Throughout the summer Associazione InformaGiovani together with its partner “Casa S.Giacomo & Parco S.Anna, Il Circo Pace e Bene, and Sikanamente” welcomed in Italy 45 young people from several nationalities (Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Romania, Germany, Greece, Poland, Italy, Somalia, Gambia, Nigeria, Belarus, Madagascar…) in the frame of the ESC Volunteering Team “So Far So Close”.
Each group was involved in helping the local community to renovate the urban space all around the villages where they have been host for two weeks. They all have a very specific experience and we asked them to leave a short message about the experience to be addressed to their peers.
“working in the field is really hard and that there are people who work in this 12h a day and they still are
grateful for having a job”
“I’m really lucky because being really close to my family is something that not everybody has”
“learning about refugees experience and thinking about this problem and its importance. I’ve completely
changed my point of view on this topic”
“The strong feeling of being part of something bigger, of knowing that the world is so much more than what
I thought it was. It is beautiful, intense, wild and fragile. And I love it”
“This experience is the example of people’s power to change their environment and gives me the strengthen
to continue with the communitarian projects back to my town”
“I arrived in an expected place and those kind of surprise are usually the best ones. I found beautiful sunsets, a charming town and a different, and at the same time, similar way of life I can find in my own town”
They also had the chance to appreciate the value of living in rural area, the benefit for our health coming from cleaner air, less stress and more relaxed life, adaptation to nature life cycle and the feeling of finding yourself being immersed in the slow rhythm of nature life cycle. They broaden awareness of healthier nutrition enjoying organic food and appreciating less consumption of junky food.
Lots of discovering that they haven’t expected before starting the experience…Well, what to add more???
Search more opportunity within Erasmus+ https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmusplus/opportunities/young-people_en and ESC https://europa.eu/youth/home_en
