So that's it - an entire year in Austria finished. It's hard to believe how quickly the time has flown by! My last week in Austria was fairly frenetic, spent as it was running my final project - an international youth exchange with 35 participants from 5 different countries. I don't think I've worked harder in a single week before, having to be on call and ready for any questions or problems from breakfast until bedtime; nor do I think I've ever enjoyed myself at work so much before! The young people taking part were absolutely brilliant, always ready to get fully involved in all the workshops and activities, and I made some really good new friends among the participants, colleagues and youth leaders. It was an absolute blast and the perfect way to mark the end of my time in Klagenfurt. I've attached a few pictures to give a flavour of the week.
After that, all that remained was to say goodbye and get on my plane back to London. What comes next? I hear you cry. Well, my plans are currently very open but I know one thing for sure - this definitely won't be my last international experience if I can help it. EVS has been a great opportunity to get a taste of life abroad, to learn new skills, meet new people and see new places. It's been an amazing learning experience and I can't wait to get out and explore even further!
Hello from La Rochelle! I’ve been here for 5 months now and the time has just flown by!I’m here volunteering for a community centre called ‘Le Pertuis’ in a quartier sensible [sensitive district] in La Rochelle. The people that live here are quite disadvantaged, and there are a lot of associations in the area that work with different parts of the community – children, adults, the elderly. My work at ‘Le Pertuis’ is quite varied, but I mostly work in their Social Café in the mornings and in their Children’s Centre in the afternoons. The Social Café is a little house in the local park that welcomes all members of the community for hot and cold (non-alcoholic) drinks during the day and late into the evening. As well as being a nice little place to drink coffee with friends, the café serves as the reception of the community centre, so visitors can become members of the centre and take part in activities and events organised by the centre. The Children’s Centre is a place for young people aged 11-17 to come to after school to play with friends, take part in activity clubs, get help with homework and to enjoy an afternoon snack. Last month I spent 11 days on a camp, organised by the Children’s Centre, with 22 children. The camp encouraged children to live with others in an environment of mutual respect, where each person participated in the different tasks (setting up and upkeep of the camp, cooking, cleaning etc.) that took place in the daily life of the camp.
Alongside this, the children took part in a number of activities. The camp was on a nearby island called île d’Oléron, which had stunning beaches.There, the children could try out surfing, catamaran sailing and land sailing.It was so great to see the children having so much fun, especially as many of them wouldn’t normally get the opportunity to try out activities like these – even a night out bowling was new to most of them.
The camp also gave me the opportunity to get to know the children a bit better, and for me that was really important.Both the café and children’s centre help to bring members of the community together, and it’s this that I really like about being here. I live in the district where I work, and I love walking around and knowing so many people in the community because I’ve served them a cup of coffee or because they’ve come by to the children’s centre for help with their English homework. ‘Le Pertuis’ also works with a number of other organisations in the area and I’ve met so many people from these organisations whilst working on joint projects. So, although not without its problems, the centre really does serve the community and being around French people all the time has definitely been a great help to me language-wise. Being in La Rochelle itself has also been great. When I got accepted onto the EVS project here I had no idea where La Rochelle was, and discovering that it’s a beautiful seaport with an annual average of sunlight hours that’s on a par with the Côte d’Azur has not been a disappointment!!Being from Birmingham, I’m in no way used to a beach lifestyle, but here the beach is like a second home! My actual home is a cosy apartment, where I currently live with a Polish EVS volunteer. When I first arrived there were 5 of us on EVS in La Rochelle (there are 3 of us now), and so it was really easy to meet people at beach picnics and cliff-diving contests! All the EVS volunteers here are also given bicycles by the host organisations, so it’s very easy to make the 10-minute journey into the centre to socialise or to just hang out on a bench and read.
Last week a group of us even cycled to île di Ré – another nearby island – cycling over the longest bridge in France!I really feel so lucky to be in such a beautiful place, working on a worthwhile project, and I can’t believe I’m already almost halfway through my EVS...
