Intercâmbio TH!NK: youth & the post-truth era

Aqui podem ler mais testemunhos dos participantes do intercâmbio TH!NK: youth & the post-truth era, que decorreu de 9 a 17 de Outubro de 2017 em Lisboa.

Alessandro Ameli, Italia

Hi! I'm Alessandro, I was the Group Leader of the wild Italian bunch. I'll share some thoughts about TH!NK, the Youth Exchange we participated on October 9th-17th, in Lisbon.

First of all: I don't mean to brag, but my participants were the absolute best: responsible enough not to give me much to do as a Leader, and a lot of fun to hang out with. Francesco, the youngest but most experienced of the Fantastic 4, was always the life of the party. Elia, who experienced a Youth Exchange for the first time, adapted very quickly to the spirit of the Youth Exchange, and I was happy to see him open up and share experiences with the other participants. Sejvi and Esmeralda (first time for both of them), were... just perfect. We couldn't have survived the Italian night, when we had to cook dinner for everybody, without them (in particular, without Esmeralda's tiramisù)! All the other participants, from Poland, Scotland, Estonia, Macedonia and Portugal, were fun, interesting, intelligent young people. They made me feel a bit old sometimes... just because I was the oldest one ;)

As for the theme of the Youth Exchange, post-truth era, I think it was very well developed and analysed during the Activities. The non-formal education Workshops were well structured and thought out... and think we will "steal" them to replicate in Italy! The study visits were very interesting... and of course, Lisbon is amazing. In particular Barrio Padre Cruz, where the SPIN Hostel is located and where most of the activities were hold, was a pleasant surprise. We lived the Barrio, we loved the Barrio... we were the Barrio, at least for a week! Street art is everywhere, and we noticed that many NGOs in the Area are working side-by-side to make the place better and better.

A big thank you to Aneta, the Project Manager, and in general to our hosts of SPIN, and to the great EVS guys that have been so friendly and kind to us: yes I'm talking to you, Maria, Camilla, Petra, Mikhail, Katerina and Ana (I hope I'm not forgetting anyone!). You're a big international family and it was a pleasure to be part of it for a while. Cheers!

Sejvalda Hasani, Italia

It was my first time participating in a youth exchanging program. I never thought it would be such as beautiful experience as it resulted to be. The first day we had our presentation game and it was a very interesting and different way to know other people whom the previous days became very close to me. I appreciated the availability of everyone how works at spin for being willing to help us with anything we needed. Regarding the topic we had to discuss, it was eye catching for me. A topic which concerns all of us. We made some team works with participants from different countries. So, different ideas, different ways of seeing the situations. It was an amazing time spent in Lisboa and I'd be so happy to experience other exchanges in the future. Thank you for everything!

O testemunho da Nives

My name is Nives and I come from Italy. I arrived here in Lisbon the 1st of October and only now, after almost three months, I'm beginning to realize this change of life. 

I had just finished my studies in psychology, but I felt the necessity to take a pause experiencing something new before continuing the professional path, also to clear my ideas about what I really want to do in my future and in what I want to specialize. In that sense, I thought that EVS was a perfect opportunity, and ‘till now I'm very happy to have taken this decision. 

I'm not a really adventurous person, I’m not so extrovert and this is the first time that I am abroad for so long and that I participate in an Erasmus+ project. So, I think this experience could be even more challenging for me. The first weeks it was not so easy to change my habits, try to communicate in some way and to understand a little bit of a language that I didn't know at all. Now I’m more aware that every day I learn something new and that all this, even if sometimes could be hard, can only be good to form myself as a person, to discover new sides of myself and limits too. I'm just at the beginning but I'm sure that at the end of EVS I will gain a new awareness of myself. 

I joined the team of Associação Salvador, an organization that supports people with motor disabilities. I do some office work, but I also have on some occasions the opportunity to be with the supported people. Till now, besides the office work, I’ve helped for the preparation of some workshop that we organized and I was the official photographer of two events promoted by the association. I think I’m very lucky to be in Salvador because it gives me also the possibility to travel (I was in Badajoz the last weekend of October and in Praia São Julião some weeks ago) and discover new beautiful places that in another way I wouldn’t know. 

