The three months I spent volunteering a Villa Buri can be
summed up in one sentence: Always expect the unexpected. I arrived in Verona
having very little idea of what I would be doing, and very few expectations. My
first impression of the villa and the park was that it was a beautiful, calm
place. The villa is nestled in a bend of
the River Adige, a few miles from the
centre of Verona, surrounded by a large park. I joined two other
international volunteers and worked with the local Italian team to look after
the park.
The international volunteers were three girls, but when I
arrived the first surprise was that only one of the other girls had turned up:
Agnes from Sweden. We lived in a small house by the main gate of the villa.
Part of our job was to open and close the villa gates. The second surprise when
we started work the next morning was that although the working language of the
project was nominally English, everyone spoke in Italian. So my Italian
improved faster than I would have believed possible. It is amazing what you can
learn when you really need to!
The first job Agnes and I were given was to feed the
kittens. It turned out that Villa Buri was home to many stray cats and these
kittens had been abandoned in the park. I spent the rest of my stay putting out
multiple bowls of cat food every day.
One of our other regular tasks was to empty the rubbish bins
in the park, and sort out the things that could be recycled, i.e. metal,
plastic, cardboard and glass. This was an occasionally unpleasant job, but it
was also oddly fascinating. We were very confused by the people who left at
least ten kilos of grapes in the bins over the course of about three weeks. We
also planted an awful lot of miniature winter vegetables in the Orto.
In September we spent a lot of time pruning trees,
collecting seeds and creating new flower beds. I discovered that hawthorn was
vicious, but not as vicious as the mosquitoes. Agnes counted the bites on her
leg one day, and found she had over 60. When we discovered some fly swats in
the back of a cupboard and could go mosquito hunting you have never seen two
happier people! One of the other highlights was the local Gelateria – we went
at least three times a week.
The next surprise came not in the form of
stray animals, but stray people. Five Ethiopian girls came to stay at Villa
Buri. They were refugees from Libya, having moved there to escape famine in
their
native land and then fled Libya when the war started there.
We invited the girls to come and work with us hoping it would help them to
improve their non-existent Italian. Communication was interesting, as only one
of them spoke a little English and none of them really spoke any Italian. Most
of what need to be said could be communicated by a combination of demonstration
and mime. This occasionally made you look pretty silly, but was surprisingly
effective. The girls were always willing to get stuck into any task and were
great fun, always ready with a smile.
In October the weather changed from the warm sunshine we had
been enjoying to become cooler and foggier. We spent more time weeding the Orto
Botanico, the Villa's large herb garden. The vegetable garden also had to be
tidied up for the winter and the remaining fruit and vegetables harvested. This
was also the season for the kiwi and kaki (persimmons) of which we had
hundreds. We even took a wheelbarrow round the streets to try selling them to
the neighbours!
By November the weather took on a wintry edge. With the cold
weather, the third international volunteer finally arrived, Katharina from
Germany. The weather also meant we spent more time indoors, doing jobs like
sewing curtains and painting furniture in an effort to make our little house
even cosier for the next volunteers. We also went to help harvest the olives at
Don Calabria, a community for men with mental health issues.
At the beginning of December it was time to leave Villa Buri. It was an unforgettable
experience. The language barrier was often challenging, as was adjusting to a
much slower pace of life. But I learnt many new skills: how to grow and care
for many kinds of herbs and vegetables, how to cook proper Italian food and
that you can have an entire conversation with a few words. I will miss having
the peace and beauty of the park right on the doorstep, and the warmth of the
people I met there. And remember: Always expect the unexpected!
After
spending about 2 weeks visiting major cities in Japan, I left the main island
of Honshu for Hokkaido. Destination? Onuma Quasi-National Park (大沼国定公園, Onuma Kokutei Kouen), at the
southernmost tip of the island, near Hakodate city (函館). The aim of the workcamp? 1 ½ weeks of mostly environmental work.
