Rassegna Stampa: dalla Newsletter del Ce.Se.Vo.Ca

Lo scorso 19 gennaio, quattro giovani in Servizio Volontario Europeo presso l'associazione di promozione sociale Mondo Nuovo di Lucera, hanno visitato il Ce.Se.Vo.Ca., dove si sono confrontati con gli operatori e i giovani attualmente in servizio civile presso il Centro Servizi per il Volontariato di Capitanata.
Nel corso dell'incontro i volontari europei Julia (Ucraina), Anna (Russia), Zoltan (Ungheria) e Nejdet (Turchia) hanno raccontato la propria esperienza e si sono confrontati con Annibale Morsillo, consulente del Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. per lo SVE e Antonio Salvati, coordinatore del Programma "Youth in Action" per Mondo Nuovo, sulle possibili azioni da attivare per migliorare l'attuazione del Programma "Gioventù in Azione" in provincia di Foggia e su come incoraggiare i giovani a diventare volontari.
Nell'ambito del progetto SVE "A Solidarity Shelter" di Mondo Nuovo, cofinanziato dal Programma "Gioventù in Azione" tramite l'Agenzia Nazionale per i Giovani, i giovani volontari europei, che saranno a Lucera fino ad aprile 2012, supportano lo staff dell'associazione nelle attività ordinarie con i rifugiati e i richiedenti asilo, realizzano progetti interculturali e collaborano alle attività didattiche del Centro Interculturale. >> Continua

Leggi l'articolo completo sul sito del Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. 

seminario internazionale sulla formazione pre-partenza per volontari SVE

Il seminario internazionale sulla formazione pre-partenza per volontari SVE di Terracina (16-18 gennaio 2011), promosso dall’Agenzia Nazionale per i Giovani, ha visto la partecipazione di 24 organizzazioni italiane e di rappresentanti dell’agenzia nazionale francese e turca.
Le organizzazioni provenienti da tutta Italia che hanno preso parte alle sessioni di lavoro e ai vari workshop, tra cui l’APS Mondo Nuovo, sono accreditate nell’ambito del Servizio Volontario Europeo come enti di invio, accoglienza e/o coordinamento.
Il seminario ha posto l’accento sulle metodologie, gli strumenti e gli standard di qualità nella formazione pre-partenza dei volontari SVE permettendo da un lato un’interazione diretta tra i formatori, gli esperti delle agenzie nazionali e gli operatori degli enti coinvolti, dall’altro uno scambio di buone prassi tra le stesse organizzazioni partecipanti. AS

 Un ringraziamento in particolare a Willy Fernandez

dell'Archeoclub d’Italia di Campobello di Licata per la foto.

 

An Exciting Meeting With The Volunteers and Staff of the MAT Museum in San Severo

January 25th our "Fantastic Four" and Antonio (our mentor) took an amazing trip to San Severo. The visit was quite serious but at the same time entertaining. We had a meeting in the Museum of Alto Tavoliere (MAT). It was a really great experience for both sides I’m sure.
Just on our arrival we were heartily welcomed by the staff and the volunteers doing their National Civil Service in the museum. Right after the introduction we spoke about our volunteering experience, presented our project, told about the possibilities offered by the Youth in Action Programme in general and European Voluntary Service in particular. I was curious to learn the stories of ex-volunteers who eventually decided to stay and continue their work in the museum as trainees. Well, it means volunteering can be as well a good way to define your professional future.
Once we shared our impressions and ideas about volunteering it was time to learn about the history of Daunia, the territory we are living in! 

Together with the guys we had an exciting excursion and took a long trip through the centuries, learned about the antique settlements and the lifestyle of the people who used to live in Alto Tavoliere. We ended up visiting the exhibition of Modern Arts as MAT regularly hosts such contemporary events.
The thing that makes MAT a peculiar place is that the team is made up of young people full of enthusiasm and energy, inspired and ready to carry out their ideas. They strive to make the Past more fascinating for the present day young generation. Thus apart from the usual museum guided tours they invite children to different theoretical and practical workshops where they can not only learn the history but reconstruct an ancient Roman road or make a clay amphora with their own hands, for example. I personally was really excited to hear that and most probably very soon I’ll come back to San Severo to join one of the MAT workshops!

