R@tas Lá Fora: Experiência do Filipe no Curso Internacional "Leaders of Change"

O Filipe  teve recentemente a sua primeira experiência internacional na Rota Jovem, e logo numa área que ele tanto gosta, ou não fosse um homem do desporto! O curso internacional "Leaders of Change" reuniu em França jovens de várias partes da Europa. O Filipe gostou e quer repetir a experiência. Sabe aqui porquê:

"As minhas expectativas eram altas para este curso, mas nunca pensei que estas fossem excedidas.

Foram 8 dias de formação muito gratificantes, com mais 29 jovens de 10 nacionalidades diferentes e 3 formadores que nos ensinaram através da educação não formal a sermos bons lideres. A troca de experiências entre todos os jovens proporcionada através de jogos, trabalhos de grupo (entre outros) foi uma mais valia para todos nós. Cada um aprendeu um bocadinho; sobre a forma como o outro trabalha, sobre aspectos de cada cultura, e sobre como cada um reage, actua, lidera em determinadas situações.

Todos sabemos do impacto do desporto na nossa sociedade, sendo que os formadores ensinaram-nos como podemos utilizá-lo para  nos tornarmos melhores treinadores, melhores formadores, seja a nível desportivo, em empresas de gestão, etc. O objectivo deste curso foi proporcionar-nos ferramentas, através da passagem de informação, para que cada um criasse o seu próprio conhecimento. Uma experiência a repetir."

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Filipe had recently had his first international experience in Rota Jovem, and in an area that he likes so much, or wasn´t a man´s sport! The international course “Leaders of change” reunited in France from different parts of Europe.

Filipe liked and wants to repeat the experience. Know why here:

"My expectations of this course were high, but I never thought they would be exceeded.

They were a very rewarding 8 days, with more than 29 young people from 10 different nationalities and 3 trainers that taught us through informal education on how to be good leaders. The exchange of experiences between every young person provided through games, work projects (among others) was an asset to everyone. Each one of us learned a little bit, about the way that the other one works, about aspects from each culture, and about how each one reacts, acts, leads in certain situations.

We all know the impact of sport in our society, being that trainers teach us how we can use it to become better trainers, better teachers, in the sports area or in managing companies etc.

The goal of this course was to provide us the tools, through the passage of information, so that each one creates his own knowledge. An experience to repeat.”

Ali: "Maybe in ten years European Union is not going to exist anymore"

Sometimes making an EVS means a huge intercultural immersion which changes completely our vision of the world. Ali has changed his reality in Turkey for a very different lifestyle in Portugal. We talked with him about how Turkey and Europe are linked and what they can give to each other.

- What is your vision of Europe? Has anything changed after your EVS experience?

Before the project I had already travelled a lot around Europe, so I knew a bit about it. But travelling is not the same as living in a place for a long time, because you know that there is a moment to go back home. When you live like a local you get used to the country and the culture, especially if it is different from yours. So my general idea about Europe didn't change a lot during my EVS. I think that Europe is much more advanced in terms of development, so it is very good for me to be here.

- What are the similarities and the differences between Turkish and European identity?
Well, I think it is quite hard to speak about an European identity, because there are many differences between the North and the South of Europe. From my point of view, there are more similarities than differences between Turkey and Portugal, starting from the climate, but not only, of course. The way people think and enjoy life, the way of living is very similar. Even some meals are almost the same! But here the standard of living is higher, the media are freer and human rights are much more respected, and this is very important. Living in Portugal you don't need to care about many things, you can feel the freedom, while in Turkey the political situation is more unstable, the government has a big power in a lot of fields and many things are hidden from the citizens. If you are not part of any minority you can have a normal life in Turkey, but if you are not, you can feel that lack of freedom.

- Regarding the way how the Western media are showing Islam, what is your point of view about that?
After the terrorist attacks in 2001 in New York, the way of looking to the islamic countries has really changed and I think people started to feel Islamophobia. Of course, the media affected a lot to people to be much more afraid. Arabic countries have a lot of problems related with terrorism or even war, so people tend to think that they are more dangerous, but not all the countries are like that. What makes people think like that are the Islamic fundamentalists, because they don't respect the difference. Even if they are Muslims, not all Muslims are radical, but European media are more focus on the fundamentalists, they exaggerate their presence.

