the present home and people of Latvia is full of gratitude, respect and appreciation. This is a good foundation for good living together. The project participants, in their turn, give a unique possibility to the project implementation team and people in different regions of Latvia to look at the native country through the eyes of other people. This allows appreciating anew things that we have got used to take as granted- freedom, safety and security, clean air and water, shops that are full with goods, four seasons, picturesque landscapes and good education.