O testemunho No. 2 da Leila (SPEM)

Today, the 6th of July 2021, it has been 36 weeks that I´m in Lisbon. 257 days, 6 168 hours.

And for all those tiny minutes, those hours, those 257 sunsets and sunrises, I'm thankful. I'm thankful to Lisbon that welcomed me in all its beauty. I´m thankful to my friends that I met here, who are now my portuguese family. I'm thankful for my work which helps me to figure out what I want in life and to focus on what matters to me. And I'm thankful to myself for the opportunity that I took by coming here.

Everyday has not been easy since January ; we had a lock-down and a hard winter. But I have to say that I can hardly remember the bad days. Their memories have been replaced by the good days. Even though the lock-down was tough, I feel that I came out of it even more motivated to do stuff, to travel, to go out, to live, to not miss another day. And I believe that I´m not the only one who reacted like this, because since the end of the lock-down our group of volunteers is even more strong and has the will to do and organize stuff. We explored Portugal, passing by Algarve for a work-away, Porto, Evora, Setubal, Alentejo, the region of Lisbon… Portugal is a beautiful country and I can't wait to continue the exploration, even if now it is again a little bit complicated. But it also forces me to discover the region of Lisbon that is already super beautiful and full of places to discover. 

Often at my work, they tell me “ You do love Portugal”, they are right. I needed this time away from France, from what I know, maybe to come back later, stronger and more aware of what I want. To express this, I want to share words that are not mine :

Mais les vrais voyageurs sont ceux-là seuls qui partent

Pour partir, coeurs légers, semblables aux ballons,

De leur fatalité jamais ils ne s’écartent,

Et sans savoir pourquoi, disent toujours : Allons !

L´appel du Large, Les fleurs du mal, Baudelaire

A traveler maybe, but a traveler who also works ! My work interests me a lot, it helps me to learn portuguese (since I have to speak it everyday there) and helps me to build my creativity by creating activities that could be beneficial to all the usuaries. Before arriving there, I was afraid to not be able to work with people with disabilities. I was afraid to not understand their needs, to not be there for them. And, of course it takes time to understand how they work, what they need and want. But everyday I learn something and I make progress. We do a lot of different activities ; manual work, games, exercises for the memory, physical exercises, cultural dynamics…

I help the animator to prepare and to lead the activities. I'm also starting to help them with the communication by creating some content for their social media, like videos and pictures. It is part of my personal project and I'm really happy to do it. I would like to film or take pictures of them where they find themselves pretty and touching, because they are !