I was in the On-Arrival training some weeks ago and it has been a good opportunity to meet new people and to share the first impressions, the worries and the excitement too. 

I'm starting to discover Lisbon and the other cities here around, and I found that Portugal is a magical place. I hope that at the end of my EVS I would have seen all the main places in this fantastic Country. Obviously, I fell in love with Portuguese food too, especially the sweets, and I love the fact that here is so cheap to have a dinner outside... I go to a restaurant almost every week, this is incredible for me! 

So, I'm just at the beginning and I have other 9 months here in front of me to implement my project, to discover Portugal and the Portuguese culture and to meet new people too... I hope that it will be great!

O testemunho do Elena

Olá, sou Elena Marchese de Itália especificamente de Milão, é uma cidade muito agitad a, fria no inverno e um forno no verão. Há um ano atrás decidi mudar-me para outro lugar, deixei o meu trabalho de Transfer Agent num banco e voltei a trabalhar na ONG (Italiana-Modena Terzo Mondo), com mais de 20 projetos que ajudam as crianças e famílias carentes no Brasil.

Comprei o bilhete para Recife e voltei pela quarta vez para Joaquim Nabuco, estado do Pernambuco, cidade de 17.000 habitantes conhecida como ''Terra do Açúcar'', uma das cidades mais pobre do Nordeste brasileiro, trabalhei como animadora, coordenadora de voluntários, colaboradora de angariação e treinadora de futebol e voleibol. Foi uma experiência incrível, forte e muitas vezes chocante, mas ao mesmo tempo cheia de alegria. Sem dúvida tenho que agradecer a todas as pessoas que encontrei no meu caminho! 

Anos atrás viajei para o Algarve e fiz uma reflexão: “um dia tu tens que ir morar para Portugal”, porque o ritmo é muito mais relaxado, as  pessoas são mais gentis,  o clima é ótimo, a comida é muito boa, e sobretudo lá poderia surfar  nas boas ondas. Em Junho voltei do Brasil e depois de um mês já estava farta de Milão, e numa brincadeira entre meus amigos apostei com eles que em poucos meses ia morar em Lisboa. Voltei para casa e comecei olhar os projetos SVE no Portugal, quando vi o projeto de 12 meses do CAF São Vicente como ajudante monitora/animadora falei “Este è meu projeto!”. Em poucas horas tinha enviado a minha candidatura e por fim o resultado foi positivo: ganhei a aposta!

Quando cheguei a Lisboa fiquei sem palavras, estou descobrindo lugares incríveis e a arquitetura é muito bonita,estou muito feliz por morar aqui! Desde o primero dia que passei no portão da escola em Telheiras tive a sensação de estar no sitío certo. Fui bem recebida e acolhida do supervisor, da equipa de monitores e das crianças.

Os miúdos são  muito carinhosos, curiosos e gosto muito da energia deles. Também acho a equipa de educadores muito importante,  pois sem eles  o CAF não seria o mesmo.

Comecei a ajudar nos treinos de basquetebol/futebol e nos TPC (trabalhos para casa). Sou uma pessoa que adora praticar desporto e nos primeiros dias divertiram-se e brincaram comigo por causa do meu sotaque brasileiro.  Então gostava de ficar com os miúdos a fazer tarefas e assim podia melhorar o meu português. Dia a dia as minhas orelhas acostumaram-se rapidamente a ouvir o sotaque português (as pessoas falavam rápido). 

Entendi melhor as dinâmicas do CAF Vicentix:existem muitas atividades como por exemplo: Eu penso Que; Zumba Cerebral; Descobritix; Contos improvisados; Teatro; Danca; Vela; Canto; Futebol/Basquetebol  e cada quinta há sempre uma saida cultural (Refood,Doc Lisboa,Amadora DB Festival...).

Adoro ter a possibilidade de realizar qualquer ideia que queira realizar. Os colegas  são muito atenciosos, prestativos e partilham os seus projetos , pois existe um espirito de equipa. Gosto muito do dinamismo no Caf. Como sou uma pessoa ecletica, não gosto de rotinas, e assim nunca vou ficar aborrecida.

:) VIVA LISBOA,VIVA O CAF-VICENTIX!

