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!

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

O intercâmbio TH!NK: youth & the post-truth era decorreu de 9 a 17 de Outubro de 2017 em Lisboa. Aqui ficam uns pequenos testemunhos dos participantes da Escócia. 

Shelby Johnston, Scotland

As a wee gal from Scotland, being able to share hilarious and educational experiences with some beautiful folk from across the world has been mega!Spending time working in groups talking about Scotland's current political stance and comparing it to other countries has been beyond beneficial for me to realise how I deal with the daily political news and how ignorant I've been to other peoples situations- all of which are totally different yet somehow have relatable aspects.THE GRUB (dinners) HAVE BEEN BEEN FAB. Having a chance to explore other country's traditional meals & to just chill with them at breaks and at night has been one of the highlights, seeing peoples humour and trying to teach people the Scottish dialect has been a pretty good laugh and we can speak at a decent speed and be understood at this point in the week... we've adopted some honorary Scots along the way.One of the most magical moments for me on the trip was on the way to visit the castle and coming across another Hang Drum (musical instrument) player... I play one at home and was able to have a shot of one on the sunny streets of Portugal which couldn't have put a bigger cheeser on my face. 

Portugal chums, I'll be back. 

Brad Burrowes, Scotland 

My name's Brad and this was my first time in Portugal and also my first youth exchange. I am very grateful to have been given this opportunity through A&M Scotland as it had been a great experience and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. The youth exchange has helped me see the way people from different cultures live and how they differ to mines, the exchange has also changed my perspective on life and has made me realise there is much more to life than just staying in my own city and not exploring the world. I really enjoyed experiencing different food from the other cultures and enjoyed the task of having to make food for 30 people as this was the first time I'd done anything of the sort. My favourite part of the exchange was when we took the day trip out to the museum and castle:I learned the struggles that people in Portugal went through and how times have changed also the trip around the castle was great the I was mesmerised by the views and how nice the city really is , all in all I enjoyed my whole experience on the exchange and would I've the opportunity to do something like this again. 

Les McGovern, Scotland 

The spin exchange has changed my perspective on life as it allowed me to experience many different cultures and how they differ to my very own. I will be heading back to Glasgow with a new mindset, motivated and ready to tackle new challenges which will hopefully better me as a person. I can not thank spin enough for gifting me with such a great opportunity as this was, after all, my very first time I have had the chance to travel to another country. This is a chapter in my life I will never forget as I made new friends for life and not learned about other cultures but also learned a lot about myself. Again words cant express how much I have enjoyed living here in Portugal. 

Sam Donnelly, Scotland

Coming on this trip has been an amazing experience I feel I have learned a lot and my confidence has grown, it has been a life-changing experience and I would love to do it again, if I could go back I would do things a little differently but I will use this as a learning experience, I have loved getting to know everyone and learning about new cultures, everyone has been so nice and friendly I will miss the people and spin, thank you for giving me this opportunity I can't wait to go home and make other people aware of the things we have learned. 

Jasmine Main, Scotland 

My name is Jasmine and I am a youth worker from Glasgow, Scotland. I had been on many youth exchange projects as a young person and was delighted to be asked by our organisation to accompany young people as a staff member and team leader to Lisbon for 10 days. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching young people from all over the world bond and laugh over life experiences and cultural differences. I know these experiences and memories will stay with them for life and I can't wait to see the effect it will have on their lives back home in Scotland.

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

O intercâmbio "TH!NK: youth & the post-truth era" decorreu de 9 a 17 de Outubro de 2017 no Bairro Padre Cruz em Lisboa. Aqui ficam uns pequenos testemunhos de alguns dos participantes

Agata Siwak, Poland

I had decided to participate in my first youth exchange only 4 days before it started. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for it, but as soon as I got there and met these incredible people, I knew it was a place for me. I loved Lisbon, especially at nights with live music. The atmosphere, the company, the weather… Everything was perfect. Thanks to the people, workshops turned out to be exciting and interesting. The hosts did their best to give us another great experience. Having participated in this youth exchange, I can surely say that it will not be the last one.

Aneta Ligenza, Poland 

It was my first youth exchange. I was really excited but full of fears about my skills and knowledge. New experiences, new people, different cultures. The subject of exchange was for me interesting. I'm a street photographer and knowing about post-truth is for me necessary. Every workshop was a great way to learn new skills, listen to other participants. This exchange wasn't only workshops but meeting new people, sharing our passion, trying new meals from 5 other countries, sightseeing and exploring Lisbon all together. I think I will be looking for another exchange because is a great way to explore Europe.

