07 agosto 2017

One Wild Life: testemunhos dos participantes

 Aqui temos mais testemunhos dos participantes do curso de formação One Wild Life, que decorreu de 15 a 25 de Junho de 2017 em Sintra.

Arne Drews, Alemanha
Hi folks, my name is Arne and I‘m a youth worker from Berlin, Germany.
I had the chance to attend the wonderful Erasmus+ One Wild Life- training course on fostering authentic vocation in youth work, that took place in Sintra in June. Hosted and organised by spin it gathered people from 7 different european countries. It was an incredibly diverse group of extremely interesting people and we all stayed together at a fairly progressive permaculture farm and learned about all kinds of approaches and methods that can be used in supporting (young) folks in finding out about their personal goals, values and vocation. We also looked into how one can implement those findings in concrete ways by using tools like the Theory U or Dragon Dreaming. The training course provided us participants with opportunities to grow together on an intellectual level through these models whereas some alone time in nature gave us the chance to become aware of our personal resources. The free time between the sessions was usually filled with inspiring conversations about everything under the sun but often focused on the personal processes we all went through. We all felt so enriched with new insights about ourselves, social work and what really matters in life at the end of those beautiful 10 days. The incredible facilitation team did an amazing job and always made us feel like we were in good hands.
In my particular case the techniques and methods that were applied and taught are directly applicable at my job. One of the things I do is facilitating follow up seminars for young folks who come back to Germany after volunteering abroad in the social field. They often don‘t know yet what to do with their lives and appreciate exercises that help them figuring out which role they want to play in society.
I‘m deeply grateful for the opportunity to attend this training course and I wouldn‘t hesitate to do it again!
Cheers, folks!

Marlies van Duijn, Holanda
OWL was for me an experience where different puzzle pieces that I learned the last years fall together in one big puzzle.
We got the Theory by experiencing it ourself and that makes that I am feeling that I am owning it more myself and that I can start on passing it on to the youngsters I work with.
Through the exercises I came again closer to my own dream and my talents that I have been hiding a bit the last years, back at home I took time to look closer to them and make the right steps to get them to reality! :)
OWL is an interesting course if you want to widen your wings for alternative approaches in supporting people around you.
I highly do recommend OWL for the quality and broadening your horizon on how you can work nowadays with youngsters!

Violeta Ilieva, Bulgária
One Wild LifeIt is, isn't it. The first day each of us (the participants) had to present our projects or whatever we felt passionate about. Hearing about various initiatives felt inspiring. So this is what people are capable of when working together!
My presentation was about group dynamics. I had prepared a diagram – two circles, one of them full of colorful smileys, the other one full of little black demons. There were arrows going both ways between the two circles. A man, who I now consider a close friend, had a very interesting presentation a bit before me – symbols of two man, the first one with his head crossed out, and an arrow going from the first man to the second one. He was talking about jumping into the abyss. We literally spent 24 hours a day together, 10 days straight. We learned together, chilled together, ate together, slept together (as in the same space). We shared our inspiration, but also some deep pain and personal insecurities. Some individual traumatic experiences also came out. All a part of the official program, all within the common circle, and later extending beyond it in private communication. I have no clue if the organizers had actually seen such things coming. They certainly didn't seem well prepared to handle them. There was a lot of laughter, quite a bit of inspiration and gratitude, some tears, anxiety, aggression, feeling of being lost or helpless. The social drama of being a human being in a group fully unfolded in this microcosm of limited time and space. Communication was always deep, strong bonds were formed, the emotional thread messily going from one person to another.
Of course we learned a lot. It's not like we learned all the games and songs – we recorded them though, so we can always go back to them, play and sing, imagine we are once again a part of the social whole we thought ourselves to be. We did not memorize all the theories and diagrams either – once again, they are easily available in the records and the book one of the organizers had co-authored. Rather, we learned from trying to walk together, the mistakes we made on the way, letting people close in, facing ourselves and facing others while not at our top shape.
In the end we whispered loving words in each other's ears, we hugged and cried. Yes, it was as melodramatic as it sounds :D Even more. I got sick right after the course ended. I came back home completely drained. Though I did learn a new precious socio-emotional skill.
Now I'm asked if I would recommended the course. No, I wouldn't. Jumping into the abyss is strictly a matter of individual judgment. And nobody can tell you what you'll find down there :D

Atanas Bakalov, Bulgária
The permaculture place has very good atmosphere and I want to thank the organisers for choosing that lovely place for our 10 days experience. 
For me the program was intense full of interactive activities. But the most important and helping for me was the fact that the participants were above 25 and most of them actively working already with youth in different organisations. So we shared useful experiences. 
The lightness of the spirit in the most participants in the group made the whole program unforgettable energised, full of enthusiasm and positive vibes. I am very grateful for that adventure! 

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