They Do Honour Their Tradition Here!

Hi everyone!

My name is Julia, I am 23 and I come from Odessa, a beautiful Ukrainian city located on the coast of the Black Sea. I am the fourth volunteer here, “last but not least!” as Antonio said!

I will not talk about “outside and inside circles” as Nejdet did in his post, I really cannot find them!

I am very glad to be an EVS volunteer of APS Mondo Nuovo in Lucera and to be a part of the project “A Solidarity Shelter”. 

This is a great opportunity  for me to help people and to be useful in this life. We work with immigrants and refugees, help at the Intercultural Center. And this work is organized in such a way, that we are always in touch with people involved in this project. But we do not work in Lucera all the time! Sometimes we visit other cities which are connected with the work of our project. The  APS Mondo Nuovo staff is very friendly and always ready to help and Antonio is the best mentor in the world! I am very glad to be with them all. We also attend dancing classes. I couldn’t imagine that I would also have learned how to dance different  traditional dances, starting from Greek and Albanian and ending with waltz!

In Ukraine peole talk a lot about Italian lifestyle, food and traditions. But I did not expect that I would fall in love with this wonderfull nature and culture! It is like a dream to look at the hills and at the flat lands covered with haze! Even the air has its own smell! And this tradition to have a cup of coffee early in the morning at the café. I love the smell of Lucera in the morning... the aroma of freshly baked  bread, morning dew, aromatic coffee is in the air! Lucera is worth seeing: a traditional small Italian city, with beautifull narrow streets, old buildings, balconies decorated with flowers and great history! An atmosphere of friendship and happiness reigns here.

People are always friendly, they are not in a hurry, they do honour their traditions!

I wish to become a part of this magic world during these six months!

Good luck and my best wishes!

Julia Drogomoshchenko 

Volontaria - Servizio Volontariato Europeo

Progetto "A Solidarity Shelter"

Anche tu puoi farne parte!

Ciao, ragazzi! Mi chiamo Anna. 

Vengo da Yekaterinburg, Russia. Sono arrivata qui a Lucera cinque giorni fa e mi sta piacendo molto! Potrebbe sembrare strano ma mi sento a casa in questa piccola e accogliente città. Davvero non posso nascondere il mio sorriso quando cammino lungo le strade di Lucera, quando parlo con la gente amichevole e cordiale.

Ma per quale motivo sono venuta in Italia? Sono una Volontaria Europea (Servizio Volontariato Europeo - SVE) dell’APS Mondo Nuovo. Credo di essere fortunata! Ho avuto l’opportunità di andare all’estero, vivere in Italia per sei mesi, fare volontariato, nuove amicizie e scoprire un mondo nuovo.  Siamo all’inizio del nostro progetto SVE e sono sicura che sarà un’esperienza indimenticabile per noi tutti. Siamo in quattro, siamo giovani, coraggiosi, prontissimi ad agire e spero che anche tu possa farne parte un giorno!

Perché (ebbene si!) anche tu hai la possibilità di fare il tuo servizio volontario. è un’opportunità per tutti i giovani che vivono in Europa (e non solo). Se credi che di essere pronto per vivere quest’esperienza, se vuoi conoscere meglio il servizio volontario europeo, non avere dubbi! Passa a trovarci a Mondo Nuovo o contattaci. Ti aspettiamo!

Hi, guys! My name is Anna. I come from Yekaterinburg, Russia. Five days ago I arrived in Lucera and I’ve been really enjoying myself since. It may seem strange but I feel like home in this small cozy town. I can’t hide my happy smile when I walk the streets of Lucera and talk to its friendly and welcoming people.

But what did I come to Italy for? The reason why I am here is that currently I am working as an EVS volunteer (European Voluntary Service) for APS Mondo Nuovo. I believe I was really lucky to get such a chance of going abroad, living in Italy for 6 months, doing social work, making new friends and discovering a new reality. It’s only the beginning of our project, but I’m sure this will be an unforgettable experience for all of us. We are four volunteers, young, brave, ready to act and we hope you’ll join us some day.

Because (and I want you to know thisJ) you also have an opportunity to do your EVS service. This possibility’s offered by the European Commission to young people living in Europe (and not only). If you feel such experience might be interesting to you, if you want to learn more about volunteering and European Voluntary Service, do not hesitate, come directly to Mondo Nuovo office or contact us. You are always welcome!

di Anna Tokareva

Volontaria - Servizio Volontariato Europeo

Progetto "A Solidarity Shelter"

First Steps in Lucera...