Erasmus para Jovens Empreendedores - a experiência da Camilla

O programa Erasmus para Jovens Empreendedores é uma ótima oportunidade para quem tem uma ideia empresarial mas não sabe por onde começar. Como no meu caso! Sabia em que âmbito me queria especializar mas não sabia como fazê-lo. No meu país, a Itália, eu já trabalhava com uma associação que coordena projetos europeus, o que estava a faltar era mesmo um conhecimento mais profundo dos mecanismos do programa Erasmus+. Já tinha conhecido alguns tipos de projetos pelo lado da implementação mas queria mais, mais, mais!

Na verdade, a minha experiência como nova empreendedora à procura de maior conhecimento no âmbito de projetos de formação internacionais, começou oficialmente no final de junho, mas na verdade eu já me sentia uma jovem empreendedora antes, antes de chegar a Portugal, antes de entrar em contacto com a Associação Spin.

Um dia um amigo falou-me do programa Erasmus para jovens Empreendedores, fui procurar no site (https://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu) e descobri todas as suas potencialidades. Decidi então começar o processo de candidatura e procurar uma organização de acolhimento através da plataforma do programa Erasmus para Jovens Empreendedores, procurei e procurei dentro e fora da plataforma até que encontrei a resposta às minhas curiosidades e interesses: a Associação Spin que abriu os braços para me acolher.

Só então começou a parte mais complicada: passar para o papel todas as minhas ideias, fazer delas um projeto concreto com um nome, um logo, um objetivo prático, números e estatísticas: o plano de negócios. O plano de negócios é uma descrição detalhada da ideia empresarial, a missão e os ideais, como se pretende alcançar os objetivos, dentro de que prazo de tempo e através de que financiamentos.

A organização intermediária italiana que me acompanhou (e que vem indicada ao longo do processo de candidatura) foi extremamente útil no procedimento e até me deram sugestões sobre como melhorar o meu plano de negócios. Quando me registei no portal (entregando o meu CV, carta motivacional, plano de negócio e indicações sobre o país onde queria desenvolver o meu projeto) entrei em contacto também com a organização intermediária no país de acolhimento, a qual apoia os participantes quando chegam ao país estrangeiro.

A minha organização de acolhimento e eu formalizamos a nossa parceria através de um “commitment” onde tivemos que descrever as atividades semana a semana e os objetivos do meu período de estágio. As organizações intermediárias (a italiana e a portuguesa) continuaram a seguir-me ao longo de todo o período de permanência no estrangeiro.

Assim que cheguei a Lisboa, comecei a trabalhar e a aprender com estas pessoas maravilhosas, sempre animadas com muita paixão e, finalmente, tive a possibilidade de aprender mais sobre o lado formal do European project design…e não só! 

Com a Associação Spin vi e vivi também uma dimensão internacional que vai para além da Europa ajudando em duas edições do projeto de voluntariado ‘Live it Lisbon!’ criado pela Spin. 

Quando chegou a hora da minha experiência terminar, quer eu quer a minha organização de acolhimento fizemos um relatório da nossa experiência no âmbito deste programa. Estou extremamente contente de ter escolhido e ter sido escolhida pela Spin: a experiência, as boas práticas e o espírito positivo e acolhedor que encontrei aqui ajudaram a expandir os meus horizontes e a dar-me a confiança para, um dia, poder criar algo meu. 

Camilla Guerrato

Intercâmbio TH!NK: youth & the post-truth era

Aqui podem ler mais testemunhos dos participantes do intercâmbio TH!NK: youth & the post-truth era, que decorreu de 9 a 17 de Outubro de 2017 em Lisboa. 

Dominika Ostańkowicz, Poland

Felling and memories about the exchange:  The story of my exchange started by feeling afraid about people, travelling alone and my not so good level in English. I fastly recognize it wasn't necessary. People in exchange are really amusing we have a friendly atmosphere. We make a little community based on empathy and explore our culture. It was also a great opportunity to practise English. Many of people send me an invitation to their countries, so my calendar is full of places which I have never been before. I will remember this time for so long and recommend to other people. 

