O testemunho final do Amr (Spin)

 

Hello People and welcome to my last testimony,

Time ran out and it is time for me to leave my Spin family, I came to Spin having in mind that I will be a volunteer for only 9 months, however, my project was extended for a couple of months, but those also came to an end. However, during these two months, I learned a lot. 

 

 The last two months I joined the mid-term training in Braga, it was a new place for me, unfortunately, it was only for 3 days however it was worth it as a new experience with new people for me to get to know, new places to explore and a new opportunity to express myself and share my culture.

 

 The last two months for me with spin I gave goodbyes to people I wish had stayed longer, but also welcomed new volunteers that I wish I had known earlier, I spent some wonderful moments with them and I’m also grateful for that, nonetheless, I was feeling like a guest having in mind that all those who began volunteering with me were gone and soon I will be.

The last two months were very intense for me for I was going back and forth between finalizing my project and the uncertainty I had to stay in Portugal or go back to my country and what is consequent to either of them, although I pursued means to stay. it took me a while but I recently had more sudden reasons to Leave.

 

In the end, I feel like I have a lot to say, and yet I won’t be able to lay it out properly, I have been reflecting on the things I am most grateful for. so simply put I’m proud of taking this step that taught me a lot of things that I take forward in time with me and enabled me to explore beautiful places and meet amazing people from around the world that I will always remember, and so this is a “Thank you” for everyone who knows me, who was a part of this chapter of my life, and remember you’re always welcome in Egypt. 

 

 See you around.

O testemunho No. 1 da Dina (Bola p'ra frente)

 

Hello everyone,

My name is Dina, and I come from Serbia. I’ve been volunteering for a month at the Associação Nacional de Futebol de Rua in Lisbon, Portugal. The association is located in a neighborhood where there are many children of various ages and different backgrounds. More precisely, fewer opportunities, facing poverty, being exposed to bullying, overall violence and delinquency, and members of different ethnic groups that are being discriminated against. Therefore, the association represents a comfortable space for everyone. Apart from the amazing facilities the association offers, it is first and foremost a warm corner with dear employees, interns, and volunteers who are always in a mood to dedicate their time to every child that comes and support them in any way. Simply put, ANFR is a place to share your life, no matter if it is happy, sad, tragic, or lonely. We stand united and stronger, bearing the upcoming days side by side.

Frankly speaking, saying that I am a volunteer is not adequate and precise. I feel more like I am doing the work of a superhero. The super hero who always has time to listen to many struggles and sad stories, and bring colors into gray children’s lives Apart from being a shoulder for crying, we share very happy moments. We have already celebrated more than 5 birthdays, one of them being the association’s 15 years of existence. Each birthday and holiday are celebrated with delicious food and drinks, which we embellish with colorful and sparkly handmade decorations.

As I don’t speak Portuguese, communication has been a bit challenging, but we manage to understand each other by using nonverbal communication. One of the things I usually do at ANFR is help kids with their homework, mostly mathematics, arts, and English. Together with colleagues, we deliver different educational presentations and workshops regarding many topics like violence, healthy lifestyles, sustainability, and others. Furthermore, we play various games, starting from simple ones to more advanced ones, where different values and knowledge can be gained. Lastly, we use street football to develop different skills, like teamwork, self-control, time management, patience, empathy, discipline, and many others. Some of the activities that marked this month were a visit to a professional hairdresser, a movie at a cinema, a visit to local activities, a picnic, and a celebration of Magusto.

My amazing flatmates  and their stunning personalities should not be overlooked. They contribute a lot to my life in Portugal. We spent a lot of time together. We explore all the possibilities Lisbon offers daily. Aside from that, we visited many surrounding cities and beaches. Long conversations in warm and cozy clothes with hot chocolate are my favorites.

Overall, I am really happy to be here and surrounded by amazing people, as well as to be a part of the association and to contribute as much as I can to make the lives of children happier, better, more interesting, and richer when it comes to knowledge and skills because, at the end of the day, don’t we all need someone to bring colors into our lives?

O testemunho no. 1 da Irene (SPEA)

 

Hola a todxs!

O meu nome é Irene e tenho 26 anos. Sou da Espanha e comecei o meu projeto na Sociedade Portuguesa para Estudio das Aves (SPEA) em 2 de Novembro. Este primero mês tem sido cheio de emoções e surpresas. É o meu primeiro voluntariado fora da minha cidade natal e para mim tudo é novo. Na casa Bernardim somos várias pessoas de diferentes países e divertimo-nos muito porque nos dias em que não estamos a trabalhar, fazemos excursões a diferentes lugares da cidade.