- Do you think it is necessary to create links between Turkey and Europe? 
We already have a lot of links, in fact we applied to become members of the European Union many years ago. At this moment, we have a lot of cooperation in a lot of fields, like justice and youth programmes, for instance, otherwise I couldn't come here with an EVS project. So I think it is important to create and maintain these links, and to make them stronger, because we have based the improvements in our country for the last eight years in the Western standards, so for us it is very important to make this Western ideology and standard of life possible in Turkey.

- What is your position about Turkey joining European Union?
I wish Turkey becomes a member of the Union in the future in order to improve our quality of life, but I am a bit skeptic. There are many countries in Europe thinking that we are not real Europeans, because of our different religion and culture, so it would be important to have more Turkish people around Europe to try to change the stereotypes. There are also many guidelines to become a member and we still have a lot of work to do, so it is difficult. I also don't know if it going to exist an European Union in ten years.

- What do you think are the weakest points of the EU?
I like European standards and the flexibility to go everywhere without borders, but I also see countries that are not happy after joining the Union and I don't want the same disappointment in Turkey. And, of course, I don't like some of the European rules deciding about national production. In some cases, like with the agriculture in Portugal, it can be bad for some of the members, making their economies weaker if they can't protect their own production. Regarding the euro, I think that not all the countries should have the same currency if their standards of living are different. There are huge differences between Northern and Southern countries, and in Turkey we can see that in the media. Maybe that's why Turkish people are starting to think that it is not worth to join the EU, because the economic situation is hard and we are better than some of the current members. Anyway, from my point of view it shouldn't be everything about the money and we also should take into account the benefits in the social and political fields.

- And concerning your cultural taste, what book, film and song would you like us to get to know?
A book: Zorba, by Nikos Kazantzakis.
A film: Los lunes al sol, by Fernando León de Aranoa.
A song: Djurdjevdan, by Bijelo Dugme.

          

 

Emma: "Education is the essential tool to integrate minorities"

As a social worker, Emma had already worked with minorities in her country, Hungary. Now, thanks to her EVS project, she is having the chance to get to know better the situation of the Roma community in Portugal and to increase her knowledge and competences to understand their reality. 

- When and how did your interest in working with minorities start? Why working with the Roma community?

I studied Social Work for three years in Hungary and I had different interests. At the beginning I was specially focused on how to deal with mental diseases as a social worker. But at the end of my degree I went to the countryside for one week to make a small research internship working with the Roma community, and it completely caught me. I was really shocked by their reality, by the circumstances they live in and their lack of opportunities to have a better life. They were living without electricity or running water, and they were paying a rent for houses whose conditions were unacceptable. I couldn't have imagined before people living under such bad conditions, so I started to think why that could happen and what I could do as a social worker to fix it. My work in an association concerned about Human Rights helped me to have a deeper understanding about their reality. In 2009 I specialized in Social Development Work in the Netherlands with a thesis about Roma integration strategies in the EU. Then I started my master's degree in Hungary about Ethnic and Minorities Studies, focused in Roma people and Jewish in Central and Eastern Europe.

- What are the similarities and the differences between the Roma community in Hungary and in Portugal? How is your experience going working with them here?

In Hungary, people living in the poorest villages are called gypsies even if they are not, there is not a border between poor people and gypsy people. We have three different communities, romungro, beàs and olàh, and they are not as traditional as in Portugal. They want to be part of the society and fight against the prejudices. Here the communities are really traditional, the patriarchy is very strict and the caste system is still present. So if you are not a gypsy you shouldn't care about them, because they consider that it is not your business. Even if Portuguese society is more open-minded in terms of accepting cultural differences, with the Roma community is a bit different. In Hungary we have mixed couples between gypsies and non-gypsies, they accept to lose their roots in a certain way in order to be integrated in the society. In Portugal this is not so common, they are more closed in their own culture. My work in ALEM allows me to document and get to know how they are living and how they are dealing with their children's diet, which is our main goal with them. We are trying to support them by providing food and offering them help to use it properly. At the beginning it was really hard to reach their trust, but after three months of hard work we started to know each other and now it is much easier, it became natural. They understood that we are not there to judge them, but to approach them.

