Throughout the busy run-up to Christmas, Juventude Cruz
Vermelha – Delegação de Braga once again embarked on one of its biggest
annual actions, Venha Embrulhar uma Causa! This year led by the first-rate efforts
of Rita Vaz, this campaign was an important part of raising funds that will
allow the vital work undertaken at JCV to continue into the future.
The concept was simple; members of the public were able to
bring their gifts to us and we wrapped them all ready to be given for
Christmas! Continente supplied all the materials required such as wrapping
paper whilst JCV provided the motivated and enthusiastic workforce. Whilst we
were like busy bees wrapping away, we also explained to the public why we were
undertaking the action and if they chose to do so, they were able to make a
small donation, for which we are grateful, no matter how big or small the sum.
Therefore, every day from the 25th November right
up until Christmas Eve, from half past eight in the morning until half past eleven
at night, you would have been able to find a group of volunteers located
outside the Continente supermarkets at Nova Arcada and The Minho Center
respectively, eagerly waiting to wrap presents.
Requiring a huge effort from so many people, it brought
volunteers together from all different areas of Juventude as well as introducing
new people to our work. In total, nearly
500 fantastic volunteers came together to help fill approximately 1500 shifts. Both
of the wrapping stations were in operation for a total of 465 hours each over
the Christmas period! As such, it led to paths crossing that had not before,
the action granting myself and others the opportunity to meet new people and
learn more about what it is they do, whether they were a veteran or completely
new volunteer.
An experience that can certainly have been described as
stressful at times, you certainly felt the pressure of wrapping other peoples’
gifts for them. As a result, it was always key to remind yourself that you were
not expected to be an expert in the art of gift wrapping - though it would have
made things a lot easier - but rather that you were volunteering for a good
cause and can only give it your best.
As well as allowing me to meet new people, Venha Embrulhar
uma Causa was the perfect environment for me to practice my Portuguese,
something that requires constant work as I look to master the language. Often
the client began talking to me in Portuguese at 100kmh but once I explained
that it is not my first language they slowed their speech for me. There were
also several cases where people took the opportunity to switch to English;
everyone often seems keen to practice themselves and I didn’t want to begrudge
them the opportunity, even though I was keen to practice my Portuguese. However,
I definitely think the experience benefited my Portuguese; at the very least I
am now able to say ‘vermelho ou amarelho
papel?’ like I have been saying it my entire life.
Finally the 24th December arrived and with it
came down the curtains on another year of Christmas wrapping. In order to
celebrate the efforts of everyone’s hard work a lavish evening was arranged at
Lustre in the centre of Braga on 7th January. There, all those who
had volunteered were able to come together to enjoy each other’s company, eat
some marvellous food, as well as have a bit of a boogie. However, before the dancing
could commence, some important announcements were made! Firstly to thank all
who had taken part in the campaign, followed by the awarding of prizes to the
three volunteers who had completed the most hours of wrapping. First prize was
brunch for two but despite my best efforts I couldn’t convince the winner to
take me! Then, finally, it was time to declare just how much had been raised. In total, Venha Embrulhar uma Causa raised
a total of 9,258.81€ in 2016! This was an extraordinary success, with
the generosity of the public resulting in a final total with an increase of
over 2500€ on the previous year.
Finally, already mentioned in the opening, a big shout must
also go out to Rita, who was responsible for organising the whole event this
year. Rita worked tirelessly to make sure everything ran smoothly during the
campaign and spent what must have been a considerable amount of time on the phone
asking people when they were available to help; I wouldn’t like to see the
phone bill for December! I believe, if it was not for Rita’s efforts, it is
feasible to think that Venha Embrulhar uma Causa 2016 would not have been
anywhere near as successful as it turned out to be.
In the midst of being very busy with lots
of different interesting and exciting things, it has unfortunately been a while
since I have been able to update the Red Cross Blog. Deni, Carlotta, Alifya,
and I have all been keeping ourselves very occupied, so I thought a good way to
get things up and running again would be to provide you all with a quick
insight of what it actually is we have all been doing.