Para conhecer mais a cultura dos países das pessoas que vivem na casa, organizámos um Brunch Cultural e isso foi um dos meus melhores dias aquí (a comida era realmente boa). Posteriormente, vários de nós (Dodo, Magda e eu) fomos dar um passeio pela cidade e comemos pastel de nata. Alguns dias depois, como tradição, fomos beber Ginjinha com as pessoas da Spin e bem, DON’T DRINK IT IN ONE SHOT!

Quanto ao meu trabalho na SPEA.... (projetos: As aves semeian florestas | LIFE LxAquila) Já conheci várias pessoas que são um amor. Este primeiro mês é sobretudo sobre atividades em escolas com as crianças de 6-8 anos. É engraçado quando as crianças descobrem que sou espanhola e querem ouvir-me a falar espanhol ou "português" (mal consigo falar português...), mas é bom quando a atividade termina e elas vêm correndo para me dar um abraço <3

Este primeiro mês tem sido bastante chuvoso, pelo que não tenho podido ir observar pássaros (tenho mesmo saudades). Mas bem, estou ansiosa por seguir com este projeto em que estou envolvida e continuar a aprender mais sobre pássaros e crianças. Nos próximos meses continuarei com os alunos de algumas turmas e com outras tarefas do projeto LIFE LxAquila onde poderei estudar mais acerca das aves e as suas coisas.

De momento acho que não tenho mais nada por dizer (realmente tenho, mas não terminaria), por isso, até breve, beijinhos! 

O testemunho no. 1 do Mohanad (SPEAK)

 

Hello everyone,

“Sonder” is a rather unpopular word in the dictionary that most people never hear of in their lives. It refers to the intersection of different people’s lives by the tiniest chances that occur in everyday life. Think of it like the butterfly effect, where the smallest action you take can change someone’s life completely.The reason why I absolutely believe in the meaning of this word is that this testimony comes from sonder—everything that led me to this moment was unexpected.

I never saw that I will be an Erasmus volunteer until this year. I never saw Portugal as my next destination for a whole year until this year. I never expected to live away from Egypt and my family for this long time, but I am here and I am grateful.

I am Mohanad (aka Moka) and I am a 25-year-old aspiring polyglot (multilingual) and film enthusiast. My first few weeks in Lisbon were very overwhelming but in the most beautiful ways. I had a great time exploring the city on my first week by myself and with my mentor Rita and my flatmates.

I remember going to the beach with my flatmates on the weekend it was the rainiest day of the month by far (And there was also a non-comforting Tsunami warning sign) but it went more than okay. The following week, I visited Spin’s office and also went to SPEAK’s office for the first time we had dinner later on the same day to welcom

e me and a new person on the team. I am truly in love with where I work! (Just google it; it is called Casa do Impacto)

My second weekend was even better because I visited Madrid for the first time and spent quality time with a close friend there. Not the biggest fan of the city because it is super crowded and this is why I like Lisbon because it has this cozy feeling that no other city I visited felt the same.

The cherry on top of my first month was attending on-arrival training on the last week of the month in Braga. I went there with two other flatmates and had an amazing time meeting new people, learning about ESC programs, and doing various fun activities and hangouts.

  

I can tell you about many other things that happened during my first month, like when I tried Ramen for the first time in my life, dying my hair also for the first time, watching two spectacular films at the cinema with Portuguese subtitles, visiting the most magical place in Portugal, Sintra, and other warm little moments with my flatmates and new friends, but words won’t be able to describe how amazing this first month was. I am looking forward to the next few months with new wonderful memories and even more wonderful people. And hopefully, the next time I write, I will be able to maintain a basic conversation in Portuguese. 

Ciao! 

O testemunho No. 2 da Afrodite (SPEA)

 

Hello everyone 

Already halfway through my volunteering program with SPEA -Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves. I am thinking  that only 3 months are left and I get stressed about my next steps. Can I say that it was worth it after 6 months of experiencing it? Definitely. When thinking of my background and that is not exactly and directly related to biology and nature conservation I realize that if not through volunteering and if not through the ESC program I would never have the chance to experience something like this.

I realized that I do love working for environmental conservation and environmental education projects. It feels unreal to me sometimes to think that actually there are jobs that are based totally in the outdoors, and that naturally protected areas need so much attendance and workforce to keep flourishing. I had no idea that these kinds of jobs existed and I was amazed to find out. In the last three months, I have been visiting Berlengas islands to carry out conservation work. It was so special to get to know the islands as if they are animate creatures which in a way they are. Their every formation, track, cliff, rock, bird colony, fauna composition. I could never imagine such a small island having so much to show. It's every side that touches the ocean having a different name as if they are street names in a big city. The stories and myths that it withholds within the knowledge of the very few habitants. The lighthouse keepers, the nature police and us, volunteers and biologists. The 6 of us inhabit an island and stay in the lighthouse. It felt like the earth was this island and nothing else existed. Just us on a big rock surviving in a continuous battle with the ocean waves crushing on its every edge. A vibrating ecosystem that would seem as nothing special for a couple of hours but the more the time, the hours and the days spent there, the more it revealed to me, how much treasure it withholds, how much knowledge and purpose it carries for the protection of biodiversity and the continuation of life.

