Termín konání: 21-28 November 2019
Místo konání: Figueira da Foz, Portugal
Programme & action: ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: Youth exchange
Venue: Figueira da Foz, Portugal
Dates: 21-28 November 2019
Participating countries: Portugal, Czech Republic, Italy, Armenia, Romania, Spain
Czech participants: Kristýna Liptáková, Sanseul Kim, Hana Urbánková, Anika Rychlíková
Group leader: Ivo Podbraný
Host organisation: Bonae Spei
Please read the info-pack
Project report: Me+ Environmental Activits – Portugal
I was so excited and nervous at the same time to be chosen to go for the Me+ Environmental Activists project to Portugal – EXCITED to meet new people, to have fun, learn new things, share new ideas and see new horizons, I was being also a little NERVOUS – due to the fact that this project was the first time for me to be the group leader. But as soon as we all met face to face, my fears were gone and I knew that everything will go well… and to be honest – I was not mistaken!
Our Czech team had five members (four girls and me as a group leader) and all of us arrived to Figueira da Foz on November 21st to take part at the “Me+ Environmental Activists” youth exchange project which lasted until November 28th. There were six teams (from Armenia, Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Spain and the hosting team from Portugal), each team had five participants.
Thanks to the Portuguese hosting team that was preparing and organizing the project in Figueira we had really an excellent time (even thought we were really tired sometimes). The hosting team was making our stay as easy, pleasant and friendly as possible. They always found a solution to any request of any participant. With the work they have done, they have prepared an environment for us that made the teams easily and fully focus on the project that we all came for.
Once the project started, we had every morning “warm-ups” which were prepared every day by a different team. After the “warm-ups” we started our activities and discussions. For example one day we were discussing environmental issues on a national and global scale. Each team had to point out several environmental problems of their countries, then we were working in groups for finding possible solutions and then all the groups were presenting and sharing the ideas. All the activities, discussing and presentations were done in English, which was the only common language among us. For some participants was easy, for some little harder but I believe all of us have improved our communication skills with this project.
Although most of the activities were done indoors, we also worked outdoors. The most visible part of the project was cleaning one of the beaches in Figueira, where all the participants were working hard despite the bad weather.
The project had also a practical level where we had to make international groups (each group had one participant from each country) and each group had a different task to make and present the final result. The tasks were to make a video, advertisement, poster, brochure and a guideline for making another project. Each group also had to make a physical outcome of this work, present it and show a “ready made product” to all the other groups.
Throughout the project the organizers were trying to make sure that the work was equally distributed among all participants and I thing they did a great job and I feel most of the time everybody was giving the best of her/him self while working.
Because this kind of project is not only about working together, but also getting to know each other and getting to know different countries culture, we had intercultural nights where each country teams had to present their own country in a entertaining way, all the teams also prepared some food so we had the chance to learn new things about the participating countries and also taste new flavors.
There was not much free time to see the city and surroundings, but there was definitely no feeling like we have not done or seen anything because we were always doing something TOGETHER! I believe that spending time together – even though we were a multinational group – gave most of us a feeling of pleasure and belonging.
The project was a great experience that gave us new ideas, new skills and most of all new friendships. The teams had nice chemistry among each other which made most of the work smooth and easy to cooperate. We were great as a team, we were also great as individuals and together we did a lot of work. We learned that every individual counts and completes the group as a whole. We found out that each of us can make great things and together we can make the world a better place.
I would really like to give a big warm hug and say thank to the EYCB for making this awesome experience possible and also for gathering such a great team together, which made this experience even better, more colorful and more tasteful! Thank You EYCB!
Ivo Podbraný