So in no particular order, Alifya, like all
of us, has been getting involved in lots of different things. One of those has
been to take and edit the photos for a new campaign Juventude Cruz Vermelha de Braga has just launched entitled, ‘E Quê?!’ I am
planning on writing a more detailed article about this in the near future but
in a nutshell, this project is a series of photos that will be released through
social media to show how the use of stereotypes is erroneous and misleading. As
well as this, Alifya is also in the process of completing an application to the
European Commission who have called for creative proposals that challenge
xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Islamism, and other forms of phobia related to
race. Alifya, who has named her project ‘Through my Eyes’, has come up with a
really intelligent idea to utilize the new technology of virtual reality. The
idea is for each individual to undergo a virtual reality experience, where they
will step into the shoes of refugees and dedicate three minutes of their lives
to see through the eyes of a displaced person. On top of all this, Alifya has
also recently begun interviewing Romani from the different Roma communities
across the North of Portugal. Alifya’s intention is to reproduce these
interviews in a magazine which will also include photos and a brief insight to
each of the Roma communities in the north of Portugal.
E Quê? Campaign
Now we turn to Deni who is also working
with Alifya to complete the project proposal ‘Through my Eyes’ for the European
Commission. As well as this Deni’s main focus has been on the Roma community.
Deni’s intention is to present various aspects of Romani life such as their
culture, daily life and the traditions of the various communities located
around the North of Portugal. This will be carried out through the creation of
an online platform where Deni hopes to present all these different aspects
through various formats such as interviews, photos and videos so that people
will be able to begin to develop a deeper understanding of Roma life and help
to remove some of the stigmas and stereotypes levelled against them.
A group of Romani being interviewed by Deni and Alifya
Next we have Carlotta who has been doing
what she does best and been putting her creative skills to good use. Carlotta
spent a lot of time creating Cadernetas
for the children at Geração Tecla, which included some beautiful watercolour paintings. The purpose
of these booklets, as Carlotta has described, is to record the attendance of
the children at school as well as recording their good behavior, if they learn
anything new and if they make new friends; a really useful tool to help support
each individual’s learning process. As well as this, Carlotta has had a couple
of fun little things recently, performing at the Red Cross Dinner at the centre
in Prado as well as taking charge
of putting up the Christmas decorations in the various buildings within which
we work. Despite her best efforts and enthusiasm, the kids at Geração Tecla unfortunately rebuffed all her invitations to assist in the
decorating. Another activity that Carlotta has also just completed, is to paint
a giant world map on the wall at Geração Tecla. Carlotta’s hope is to give the kids a better idea of where things
are in the world, and she has already told me she has had some interesting
responses from some of them regarding Portugal’s geographical location so it
looks like it will have the desired effect.
The world as painted by Carlotta
Last but not least, it is on to yours
truly! Firstly, I spent a lot of time on our application to host a youth
exchange entitled, ‘What does it mean to be European?’ A number of us
collaborated on this project, including Alifya, Deni, Cintia and some local
volunteers for what was a very comprehensive process that included
communication with potential partners from across Europe and the completion of
a detailed application form. I am delighted to say we have received preliminary
approval and we await official confirmation. I also spent some time helping to edit a video for the project +Atitude. This video provided a background of the project, what it
hopes to achieve as well as some of the volunteers explaining the activities
they had participated in, and their motivations for volunteering. We produced
this video in order to enter a competition for funding of which we were one of
the winners, subsequently receiving a prize of €5000. The main focus of my work the last few weeks has been my
desire to develop a project to deliver in schools regarding mental
health. My intention was to educate students further about mental health and it's importance whilst eradicating some of the stigmas surrounding the
topic. Whilst I was very keen to develop this and believe it an extremely
important topic, I have had the difficulty of realising that at this stage it
is probably not the most practical path for me to pursue. It has been frustrating for me to come towards this decision as it was something I was
very enthusiastic about, but a small consolation was the point made to me that
it is also a valuable skill to have to realise when it is and isn’t best to
pursue something. However I have not yet made a final decision and I will spend
some time over my time away for Christmas pondering the issue. Additionally, the
International Day of Human Rights is held annually 10th December, and
following some conversations with Luis I produced a video utilising the concept
of the mannequin challenge to portray how hate speech is an attack on an
individual’s human rights. We then sent this to the No Hate Speech Movement who
then shared it as part of their actions for the International Day of Human Rights.
