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 do Michele (Spin Association)

And here we are.

The last days in Lisbon.

My Last Dance.

It’s hard to look at my back and evaluate my months and my life here.

It’s a huge combination of feelings, emotions, happy times (a lot), bad moments (luckly few), plenty of new people and things that I done.


But let’s try.

It looks so far away when I arrived here, the 29 of February. It looks like it was 3 years ago, but it was “only” 9 moths ago.

I know that I had hard times (for example during the quarantine, when I saw my closest friends leave, and also now).

And I know that I had a lot of beautiful moments (all the people that I met, my trip in Porto, the trip with my lovely friends in Alentejo and Algarve, the Spin lunches and welcome days).

But I really love all these moments, sad or happy, in the same way. I really think that all these pieces of my life helped me to become the person that I am right now. I know that probably the bad moments helped me even more, and that’s why I never tried to avoid the sadness but embrace it. So I want to say thanks to my sad and happy moments, because I wouldn’t be proud of myself without you.

The happy moments were most of the time with my friends here, that became my second family. I really love each of the people that I met here in different ways but I’m really glad to met all of them. They also were a crucial point of my experience here, because I know new places with them, new people, I did new and different things, I knew them every time a little bit more and I discovered knew things also about myself. Thank you for existing and to be such great people and friends.

Worked for Spin it was one of the best thing that could happened in my life. I found a group of really extraordinary people, always available, polite, sweet, smart, sensitive and especially during a pandemic situation, supportive. I will keep you all in my heart.

I also need to say thanks to Lisbon. An amazing city with amazing and crazy people that is always ready to surprise you. A city where you can see 300 sunsets form the same Miradouro, but each of them will be somehow different and where I enjoyed the view every time in a different way.

I choose this city without knowing it because I felt that there was a strange connection, it was appealing, and now I can say that it was true. A city that became my second home, and it will be forever. Thank you.

But now I’m feeling that it’s time to go home. To reconnect with my other family and my other friends. I need to do it for myself, to close this circle, to do the last steps that I need.

It will not be easy to go home and to stay in Italy at the beginning. I already know it. I’m already missing so much this city and all the people that I met in the way. It will not be easy as it’s not easy to say goodbye to everything that I have here.



But it’s part of the life.

It’s part of the ESC experience.



But above all, it’s not a “goodbye”.

And probably it’s not a “see you soon”.



It’s a Never Ending Story.

My Never Ending Story.

O testemunho no. 1 do Victorien (Spin Association)

 

I arrived on Friday the 30^th of October in Lisbon, leaving France the first day of a new national lockdown. It gives an idea of the global context. And so, here I am, escaping France to the sunny and free Lisbon.

Firstly, I spend three days visiting a lot of Lisbon. I have been to the mains districts such as Chiado, Alfama, Bairro Alto, monuments such as The Castelo de São Jorge and Jerónimos Monastery. On the other hand, I wanted to visit less touristic districts like Ajuda and Almada on this other side of the Tagus. The idea was to spend those first days in place where I may haven’t reason to go once in my daily life in Lisbon.

The most impressive aspect of these days is the feeling of being in a city less populated than usual. While speaking with locals, flatmates and expats living here for a moment, I understood the pandemic has stopped mass tourism and we can see it directly. According to the opinions I heard, it’s a previously unseen situation. In some points, it has positive consequences because of the saturation of the infrastructures and city centre when tourism was at its peak. However, most of the feedbacks I heard were sadly impacted by this sensation of not seeing Lisbon as much buzzling and exciting as before.

I can’t say that much because I have no way to compare. However, as far as I am concerned, I really enjoyed the vibe of the city, built between mountains and the Tagus. This special environment gives to the city an amazing and unique soul. From France, the rhythm looks slower and more peaceful what I love. The first days were the the opportunity to try different dishes, specially fishes but also cheese and wine which I really enjoyed.

I set up in the flat proposed by SPIN, situated in Anjos, a lively and multicultural district, away from touristic neighbourhoods. Anjos looks like really authentic. I am sharing flat the with four flatmates: Marco & Elena from Italy, Angel from Spain and Nabil from Morocco. The three first quotes were former volunteers from SPIN who decided to stay in Lisbon while Nabil is doing his ESC program in street football centre at Bairro Padre Cruz. Seeing that the former volunteers were staying here is pretty positive and promising 😉.