Along with six other volunteers (two of them Japanese and the rest
international), we built rafts to depollute water and cut some plants for
forestry work. I did not know much about environmental work before this
workcamp. Eighteen rafts and some tree-cutting later, here is what I learned:
1.Building rafts:
It may seem strange just hearing about it, but our main work was to build rafts
to depollute lake water. Explanation: Onuma Park has three lakes. Two of them,
Lake Onuma and Lake Konuma (大沼 and 小沼) are quite polluted. Visibility of
the water is low, some species have become extinct; there is little underwater
life in general. At first, people thought this was due to man-made pollution.
However, they soon realized that it was caused by intensive agriculture and
animal grazing instead. Worrying about the long-term consequences of this
process, a university professor decided to design a project to protect the
lakes.
·Why are the lakes important locally? They are vital to agriculture, as they provide
water for irrigation. They mean a lot to the people because the national park
is quite a beautiful area and home to many species of plants and animals.
Tourism is also one of the main activities that people live off of.
·Why was it important to set up this project? Other than the local degradation
aspect, this pollution problem has a wider impact. The lake water goes into the
sea. Not interfering at the root of the problem would mean spreading the
pollution to other places. On the other hand, solving the pollution problem
early causes less trouble to other people. The rafts thus represent a sustainable
means to prevent further pollution.
·How do the rafts
help to depollute?The rafts improve the visibility of the water
so that underwater life can redevelop. Their main function is to trap algae
floating on the surface of the water into a net. By bringing in more light,
there is more underwater oxygen production, and the water becomes a more
habitable space. Roots and dirt are also placed on top of the rafts, so that
new plants can grow and wildlife is once again attracted to the lake.(Esthetically, I thought it had a third
advantage of making the rafts become virtually invisible. Ducks seemed to like
them as well, as they made their nests on the rafts.)
·Do they work?From what is known, they do seem to have a
positive impact on the lakes. According to a series of recent surveys, Onuma
Lake has been gaining on average 20 cm per year in visibility (80 cm visibility
in 2007, 120 cm in 2009.)
Building rafts
2.Cutting plants:
For two days, we participated in another activity, aimed at protecting the
forest (rather than the lakes) of the park. We worked with the forest rangers
of Onuma to clear paths in one area of the park. Like 40 other percent of
forests in Japan, the forest in Onuma Park is man-made, rather than natural.
The forest rangers are responsible for its conservation, and aim to restore it
to a natural forest state over a period of about 100 years. Clearing the paths
helps them patrol the forest. Our work meant simply cutting unwanted plants,
but it also had the effect of protecting special species from parasite plants.
(Potential damage can come from animals or other plants, if those use all the
nutrients in the soil or monopolize all of the available sunlight).This work was therefore more straightforward
than the raft-making, but it was also more physically demanding: we worked our
way by going slowly uphill and the forest was very humid.
Other activities: Towards the end of the workcamp, we took part in a third activity,
with a cultural focus. We had the chance of helping at an o-matsuri (お祭り), a Japanese festival.It was a sort of o-Bon (お盆) matsuri, a festival held to remember and celebrate the dead. Families
write the names of their dead on lanterns and put them on the lake to float.
The spirits of the dead are supposed to be attracted to these lights and follow
them. In Japan, this festival is generally held in early July or early August;
however, because of tourism issues in Onuma, the local government decided to
have it at a different time.It was
touching to see it take place, especially because of the earthquake and tsunami
which happened in March.
As a group,
we wanted to make the most of the festival, therefore we unanimously decided to
attend it while wearing yukata (浴衣). Yukatas are
a sort of summer kimono that people (both men and women) wear for the
festivals. (They can also be worn on a daily basis, generally by the elderly,
and the less fancy ones can be used to sleep in). We wore them for the lantern ceremony,
to enjoy the o-matsuri and to watch hanabi (花火, literally ‘flowery fire’), the fireworks.
The
o-matsuri and wearing the yukata were the cultural highlight to this workcamp.
However, they were not the only cultural experience we had; we were able to
experience a lot more. We slept on futons (布団), in the traditional style, ate on a traditional low table (without
chairs), and tried some local specialties. While touring the village upon our
arrival, we had free o-dango (お団子), a typical
Japanese sweet. We also tried local ice cream and cheese, as milk is also
renowned in the area. 抹茶ソフトクレムはおいしいです !