As well as all our own individual work, we
have all been continuing to help out at Ponto
Vermelho on a regular basis. On top of our regular turns in the shop, three
of us have helped with a couple of extra activities. The first was BUM – I will admit I am not too sure
what that stands for – where we had a little market stall in the city centre. I have been reliably
informed by Inês that this was a
success and we sold a decent amount. Additionally, we also had a
small stall in the Complexo Residencial
de Santa Tecla for one week where we especially sold a lot of wool hats and scarves. With regards to this action, the key aspect was to raise the awareness of Ponto among the students. As the residence and the shop are on the same road the hope
is that it will increase the number of residents who visit, may lead to more
donations or even inspire one or two of them to join the team as a volunteer!
Another key aspect of all our schedules has
been our return to the classroom for Portuguese; Alifya is studying Level A2
whilst the rest of are working towards B1. Alifya has described the experience
as, ‘Bee’s buzzing in my head’ which certainly seems like a pretty apt
description to me. It has certainly been a challenge learning the language at a
more advanced level, and poor Deni and Carlotta do often find themselves having
to deal with my high stress levels in class, but the difficulties I experienced
were enjoyable to overcome. I’m pleased to say I’ve learnt so much now I can
just about talk in the past, present and future tenses. Having attended class
twice a week since the beginning of October we have now completed our courses and
we are eagerly waiting to receive our exam results; we are all hoping to have
achieved highly.
Finally, another action that we have all
been getting involved in has been ‘Venha
Embrulhar uma Causa!’ Every day since the 25th November a group
of volunteers have been outside the Continentes at Nova Arcada and The Minho
Center respectively, wrapping presents in the build-up to Christmas. This is
one of JCV’s biggest fundraising efforts, with members of the public able to
give donations in return for our wrapping services if they so choose. All of us
have been involved with this, taking turns to try our hand at some wrapping and
whilst at times it can be somewhat stressful, what with the pressure of
wrapping other peoples’ gifts for them, it has also been enjoyable. As well as
giving us a chance to practice our Portuguese, it has also been an opportunity
for us to meet other volunteers from across JCV who we had not previously
encountered.
So there you have it! As I am sure you will
agree, we all seem to be following interesting paths and are all achieving and
learning some fantastic things. Soon I hope to add some more articles about the campaigns Juventude Cruz Vermelha
has been undertaking recently as well as more information about EVS as a whole and
its benefits. I hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about what it is that each
of us EVS volunteers are currently up to and that you like what it is that we
are doing!
For what turned out to be a very memorable weekend, Casa de
Juventude da Amarante hosted over 50 EVS volunteers, myself, Carlotta and
Alifya included, from across Portugal at their organisation in order to
celebrate the 20 year anniversary of European Voluntary Service. Concurrently
the municipality of Amarante had organised Há Fest in the city, a festival
targeted at the young people in the city, meaning there was plenty of events
going on throughout our visit.
The first day we went to a small village called Vila Meã,
where we were taken to see a few historical sites, before heading to the river
running through the village. There, we experienced our first event of Há Fest,
with a surprisingly large set-up for such a small place. A large sound system
had been set up and it was definitely power hungry as the electricity cut out
on more than one occasion! It was a great environment for us all to start
getting to know each other and everyone enjoyed taking a swim in the river. In
a rather odd moment that I still don’t understand a few people started
releasing some fish into the river and it left a few of us perplexed as to why.
The circus equipment had also been brought along so everyone tried their hand
at different things; I tried my hand at juggling with clubs but it is a difficult
thing to master so I will have to stick with using balls for now.