Anna, EVS volunteer “A Solidarity Shelter”


The visit to M.A.T. was a very good experience for me. I think I could get impressions how it works the system of the National Civil Service in Italy. Before I had information about it but I really did not understand what it really is. Now this information arrived in its place and I can attach this to the real meanings.
The volunteers and of course the workers were very nice, friendly and enthusiastic too with very good competences and up-to-date knowledge of their subjects. I am very happy because I had a possibility to meet with them and I hope we will meet again and maybe we will work together.  
Special thanks to whom it may concern for organizing  this event, The MAT Museum, The Province of Foggia EVS/SCN dpt., The APS Mondo Nuovo, the Italian National Agency for co-financing "A Solidarity Shelter" EVS Project , our mentor Antonio Salvati and, of course, the workers and all the volunteers of the museum!

Zoltan, EVS volunteer “A Solidarity Shelter”

It was a great surprise to know that it is not boring in the museum. This is something like a tradition for my country that only pensioners work in museums, and the atmosphere there is sleepy and usually people are not interested. All the Museo dell’Alto Tavoliere staff are young and active people and they involve local volunteers in their work. It helps to bring new ideas, to refresh the atmosphere and make more people interested. It was the first time in my life I felt so excited in the museum! Considered expositions and stories about all the things, history and great culture are represented in such a way, that makes you feel a part of it and you want to return again.
 Thank you very much for your work! Thanks to you I know what the museum should be now!

Julia, EVS volunteer “A Solidarity Shelter”

As we told before, the main aim of all meetings which we are attending nowadays is to support volunteering activities and to encourage young people to be volunteers. To tell the truth Museo dell’Alto Tavoliere was a perfect foundation to make our aim real.
          In my humble opinion, Museo dell’Alto Tavoliere is a big family which includes both regular workers and volunteers, young people and younger people. They work in a harmony and they have a very logical and working job-sharing and very enthusiastic atmosphere.
         In general, museums bring “old time” to your mind. Honestly, it happened to me too when I heard we would go to museum. But when I walked in the museum and saw all the staff, I noticed I had had a mistake. Because there were not just relics, there were also really beautiful pieces of modern painting and sculpture. The harmony of old and new is like the harmony of young and younger.
        And in that atmosphere we talked about volunteering, about our countries, our experience, to be volunteers in Italy, activities of the museum’s staff, activities of volunteers of the museum.
        I wish to thank  Museo dell’Alto Tavoliere and workers and volunteers, for their great hospitality, for their good company, for excursion and for a good day.

Nejdet, EVS volunteer “A Solidarity Shelter”

A Special Day in Lucera: The "Raccolta Alimentare"

November 26th 2011 saw a usual for Italy, but extraordinary for me, National Food Collection Day.  The Raccolta Alimantare (as it’s called here) is a social campaign which takes place once a year all over the country. The main aim is to collect foodstuffs with long shelf-life (like pasta, rice, oil, sugar, flour, canned fish etc.) for Banca Alimentare. Later all these products are distributed among the poor and the people in difficulties via Social Protection bodies.
We as volunteers of APS Mondo Nuovo also took part in this campaign. The four of us and local volunteers (by the way, the youngest was about 2 years old :) arrived at one of the supermarkets of Lucera and invited the customers to take part and give a helping hand to those in need.  I’ll be honest to say that in the beginning I was quite skeptical about the whole thing. But the reality turned out to be surprisingly different from what I’d expected. I couldn’t even imagine that so many people would be willing to participate! What’s more important they did it with all their heart, saying warm words and wishing all the best to us and to those people who were meant to receive these little gifts. When we saw that the amount of boxes was increasing with every hour we came to realize that this is the way to make big things happen. Gradually, step by step, with everyone doing his share of the work and making his little contribution you succeed to brighten the life of other people. And it’s only one little example. One little but very important experience that I had. And I’m not going to stop!