(Matcha sofuto kuremuwa oishi desu!,Matcha –Japanese traditional green tea- ice
cream is delicious!) Last but not least, we tastedジンギスカン (Jingisu
Kan), a kind of dish with a special meat named after… the warrior! (I think
it was named as such in an attempt to mock him.)
Conclusion: This workcamp was a very intense 10 days where
we were able to experience many things. The aim of the workcamp was
well-explained to us. We could understand the type of work we were doing and
why we were doing it. We were also treated very kindly by the people we worked
with and there was an excellent atmosphere within our group. This made the
activities interesting and enjoyable. I did have some doubts about the
effectiveness of our work at some point, but I do feel like it was important in
the end, and that I have gained a lot from this workcamp. It will remain an
amazing memory. 皆、ありがとうございました ! (Minna, arigatou gozaimashita; thank you so much everyone!)
“If you think
you are too small to make a change, then you’ve never slept in a closed room
with a mosquito”.African
Proverb
I’ve
been asked by Concordia UK
to write about my experience as a volunteer of the ROBBS Bursary Programme. I
am a member of Subir al Sur, an Argentine organisation that works in the
strengthening of youth groups in different parts in Argentina, by promoting local and
international volunteering. It is hard to use words to describe the whole
month, but to sum it up I can definitely say: AMAZING! I warn you, reader, this
article will be EXTREMELY boring for those who like to read about terrible news
or poor and sad experiences, for it will be loaded of POSITIVE adjectives in
such an amount that you will start doubting whether everything happened for
real or it was just a very pretty dream. Well, let me tell you, and I have
witnesses, that this month was enough time to make a change, at least in myself,
and this is real, for sure.
My
first experience was at MoulsecoombPrimary School and MoulsecoombForestGarden and Wildlife
Project. We were eight volunteers and a camp leader participating in a 15-day
workcamp, sleeping in the School’s gym, joining the children’s classrooms and
working in the CommunityGarden. Well, Moulsecoomb
is supposed to be a “deprived area” inside Brighton and Hove,
and I could tell that there are many problems such as violence, drug abuse,
alcoholism, etc, underneath the beauty of the streets and the important
Universities. Nevertheless, I don’t know if it’s because of my extreme optimism
or the fact that I come from a country where “deprived areas” are areas where
there are not even basic public services, but Moulsecoomb for me is a diamond
in the rough. I have to say that the Primary School’s way of teaching, their
willingness to transmit to the children the importance of communication, the
expression of their opinions and feelings, the relevance of working with and
for the community, and actually doing it, teaching it by giving the example,
was inspiring to see. Everyone I met working at the Primary School and the CommunityGarden is committed to the community and
is working to make the best out of Moulsecoomb, mainly for the children that
live there. All the School and Community Garden’s Staff members and volunteers
are so involved with their community and so confident of the fact that the only
way of dealing with harsh environments is working together towards a different
and better future, which results in stimulating and exciting everyone that
joins the project.
During
my second weekend in UK,
Concordia invited me to the North-South Training that is held every year for
volunteers that will participate in projects on the South part of the world,
and for people interested in joining some of these projects eventually. It was
an intense weekend where I got to meet many people with different backgrounds
but two things in common: they were all from the UK, and all had been wondering
about the idea of “change” in a particular way: by volunteering somewhere far
from their home country. “Change”, I mean, in a wide and subjective form and
definition; “change” conceived in a different way for every different
individual. In this sense, it may mean an internal change, a social or a political
change, etc. It was important to get to know what their fears and expectations
are before leaving to their projects, so as to work on them before they arrive
to Argentina.
The training is very successful in raising questions that everyone should ask
themselves before joining a North-South project: What does being a volunteer
mean?, How am I going to deal with cultural differences? If any conflict
arises, how am I going to cope with it? How do I think I will be feeling
outside my comfort zone? Am I willing to learn from other cultures? These
questions help the volunteer reflect upon important matters and situations that
may happen during a project. The awareness that naturally comes with the
questions help the volunteer be more prepared for the trip.