- What are the current topics of interest concerning the Roma community?

Education and unemployment are their main problems. And for me, in Portuguese Roma community gender issue is also a big matter. Women's role is being a mother and they don't have an acceptable education level to have the chance to get a job. As there are cultural differences between both countries, the solutions for their problems are also different. In Hungary is easier to achieve the goal to get more education because they are more available to accept the rules and their culture has a high respect for the education, whereas in Portugal they want to keep more their traditional habits, which includes to be reluctant to the integration. The girls must leave school at the age of 15 to get married and this is very comfortable for men, because they always have someone to take care of them and their children, so it is normal that they don't want to change it.

- What do you think are the steps to make their integration in the society possible and to stop the discrimination against them?

Education and respect to other cultures are the most important ones, I can't imagine any other way. There is a wonderful example of that with an experience that an Hungarian kindergarten teacher did. In Hungary gypsy parents are afraid to send their kids to the school because of the discrimination they suffer, so they prefer to keep them at home to protect them. Non-gypsy parents don't want school groups with a lot of gypsy kids because they think it is a disadvantage for their children in terms education quality. So the teacher realized it and she tried to arrange meetings and events for the parents to get to know each others. It functioned, because they started to work together and the cultural differences stopped being a problem for them. I think that for a successful integration it is indispensable to get the balance between the respect for the differences and the respect for the general rules.

- How do you evaluate EU politics in this issue and with minorities in general? What should be improved?

I can't compare with other minorities because the EU has different strategies according to the different minorities, but in any case they have to respect every member country's autonomy to make decisions about how to integrate minorities, always respecting European values. Regarding the Roma community, it is difficult to have a general rule because every country has a different problem. In Western Europe, for instance, it is a matter of immigration, while in Eastern Europe is a traditional minority, so it is not possible to create a general report where everything is settled. Nevertheless, it is important to establish some basic principles in order to try to get a balance in terms of equality.

- Concerning your cultural preferences, what book, film and song would you recommend us?
A book: Žert, by Milan Kundera.
A film: La piel que habito, by Pedro Almodóvar.
A song: Szabadon, by Palya Bea.

       

Pilar: "The struggle of feminism is an universal struggle"

If there is a person engaged with the feminist cause, that's without any doubts Pilar. Active volunteer in everything related with women's rights struggle, she wanted to put some light in a topic sometimes vague and always controversial. So if you want to know a bit more about feminism, you just need to keep reading.

- When and how did your interest in feminism start?

I think that I've always been interested in feminism. When I was a child my models were women, not men, and when I decided to focus my education in the social field my interest became even bigger. One of the areas we work in as social workers is gender equality, so I am interested in deepening my knowledge about what I can do as an educator in that field, what kind of projects are being developed and what type of measures exist. In 2012 I came to Lisbon to work in UMAR, which is an important women association, and I completely realized and reaffirmed that my engagement with feminism was total.

- How was your experience in UMAR?
 I came the first time thanks to a European project called DIJE, which consisted in an internship to check how equality measures were implemented in a real association. The association was UMAR, and I loved it because they are very important in the national level. The work they do is really large, from education in schools to human traffic, gender violence or equality among seniors. And my workmates were amazing, they always supported me a lot, so in 2013 I came again to make my Leonardo da Vinci with them. I took part in the project ISI, and my tasks were related with documentation and registration of bibliographic and filmographic resources and pedagogic materials, organization of events for abused women's children and assistance to seminars, courses and debates related with the issues UMAR was working on. I learnt a lot from my co-workers, from their energy and their peaceful revolutionary spirit. I learnt that the struggle can and must be done, so now I am still a volunteer with them and I try to be a link between UMAR and ALEM, where I am doing my EVS project, transferring my previous learnings to my lessons with the girls in the school where I work now.

- What is feminism for you? Why do you thing it is necessary?
For me, feminism is a movement defending the equality between genders, the real equality of opportunities and rights between women and men. There are many types of feminism and many ways to be a feminist, but it is above all a common struggle shared by men and women, it is not something exclusively feminine. Feminism fights against some principles of the patriarchal system which not only discriminate women, but also some men who don't fit the social standards. Patriarchal system is so deeply set in our society that trying to change it is really a hard work. Women were traditionally the most damaged ones by the system and that's why they were the ones starting the struggle, but they are fighting for benefits for the society as an all. And that's why I think that feminism is important and necessary, because without feminism equality cannot exist. As equality doesn't exist itself because of the established patterns, feminism is necessary to fight to achieve that goal.

