A BRIERFIELD teenager added to her knowledge of other cultures when she represented Lancashire at a cultural seminar in Germany.

Hamara Arif, 17, of Sackville Street, was chosen to take part in the Community Arts Exposing Europe project, a cultural youth exchange involving seven nations within Europe.

It was an extensive nine-day youth exchange in East Berlin between representatives from Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Germany, Great Britain and Romania.

Hamara, who is on the Lancashire Youth Parliament, returned on Sunday.

She said: "I put myself forward for the trip and there were originally supposed to be eight of us from Great Britain but two backed out. I was the only one representing this area.

"The European Union funded 70 per cent of the cost of the rail travel and we were supposed to pay the other 30 per cent ourselves.

"However, Lancashire Youth parliament gave me a grant for the balance, which was £45."

The young people, between the ages of 16 and 25, were divided into groups and took part in workshops, seminar and discussions where they talked about stereotypes from each country and cultural differences.

They then had to write a report about the project.

The workshops were designed to explore the themes of national, international, and cultural identity from different angles and perspectives.

They used art, theatre, creative process methods, active learning techniques, and participant-led discussions and presentations.

Hamara said: "It made me think more about others. People in four of the countries didn't even know if they were going to wake up in the morning as their lives were so uncertain, which made me think we were quite spoiled in Great Britain.

"They thought we believed we were superior to them and I felt really ignorant.

"It was an amazing experience and the day I came home I was crying thinking about what they go through."