Klimentina Gjorgjioska, Macedonia 

Being both a group leader and a participant at this youth exchange, was very challenging for me since this was my first youth exchange. I have already been part of Erasmus mobility projects, but just training courses. Taking part in this project, undoubtedly opened new perspectives to me and reassured me once again how powerful young people are with their skills and creative thinking.I was very enthusiastic about my participation here because as a political scientist I am deeply interested in analyzing the emerging tendencies like post-truth societies and post-democratic practices. This exchange contributed to deepen further my critical and contemplative prism of the reality we are living in.Also, it showed me that engaged and motivated young people can make significant work if they work in teams and respect the opinion of the others.I am glad, I had the opportunity to meet youngsters from Poland, Estonia, Italy, Portugal, Scotland and share with them my opinions as well as experience Lisbon together.It is always amazing to be part of workshops and project that bring diversity and different mindset together because you can always find inspiration there. Thank you, SPIN, for enabling us this great experience. 

Francesco Diperno, Italy 

Getting knowledge about something let you control it; take it for granted and it will control you. That's why it's very important to be aware of what is happening around us, to be curious and especially to start asking ourselves questions that were never lingering in our heads. Critical thinking means get out of society's gates and go directly inside of us. Who are we? What is true? What is false? Why? We were born in an unfair world, where it's easier to believe in lies. During the youth exchange "TH!NK, youth and the post-truth era", 9th-17th October, we focused on this, trying to open our eyes to the world. Recognizing lies covering uncomfortable truths, dealing with journalism and media (even in a practical way, also going to visit "Diario de Noticias"), and, especially, learning by doing. Workshop, activities, visits filled our days make them full of meaning. Every moment was coloured by knowledge, smiles and life. A mix of cultures, languages, habits and different points of view, we were all together to be better, to make the world better, somehow, in our way. I'm very glad to have been part of this project and I really thank Spin organization to all the work behind this. So if you are reading stop sitting on your sofa and start travelling, meeting people from everywhere and being part of Erasmus+ projects. It will change your life! 

Antonio Atanasovski, Macedonia 

Hello everyone, this my first youth exchange. I took one Erasmus+ training, but the concept here is totally different. We had lots of fun and time to enjoy hanging out with people, exploring Lisbon but most importantly learn to think critically. Before I arrived I thought I knew everything about fake news and the post-truth concept, but as I saw I was really wrong. Lisbon is a city with a huge spectrum of diversity, there is the old town which looks exactly like the map from Assasins creed, also the modern buildings, where we visited the office of popular newspaper company and had the chance to write a paper and speak with the journalists. Then there are the museums, we visited the Museum of Liberty, where I learned about Salzar, the censorship and the propaganda that was going. The best part is that I learned that the revolution started when a certain song started playing on the radio. If you take walk on the Bario Alto area, you could notice as you are walking you can hear 5 or more different languages just on one street. 

This a picture of me and my new friends. 

I could write so much about this experience, but I will keep it short. I want to say that there is something magical about meeting totally different people or exactly same as you, which I did. You can see that things have many different perspectives, which sometimes we have the same news in a different form. So if you, my reader, are going into western Europe, visit Portugal. You will learn so much and meet so many beautiful people into the city that never sleeps.

Intercâmbio TH!NK: youth & the post-truth era

Aqui temos mais testemunhos dos participantes do curso do intercâmbio TH!NK, que decorreu de 9 a 17 de Outubro de 2017 em Lisboa.

Jakub Kitel, Poland
Post Post-truth

The most important part of youth exchange for me was talking to people. Despite cultural differences, we all share common fears and anxieties. In these times people either don't have a vision for themselves, or they don't really believe the narrative they are telling themselves. No one feels appreciated, no one feels in the right spot. Pop-culture based in democracy fed us with lies about being able to change the world, given that we work hard and really believe, but the world was never changed by the will of common men. Joining any kind of political or sociological movement will change every day to a game in which we think in terms wins or loses about cases that don't affect us. And being a part of this system based on the mirage of importance always means losing. These are not times of great ideologies or plans, rather a small prejudices and silent convictions that can pose as universal truths about the world. Trying to find a solution or those “universal truths” will only lead us towards more lies and cruelty. Because the only truth lays in people – our common need to feel safe – we can achieve it by choosing narration, joining the conversation within the system and losing, or ignoring conversation and focusing on people that are close to you, and trying to be the best version of yourself for everyone else. I want to believe, that post-truth society is heading towards the world in which we don’t lie to ourselves about the importance of our beliefs, but rather focus on the only truth that always mattered – other people.

