Programme & action: ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: Training Course
Venue: Bédeille, France
TC dates: 5—16 April 2022
Host organisation: SolAfrika
Participating countries: Greece, North Macedonia, Czech republic, Denmark, Spain, Hungary, Italy, France
Please read the info-pack & project summary.
Czech team: Adam Kolář, Ilona Endlicherová, Lucie Lněníčková
Report:
Solafrika organised a training course on Better Jobs for the Future from 5 April to 16 April 2022. The course took place in the village of Bédeille, at the foot of the French Pyrenees, and was attended by 19 participants from Denmark, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic and Macedonia.
We had a great 12 days filled with trips to interesting places, workshops, lectures and games, during which we learned a lot of new and interesting information. The trainers Yann and Maëva were very funny, kind and helpful in everything. The farm where we stayed was in a beautiful location in the middle of the countryside, renovated entirely out of wood and clay by the teenagers during the youth workcamps. Everything was very ecological and practical. We stayed in rooms of 5-6 people or in caravans. The food was very tasty and healthy from local sources or directly grown by the organization. During our stay we split into two groups and took turns preparing food, cleaning and other daily tasks, which was also an interesting and rewarding experience working in teams.
Most of the participants arrived in Toulousse, where we took the train to Cazéres sur Garonne station, where the organizers picked us up in a minivan and took us to the farm in Bédeille. The first day was a travel day, starting with a dinner together where we got to know each other. The following day we had a fun time playing in teams while completing tasks to introduce the common areas, the program and daily life in the collective. On the third day, we talked about our place in life, discussing questions in teams while playing World Cafe and imagining dream fictional lives and how we could make them a reality. In the evening we had an intercultural night where participants from each country presented their national food and drink. The next day we visited the 3PA centre – a school of ecological change and social life, where we tried our hand at various workshops to make products out of wood, build a brick kiln, learn interesting information during a botanical excursion and more. In the evening there was a poetry night with poetry reading. On the fifth day, we had a choice of 3 workshops that ran all day on wool work, basket weaving and carving pictures in the clay wall. In the evening there was a concert in a nearby town. The next day was a free program and we agreed to visit a local market with beautiful handicrafts and regional foods, then we had a picnic and went for a nice hike through the forest ending at the lake. On the seventh day we visited a farm with horses and learned a lot of interesting things about agroecology and working with animals, which included not only theory but also practical activities where we could try different working methods. On the eighth day we demonstrated different communication skills and played the game 6 hats, where we learned to increase the productivity of creative thinking by dividing ourselves into different roles. We also prepared a program for the local youth who were going to visit us the next day. In the evening, we had an Intercultural Cabaret, where each nation prepared an entertaining program to learn about their country through a quiz, drama, presentation, etc. On the morning of the ninth day, we continued to work on a workshop for the youth who visited us in the afternoon and in teams we played various games, theatre and made tiramisu together. On the tenth day we worked in pairs on a video “Tuto” on a given topic and talked about different possibilities of going abroad, Erasmus+, Woofing, Volunteering, workcamps, etc. On the penultimate day we had an evaulation where we talked about what the project brought us and taught us. On the last day we said goodbye and left for our homes. The training course was very well organized, full of useful theoretical and practical skills, there was an excellent, friendly atmosphere and overall we were very satisfied and the czech team is very thankful for the opportunity to participate in this project and enrich ourselves with interesting experiences.
Adam Kolář
