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 Ana (Crescer)

Infelizmente, tive que terminar o voluntariado mais cedo e só consegui cumprir a metade do tempo planejado porque tinha um emprego em Madrid. Estou muito triste por ter que me despedir de todos os amigos que fiz aqui. Sem dúvida, tem sido uma experiência maravilhosa e me sinto incrivelmente sortuda por ter podido ir para outro país, conhecer novas pessoas, aprender uma bela língua e desenvolver habilidades no campo da intervenção social. Tudo isso no meio de uma pandemia.

Fiquei muito feliz por estar aqui e voltarei em segurança, Lisboa é uma cidade linda, nostálgica, um pouco decadente mas muito divertida. Dos miradouros às pontes, passando pelas ruas de paralelepípedos, pelas sete colinas, pelo rio que parece o mar, pelos espetaculares pores do sol e pelos seus azulejos característicos, onde cada edifício pode ser uma obra de arte em si ... é mágico . Claro, muito pouco acessível para pessoas com mobilidade reduzida. 

Gostaria de recomendar esta experiência a todo jovem que não passa muito tempo entre os estudos e a inserção no mundo do trabalho. Permite que você reflita e tome o seu tempo para a próxima aventura ou passo futuro que você duvida, há muitas pessoas que estão na mesma situação que você e isso lhe dá paz de espírito. Além disso, um ambiente tão jovem e dinâmico abre sua mente e você encontra espaço para acreditar nas suas ideias e se motivar para realizá-las.

O testemunho No. 1 da Ana (Crescer)

Olá! Sou Ana, de Espanha, a meu português é bastante medíocre mas vou tentar transmitir e resumir o que este mês e meio em Lisboa, como voluntária europeia, significou para mim.

Sem dúvida, está a ser uma das melhores experiências da minha vida. Depois de terminar o meu diploma universitário, após seis longos anos de estudos, não sabia realmente como abordar a minha carreira futura. Além disso, a pandemia de Covid não estava a ajudar-me a esclarecer a minha incerteza. Decidi candidatar-me ao voluntariado europeu porque um amigo me tinha recomendado e o país que mais me atraiu foi Portugal. Tinha visitado três vezes diferentes cidades (Lisboa, Porto, Évora) e desde o primeiro minuto que adorei.

O destino já era claro para mim, mas eu queria que a actividade de voluntariado fosse enriquecedora, que me fizesse sentir útil e uma parte activa da sociedade. Actualmente trabalho com pessoas em situações de rua na associação Crescer, fazendo intervenção e acompanhamento social. O objectivo final é que todos tenham um lar, uma casa, como primeiro requisito fundamental para alcançar uma vida digna. 

No início tive bastante medo de não poder estar à altura, pois nunca tinha feito este tipo de actividade antes. Contudo, estou a tornar-me cada vez mais fluente e estou bastante satisfeita com a experiência. O trabalho de rua é muito dinâmico e gosto muito dele, embora também tenha um lado mais burocrático - com o qual eu não contava e que é bastante pesado.

Por outro lado, estou a conhecer grandes pessoas, sobretudo espanholas e italianas, por isso não estou a praticar tanto português como gostaria. Durante o mês de Abril partilhei um quarto com Isa, uma voluntária espanhola que não conhecia e que por acaso estudou na minha universidade. Nunca tinha partilhado um quarto com ela antes, mas foi maravilhoso! Este mês ela mudou-se para outra casa mais próxima do seu trabalho e eu sinto muito a sua falta (tenho saudade!). Tornei-me também super amiga de outra voluntária italiana, Emma, que é uma artista e fala espanhol perfeito e que, mais uma vez, outra incrível coincidência: ela é uma amiga íntima de uma colega de turma universitária minha. O mundo é um mundo pequeño!

O testemunho No 1 da Ana (Spin Association)

My name is Ana. I’m 27 years old, I’m Portuguese and living in France for a few years now. I started my ESC with Spin in November.