Marta Kuncer, Poland 

Sunny Lisbon, or Spin Association to be precise, hosted youth exchange „TH!NK: youth and post-truth era”. Since I’m interested in critical thinking and role of media in a modern world I decided to take part in it. Group of 30 people from different corners from Europe met together in a street-art-dominated Barrio Padre Cruz. We spent a week exploring the topic in a non-formal education way and simply sharing a time together. Workshops were dedicated to critical thinking, freedom of speech, manipulative fake news, comparison of various national perspectives, guidance to facts checking and other. Participants had an opportunity to explore the topic fully but it, of course, depended on everyone’s own engagement. Surrounded 24/7 by Portugueses, Italians, Macedonians, Scots, Poles, Estonians for a week we had plenty opportunities for a cultural exchange. Some were limited to small talks, while others – fortunately - went deeper into political/social issues. It’s clear that there are some still rather big differences when it comes to gender equality, education, corruption, basic human rights, freedom of press, homosexuality and others in each European country. What I find pretty common after this youth exchange is universal lack of respect for each other. Even though we bonded and liked each other it didn’t stop some people from not listening to each other, being late, or simply assuming that they will get things done for them by somebody else – to name a few examples. It was a valid reminder that whether it comes to a short youth exchange, longer social project or a society itself – the participants who play a part in it are the ones who are shaping it after all. I had some interesting interactions and conversations. Upside was to see people who left their own country for the first time, being a bit insecure, and how much they opened during the whole week. I believe that’s where youth exchanges are truly fulfilling their role. They are safe, organized platform for the youth who never before had a chance to go abroad and have more engaging interactions with people of different culture.

Caroline Männik, Estonia 

Even though I have been in quite several youth projects, I still felt extremely excited when i got to know that i can go to the youth exchange in Lisbon. This experience was something completely different for me as I have never been in Southern country, neither been in a group leader`s position. But first of all, try to imagine arriving to Lisbon as an Estonian. You are used with cloudy and rainy weather and with wearing jackets and scarfs all the time. But then you take a flight and suddenly you have sun and can wear shorts even in October. I`m pretty sure that I got overdose of D-vitamin here. We came to Lisbon a day before the official beginning of the youth exchange and used the free day for exploring the city and it`s fascinating mosaic walls. I`m so satisfied that we came earlier because it helped to create strong group feeling inside our Estonian team. Next day we arrived to Spin and got positively surprised how cool Bairro Padre Cruz is, especially it`s street art. After introducing ourselves through couple of games, we understood that with these participants we will have really memorable project... and we were right. Throughout next few days we got more familiar with the topic of the youth exchange, we discussed what is the definition for the post-truth and shared examples from our countries. I enjoyed watching documentary called “HyperNormalisation” and I`m sure that I will watch it again once i arrive back at home. After having intensive workshops in Spin we also went discover Lisbon with the whole group, visited museum, Media lab and stunning castle. What made this youth exchange very different from my previous projects is that every nationality were responsible for preparing the whole dinner for the participants. It was obviously very stressful, but at the same time it improved our teamwork and cooking skills. Everybody seemed to love trying out different cuisines, starting from Italian pasta, ending with Polish pierogi. Overall, this youth exchange was magnificent and I`m going back home only with positive memories. 

Stay positive, 

Caroline

Esmeralda Ferati, Italy

Hi everyone! I'm going to write shortly for my youth exchange in Portugal. I didn't know about the existence of this project until me and my friend talked about it. I came from Italy where these programs are very popular but I never thought that I'm gonna be part of the similar one. Now I'm here, taking the best of it! At the beginning, I wasn't convinced about the success of the project. We were people from different countries like Italy, Estonia, Scotland, Portugal, Macedonia, Poland and I thought it would be difficult to interact with each other. But my suspicion wasn't real. Different activities made us know each other and now we behave like a family. Looks like we are part a TV Show and every day we have some tasks to complete to achieve our goals. Fortunately, we achieved all the goals together with no differences. When I write about tasks it comes up in my mind the firsts ones, when we had to remember all the names of 30 people. The very first one was that we had to choose by causality one secret friend and we had to do something special for them to make their day beautiful and interesting. I did it for my secret friend but unfortunately, I didn't receive anything from my own secret one. But anyway my days were beautiful and more beautifully. It wasn't just for the activities that made us know each other there were also activities that made us know more about the world around us, some things that weren't said before to us. We discussed too many topics that show the main our days problems such as was the Post-Truth, about media, politics and society.