Shirley Van-Dúnem, Portugal

Being in a youth exchange for one week can make us experience different emotions: we can be homesick or find another home next to new people, we can feel tired and really exhausted and even without energy try to enjoy the experience to its fullest because we know that in a blink of eyes it will all be gone soon. Living in the host country of this youth exchange remember us of the pressure to treat others like we would like them to treat us, it's all about learning, respecting boundaries and turn what makes us different from each other the reason why we need each other.

Ana Sofia Abreu, Portugal 

As a Portuguese girl I had only participated in Youth Exchanges outside my country, but Spin gave me the opportunity to spend ten days with amazing youngsters in Lisbon. The experience was quite different. Being from the hosting country makes us have a different participation in the programme as we are able to communicate with the natives and know the surroundings. Regarding the thematics, the workshops were very interesting and my knowledge about freedom of expression and freedom of press in Europe changed my perspective, as some countries still struggle with this issues. The multicultural differences between the participants is also one of the things I liked the most. With so many historical and personal backgrounds it was impossible not to learn so much about the other countries and other nationalities- we even tried typical meals from each country. Also, the friendship built in these 10 days just proves that no matter how different we are, the foundations of respect and togetherness are real and we all feel very European! And in the end of all this, what we learnt the most is that... what's really important is to TH!NK !!

Kristo Tamm, Estonia

I spent a week in Lisbon, Portugal as part of an Erasmus+ Youth Exchange. The exchange gathered participants from Estonia, Portugal, Poland, Macedonia, Italy and Scotland. The project was extremely constructive, interesting and beneficial. The topic of the exchange was an important one: post-truth politics, combined with the concern for the youth and their ability to navigate in this new world in which we now live. During this 7-day exchange, we had a wide variety of constructive exercises that helped develop our critical thinking and analytical skills. We had workshops with smaller groups, thus giving everyone a chance to speak their mind, but we also had exercises involving everyone at the same time. Additionally, we watched a thought-provoking documentary, visited Lisbon, and enjoyed each other's cultures, by having country dinners each night. As this was my first youth exchange, I did not know what to expect. However, all my expectations were exceeded, as the project was organised superbly, the participants were nice and the location was beautiful. I made a lot of new friends, learned about some lovely cultures and gained a huge amount of new knowledge about the topic of the project. 

Lola Milkovska, Macedonia

This is my first youth exchange and therefore I am very happy to be part of it.I think that is very inspirational to bring people from different countries together and make them work on different thematics. This youth exchange made me think more critically towards media and politics. I gained new skills, knowledge and a great experience. This was also my first time in Portugal.I get to know more about the political, cultural and societal aspects of this wonderful country. It was great and challenging to be part of the intercultural evenings.I am happy I had the opportunity to bring the Macedonian cuisine and tradition to the participants from different countries.I also enjoyed the other international evenings and cuisines and therefore I feel closer to the other counties. It was a pleasure to be around this kind of people because I made new friends and I experienced new things. I definitely recommend Erasmus + mobility projects to young people around the world.

Pedro Carvalho, Portugal 

This was my first time doing a youth exchange and I really enjoyed it! During this last week, we did a lot of different activities to get to know each other and also discuss the topic of post-truth. What I liked the most about this experience was the interaction with people from other countries and to learn more about them and the history/culture of their countries. I learned a lot I didn't know about these countries and now I want to visit them to learn even more and experience the wonderful things each country has. I'm taking a gap year and now I'm thinking about doing a trip around central and eastern Europe to visit some of the countries that were represented in this youth exchange. I really enjoyed the theme of the youth exchange as well, I love thinking about topics such as freedom of speech, what is truth, politics and media manipulation... I think these projects are a great opportunity to meet other people and learn about interesting topics and what it means to be European. It's also a good way to travel so I want to do youth exchanges in the future outside Portugal so I experience what it's like to do have an experience like this in a different country. To sum it all up, I think the projects and activities were very well organized and the people amazing!

Live it Lisbon! 2017B - video

This is a video made during the Live it Lisbon! 2017B session. It was a truly memorable event! Thank you to all the amazing participants. We hope to see you again soon! 

Filmed by: Uğur Dinç & Talat Gökdemir

Edited by: Talat Gökdemir (www.talatgokdemir.com)