- What are the biggest prejudices that society has about feminism?
There are a lot of people who are feminist without knowing it and many other people who declare themselves as feminist without being it at all. People saying that women should be in a superior place to men only arouse distrust in society, and that affects the whole movement. The fact of expressing ideas and claiming for rights as nobody had never done before is uncomfortable for the system, so that's why some people tell that feminists are crazy, hysteric and extremist.

- Do you think is easy being a woman? What are for you the biggest dangers for women nowadays?
Personally, because of the family and the society where I grew up, I have never had problems as a woman. But in a general level there are a lot of differences according to the countries. In many societies women are the main target of terrorism just because of the fact that they are women. Then if, besides being a woman they come from a different culture or religion, or have any disability or are single moms, things can be even worse for them. Related with all of that, there are many dangers that women must face, such as forced marriages, human trafficking, female circumcision, gender violence or lack of education. Many girls lose their right to be educated just to benefit their brothers. If the parents need to choose, the girls are always supposed to stay at home, taking care of the house, the father and eventually the husband. This results in feminization of poverty and their economic dependency on men.

 - Regarding these dangers, what are the challenges for feminism to avoid them?

Feminism can be useful to eliminate this huge inequality of opportunities, but the biggest challenge is to be united. I think that all the currents, even if they have different visions, should be together in the struggle, because otherwise is very difficult to achieve a big movement with results. But it is also important to make progress in obtaining a bigger effect, a bigger significance. And for that it is necessary to separate feminism from hembrism, which is the equivalent of machism and something completely negative. I would like the statement "I am a feminist" no longer to be considered something bad.

- What kind of measures should institutions like the EU take in matters of equality?

The most important one is the empowerment of women, with more resources for their education. This is what we know as positive discrimination, and it should be developed in order to get specific opportunities to women and giving them ways to choose, because otherwise all the opportunities would be for men. Providing more and better education is essential, because it is the basis of all the rest. It is also fundamental to implement gender equality programs with effective measures, and it should be introduced as something transversal. We need to think about equality patterns through the experience, not only in a theoretical way. There should be enough financial support to projects and initiatives which facilitate the new genaration's increasing sensitivity about these issues. Social subjects are completely forgotten in the schools, the program is focused in the scientific learnings and not in the life in a society. It would be perfect to include that kind of contents in the texts and in the pedagogy methods.

- Who are the women who inspired you the most?
All the women from my family, because they opened my mind to the world and encouraged me to go after my dreams. Especially my mom, who taught me to be strong. I also admire Mariana Pineda, who was a revolucionary woman who faced the system, Lila Downs, because of the strength that she transmits when she sings and her engagement with the feminist cause, and also Sojourner Truth. But I my heroine is without any doubt Malala. She is amazing, she is corageous and she is strong enough to keep fighting despite of her age and what happened to her. For me, she is the best of the activists.

- And talking now about culture, what book, film and song would are a must see for you?
A book: Todo bajo el cielo, by Matilde Asensi.
A film: Bye, bye Brasil, by Carlos Diegues.
A song: Para Vigo me voy, de Compay Segundo.

                            

Na rota dos voluntários SVE: Carimba a Lituânia com a Inês Eusébio!

Sveiki! Ou como cá dizemos, olá! Deixámos o Filipe a aproveitar a sua experiência em Malta e fomos mais para norte. A paragem de hoje é a Lituânia, onde a Inês Eusébio está desde Dezembro a explorar as aventuras do Serviço Voluntário Europeu. Até Dezembro, ainda terá muito para contar, mas não quis deixar de mandar notícias a toda a comunidade arrotante ;)

"Olá!!

Acordar num país diferente e sentir que estamos em casa é muito enriquecedor... até porque estamos mais despertos para tudo o que acontece. Fui muito bem acolhida na Lituânia desde o princípio e, passados dois meses do começo do meu projeto, posso dizer que o balanço é muito positivo.

