Hope to Come Back Soon!

 On Friday 03.02.2011 we had another meeting which was arranged by Ce.Se.Vo.Ca and APS Mondo Nuovo cooperation (as you know Ce.Se.Vo.Ca as a voluntary organisation aims to support volunteering activities and the other volunteer organisations).

First, I want to say the meeting that we had, was booked fully and very punctually even we hadn’t known before. In five hours, we had five different meetings in five different places with different people! Each meeting has its own aim and background. So, I prefer to explain each meeting seperately. But before, I’d like to explain how difficult it was to get to Manfredonia, and how cold it is in Italy. Friday was the first snowing day in Lucera this winter. In fact we had forgotten what snow is. But there was approximetely 25 cm of snow on the ground and it was still snowing that day.

We had agreed with Annibale to meet at 3.30 p.m in Manfredonia. Not to be late we left home 3 hours before our date. At first we went to Foggia with expectation of not-snowing weather. But Foggia was worse than Lucera, with snowstorm and cold weather. After 30 minutes of waiting we finally had our bus to Manfredonia. We arrived Manfredonia on time. Sara (our friend who had entertained us before) and three friends of hers welcomed us in the bus station. After a while Annibale, other guys from school and their philosopy teacher joined us and we started.

The first meeting was with “Liceo Scientificio Statale GalileoGalilei” which is a high school in Manfredonia. Fifteen students of that school, a teacher, Annibale and we four volunteers joined the meeting. First, we explained them what Youth In Action Programme is, What EVS is, How to apply for a Project, what we do as volunteers and what the benefits of EVS are. After that, they talked about their Projects (for instance, they had prepared a local environmental Project in Manfredonia), their experiences before (for instance, some of them had attended a Youth Exchange Project in Macedonia) and their plans for future. Also their teacher was very gentle I think they are really lucky to be students of him.

Before leaving Liceo Scientificio Statale Galileo Galilei we took pictures with students, teachers and the manager of the school. Half of the students decided to accompany us in the rest of our meetings. Therefore we volunteers, students and Annibale went to the Municipality of Manfredonia. There the person who is in charge of youth policies and also a member of city council welcomed us. After a short explanation about our project, they started to talk about their activities in Manfredonia. After a few pictures with them we’ve left for LUC (youth center of Manfredonia).

Fortunately Manfredonia is not a very big city and one can reach wherever he wants in the city without a car. As we walked to Municipality, we also went to LUC by walk. The front person of LUC was there and she showed us the building, and told us about their activities.

The following meeting was with the participants of Manfredonia Carnival and they were 20 minutes far from where we were. The walking was really enthusiastic, Annibale offered some traditional foods and a pizza (made by Annibale’s friend who is a hospitable guy). When we finally arrived at the destination, it was almost 7 o’clock.

The first group was an organisation which is also accredited as a hosting and sending orginastion, they had created a short movie and costumes which are connected to the above-mentioned short movie. When we arrived they were making these costumes and working very hard. During the meeting they also talked about their EVS project which was not approved by the National Agency. After taking photos and giving our hearts about next EVS project we went to the second group which was also the winner of the year before. They were making some costumes with colurful little lights. I liked the costumes when we tried them on us in the darkness. Both groups invited us to join their group and walk with them during the cortege. With that last meeting we finished our Manfredonia visit and thanks to Lucia (from Manfredonia) we caught our bus to Foggia.

 As a last word, I want to thank everybody we met in Manfredonia for their hospitality, thanks to Annibale for arranging everything punctually, thanks to Sara and her friends for picking us up from the bus station. It was a great day and I hope we will see them again on the Carnival day.