After a few days sleeping in airports and countless bus journeys down sandy, rock filled roads (the term road is used loosely here)we finally arrived at our village, only to be met by the most amazingsinging and dancing from the village elders as they welcomed us from all corners of the globe. We were shown the mud houses where we would stay, the place from which we should draw water and the showers which consisted of a bowl of water (if the well was not dry), some banana leaves and an empty sack!
When night fell, the sky was breath taking. It was as though I could see every individual star as it twinkled in the pitch black sky. When night falls in a place with no electricity, the stars look like diamonds, and you should really not forget your torch. Unfortunately I had, and would spend the next two weeks stumbling around in blackness gaining lots of bruises.
After boiled yams and sugary tea for breakfast we began our first day at work. We were working with the locals to build a dam. The rains in Kenya have failed for the last two years and people are desperate. Everyone is crying for water, with no water there are no crops, no crops means no food, without food there is no life.When the rains eventually came (which they didn’t this year either) we were building a dam to collect the rain water for the villagers. We dug all morning, tools were scarce, the local kids dug with their bare hands, making leaf baskets to use as buckets, the strength of five year olds putting me to shame!
Afternoons were put aside for house visits. Every afternoon after lunch we visited the local people to hear about their lives and their problems. The people were so open with us, often sharing things with us that broke our hearts. The lack of water seemed to be effecting every area of peoples’ lives. A common question was how far did I have to go to get water in my country. It was incredibly humbling to explain that I had things called taps inside my house, that not only delivered water, but hot water too. I was ashamed to say that I was not 100% sure where it came from. In a life of plenty most things are taken fore granted.
What did I learn from this experience? it is difficult to say. I learnt how to carry 70 litres of water in a day. I learnt how to hide a swollen hungry belly.I learnt about corruption, beatings, greed and apathy. I learnt the helplessness of aid agencies who try to help. I learnt to choose between using water to wash or drink – there is no choice. I learnt that I have more than I will ever need, that the abundance in my life is a result of being born in the affluent West. I learnt how to be joyful with what I have. On no other project have I been so integrated into the community and laughed, cried, and fully lived among the locals. Mostly my experience reinforced that what is needed education. What is needed is for people to get alongside the people in communities like this and work through their problems with them. Aid agencies can throw all the money they want at Africa, most of it won’t reach the people who need it. We need to empower individuals, support and education them to make the changes they know their country needs. And what am I going to do about it? Next summer I am taking 20 sixth form students out to Africa to get alongside the youth there, to encourage, to support, to inspire the next generation to do whatever it is they decide their countries needs.
(in the picture: Geraldine and one of the volunteers during a visit in Genova)
After working temporarily in the environment section of my local council, I decided to volunteer for a conservation project in the Italian mountains. I arrived at Campo Ligure railway station via plane, volabus and replacement bus on Monday 17th August at 6:30pm, our meeting point. I was greeted by Cristina Rossi and Gianni, leaders of the Capanne di Marcarolo Natural Park. Giovanni Vinciguerra was our camp leader and ticked our names off a list as we arrived. Our bags were put into the back of a truck and we were driven by car up a winding mountain road to our accommodation.
(In the picture: the accommodation)
The accommodation comprised of an old water mill, situated at the foot of MountTobbio. The building was now being used as a base for mountaineering groups who visited the area. At the accommodation we met the project coordinators, Lara and Massimo and their very young son Paollo. They led us up some outdoor stairs to a choice of three bedrooms. There was also a basic kitchen and a bathroom and an outdoor living area with seating and a camp fire.
On the first evening Lara and Massimo told us that the loft was inhabited with flying animals, they were difficult to describe due to the language barrier. These animals hung from the eaves of the house, upside down. I initially thought they were bats but eventually we discovered they were called dormice. The next morning Lara showed me a dormouse huddled up in a towel, it had fallen down the toilet in the night. I could just see its face, pink nose and big eyes. It was shivering and we hoped that it would survive.