Já percebo qualquer coisa de Lituano, e fico muito feliz quando percebo tudo o que me dizem, do princípio ao fim. Nos tempos livres ando a aprender Caminhada Nórdica e claro aproveito para conhecer novos lugares!

Em relação ao projeto em si, posso dizer que foi “desenhado” para mim. Estou a desenvolver aquilo que sei, mas ao mesmo tempo a aprender muito no âmbito social, mas também a nível artístico. Fazemos muitos trabalhos manuais e de forma muito criativa, de maneira a aproveitar as capacidades de cada um.

Acredito que de dia para dia tenho “crescido” mais um bocadinho e que até para os trabalhadores do centro social tem sido bom terem alguém com quem partilhar a sua cultura.

Esta semana fiz uma exposição com a ajuda das pessoas do Centro para o Dia da Mãe e ficou muito primaveril... :D (Vejam as fotos em baixo)
O próximo passo vai ser tentar tornar a exposição maior e interactiva, talvez com jogos, para que o público possa "tocar-lhe". Estou a pensar em direccionar  para crianças e, se possível, para pessoas com deficiência.

Beijinhos,
Inês"

Tu também podes rumar a um país da Europa e ter uma experiência intercultural espectacular através da acção do Serviço Voluntário Europeu. Tu escolhes o país e o projeto! Sabe mais sobre o programa em sve.rotajovem.com!

De Malta para Portugal: O carimbo SVE do Filipe Leite

Continuamos a percorrer os corredores desta Europa fora à procura de histórias de voluntários e estagiários Rota Jovem a viverem experiências inesquecíveis. A paragem de hoje é Malta, este pequeno país que acolheu o Filipe Leite, que iniciou há um mês o seu projeto de Serviço Voluntário Europeu. Que tal está a ser a aventura Filipe? ;)

"A experiência do Serviço Voluntário Europeu é sem duvida uma das melhores experiências que podemos ter para uma primeira aventura longe de casa. 

É incrivel a quantidade de coisas que podes aprender; a quantidade de pessoas de diversos países.
Uma das coisas mais habituais que tem acontecido é que quando alguém diz uma palavra, todos ficam curiosos para saber como ela é dita no idioma do país de origem das pessoas presentes. Além dos participantes do meu projeto, acabei por conhecer dezenas de voluntários e ex-voluntários que fazem ou fizeram o mesmo projeto que eu estou de momento a fazer, ou de outros semelhantes. Há sempre uma ligação entre todos os voluntários SVE, até porque todos procuram conhecer-se, independentemente dos projetos a que estão afetos.

Acredito que apesar de só estar aqui apenas há um mês, algumas das amizades que estão a crescer durante esta etapa são feitas para toda a vida. 

Tenho visto ex-voluntários a vir a Malta para visitar amigos que que ainda estão em projetos ou que optaram por ficar no país do qual aprenderam a gostar. 

É fantástico partilhar a casa com pessoas de diferentes países e culturas. Aconselho a qualquer pessoa que possa e tenha a oportunidade que faça SVE, porque será de certeza um momento único e lindo na sua vida."

 

 

 

 

Parece-te interessante? Tu também podes ter uma experiência como a do Filipe, num país e projeto à tua escolha! Podes encontrar toda a informação sobre o programa sve.rotajovem.com!

 

 

Giovanni: "It is very important to guide people to understand and develop their own talents"

When we need to talk about education, pedagogy and even religion, Giovanni is a safe bet. After seven months of intense work in ALEM, he already has some practical experience that he wanted to share with us. And now we want to share it with you. Here it is what he has to say.

- Tell us about your experience with the scouts in Italy, when and how did your bond with the group start?

It was in 1995, when I was eight years old. At that time my parents knew that the scout group in my town was present and strong. There were many family friends volunteering there as chiefs and some of my friends as well, so my parents subscribed me saying that I was going to learn a lot. And they were right. With the scouts I matured to be a person useful to the others, dedicating my time to give a service to the community. During the 17 years I was part of the scouts, I participated in a wide variety of activities going from group games to handcrafts workshops and meetings with representatives from many civil offices, and I also became a chief myself, planning and organizing short and long-term activities for the kids. Although I quit in 2012 and I am no longer officially part of the team, I still continue collaborating with them, supporting the chiefs, suggesting them activities and even cooking for the children during the summer camps!