I had a warm welcome and we had dinner together on first Friday and Saturday. On the first Saturday, Marco proposed me to visit the Coleção Berardo Museum which is fantastic and then we could try the famous Pasteis de Belem. A place well-known for making the “best” pasteis de nata. Usually, overcrowded, the place was finally really accessible because of Covid-19.

I also had the opportunity to meet all the new volunteers in SPIN and in the different associations linked to SPIN such as Viver Telheiras, SPEAK and SPEM during a welcome day. Also, were present four volunteers from SPIN (where I do my volunteering program). This welcome day is a chance to all get to know a bit better with a presentation of the staff, a delicious lunch made by the SPIN volunteers and a presentation of each new volunteer. Such a brilliant way to start the program.

What I am really impressed by is all the efforts and organisation made by SPIN for make yourself comfortable. The association seems really involved in your first days and strongly want to meet everybody progressively. It could be stressful and anxious to move to a new city where you don’t know anybody or don’t speak the language and SPIN is making everything possible to reassure you. 

  

O testemunho No. 3 da Valentina (Viver Telheiras)

 

October gave me a lot of reflection time. Having just celebrated the end of our mini festival Telheiras em Movimento, dedicated to the promotion of sustainability in our neighbourhood, with guided bike rides, expositions, open air movie screenings, debates, a flea market and various artistic events and displays, the beginning of the month came with the realisation that I will soon leave Lisbon, my project and my friends behind. 

In the months since my last update, I have started helping in a food waste reduction cooperative, designed posts for our Instagram account (@vivertelheiras), participated in working meetings in preparation of our festival and learned more about sustainable urban projects through webinars facilitated by the Municipalities in Transition Network.

Having lived a year in Lisbon, I feel grateful for all the experiences I've had, the people it brought into my life and the ways in which I've been changed. Learning you are able to build a life elsewhere (navigate different administrative, health, housing systems, improving your Portuguese language skills and being immersed into various working environments) is gratifying. I continue to feel thankful to the people of Viver Telheiras and Parceria Local de Telheiras for having welcomed me so warmly and given me this many opportunities to learn and get involved. I will continue to follow their work from afar, and hope to reunite some time in the future.

Este tempo fortaleceu-me, rodeou-me de pessoas boas e cheias de vida e sabedoria, deu nuancas aos meus conhecimentos, encheu-me de duvidas e da certeza que conheco menos do que pensava. Que e sempre bom relembrar. Ate aproxima! 

O testemunho No. 3 da Camilla (Crescer na Maior)

O meu tempo em Lisboa como no voluntariado está a correr para seu fim. Foi um ano inesperável em muitos aspectos que me deu um possibilidade único contemplar a vida duma outra perspetiva como nunca antes. Aprendi que para olharmos fora de nos próprios devemos olhar para dentro ou seja mais para dentro mais para fora

O testemunho No 3 da Elena ( Crescer a Cores)

 

My year of European voluntary service is almost over and it has been full of important changes. Despite a year that made everyone's life different and that for a period even blocked it, I will focus on what were the personal and inherent changes in my year here in Portugal. It was a slow and not immediate path, made by moments of waiting, reflection and action. I started and probably learned to love myself more, to look inward and take care of myself. All this was made possible by starting to do a bit of physical work out every day,  talking more than one language in one day, choosing people that made my time better and created a small reality that I felt comfortable in.

Due to the lockdown I was only able to resume the project at the kindergarten at the beginning of September, but despite this, even if the time was less, it was nonetheless formative. In this time I realized there was more balance between responsibility and voluntary work, I felt more useful and integrated, both as regards the relationship with the children but also with the educators. Even if we hadn't seen each other for a long time, we immediately re-established an even more confidential and playful relationship, probably also thanks to the improvement of my Portuguese language skills. I felt really comfortable and I found on their part a great willingness and generosity towards me. My project colleague and me are very grateful for the lunches time shared with them during special celebrations. The moment I appreciated the most and in which I found the most connection with the children, was when I put them to sleep during the afternoon nap, taking off their shoes, tucking them in the blankets. I think I have grown fond of them and that I will miss them all.

Lisbon wasn't love at first sight, I needed my time to love it. I think it was a feeling related to how I felt. The better I started feeling, the more I started loving it. Long walks through the city, trips out of town to discover new paradisiacal places, art visits, have made this feeling stronger and more solid. Although it has been an uncertain and worrying year, this EVS and Lisbon have made it safer and have given me time to reflect and manage time in alternative ways.

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!