What does a day in Berlengas feel like? We would wake up in the morning to breakfast with fresh Portuguese toast and coffee. Telescopes, binoculars and ready to climb hills all day long. We would cross the land and reach the edges, set up the tripod and zoom in the telescope lens to watch a nest of ‘Galietas’ from 300 meters away on a deathly cliff! We would watch for hours until she decides to get up so we can see and count her eggs or chicks! Now you can imagine not all of them would be so cooperative, some of them would even play games of on purpose maneuvering so we never get a chance to make a clear observation! Others would stand up for a second and as we crazily rush into setting the lens at the right spot she would sit down immediately once we are able to watch her! Now tell me if that is not on purpose! The ‘good’ news is that we have to do that for more than 100 nests across the island which can barely be finished within 5-6 days! Isn’t it boring? One might say so, but I quite enjoyed this part of just sitting watching the ‘galieta’ and the ‘galieta’ watching me for hours and hours. I don’t think I needed my patience any more than in this case before.

At lunch time we would have someone cooking a very Portuguese amazing food like ‘calderada de peixe’ or ‘massada de peixe’ were my favorites! Wine, coffee, and aguardiente was part of the menu too! And the plenty of cakes which I was asked to make because it seems like it made them very happy! In the afternoon we would either check the mouse traps to see if they trapped a mouse and or we would record the fauna species per square meter of land and per percentage of coverage! Fun stuff! Other tasks would include recording species traffic for the census using the telescope! That was not easy! Imagine having the view of a highway of birds which are at least 10 km away from you and by their way of flying and colors you need to identify what species they are, how many they are and what are they doing there! I wish they could just tell me straight away! It feels like being in the middle of a motorway and trying to identify the date of manufacturing of each car based on its emissions! This was such a random comparison but whatever! And my next favorite part is dinner. Same as lunch.

And while one might think that at night we would go to bed and rest we actually had to wear torches on our foreheads and get outside in the middle of the night, climbing cliffs with the moonlight as guidance and the torches on our heads blinding each other! Why?? Well because we had to go and extract those poor birds called ‘cagarras’ from their nests in the ground and then measure their every body part and give them a ring! Just imagine you are sleeping in your bed in the night peacefully and a giant hand drags you out and starts measuring you with a ruler, then stuffing you in to a bag and weighting you and as if you are not fashionable enough in your pajamas you from now on need to wear a bracelet with a number! That is how a non-biologist sees all of these… Of course the poor ‘cagarras’ had to fight back and it was a bloody fight with our hands full of scratches since their beaks are quite deathly! And we would be doing this all night long, coming back home at 2 am in the night!

So that was a typical active day in the berlengas in the high season which is spring and everything is flourishing! There would be some days that nothing would happen and we cannot get out of the lighthouse since the wind splashes are about 70km per hour which would most likely cost you your life if at the edge of a cliff! Did I have accidents on those cliffs? A few yes. It is not the safest type of job, but definitely one of the most exciting ones I have done with all these risks that come with it!

So that was a small taste of my conservation work in Berlengas which seems like a world I would never thought existed and I feel so lucky that in one way or another I had the chance to experience it! Definitely one of the greatest gifts that I got from the whole volunteering experience so far. Let's see what comes next, what steps will I take, and I will soon be starting to plan my life after this program. I am so glad I chose to do this program and it definitely exited all my expectations by far. I never thought of this experience being sooo interesting! I am grateful to SPIN and SPEA for choosing me as their volunteer.

April 2022, 22nd.

O testemunho final da Mari (SPIN)

 

The end is a new beginning.

I am sad about this ending of the chapter, but at some point, everything has an end. Life is full of endings and beginnings. This is the way of life. I'm excited to see what life has to offer for me and trying to focus on that. It's been a fantastic one-year journey, full of unforgettable moments, and deep down, I knew It was only for some time.

I've mentioned how grateful I'm for this beautiful opportunity, and I will say one last time I love you, Portugal. You've been very nice to me for a whole year and showed me all the beauty of yourself. You are such a unique, warm, tasty, calm, multicultural, full of nature country. I don't think I have all the words to express my feelings.