Vila Meã
The next day really commanded a lot of energy as we were due
to make the 10km journey from Vila Meã back to Amarante on foot. Not a large
distance to cover at all but certainly tiring, especially considering it was
the hottest day here in Portugal so far. I was extremely grateful for a cold
shower upon arriving in Amarante but the walk was pleasant. In the afternoon
there was a circus workshop for those who wished to attend but a lot of us took
the opportunity to rest after the walk.
En route to Amarante
A sweaty group photo upon arrival in Amarante!
As well as having all of the EVS volunteers at Casa de
Juventude, they also had about 30 young people participating in a youth
exchange at the same time. That evening those on the exchange all produced a
buffet of food from their home countries meaning I got to experience some traditional
cuisine from Georgia, Armenia, Macedonia, Slovenia and of course Portugal as
well. It was all very delicious and certainly added to the experience; I
definitely did not ever expect to be eating Macedonian food whilst living in
Portugal!
A very international meal
After dinner we had another Há Fest event, this time on the
bridge in the middle of the city, where a couple of sound systems had been set-up;
I keep thinking there can’t be that many different ways I will find myself listening
to bands and DJs but I continue to be surprised. It was certainly a great way
to end the day, enjoying a few beers and the atmosphere, before trekking back
to our campsite for the weekend.
The Saturday brought another day of varying activities,
surprisingly starting with a trip to the golf course. There we got to have a go
on the driving range and try our hand at a bit of putting. I’ve never been
particularly good whenever I’ve tried golf in the past but I surprised myself
actually hitting quite a few decent balls on the driving range. However I do
know now I have a habit of hooking the ball right so better get myself a coach
and sort that out. Whilst I certainly wasn’t expecting to play golf, as EVS
volunteers we do get to experience such a wide variety of different things. At
its core this stems from living and volunteering in a different country and
this is one of the reasons why EVS is such a valuable and worthwhile journey.
Everyone in golfing action
The afternoon started out with a talk from Miguel, one of
the first ever EVS volunteers, about the work and values of Casa da Juventude.
It was interesting to hear about all the interesting things they have done
there, including all the different European projects as well as the opening of
the first Fairtrade shop in Portugal. Following on from this, we relocated to
the forest for a seminar of sorts with a member of the municipality and a
representative from the national agency. It was good to hear just how highly
they regard young people and how important they feel projects like EVS are. In the evening there was a performance by Dengaz,
a well-known artist here in Portugal, but for a lot of us it wasn’t our
favourite music so we found ourselves a pool bar and chilled there for the rest
of the night.
EVS volunteers in abundance!
Sunday, the final day of the camp, was no let up on the
previous few days, with another early start. We spent the day at Fisgas de
Ermelo in the Parque Natural do Alvão, a beautiful place with the views
extending for miles. In the morning we hiked up to the most scenic lagoons I
have ever seen and of course this meant more swimming. The water was absolutely
gorgeous and we were able to jump from the waterfall into the lagoon below.
Afterwards we hiked back to the coaches and were driven to the site for lunch,
another BBQ Portuguese style.
Fisgas de Ermalo
Following this was the perfect opportunity for a siesta
before the Volta a Portugal passed by, the equivalent here to the Tour de
France. The two breakaway riders came hurtling round the bend but unfortunately
only one continued his race. The rider failed to slow down enough and went
flying into a rock wall, damaging his arm badly enough to be forced to retire.
In the evening it was time to do some racing of our own, participating in a 5km
night race to round off the camp. Whilst a few of us ran, and I actually
surprised myself in how well I completed the 5km, the majority walked and it
was a good experience to see so much of the city out to participate.
Volta a Portugal
EVS being repped at Amarante Night Run!
It really was a great experience meeting so many people
undergoing their own EVS journeys and getting to be a small part of them; I
hope I made a positive contribution. Hearing all their stories and about the
work they do makes you realise we are all doing something amazing and how fortunate
we are to be doing so. EVS has given me so many opportunities to do such
amazing things and meet such incredible people and this was one of those occasions,
of which there have already been many and I hope there are many more to come.
