Flashback on “A close-up shot of solidarity”

Ciao! Czesc! Olá!

“A close-up shot of solidarity” is done! The Polish-Portuguese-Italian youth exchange organized by Cesvov is over… and it worked out very, very well, I think we can be really happy with this week, which was a great experience for everybody. 21 youngsters from 3 countries, all with their cameras, exploring Varese, taking photos, discussing about volunteering, preparating a photo exhibition to present their own photos, visiting Milan and the exhibition of Giacomelli, having fun together, cooking typical food to present their countries in the intercultural evenings, singing, dancing, communicating with hands, foots , in three languages…

It was an intense week, full of new people, excursions, discussions, meetings, action, program…  and a great and interesting one. A week, which had the opening of the photo exhibition as a successful final, of which all the organisators and participants can be really proud! I think for all the participants it was an experience for their lives, they won a lot and also for me it was a special week, quite different from the normal way of live. Being together all day with a lot of people, from the morning till the late evening, not being in office but working together with all these different people… It was another confirmation how much I enjoy this kind of work, international exchanges and have to say that I am happy that I had the possibility to take part in this project! J

During this days, also I learnt a lot, some polish words, that the pilgrims path leading to Sacro Monte is showing the mysteries of the rosary, that Giacomelli was a fantastic photographer, that burping is considered as an portuguese sport during dinner, that the Beatles are still alive, that for the polish and Portuguese I made part of the Italians, that within only a week you can lose your name and get it replaced by your second name, that I am able to make translations between two languages of which no one is my mother tongue, that a person is able to wear 100 hats in 10 minutes, that you can have a lot of fun in Varese, there is an alimentary bank in Varese, “minghia spacca”, “stai manza”, that a handful of youngsters is able to prepare a creative exhibition in only one morning, that people from different cultures are more similar than we think, that portuguese and polish food tastes great, that the cathedral of Milan was built in 500 years, that you can stay alive with only 3 hours of sleep, that “Hello Kitty” is the perfect character for the game “Who am I?”, that polish people walk faster than Portuguese, that appetitive in Milan “spacca”, the lyrics of “Bella ciao”, that this is the kind of work I really like, that the roman accent is divertentissimo, that Abba can be the perfect dancing music, got to know great people from Italy as well as from Poland and Portugal and and and so on and on and on…

Well, better than telling a lot is to invite you to the exhibition in Villa Recalcati and to see some images of this week on flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cesvov/)!

So, now I have to try to reenter the normal life, which really seems a bit strange, a normal “orario”, not all the time people around you, then all the sleep I have to recover… but as life never gets boring here, I am looking forward to the next weeks!

Lara

Oh my friends!

It’s very hard to come back to the everyday life after a such interesting week of cultural exchange, friendliness and entertainment… We had a lot of fun during these days and I hope from the bottom of my heart to stay in touch with all of you, maybe we can go on writing in this blog so the distance which divide us will seem to be less.
It could be nice…

Michela

Here they are!!!

So…. the Polish group arrived…. the Portuguese arrived… the youngsters of the Italian group moved from their house to De Filippi in Varese, where the exchange is taking place right in this moment. I say right in this moment because they are having tonight an intercultural night.. The polish youngsters cooked a wonderful meal for everybody today and everyone is still talking and laughing with the youngsters from all 3 countries. Yesterday, we also had the Italian evening. The youngsters cooked great lasagna and prepared a delicious tiramisu!

Except from the culinary and intercultural aspect, the exchange is also a very good experience so far. All youngsters have taken part in workshops to share their views about volunteering, to show the pictures they took during the preparation phase and to create their photo reportage out of all these pictures… The appointment for the opening of the exhibition of their work is made for Jan. 30th at 17.00 in Villa Recalcati, Varese.

Tomorrow, there will be time for a touristic visit of the Sacro Monte of Varese as well as a visit to a local association who helps people in need providing them with food all year around.

Soon you will find some pictures of the week….

Chee-Mei

varese

i think that living well varese means you can have many choises to be entertained,because it provides you with enjoiment occasions,but also many cultural activities like theatrical performances,lectures,courses,live music or sporting meetings…in winter you can go to theatre,in pubs with friends,at the cinema,rent a film or face cold staying out =) in summer you can enjoy places at the lake,lay in the park sunbathing,or have a walk on Sacro monte…i especially like in feast days going round stalls in the centre looking for something particular..varese is a place with always something going on and in the morning always full of students because of the several schools here.as to concern the students,there are places to study like library or studing rooms and especially many bookshops at least four or five only in the centre!!!really don’t know what to say more at the moment,but if you have questions you can us everything!! =) irene

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The Polha Experience

On 9th December we went to the ice-stadium to see the practice of sledge-hockey of the guys from Polha. Polha is an association which deals with sports for handicapped people. We really appreciated the experience, which was completely new for us both for the kind of sport and for the work done by the volounteers.