During the project, I developed many skills. I participated in very Interesting tasks, but the goal when I was moving To Portugal was to get to know myself better, and spend some time alone, which I did, and I'm on my way to learning more. It's a lifetime discovery, and I'm ready to know more. I've met many excellent people, they had a remarkable impact on me, and deep and meaningful conversations gave me more than we can imagine sometimes.

In my mind, It's full of lovely memories, which I will keep to myself In my heart, and I'm going to remember and smile every time thinking about Portugal. I guess this Is It. Thank you, SPIN and especially Giulia,





Love you guys. Hugs. 

O testemunho No. 2 da Annamaria (Spin)

Hi everyone, My name is Annamaria and I'm from Estonia. It’s my first time living abroad and also volunteering. I'm working for an organization called Spin. My work mostly is to go to schools, talk with youngsters about my journey here, collect signatures, take part in different projects, and a few times a month cook in the kitchen with other Spin volunteers. My volunteering is so different each week and I love it, you never get bored.

My chapter in Portugal started October 2021, so 7 months ago and so far it's been one hell of a ride, with a lot of laughs, meeting new people, Learning about their countries, traveling across Portugal I have been making amazing memories. It has been filled with ups and downs but overall getting this opportunity was one of the BEST things that could've happened to me ,I’ve learned so much about myself, also faced my biggest fear (stage fright) and this opportunity has opened my mind a lot more. I’ve seen a lot of different places and met a lot of people across the world, 

Almost everyone has taught me something and I’m glad that I had this opportunity to meet them.
In the beginning, yes, it was a little bit hard because of homesickness and the new environment, also I didn’t know a lot of people but it changed quickly cause other volunteers and overall people here are super open-minded, welcoming and it’s easy to connect with them.

I’ve had to say goodbye to some good friends, it’s always sad and hard but that’s how life works. It sends people to our path to teach us something, even if it’s just a small thing. No one is in our life without a reason.

Living in Lisbon has been a challenge for me. I live with 6 other people and also I'm sharing a room but it's an interesting experience. I'm used to living alone and having my own space but here I don't have that and sometimes it's really hard but luckily my flatmates are amazing people, they are like my family here. We travel together, have dinner together and we just fit living together, sometimes things get overwhelming. Everyone is from a different county so the ideas always don't match. But we figure out quickly how to compromise and how to make our lives together better.

I love the city in every way. Lisbon is a very easy city to fall in love with, it has so many opportunities to offer. It's beautiful, people are nice, you never get bored here. Once my project ends I’ll miss this city a lot. For sure I’ll be back here, I have a lot of good friends here who I’ll stay in contact with for sure!

I fell in love with the country overall, the more I travel the more I fall in love, cause every place is like a fairytale. So far I’ve been to  Algarve, Porto, Nazare, and a lot of wonderful places. I love nature and that’s why my favorite place is Sintra, with its amazing nature, castles, and palaces. Every time I go there it’s like my first time, there's always some new place to discover.

I still have 2 months left here and I can't wait what places I will discover more and what surprises Portugal has to offer me.

O testemunho final da Isa (Junta)

Last Testimony

Hi there! I am Isa and I am 24 years old and I am coming from Spain. Almost one year ago, I decided to take one

of the best decision in my life: Being a volunteer in Lisbon, I´ve always wanted to do such a volunteering, so searching the opportunity it wasn´t difficult to me. Now, with all the memories I have in my mind, I feel grateful and first of all I wanna say thank you Spin for selected me, without you it would not been the same Since the very first moment I contact Spin I feel this could be a good association, and I was sure at the end.

Being abroad one year is not easy, specially the first
months without really knowing someone. You start dating some volunteers, start seeing them more frequently
(hey, let´s go for a coffee, let´s go for a walk…), and then they became your friends and your family here.

Also, I would like to thank them all because you were one of the best important parts of my volunteering. Starting from the first person I met till the last one. Lots of trips, lots of laughs, lots of sunset in beautiful miradors…. What can I say? If you are planning going to Lisbon, do not think twice!! You want regret it.

Moreover, my time in the school has been also nice (not always to be honest) but being with such a fantastic group of kids that everyday they see me coming from the door, going to hug me is one of the best feelings ever, it makes you feel comfortable , happy and the most important thing: loved. 

Teaching Spanish to kids and teenagers it was also a good opportunity of improving my “teaching skills”, as it was for me the first time with that age. Nevertheless, CAF Quintas dos Frades, you will always be in my heart.

So, as I said in my second testimony, I guess it is my time and say: “Be happy and see you other time in the future”. 

Love you and kisses,

Isa