To start this testimony, I would say that I’m in a different situation compared to other volunteers as it’s not my first time in this country and I know people here. I’ve an older sister living near Costa da Caparica so when I first arrived I spent some time with her and started to visit Lisbon. Even if I’m a native, from Vila do Conde (north of Porto) I don’t know a lot of places here so for me Lisbon it’s a whole new world.

As a big city and capital of Portugal, Lisbon still has some traditional neighbourhoods that enchanted me like these small doors which are a little higher than me. There’s so much to do that I just wake up and walk around the whole day. That’s my favorite part here, as a walking lover, to discover every single street in the center. 

On Friday we had our welcome day at Spin with all the new volunteers. After having all the information needed for our stay during this year we had a beautiful asian based meal made by Spin’s volunteers. It was beautifully delicious and we could do an ActionBound activity in small groups to know more about Bairro Padre Cruz (it’s where Spin’s office is located) and allowed us to meet each other a bit more.

On monday we went to Spin’s office to get familiar with the hostel and learn more about our work there. We still don’t know all the team as we are doing “tele-trabalho” (work from home) because of the pandemic situation. But I can’t wait to meet everyone in the next few days and work with them. 

Lisbon is really exciting as a city to live and discover, and I’m looking forward to getting through this experience! 

O testemunho No. 3 da Ana (SPEM)

 

It is hard to believe my year of ESC just finished! What an amazing experience it has been! 

ESC life… getting out of your comfort zone, meeting new people and doing plans you have never even thought about, discovering a new city, a new country and a new culture, challenging yourself to learn a language and getting used to a different way of living that I would recommend to anyone.

I really believe I ended up in the perfect project for me, SPEM (Sociedade Portuguesa  de Esclerose Múltipla) has felt my portuguese family all these months. So much love and fun, so many laughs, (pre-covid) hugs, unforgettable moments and so much learning… It has been hard sometimes but the strong people I met there taught me that facing challenges and hard times with a positive attitude really makes a difference, and as I said before, I think I always finished my days in SPEM with a smile in my face thanks to them. Tenho tantas saudades de vocês!

During this year, I also made friends for life, I will never forget all the adventures and crazy moments I have lived with other volunteers (and many more to come soon!). It would definitely not have been the same without them. I miss you so much guys!

Long story short, "it was what it was: IMPRESSIVE". 

Muito obrigada e até já Lisboa!

 

O testemunho da Ana No. 2 (SPEM Sociedade Portuguesa de Esclerose Múltipla)

This experience is just getting better as time goes by. I feel very integrated in my organisation and I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to get to know better the people I work with. I am getting to know more about their lifes, the challenges they have everyday and their strength to face them. And besides that we are sharing fun and unforgettable moments. I have also started doing some workshops in portuguese, which seemed impossible when I started!

About Lisbon… it's amazing the experiences this city has to offer! I have been in theatres, escape rooms, so many gigs and art exhibitions!

And as the weather is getting better we have also been able to discover breathtaking places in nature! And what I value the most... is the people I am sharing this experience with! I am really looking foward to have more adventures together!

O testemunho da Ana (Associacao Spin)

Este período tenha sido muito especial para mim. Eu morava na cidade que eu amo,

conheci muitas pessoas incríveis com suas próprias histórias interessantes e muitas delas se tornaram muito queridas para mim. Eu aprendi muito sobre outras culturas e também sobre a minha.

Sempre fiquei feliz em cozinhar para outros voluntários e sou grato por ter tido a oportunidade de compartilhar uma parte da minha própria cultura com outras pessoas.

Fiquei feliz em compartilhar meu tempo como voluntário, porque acho que essa é a coisa mais valiosa que podemos dar aos outros. Aprendi muito com o meu trabalho e adquiri algumas novas habilidades. Também consegui viajar muito no meu tempo livre, então visitei muitos lugares em Portugal, mas também visitei a Croácia, a Polônia e a Espanha. Este foi realmente um ano cumprido para mim e guardarei lembranças para sempre. 

Obrigada e beijinhos a todos!