At the beginning we were a little bit embarassed in taking photos of handicapped people while they were getting ready for the practice. After this initial embarassment we succeeded in being in tune with them and in completing the reportage. The volounteers were very kind all the time and they explained us all about their work and the reality of Polha.

Finally we went home, a bit cooled but really satisfied!

Denis, Jacopo, Mara, Francesco

Only positive feelings :)

Hello from Poland!

I’d like to share some reflexions after the APV that took place last weekend.

It was a good opportunity to meet and get to know each other. We had a chance to define aims and objectives of the project better as well as to plan our activities and define roles of leaders and participants. Firstly we were working on preparation of the schedule and activities. Afterwards we exchanged details about our groups of young people.

Thanks to our hosts Chee-Mei and Massimo we could visit some interesting places in Varese. Thank you!

Now I have even more positive feelings about the project. It’s going to be a great exchange! Varese is such a beautiful town!

See you All in January!

Joanna

Advance Planning Visit

From December 19th to 21st, the advance planning visit took place in Varese, Italy. The leaders of the project from Portugal (Abraham), Poland (Joanna) and Italy (Massimo and Chee-Mei) got together in order to better define the programme of the exchange week, see the place where the participants will be hosted and where the activities will take place and to define common rules for the exchange week. Elisabete, one of the Portuguese participant also took part in the visit. Furthermore, everyone got to discover the blog and see how to put a post, a picture, a comment. So we’re waiting for some news from Portugal and Poland! Maybe Joanna, Abraham and Elisabete can tell us what their first impressions of Varese were……

Take a look at our work meeting on Flickr!

A snap-shot of Action 1.1

“One, two, tree, say cheese” – would be much too easy. “ISO 400, no flash, look for a detail, a particular moment, then the most important thing: the light…” were the instructions you could hear last Saturday during the second preparation meeting of the Italian-Portuguese-Polish youth exchange of the Youth-in-action programme.

The preparation phase together with the youngsters from the liceo classico “Cairoli” (humanistic high-school) is going on very well, already during the first meeting, it was obvious that this group of seven teenagers is highly motivated, creative and engaged. Thus the brain-storming and following discussion about voluntary services was quite lively and productive. Does the “typical” voluntary exist? Is it “not cool” to do a voluntary service? Is a voluntary engagement born of a lack, a need in yourself? Are voluntary services egoistic or altruistic? To this questions and many others the group turned their attention and made the first meeting a good pickup for an interesting project.

With the same enthusiasm they participated at the second meeting, this time together with a professional photographer, who showed them the basically tips and tricks how to make a photographical reportage. This week, the youngsters will prove what they learnt in two local organizations: Polha (a sportive organization for handicapped people) where they will follow a sledge-hockey training and the collegiate church of Castiglione Olona with famous frescos of Masolino to follow one guided tour, given by voluntaries.

Out of the shots they will make there, will be created during the exchange two photographical reportages which will be presented at a photography exhibition, initiating the 30.January. And of course you will see all the pictures here!

The teenagers of the two partners in Poland and Portugal are following a similar preparation phase in order to present also their photos all about voluntary services at the exhibition.

So let’s be curious to see the results of the field excursions – “and one, two, tree, say: cheese!”

Lara

Preparing the exchange…

The preparation meetings with the italian group of youngsters started a few weeks ago.. During the first meeting, the youngsters discussed about volunteering, stereotypes about volunteering, reasons why people volunteer and how they can keep their motivation through their volunteering experience.. For the second meeting, Michela Taeggi, a professional photographer, came to give some practical advice about photography to the youngsters. Mostly, the youngsters got some advice about how to really be in contact with the people they will take pictures of, how to respect their activity while photographing them, etc.

Here is a selection of some pictures taken during these two meetings. To see all of them, take a look in our Flickr album!

Hi from Italy!!

Let us show our first group photo of the Italian youngsters! They are from the top left: Francesco, Jacopo, Mara, Irene, Martina, Denis and Michela.

Look at the detailed presentation of each one of them on the participants’ page!