Anna

"A Solidarity Shelter" Volunteer

A Pronvice in Action: From Local Networking and Co-operation to the EVS promotion in the Province of Foggia

On Thursday 19 January, The EVS Volunteers of the Mondo Nuovo Project "A Solidarity Shelter", promoted by the Italian National Agency in the framework of the Youth in Action Programme, meet the Centro Servizi Volontariato di Capitanata (Ce.Se.Vo.Ca) under the aegis of the Province of Foggia, departement for the European Voluntary Service, to discuss about the promotion of EVS at a local level and the involvement of local organisations in the YiA Programme.

Here is their account of the day:

 A Special Thank to the cooperation between the Province of Foggia, APS Mondo Nuovo and Ce.Se.Vo.Ca for making this meeting possible. Above, some pictures of the meeting at the Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. (Foggia, Italy)

“On January 19th me, my collegues and our mentor (Antonio Salvati) went to Foggia to visit the Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. which is a social organisation promoting voluntary activities and helping social organisations in the Province of Foggia.
           In Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. we were entertained by the organisation staff and  four local volunteers. The main aim of meeting was “how to improve EVS and Youth in Action Programme volunteering in Provincia of Foggia, how to encourage local young people become volunteers, how to explain benefits of volunteering”
            Therefore, we decided to arrange some meetings with local voluntary organisations, schools and youth centers, which will be coordinated in co-operation by Ce.Se.Vo.Ca., Mondo Nuovo and teh Province of Foggia. During these informal meetings we will get to know young people, we will explain what EVS is about, what a volunteer is and what a volunteer does. In addition to that we will talk about our own experience and our friends’ experience in Italy.
            Besides we were invited to take part to some trainings which are arranged by Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. staff. That trainings will be about conflict management, intercultural learning, intercultural dialogue. We also decided to support two projects: “Roxana” Project against sexual exploitation and “Aquilane” Project against human beings traffic.
           In the end we were given some documents about on-going projects. I wish to thank all Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. staff and volunteers for their hospitality and more thanks for the delicious desserts!” 

Nejdet

EVS Volunteer "A Solidarity Shelter"

“...The visit of Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. was really interesting for me because I heard many new aspects of national and international voluntering too.
The organisation knows all of the national and international volunteering related facts. They have places and programmes to promote voluntering and they try to involve people and young people too to be a volunteer. The organisation generally promotes volunteering at schools in Manfredonia and there they have a Youth Center too.
This organisation also supports other voluntary associations in the province of Foggia with office equipment, trainings, and information about problems, rights, opportunities they have.  
One thing that I personally find very useful for my future is that if somebody’s interested in the international programmes or projects of the associations in the non-profit sector he has a possibility to visit them and to know better their work in fourteen work days. This possibility is inside in Youth in Action programme”
 
Zoli 
EVS Volunteer "A Solidarity Shelter"









“Today we had a meeting in a very friendly atmosphere with an organization called  Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. It was very funny and interesting. We were glad that there was not only the staff  of  Ce.Se.Vo.Ca.,  but also the local volunteers.  We talked a lot about the work and structure of this organization, about its projects and nowadays problems. Also we told about ourselves, why we decided to become EVS volunteers and what we learnt during out stay here in Italy.
Before I decided to become a volunteer, I was told that no one needs this and no one will be interested in me. But this is not true! As I can see, every kind of experience is appreciated here. The voluntary structure in Italy differs a lot from these structures in my country, and people look in a different way at our work. We are 4 EVS volunteers here and each of us came from different countries, have different knowledge, we are not only learning, we also can add something, develop our own ideas. This is gain not only for us as young people with our own lives and future, but also for the Youth organizations.  And it was not out last meeting with Ca.Se.Vo.Ca. This organization invited us for other meetings with young people to promote EVS, to show that this is real thing which gives you a lot.”
 