- What have you learnt in your experience with them [the scouts]?

Well, first of all, the spirit of service, which actually is what brought me here to do EVS. But also teamwork and mediation skills, ability to do many things even with very essential instruments, high tolerance for kids and, above all, love for education. I think that it is very important to guide people to understand their own talents and put them on advantage to everybody. And I am putting everything into practice here in Portugal!

- What are the challenges, difficulties and satisfactions of working with young people?
My experience is mainly with children, and I must say that their process of learning is fast and substantial, with pretty good results. The problem with them is that normally the groups are quite big, and as they are not self-sufficient you need to keep an eye on them all the time. With teenagers the problem is that even if the attention they need is less constant, it is stronger and more difficult because they have more complicated and enigmatic problems, so it is not easy to understand them and help them to find solutions. But you have the chance to see them growing up, dealing with those problems and conquering them, so it is comforting. And with the kids you gain lots of hugs, which is a very big recompense.

- What are the differences working with youngsters in Portugal and in Italy? And between the education system in both countries?
There is not a big difference, and I think that it is above all a social difference. I've noticed that in Portugal there is less social inequality than in Italy, where we have to deal with families without financial problems and others with huge difficulties, even if they work hard. In Portugal there are more people at the same level, the situations are more balanced. Regarding the education system, in both countries it is seriously underfunded, they aren't receiving enough money at all. In Italy we have stronger teachers but an old structure that should be reformed. In Portugal the structure is better while it is more dynamic, but it is inefficient because many schools are not provided with enough professors. There are holes in the kids' timetables just because there are not professors to cover them. For me, the solution in both cases it would be to increase the funds destined to the education and a continuous quality control to the teachers and the schools.

- What is your view about the education for affection and its importance in the education systems?
For me, it is the education about how to live a love life in the healthiest possible way, oriented to give the students the best knowledge relating to the essential elements of the life with a partner. They can learn about how to treat a partner, how to face their sexual life, which are the differences between both genders are and how to avoid stereotypes, fighting against the wrong simplification that society presents and reinforces. I think it is very important because it is a way to guarantee to all teenagers the possibility to deal with the subject, specially because you cannot trust all parents to be good enough or willing to give that kind of education. So, from my point of view, it should be present in the education systems, which remains still reluctant to teach anything related with sex. In that sense, they should be updated to include this kind of education in their planning.

- As a young and engaged person linked with religion, what is your vision of it in our days, in our context?
There still is an old way to understand religion as something related to prohibitions, which makes it to be considered as incompatible with many of the current issues people are worried about, when in fact it should be an instrument to improve. Not only to improve things but also to grow individually, being honest and spiritual. What Jesus taught us should be useful to progress personally and to engage others to develop a community where honesty, fraternity and mutual help are the essential values. There are a lot of people disillusioned by the oldest generations' closed way of understanding religion, but I think that the Church is now working in changing that status. They are trying to change the idea people have about them as a head of power and wish to become a guide to the people as citizens of the society who can get a spiritual evolution investing in themselves from their singularity. A spiritual development that don't depend anymore on the rules and the forbiddings of the Church but on the own moral code of each person.

- Which do you think is the link between the humanist legacy religion left in Europe and education in the different countries?
Religion in European culture is a matter of tradition, and because of that some education systems that haven't been renovated yet are still bearing weak or strong elements of religion. In Italy, for example, we have a lesson about religion once a week which is meant to educate kids about Catholic religion. But the actual content of the lesson is left to the teacher, who in many cases teaches about different religions and tolerance, but is up to their sensibility. In the case of implementation of the education for affection, for instance, it is not religion itself that puts obstacles, but the old way to see religion and specially Christianity held by powerful people and a large chunk of the aging population in Europe and that makes changes difficult. The humanistic legacy of religion in Europe is still strong and this should evolve in many ways.

- And about your cultural taste, which book, film and music would you recommend us?

A book: Historia de una gaviota y del gato que le enseñó a volar, by Luis Sepúlveda. 

A film: The Blues Brothers, by John Landis.

A sound: La Donna Cannone, by Francesco De Gregori.

A videogame: Super Mario, by Nintendo. 

Are you Out of The Box? - A Catarina e o António estão!