The
ROBBS Programme is not only a volunteering programme, but has another important
objective that is getting to know other organisations in the UK that promote
international volunteering, in the way Concordia and Subir al Sur promote it, as
an intercultural experience. That is why Concordia sent me to London
to meet Nigel from VAP UK,
and to Cardiff,
to meet the members of UNA Exchange. This experience was enriching in many
ways, but mainly in an institutional level. I got to interview members of
organisations that work in a similar way as we do in Argentina, and was able to exchange
experiences and information, for both of us to improve.
Regina volunteering in Wales
In
Wales,
I was invited to take part of a weekend project in the valley, in a place
called Abercynon. This project was very different from what I had experienced
before, due to the fact that we were only two volunteers and one coordinator,
working in a CommunityGarden, together with its
manager and his helpers. It was a hard-working weekend, where I learnt to make
a fence, cleared weed from an area full of growing trees, dug a pipe trench and
carried 20 wheel barrels loaded with soil to cover the trench to protect the
pipe. But as tiring as it sounds the satisfaction of doing it and actually seeing
the results of such hard work was more than enough to compensate the effort. It
was a beautiful project and I enjoyed it so much!
There
are many, many things unsaid in this short article but I thought that the best
way of describing my experience was by telling a bit about the different
projects and people I met thanks to the Programme. I want to make a special
mention to Concordia’s Team for the support they gave me from the very
beginning and their constant motivation. I will be forever grateful!
If
someone is lucky enough to join this programme, I would suggest they seize
every day, knowing that every minute is important to enjoy and learn from the
inspiring people they will meet during the trip and to let the beauty of the
places penetrate them. Everything happens so fast! And you never know how far
the impact of your presence in the projects goes and how deep your footprint on
someone’s heart steps. It is definitely worthwhile making the best out of the
experience, because if you think you are too small to make a difference, then
you never slept in a closed room with a mosquito.
My
name is Bety, I come from Czech Republic and since March this year I have been
volunteering for Concordia helping in the office to send volunteers on
international projects overseas and as one of the reasons to come to Brighton
was to coordinate an international residential project, which Concordia
generously offered to me, I decided to go for a training for the leaders of
youth projects organised in Bojnice in Slovakia. I got an invitation just a
couple of days before the project started, but I decided to go for it without
any hesitation, because I knew I have still lot of to learn and I wasn´t confident
enough about leading a group of international volunteers. Another reason to
take part emerged itself from the description of the project: 70% of all
transport expanses will be refunded after the end of the training. Well,
interesting, even these possibilities exist within the wide european net of
youth projects and training opportunities and everybody can go for that. The
only limit is age, but since I´m under 30 I can participace in any of projects
funded by european organisation Youth in Action. But the real catching point in
terms of inovation was the fact that there was going to be a bunch of 20
participants from differnet countries, and all were going to be trained by
experienced trainers, which sounded amazing and all together with the location
in Slovakia (my dearest brotherland) I basically couldn´t say no. I bought my
flight tickets three days before the project started, that may sound rushed,
which scared me a little bit, but all these feelings were absolutely pointless,
because one week later I was leaving the project with the notice of complete,
deep and cheerfull satisfaction with an expression „I can do it“ on my face.
Having fun during one of our many team building games. Can you spot me?
Situated
in a beautiful village of Bojnice, which gave us many daily and night
opportunities for free time activities, the training was full of enthusiastic
and open minded participants and especially with great professional trainers
from Estonia, Slovakia, Cyprus and Czech Republic it was one of my best holidays
ever. Our main goal was to write an international guidebook for future leaders
of youth projects, which was supposed to teach us by the very elaborated method
learning by doing how to lead a group of young people. During different
sessions such as intercultural learning, conflict resolution, evaluation
methods or project managment the trainers teached us how to handle with
different (problem) situations, which can occur at a group of young people, how
we should behave and act to satisfy the needs of each participant and whether
it is possible at all. What I really loved about the project was that besides
so much handy information we got something more and it was our self
development. This was very insightful and I think all the participants noticed
that and it brought all the group together. All the programme was just very
well organised, the trainers as flexible as they could be and they gave us the
best example. All I can say for the end is that i would strongly recommend this
kind of training not only to future leaders but also for those, who would like
to learn or reveal some new facts about themselves as personalities.So if you see such a project is going to take
place, don’t hesitate and go for it, because it will rock and I’m sure you will
love it!