O testemunho da Ana

They say times flies when you are having fun… and I can't believe it has already been a month since I arrived in Lisbon!

Everything started with our first meeting in Spin office, where I met our coordinator Inês and the other volunteers starting in October (Annalise, Tavi, Viviana and Ksenia).

Since then I have met so many volunteers and we have done so many things! We have enjoyed our weekly portuguese lessons, gone to the beach, discovered lots of new places around Lisbon, listened to portuguese bands, celebrated "Dia das Bruxas" and "Magusto", enjoyed some Sagres in Bairro Alto, eaten lots of pasteis de nata, gone to museums, played board games… I am so happy I get to share this experience with such amazing people!

I had been in Lisbon as a tourist before but being able to be an "alfacinha" for a year is making me enjoy it in a very different way! I can't believe how many events and things to do there are in this city every single day!

And last but not least, it is being really nice being part of SPEM (Portuguese Society of Multiple Esclerosis), where my EVS project takes place. Everyone has been so welcoming, especially Cristina and the people I work with.

Everyday in SPEM is different, we do lots of different activities like drawing and painting, making candle holders, baking cakes and cooking pizza, decorating the walls, practicing yoga and reiki, attending language therapy… it is being a very rewarding experience! There hasn't been a day I have gone home without a smile in my face!

Ana’s testimony No.2

It has already been more than 4 months since I moved to Portugal. Half of my time on this project has already passed and the same amount of time is yet to come.

I still feel like I have just arrived here and this is barely the beginning. There are still a lot of new things happening and many more places got on my wish list to visit.

However, the feeling is not exactly the same as in the beginning. People I have met 4 months ago are now my friends. Bonds are growing stronger and I feel more comfortable. We don’t only share a living and working environment, but are also now ready to share parts of ourselves that we usually reveal only to people we are close to. We are slowly becoming a small family. Or maybe not so small.

In my workplace I got an amazing responsibility to be a part of an organizing team for an event I attended last year as a participant. It opened a completely different side for me and gave me a new experience.

In this period, I managed to discover a lot of new places in Portugal, but also in Spain and Poland. On top of that, I even managed to visit my home country, Croatia ☺

I know there is still a lot of time left before the project ends, but I already have a feeling like it’s coming to an end so I want to grab every opportunity to use every single moment here! For that reason I will not write much more but I will share with you photos of some of the dear moments I had so far and I will save my deepest thoughts for my last testimony ☺

Beijinhos!

Testimony: Training course about Emergency Pedagogy by Ana

I  have worked with asylum seekers for almost 2 years, so I was really excited when I started this training "From crisis to chance" but I didn't have any idea  that it would be so good.

Every day we started with the Morning Circle. This way of starting the day reminded us that we were a group. Bernd Ruf, the founder of Emergency Pedagogy, taught us the importance of the feeling of belonging for  children that lived though a potentially traumatic situation.

For us, the trainees, who didn't know each other, and spent one week together, belonging was a really important feeling for us too. One week later, we had come to know each other and we already knew which role each person would play in our group.

The main goal of  Emergency Pedagogy is to work with children that had lived through a potentially traumatic situation. For Bernd Ruf, trauma is a wound in a soul, that's why it is so important take care of that wound as soon as possible. Otherwise, the wound will become an illness. This concept was really inspiring and motivating to our work. It's hard work and this training was good to us to share our difficulties and our strategies to overtake the frustration. We experienced different strategies to express our feelings trough  art, like painting, music, dancing,  rythm games and clay modeling. We never should force children to speak but they need express their feeling, it’s helpful.

All the concepts and the theorietal and practical knowledge was very interesting and I believe I became a better socialworker. But I would also recognize the importance of the personal skills acquired. We talked about our customs, our food and political and social questions.

So I would like to congratulate the organisers of this kind of event that promote our professional networking. I would really like to thank you for organizin Spin for all dedication. The training was really organised and I feel that Spin respects people’s time, prizes and encourages knownledge sharing, and that’s really positive.

From Portugal,
Ana Vieira