Julia

EVS Volunteer "A Solidarity Shelter"

“One of the ideas of my EVS was to learn more about the structured volunteering here in Italy as it is quite advanced and has a long history. Ce.Se.Vo.Ca. is a vivid proof of these words. It’s a well-established network of non-profit organizations which conducts consulting and training activities to develop and qualify volunteering in the Region of Puglia.
For me personally it was quite interesting to learn about opportunities of carrying out voluntary activities on the national level and share my motivation and my experience of doing European Voluntary Service. This is something that I’m definitely going to bring back to my home country and use as a guide to promote and develop this kind of practices.
But the thing that I’m really looking forward to now is to meet other Italian young people and tell them: “Yes, I did it! You also can! And it will be such a pity if you miss your chance to join EVS!” I bet it will be an enjoyable cooperation for all of us.
And yes, many-many-many thanks to all Ce.Se.Vo.Ca guys that we met. They were so nice and welcoming. See you soon!”
 
Anna
EVS Volunteer "A Solidarity Shelter"

To Better Understand Who We Are And What We Are Doing Here: No Limits to Learning

In the middle of December, connected to EVS programme, the Italian National Agency arranged an on-arrival-training for all evs volunteers who are doing their service in Italy. We volunteers of Mondo Nuovo were informed about the training in November 2011 and also in November 2011 the papers about trainings (schedule, participants list, trips) were sent to us. The training took place in Rimini, between 12-20 december. There were 30 volunteers from 17 different countries. In the framework of this on-arrival training we had a 7-days Italian language course. The language course was given by two teachers in two different classes. The first class which I attended was for beginners, the second one was for intermediate and upper level students. For both groups the language course was totally 24 hours lessons. During the lessons we were taught the basic italian daily speech, the main tenses, the main phrases, how to use question phrases etc. İn the end of the lessons we had a final test. During the 7 days, there were different activities. These activities were devoted to the following topics: “intrapersonal communication”, “communication conflicts”, “evs motivation”, “intercultural communication”, “rights and liabilities of evs volunteers”, “particular phenomena of italian culture”, “italian gestures”, basic information about italian history and italian republic” etc. During the activities volunteers were not passive, on the contrary all the activities were interactive and all volunteers were active. Also the activities were quite funny and emotional. It means it was not boring. İn addition to that, there were two different italian movie nights about mafia and social organisation. After these 8 days, we were given 24 hours of Italian lessons and after the lessons I realized my Italian got better. On the other hand during all the activities I learnt that there is no limits to learning and I was shown what prejudices I have.

Nejdet

The Spirit of Adventure!

Once on early Monday morning me and my friends (three other EVS volunteers of MONDO NUOVO) took a train and found ourselves in… Rimini! But not to swim in the warm waves of The Adriatic’s as you might think (it’s winter time after all). We had quite a different intention.  Finally we had our on-arrival training and spent nine unforgettable days in an intercultural company of 30 other EVS volunteers from all over Italy. What was this training about and why was it such an important experience for me? First of all, we had quite intensive and interactive schedule. Each day started with a 4-hour lesson of the Italian language with Lucia and Ezio. Afternoon sessions were mostly devoted to intercultural issues such as our own culture and interculture, cultural shock, conflict management, stereotypes and prejudices. Together with Carmine and Michele we took a trip around Italy and (Oh my God!) listened to uncountable number of dialects spoken in this tiny country. The fact that an Italian man from Milano can hardly understand another Italian man living in Sicily still leaves me speechless and confused. Ma… Va be’!  Apart from this we had serious discussions about rights and responsibilities of those involved in EVS projects, played simulation games aimed to facilitate the adaptation of volunteers to a different lifestyle. We shared our motivation to do the EVS and our experience (both positive and negative) of interpersonal communication with new people in a new reality. And you know what kind of conclusion I had in the end? Yes, we are so different. All of us have their own story behind. But even if he is from France and she is from Bulgaria and they are from Spain… we are still the same. We all have this spirit of adventure inside which brought us to Italy and let us spend this terrific week together. In addition to the official “working” time obviously we had our own unofficial program which included international singing, playing, walking and laughing… And now… I don’t have to think a lot about my weekend. I can text Marta from Prato or Marin from Pescara and we’ll enjoy our time together. That’s what EVS is about! :D

In such a great “volunteers-never-sleep” atmosphere I celebrated my humble anniversary: two months of my stay in Italy. “Let the party go on!” I said to myself. And for a couple of days I went first to Florence, then to Rome and ended up visiting Naples. Beautiful places in the glittering Christmas lights…  It was quite a trip, a bit tiring but full of awesome moments and of course worth making it again. But the best was coming back home. Yes, Lucera is my home now. I felt that I missed this place, these streets and these people. “Casa, dolce casa!” That’s what we say here in Italy! :D 

Ania

A Great Chance!