Hello everyone!

         I am Nejdet, one of the four EVS volunteers of  “APS Mondo Nuovo” for “A Solidarity Shelter” project. Four main tasks we as volunteers have here are: work with immigrants and refugees, work in  the intercultural center, “Youth in Action” programme activities and we also attend an Italian language course.

         I arrived in Lucera fourteen days ago.  Fourteen days are not enough to get a whole picture of the city but because Lucera is a small town, I think I can scratch a few lines about the place. First, there is not much information and photos  about Lucera on websites compared to other cities. I had no idea about where Lucera is, and what the relationship between Foggia and Lucera is, unfortunately websites did not satisfy me. One month ago I thought that Lucera is just a village, no cars, no high apartment buildings, no trains, no computers, no internet connection. İ was mistaken. Let me share with you my first impressions about Lucera. It is an interesting small town with a non-round circle road which divides the city in two parts: the old and the new. The New city is out of circle. It has new apartments and wide roads in comparison to the inside of the circle.

        The inside circle is quite different. It’s like a different reality, with narrow stone roads, old but still beautiful buildings, churches and magnificent cathedral. Walking the roads of the in-circle feels like travel through the centuries. And I have that travel everyday.

        We attended a three-days-per-week Italian language course. I think Antonio is a very good, cheerful and hardworking mentor and the only man who can revive his dying volunteers with an electroshock! And I want to thank him for welcoming us and helping and facilitating the process. We, the volunteers and the immigrants, attend the lessons together so we can directly communicate with them. It is one of the most important things for the success of  our project.

        I also had a chance to meet people who work in other projects of APS Mondo Nuovo. We’ve already made friends with local volunteers of Lucera who come from 4 different countries. And I am sure we will meet a lot of people of Lucera during the period.

        Actually, all that I’ve said are just some impressions that I got. The most important point for me now is to be a volunteer. I’ve got a chance to attend a lot of training courses, gain new skills, can travel everywhere, I can meet a lot of friends, I can improve my foreign language while being a volunteer. And EVS gives the opportunity to do all these things at the same time! EVS is the most entertaining, easiest, and the most logical way to do what I’ve mentioned above.

         There are a lot of organisations hosting projects like ours, and each has its own process of selection of volunteers. Sometimes it takes a long time. But it’s worth trying to have this experience, to meet new people, to live in a nother country. I want to thank  “Mondo Nuovo” for preparing this project, thank the Italian National Agency for approving the project, thank Francesco Ieluzzi for coordinating it and, of course, thank Antonio Salvati again!

Ciao a tutti!!!

di Nejdet TARHAN

Volontario SVE progetto "A Solidarity Shelter"

Il confronto, la conoscenza e la condivisione

Ciao amici di Mondo Nuovo!

Sono Fabrizio uno studente di 22 anni  e a fine Settembre ho partecipato al progetto “ Documenting words” con altri 4 ragazzi italiani : Marlena, Antonio,  Michele e Samanta. Il progetto, svoltosi a Lisbona, ha previsto la realizzazione di un documentario che ha come tema un’indagine sulle maggiori influenze della lingua sulla cultura e viceversa.    

Allo scambio hanno partecipato anche Grecia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovenia e Portogallo ed a rappresentarli c’erano cinque ragazzi per ogni nazione. Per la realizzazione siamo stati divisi in gruppi con mansioni diverse nei quali abbiamo cooperato  e sviluppato in alcuni casi le idee dei singoli. Molti sono stati i momenti di confronto culturale, di conoscenza reciproca e di condivisione di esperienze. La realizzazione del documentario ha inoltre dato spazio ad attività quali serate multiculturali, giochi, cineforum ecc.   

Decisamente interessante è stato a mio parere lo spunto cinematografico da cui ha preso forma il progetto, che ha in seguito accompagnato la maggior parte delle attività. Il tutto inoltre si è svolto nella stimolante cornice di Lisbona, una città giovane ed ispirante che ha contribuito a rendere questo scambio veramente una bella esperienza. 

di Fabrizio Mormando

Progetto "Documenting Words", Lisbona Settembre 2011