It was extremely hot on our first day of work; we painted picnic benches and wooden fences with varnish. The area was situated in a valley with surrounding mountains, open spaces and blue skies. It was located at the southernmost tip of the province of Alessandria and only a few kilometres from the sea. We arrived and left the working sites in a minibus driven by Gianni; they were usually short drives away from the accommodation and involved driving up or down very narrow mountainous roads. Very often we passed cyclists in training and Italians driving their dogs around in small cars.
After work on the second day, we visited a lake at the foot of the mountains. I had anticipated that it would be deep enough to swim in, although when we arrived it was more like an English stream. It was however very lovely to sit in as it was so hot and the surrounding scenery was amazing. The water was very clear and you could see fish swimming past your legs in the water.
Our most difficult task for the two weeks was to climb MountTobbio. It was a very hot day and we stopped on the way up to drink water and eat apples. Occasionally we passed narrow paths with steep drops to the side of our feet, at which point Giovanni would shout ‘Be Careful’. At the top there was a small white church dedicated to “Our Lord of Caraggio”. Walking back down we carefully kicked large rocks out of the way and cut branches blocking paths; we also painted circular symbols onto rocks with bright yellow paint. This helped to clear the pathway for future climbers. Lunch was prepared daily by volunteers and served at 1pm, our afternoons and evenings were free.
(in the picture: cooking by the fire...)
The evenings were filled with guitar playing and singing, listening to Manu Chao, playing games and cooking potatoes, chicken and bread on the camp fire. We also drank grappa and occasionally went to the bar at the top of the hill for ice cream. Jesse, the dog from the bar often came down to visit us, particularly when we were cooking barbequed food. One evening Giovanni led us into the woods to try to hear and see wild animals. We sat in the dark listening for wolves, owls and any other animals that were nearby. We heard some scuffling but unfortunately we didn’t see anything.
(In the picture: volunteers enjoying their evenings together)
On the weekend we visited the local city called Genova, Italy’s largest port. We visited the house of Christopher Columbus and the main square called the Piazza De Ferrari. In contrast to the remote location we were living and working in there were Italian restaurants, tall buildings, washing lines hanging in between apartments, dusty roads, shops, sculptures and an aquarium, the Acquario di Genova.
Our last day of work involved varnishing wooden swing frames, see saws, benches and fences in a children’s playground. This was not the sort of playground you would find in England, as it was nestled amongst the eighty two hundred hectares of mountainous terrain in the Capanne Di Marcarolo Natural Park. Gianni’s family were natives to the area and we visited his museum. On display were photographs of his ancestors and many old tools that had been used over the years for farming and everyday living in the local area.
Gianni visited us on our last evening and played the accordion very well, he also brought alcohol and cakes as thank you gifts. It was a worthwhile experience visiting Italy and experiencing life in the mountains. I met lots of lovely people and would now like to learn more about the nature and culture of different areas of the world by attending more international work projects.
As this volunteer placement was only two weeks I was unsure how much I was going to out of the experience in such a short time compared to what I had done previously.
My concerns proved to be unfounded as I had a wonderful time with my fellow volunteers and the children at the centre were adorable.I had been told I was going to an orphanage, which was a reasonable description but I found out it was in fact a social centre.Most of the chilren weren't actually orphans, only about 40 of the 500 or so (the centre has previously had up to 1000) live there full time, most return to either their parents or family members who are now responsible for them during the weekend.This doesn't apply to babies, of which there are probably another 40 or so and who have mostly been abandoned.
The reason most of the children are there is due to learning difficulties; some of the kids are deaf/mute so the centre teaches them sign language and education comes through that. They were really bright and beautiful and the only frustration I felt was when my limited sign language meant that we could only communicate a little.Most common question was "what is you name?" and "how old are you?" which we all managed to master answering eventually!