O testemunho da Olga

Confesso que nem sei como iniciar este post… Tive uma oportunidade tão única e especial que fica difícil transmitir por palavras tudo o que vivi e senti nestes dias… 

A Área Marinha Protegida onde faço o meu EVS colabora muito activamente com o Centro de Recuperação de Tartarugas Marinhas da Estação Zoológica Anton Dohrn de Nápoles. Para além do trabalho veterinário de recuperação de tartarugas e devolução à natureza, este Centro faz também investigação e dedica-se à identificação de ninhos na região da Campania, protegendo-os e estando presente no momento do nascimento das tartarugas para garantir que elas vão bem para o mar. 

Já no último dia de Agosto eu tinha tido a oportunidade de ir até Palinuro, praia onde está o ninho, para verificar a temperatura da areia e aplicar a fórmula que faz a previsão do dia em que acontece a eclosão. Nesse mesmo dia, uma tartaruga Caretta caretta foi encontrada ali perto e nós transportamo-la até ao Centro.

Falei então com o meu coordenador sobre a hipótese de ir com o pessoal da Estação Zoológica para a eclosão do ninho de tartarugas. A resposta foi positiva e eu parti para aquela que seria uma das aventuras mais lindíssimas vivida até agora em Itália

No dia 14 de Setembro fiz a viagem na carrinha do Centro. Para minha surpresa, três pequenitas viajaram connosco para se libertarem em Palinuro! E foi o que fizemos mal chegamos lá: libertar estes seres tão pequeninos mas tão fortes naquele mar imenso! Que sensação!

Voltamos para a praia e montamos acampamento. A organização Sea Shepherd Itália também estava presente! Suponho que já se estejam a questionar porque não deixamos que tudo isto aconteça naturalmente? Quando as tartarugas nascem deviam seguir o brilho que o mar reflecte. Infelizmente a mão humana encheu a natureza de luzes artificiais e quando elas saem da areia vão na direcção errada e a maioria acaba por morrer… Como não queremos que isso aconteça, ali estávamos nós…

Os dias eram preenchidos com os turnos de vigia (sim, o ninho não ficou sozinho por um minuto!), muita conversa entre todos os presentes e muitos banhos no mar (sim, também aproveitamos o facto de estarmos a viver numa praia!). A falta de conforto não parecia importar, estávamos ali felizes à espera de contribuir de alguma forma para a Natureza que tanto teimamos em destruir…

E eis que dia 19 de Setembro, por volta das 22h se começa a ver um bocadinho de areia a mexer… E sem conseguir explicar, os meus olhos encheram-se de lágrimas! Não sabia como um momento tão fugaz e tão simples podia ser tão belo e tocante! Vê-se depois um bocadinho de uma cabeça negra e puff, uma tartaruga! Que emoção! Passa um bocadinho e eis que surge outra tartaruga… Fantástico! E… um vulcão de tartarugas! Ahaha! 67 tartarugas a emergir da areia ao mesmo tempo! Não havia mais tempo para distracções, este era o momento para o qual estávamos ali! Pesaram-se e mediram-se algumas tartarugas para estudos científicos e depois foi a altura de elas começarem a andar para o mar. Mesmo com um corredor montado e ladeado por plásticos escuros, algumas não seguiam a direcção do mar… Nós ajudamos! E pronto, lá foram elas para a sua jornada… Quanto a nós, resta-nos continuar com os turnos e esperar caso alguma nasça mais tarde…

Como mais nada aconteceu, no dia 22 à noite abriu-se o ninho. O que significa isto? Os responsáveis escavam o ninho para verificar se há alguma tartaruga viva que não tenha sido capaz de sair e para perceber o sucesso da eclosão. Felizmente só lá encontramos 4 ovos que não se tinham desenvolvido o que faz uma taxa de sucesso de 95%! Excelente!