                                            Curso Internacional na Hungria

Nos primeiros dias de Março a notícia surgiu: um bracarense (António) e uma sintrense (Catarina) partiriam dentro de um mês para a Hungria para participar num intercâmbio sobre inclusão social e gestão de conflitos – o “Out of the box”! Além de Portugal, estariam representados outros países europeus: Ucrânia, Bielorrússia, Itália, Hungria, Croácia, Bulgária, Geórgia e Arménia, num total de 22 participantes.

A chegada a Budapeste foi atribulada. Além do céu nublado e do frio, tivemos o contratempo de saber que a mala da Catarina ficara em Lisboa. Mas português que é português desenrasca-se e isso não nos impediu de conhecer Budapeste! Instalados num hostel bem central, aproveitámos a vida nocturna e as ruas de Budapeste antes de partirmos para Galyatető, nas montanhas.

Aproximadamente 2 horas de viagem e Budapeste ficara lá em baixo e lá longe, tapada pelas montanhas e por uma suave, mas sempre presente, camada de nevoeiro. Intermitentemente, os participantes dos 8 países foram chegando a Galyatető e travando conhecimento uns com os outros.

Nos primeiros dias trabalhou-se o grupo. A orientação, a cargo dos 3 “trainers” húngaros e da nossa Joana, portuguesa, foi irrepreensível e valiosa. Nos primeiros dias de curso, realizaram-se actividades para que nos conhecessemos melhor, desenvolvessemos a confiança entre nós e nos aproximássemos do conceito de equipa.

Durante o curso foram abordadas diferentes temáticas através de uma aprendizagem experimental, por meio de palestras e dinâmicas de grupo no exterior. Introduziram-nos os modelos e a dinâmica do conflito, o poder da vulnerabilidade, a contagiante comunicação não-violenta, entre outros temas… a capacidade de partilha e de dedicação dos participantes foi fundamental para que a aprendizagem fosse tão produtiva quanto se revelou.

Finalmente chega o primeiro dia do maior desafio do curso. Fomos incumbidos de preparar um fim de semana de actividades para um grupo de 22 pessoas provenientes de uma instituição que acolhe pessoas invisuais, pessoas com deficiências mentais e as respectivas famílias… sendo que nenhum deles falava inglês. Após o choque inicial, assumimos a nossa responsabilidade e lançámo-nos ao trabalho. Apesar de parecer caótico o funcionamento de 22 pessoas em simultâneo para um mesmo projecto, foi surpreendente como acabámos por nos organizar tão bem e superar algumas dificuldades com que nos deparámos pelo caminho da preparação do projecto.

A manhã estava gelada e reinava um clima de expectativa, mas rapidamente o desconhecido se tornou conhecido. Fizeram-se jogos com sons, músicas, cordas e movimentos. Contaram-se histórias e partilharam-se culturas, experiências e conhecimentos. Terminámos o dia à volta da fogueira, com muita música, paz, e um ritual georgiano, no qual todos confiámos um desejo ao fogo.

Todas as supostas barreiras tinham desaparecido e comunicava-se com sorrisos, gestos, toques, interjeições e claro, com a ajuda das participantes húngaras, que se esforçavam por mediar a comunicação sempre que necessário.

A manhã seguinte estava reservada para actividades ao ar livre. Tudo foi uma aprendizagem, mas foi a cooperação entre todos, incluindo os nossos convidados, o ingrediente principal que permitiu um fim-de-semana agradável, com muitos desafios, mas nenhum problema. Na hora da partida do autocarro da instituição, havia um sentimento de empatia e realização no ar, e até mesmo alguma tristeza.

É fácil para mim separar o antes e depois deste projecto. Tudo mudou. Ganhei novas perspectivas e apercebi-me de realidades diferentes. Experienciei emoções novas e conheci pessoas marcantes. Sinto que este projecto provocou um motim no meu pensamento e que novas ideias colidem agora com aquelas que levava comigo à partida. Espero dar continuidade a este processo e poder um dia vir a transmitir aos outros aquilo que me foi transmitido a mim. - António

  

Conheci pessoas inspiradoras a falar sobre assuntos fascinantes, no ambiente ideal. Foi uma experiência marcante no meu percurso de vida! - Catarina