In December, from 12 to 20 we had our on-arrival training. So it was a little trip for me because we had to go to the other region, to the city called Rimini. 

But seaside in winter is not so pleasant, it was cold and windy. But we were lucky because we were busy almost all the time with our training.  There were 32 volunteers and it was a great experience to know all of them. 

We talked a lot about our projects, hosting organizations, our work and expectations, and of course about how much do we like Italy! 

It was a great chance to know more about other countries and their cultures. And of course a lot of prejudices were broken during this time.  I always thought that people do not know about my country, but that is not true! 

I understood that I should learn about other countries too.  Ukrainian people do not eat potatoes all the time as one guy from France thought (Renaud, I am still smiling thinking of it). Also I immediately told to my friends in Ukraine that the rain in Portugal is not the reason not to go to work ( I even do not know why we thought like this before! Now I feel shy).

I understood, that no matter that we are all from the different countries and with different background, but we are all the same, we even think in the same way.   

There is something common inside all of us, something which made us to become volunteers.  I am thankful for the opportunity to know all of these people and hope to keep in touch with them.

The problem is that  some of the volunteers do not know enough about EVS, about their organization, about their rights and duties. So be responsible for learning all kind of information before you become a volunteers, this is very important for your successful EVS.

I cannot tell that I like this training too much. It was on-arrival training only for several people, because some of the volunteers are leaving soon, or left right after this training. It is sad that they did not receive the necessary information in the beginning of their EVS.   

The most problem for me was the language. I do not know Italian, but the most majority were Italian speakers.  And with some volunteers I did not have the common language to communicate. It is a pity I  do not know them well because of that. The training was in Italian language, and I could not understand the tasks.  But friendship helped us, and one volunteers were translating everything to the others. And it was really funny!  

It showed that people care about each other. I will not describe all the tasks we were doing there, who knows, maybe during your EVS you will do the same and then it will not be  as new and  interesting for you as it can be. :) 

I will say only that everything we have done there made me more stronger and influenced me in a positive way, I have got the new experience, even overcame some of my fears.   

We should not wait that someone will do something for us. We can change our lives, we can change even the world, to make it better, it is enough  just to wish it. 

Julia

Another Good Reason to Apply for an EVS Project

In the middle of December we spend nine unforgotable days in Rimini for our on arrival training! 

This training gave us more knowledge about Italy and EVS.

The first day we had a language test and after the trainers diveded us two groups for the Italian language course.

The classes were very interesting because we could learn the language, the grammar and some example from the real life. For example one day we listened Italian songs and tryed to understand them and on another day we had possibility to go to the city to interview the local people about immigration and Italian culture.   

Our teacher was very young, therefore he often used jokes too! :) 

During the lessons we known each other better and I think some new friendship started there.

Beside the language course the other main part of the training was the EVS released activities: what is E.V.S.? What can a volunteer do? What are the most important documents? And so on! 

We played some games to understand the cultural problems, tried to communicate without the use of language just with hands, smiles and sounds.

We had two movie night with Italian films. The first one was about how involve people with disabilities in the field of work and second one was about Mafia. 

Thees films were very interesting. I learnt more about those issues.

In the end of the program we have wrote some letters to other volunteer. This is very good idea, because we wrote about our feelings. I think to read this feelings later will be very good and will be very good memories too.

This training was very good to understand who we are, why we are here and to get to know other volunteers and other organizations as well. 

The trainers and the teacher are very enthusiastic were open minded persons, therefore it was really good to work with them.

I had great fun during the training and I met new friends there. Besides, I saw another segment of the Italian culture: the food in Rimini is not the same than other parts of Italy!

The on-arrival training is another good reason to apply for an EVS project!

                                                            

Best wishes, 

Zoli