We were split into 3 groups of 3 with a timetable that was set out from the beginning: 8-11am was the first task and then another in the afternoon 2-4.30pm.The job was either taking care of the babies, painting two rooms (a task that we completed during our two weeks) or teaching.This was in some ways the hardest job because of language barrier.We all had a Vietnamese speaker in our group which meant the class was kept busy but I did struggle to feel useful sometimes.We did plan our lessons to a degree which was done equally between the three of us but because I couldn't talk to the children directly I found it a little frustrating.We stuck to basic things, playing games,drawing our countries flags, basic origami and playing with a world map, all of which the children responded well to.
The other children had various mental disabilities and were really sweet and good natured.The obvious Vietnamese language barrier meant only Mai and Huong, the Vietnamese volunteers could really talk to them but they did their best to help the rest of us understand what the children wanted to say.All of the kids mostly just appreciated the attention and affection which we were happy to give them.In the evening when the day was finished we had the option to go into the yard and play with the children which was really fun (if exhausting!).
The babies were adorable and due to no communication problems, being with them was in some ways the easiest job.Usually we just sat cuddling them and sang to them if they cried or fed them from a bottle of watery rice mixture, as milk is too expensive.When I found this out I was a little concerned as I was unsure if it gave the babies sufficient nutrion.The budgest for caring for them is only approximately 400,000 dong a month per baby, which just doesn't go very far.This was a hard fact to swallow but the reality is the babies are being cared for better at the social centre than they would be elsewhere so you have to appreciate the context.This was also hard when I quickly realised that the babies are not provided with nappies, meaning that if you're holding a baby and it pees, that's right, you get wet!This happened to nearly everyone at least once in the two weeks and while having to go and change your trousers is annoying (particularly if you foolishly wore jeans) it's even nastier for the babies; as they are left with extremely red bottoms which looked very painful in most cases.
Once I realised our main job was just make sure the the children had fun I found the project much more satisfying.They really did enjoy the novelty of us being there and they were such a joy to spend time with that we all gained from the experience.I was the only Westerner in the group, everyone else being Vietnamese, Korean or Japanse.I was slightly concerned about this beforehand, wondering if I would be treated as something of an outsider, but all the other volunteers were wonderful and we all got along really well.There were two other volunteers from Germany, Martel and Heshar.They were on a longer term project, several months but they were still friendly and happy to talk to us even though they worked seperately to us and had seen short term volunteers come and go before.
The close friendship I found in such a short time both surprised and delighted me.The language barrier was an issue when some volunteers didn't have fantastic English but it really wasn't a problem, it just meant talking a bit more slowly.
Only Shiwon and I stayed for a few weeks following the completion of the project.Huong let us stay with her which provided a really intersting opportunity seeing how Vietnamese students live.She was a wonderful hostess who cooked for us and took us all over Hanoi on her motorbike to see all the sites.She genuinely couldn't have done more for us and I am forever in her debt.We also went to Sapa with Mai where we spent a night doing homestay with some of the local tribal peopleand it was lovely to spend some time with her too.I'm still in touch with a lot of the people I volunteered with via facebook and email and I really hope one day we will see each other again.
k I've worked harder in a single week before, having to be on call and ready for any questions or problems from breakfast until bedtime; nor do I think I've ever enjoyed myself at work so much before! The young people taking part were absolutely brilliant, always ready to get fully involved in all the workshops and activities, and I made some really good new friends among the participants, colleagues and youth leaders. It was an absolute blast and the perfect way to mark the end of my time in Klagenfurt. I've attached a few pictures to give a flavour of the week.
After that, all that remained was to say goodbye and get on my plane back to London. What comes next? I hear you cry. Well, my plans are currently very open but I know one thing for sure - this definitely won't be my last international experience if I can help it. EVS has been a great opportunity to get a taste of life abroad, to learn new skills, meet new people and see new places. It's been an amazing learning experience and I can't wait to get out and explore even further!