No dia seguinte arrumamos tudo e voltamos à nossa rutina (se é que isso existe num EVS). Estou felicíssima! Obrigada Area Marina Protetta Punta Campanella, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn e Sea Shepherd!

Olga Azevedo

O testemunho da Olga!

Olá a todos,

...e de repente um terço do meu EVS já passou! Como estes três meses passaram rápido! E não faltaram aventuras! Aliás, essa é a beleza do Project M.A.R.E.! Os primeiros meses foram caracterizados pela aprendizagem do italiano, reconhecimento da Área Marinha Protegida, prática de exercício físico e estudo de Biologia Marinha!

Tudo tem sido incrível! Todos os momentos são de aprendizagem e intercâmbio constante! Desde comunicarmos com várias pessoas em várias línguas, até devolvermos tartarugas à Natureza, este EVS tem-me permitido conhecer uma Olga que eu não sabia capaz de existir! É um EVS bastante exigente e por isso estou a aprender que consigo superar-me a mim própria!

Agora vamos começar uma nova aventura! O Verão exige de nós o verdadeiro amor e dedicação à Natureza! Toca proteger a Baía de Ieranto! A fotografia é linda não é? Mas para que se mantenha tudo assim é necessário conservar e essa será a nossa principal tarefa até Setembro!

Como podem ver este EVS é muito especial e eu sou verdadeiramente sortuda em ter a oportunidade de cá estar. Podem seguir o Progetto M.A.R.E em http://www.marineadventures.org/en/ ou em https://www.facebook.com/projectmarepuntacampanella/?fref=ts.

Ciao!

Olga

O testemunho da Flavia

 

      

          Flavia

O testemunho do Paolo

Hello everybody!

I'm usually quite good at using words to tell stories, but when it comes to my EVS with Spin in Lisbon, I have to confess that words hardly come out, so I decided to get some help from pictures. 

First of all: Ginjinha! A welcome drink that you can't forget, where some of your most important friendships start. Sour Cherry in the city centre, and you have to introduce yourself to a community. It is so much fun and I still join to welcome the newbies whenever I can :)

On Arrival Training, in Braga: it is where you have the chance to meet many volunteers working in other projects across Portugal, and share experiences and knowledge with them. A good chance to practice languages, but also human interaction, cultural awareness, tolerance, respect and positive vibes!

Some people say Italians do it better... Well, I'm not sure it's true, at least when it comes to learning foreign languages: I've thought Italian for 3 months and my lovely Portuguese students actually did pretty well! And it was super fun!

Another super interesting experience: the Photovoice Lab. With Paola, another volunteer and friend from Italy (a psychologist especially focused on community involvement), we created a space dedicated to the inhabitants of Carnide, where issues regarding their community were discussed and addressed through photography.

A lot of thoughts, emotions and needs were shared freely and processedin an amazing team work. I'll never forget those moments. We created an exhibition at the end of the work, but all the steps that led us there remain the most precious to me.

Then another challenge came: World Theatre Day. That's when I started a research about a Portuguese playwright, António Torrado. With theatrical companies and a community-based amateur group we realized a pièce dedicated to Mr. Torrado: he seemed to enjoy pretty much the show!

Yes, that was me, and yes, I looked like my mum when she was 30 and she straightened her hair. I managed to bring more queerness into EVS, by performing and discussing about LGBTQ issues whenever I had the chance to do so. All the people from SPIN have been really supportive all the time and I felt completely free to express myself, so Inês gave me the nickname Favolosa ("fabulous", adj. sing. fem.) that all the others kept using to refer to me. Ya GIRLZ!

Last, but not the least, we participated to a Street Art Festival featuring artists from all over the world, and it was beautiful to see the neighbourhood "Bairro Padre Cruz" become colourful and lively, as if it was falling under a sort of good spell. FYI: after a nine-month-long EVS, I found a job in Lisbon and decided to stay. It is one of the chances you have. At the end of the day, one of the purposes of the EU is to make you feel citizen of the whole continent, so I decided to take my chance to keep living abroad and it is a very exciting challenge. In case you decide to do EVS, I wish you tons of good experiences and beautiful friends!

Fabulously,

P.