o Testemunho final da Marina (Viver Telheiras)

 

hello everyone,

This is my final testimony about my volunteering. This past 9 months have been a life experience that I wanted so much to have, I enjoyed myself so much, I learned how to manage a lot of free time, which I never had to do and it has been a life changing learning and also I had the privilege of having an extended and joyful social life.

In my experience here I organized the Festival Telheiras, which you can see in the photo above. It has been so nice to work with the community and organize the festival with the beautiful team of Viver Telheiras. People have been caring.

In my time here I also had time to do other volunteering, so I volunteered in a social and political center called Sirigaita, which has brought me so many friends and learnings outside my volunteering.

Also, I volunteered in a boat learning and helping them to sail in Algarve with a wonderful crew, I also enjoyed Santos so much, the popular party of the whole city self-organized by the neighborhood. And I had time to receive and travel with lots of my friends from Barcelona and from here. This past month has been more difficult because I had to say goodbye to some of my best friends here, but that's also the nice part of making good friends.

O testemunho No. 2 da Marina (Viver Telheiras)

 

This year I’m learning that I can put much more things in the washing machine than I could imagine, like shoes, I never cleaned shoes. I also learned how to open bottles with a lighter, and I promise it has been a lifetime challenge, comparable to the time I learned how to do stone skipping and now I do it almost stylish. 

I also enjoyed more to be alone and I learned how to gather people without worrying if they will get along. I realized that I love beet, which isn’t a vegetable I used to eat a lot back in my hometown,I also realized that I look much better when I have time to sleep and I’m not angry anymore, never. I thought that I was an angry person and it turns out I was just tired. I’m also learning how to do handstands, I’m not a professional doing them, but I’m quite proud of my evolve these pasts months. I’m practicing trapeze more than ever and I hang out with my friends almost every day.

This year all the plants that I bought are making new leaves, because I water them and I take care of them, And I feel kind of flourishing new leaves as well after these two years of pandemic and this new life that I build here. Life’s coming back to normal and it has nothing of normal at all, new place, new friends, new family, but I still have this feeling, that I’m coming back to something I was, to something I already knew of myself. Being a teenager, this stimulating environment where you grow, and maybe it’s the city, maybe it’s the COVID is almost over or maybe it’s that I have time again, but I’m confident that I will enjoy this bubble no matter what, even though I know it doesn’t last.

O testemunho No. 1 da Ana (SPEA)

 I started my project in  Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves (SPEA) about a month ago.

Such organization focuses on the protection and investigation of endangered bird species or endemic species. With the help and guidance of my tutor Vanessa, I have been able to expand my knowledge regarding such matters and furthermore use them either in the fieldwork developed or in an educational environment. 

SPEA takes into action several projects and I have had the privilege to work amongst other colleagues in some of them. One of the main projects focuses on the educational aspects regarding bird protection, It is set on a specific species called Aguia de Bonelli, which is a raptor bird that lives close to Lisbon. We, as a group, develop several activities in order for students to learn about such species and promote environmental values. Other projects are focused on fieldwork tasks,  focusing on the electrical posts and their effect on birds' deaths, Rose-ringed parakeet population and control, trap-cameras, and other projects related to the coastal species. 

I am very excited to start these new projects since it focuses on what I love most which are Biology and the environmental protection of species. Everyone in SPEA has been very welcoming and warm and has always supported me in trying new ideas and learning from them. I'm deeply thankful to SPIN, which has always been helping me with my Portuguese and assuring me that I'm okay in my new volunteering job. I would also like to thank Vanessa, my tutor, for being such an enthusiastic and welcoming person.

O testemunho final da Cristina (SPEA)

December has arrived and, with it, the end of my ESC project at SPEA BirdLife. It's amazing how quickly time has passed. When my greatest fear was having to commit myself a year to a project; Now, if I could, I would sign for a few more years. 

Life has taught us these years that time flies and that you have to take advantage of every moment and little detail. Therefore, sometimes it's good to stop to breathe and take a look back to be aware of all that you has been lived and enjoyed. Value all those people, places, experiences, knowledge and shared moments. That are entering into your heart and make you be the person you currently are.

This project came at the perfect time since, due to the difficulties caused by the pandemic, my life had changed drastically, and my work and personal situation were aimlessly trying to search, but without finding anything that would fully motivate me.

For this reason, I cannot feel more grateful to have had this enriching opportunity, in which I have found my ideal job thanks to the SPEA BirdLife team, who have also trained me on the job, thus making it easier for me to reach my professional goal: the environmental conservation.

Such a special project could only happen in a city as magical as Lisbon, surrounded by people as wonderful as all those who have surrounded me throughout this year. Which has meant that, on a personal level, I have also grown exponentially, now finding myself even stronger and wanting to continue living and enjoying as I have done so far.

These last few months have been accompanied by a lot of cumbia and samba, viewpoints, sunrises, sunsets, new people and people who are already family, many trips, projects and, above all, a lot of freedom and personal empowerment.

So I close this stage with gratitude and with my backpack full of experiences, tools and energy to continue walking through this beautiful path that is life.

Thanks for everything.

See you soon, Cristina.

 

 

 

 

 

O testemunho no. 1 da Cristina (SPEA)

Hello everyone, I am Cristina, a girl from Salamanca, Spain, who started her ESC volunteering on the 1st of December 2020, the last Spin's volunteer of the year. 

Since I arrived, I have been very well received by the rest of the volunteers, especially by my flatmates, together with whom I have been meeting and discovering new people and places, and all of them were amazing. I am very happy because, despite of COVID, I’m still feeling that we have done a lot of cool things and plans. 

Regarding my project, I am a volunteer at SPEA (Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves) in the Department of Terrestrial Conservation, but also collaborating with the Department of environmental education and the maritime one. 

I feel very lucky to have this great opportunity, because I know that I’m going to learn and enjoy a lot. And I think that SPEA's work is essential, because environmental conservation cannot be worked on isolated. Society's support is needed so this effort and work are not in vain. Therefore, it is essential to educate and raise awareness to create the interdisciplinary environmental revolution that World needs.

 

Apart from my main Project here, I am also doing other activities to continue learning and growing in a personal way, like the Portuguese classes organized by Spin, some online courses, painting, or groups with local people, as my new Batucada's group: '' Nice Groove ''; which I could not miss in my Lisbon experience this year (because all the previous times that I have been in Lisbon were with my batucada group from Salamanca "Blocco Charro").

Because all of this, although we started the year with another lock down, I still have a lot of desire and energy to be able to carry out all the events, activities and good times that await me this year. 

I'll keep telling you in few months! 

Beijinhos, Cristina.