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Newsletter No.15 - December 2012

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Urban Presker

Urška Hartman

Tina Trdin Anastasija Popovska

Polona Jaunik Maja DolinarBlanka Rihter

Anika Dziewior

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Editor: Anika DziewiorDesign: Anastasija Popovska

club.of.volunteers@gmail.com www.club.of.volunteers.blogspot.com

www.zavod-voluntariat.si

Zavod Voluntariat - SCI SloveniaCigaletova 9, 1000 Ljubljana

Dear Friend, you are reading the last Newsletter of Club of Volunteers in the year 2012. Also the last number prepared for you by EVS volunteers Anastasija and Anika. Even though it is a good reason to do a casual sum up, we will not. As usual we are inviting you to read fresh info about our recent work and stories from travels to different parts of The Globe. Visit Mongolia, Carpe Verde, Burkina Faso and other countries visited by our volunteers. Taste a bit of their experience, and who knows, maybe you will also get inspired to go and help.Additionally, we are adding samples of easy to make frames for pictures and scrap books. Don’t wait for Santa Claus, just try them out! If you have some other ideas for an eco present, we are encouraging you to share them with us on club.of.volunteers@gmail.com

We are wishing you lots of positive energy in an upcoming New Year!

Club of Volunteers

Editorial

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UPCOMING EVENTS

EVS project in Ghana!

Call for GLEN participants 2013!

SKUHNA

New year, new Volunteers!

TUTORIALS

How to make a photo frame – tutorial

Index:

PAST EVENTS

The 4th birthday of ČMC Šiška

Exchange evaluation meeting 2012 - EEM 2012 in Edinburgh

Thursday Dinners for activists

Photo competiton: Ostane ti občutek, ki ne izgine

Tips to go – How to make an interview like journalists do?

Meditation over a internet communicator… sounds weird?

Who am I? Mobility in Europe

»Opening Windows to Intercultural Communication in Youth Projects’ Coordination«, an international training course in Kočevje

Captain culture to the rescue!

GLEN Annual event; 8-11.11 in the youth hostel Brežice

Massive Clothing Exchange Party

CONTENT

Ghana experience - GLEN 2012

Volunteer journey to Cape Verde

Mongolia – MCE: Orphanage’s Farm

Wamala cultural heritage site and construction work in Nansana

EUROSHA humanitarian mission in Kenya

Global education from Burkina Faso to Slovenia

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UPCOMING EVENTS

EVS project in Ghana!

Call for GLEN participants 2013!

SKUHNA

New year, new Volunteers!

TUTORIALS

How to make a photo frame – tutorial

The 4th birthday of ČMC Šiška Exchange evaluation meeting 2012 - EEM 2012 in Edinburgh

The 27th of September 2012 was a special day for young people in Šiška, because they celebrated the 4th birthday of their youth centre.

Voluntariat was also celebrating with them and together we enjoyed a very special African day. We played games, a quiz about African facts. Also the children participated on a making of jewelry workshop that our volunteer Anastasija prepared. We even got to try some tasty African food and of course there was a cake. To many more happy, fun years and happy birthday again!

The international network SCI (Service Civil International) every year organizes an evaluation meeting to evaluate short term volunteer exchanges. This year the meeting took place in Edinburgh in Scotland, between 16th and 21st of October.

A group of 45 staff members and volunteers from 35 countries from branches and partner organizations from all over the world attended the event with the aim to analyze and discuss their work during this year’s workcamp sesion 2012. They had the opportunity to share best practice on placement procedures and networking amongst branches and partners. A lot of time was devoted to discussion, about various aspects of improving application procedures, providing better information for volunteers as well as better flow of information and its accuracy.

In the next year we will make some changes that will standardize application procedures for short term work camps and North-South work camps, preparation and evaluation procedures of volunteers before and after the work camp and procedures of organization and implementation of the work camps for the local partners. This way we will provide a more efficient and quality work for our volunteers.

PAST EVENTS

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Thursday Dinners for activists

PAST EVENTS

In November we gathered in Voluntariat’s office to try four different kinds of soups and talk about projects, that we want to organize within Club of Volunteers.First meeting was opened with really sour, typical polish tomato soup and the brainstorming. We were trying to figure out what are areas of our interests and what kind of actions are worth to take. We also discovered that 15 people hanging out our small office is quite a lot. But we managed!While trying broccoli soup we decided to choose five projects that we want to realize first. We started with developing the idea of a web page, that offers Slovenian lessons for foreigners. Everything for free and led by volunteers. The estimated time for starting the web page: 3 months.About other ideas we were debating during leek and mushroom soups while trying to choose coordinators among us. The inspiration for Thursday dinners, Anika, EVS volunteer, who was organizing our meetings, took from the history of her country. The last polish kings were inviting artists and intellectuals for dinners to debate about important issues. The aim was to meet motivated volunteers and connect creative debate with tasty, warm food on these grey, autumn days.

If you missed it, you can still contact us on club.of.volunteers@gmail.com.

You are always welcome to share your ideas!

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Photo competiton:

Ostane ti občutek, ki ne izgine

This fall we were very curious about our volunteers’ thoughts and emotions, memories from the work camps that they participated at. So we have prepared a photo competition. The competition was hard and we would like to thank all of you for sending us interesting photos.

Here are this year’s winners: the first place goes to Luka Mrak, second runner up is Anastasija Popovska and the third place belongs to Erik Jurman. We have also decided to reward the 4th and 5th place that go to Meta Smerkolj and Ines Nabernik. Congratulations to you all, once again. The rest of you can enjoy their photos here and on our Facebook page.

PAST EVENTS

Luka Mrak,

Občutek, ki osvobaja, tabor Wamale cultural heritage site Fort Portal Uganda

Meta Smerkolj,

To, uspelo nam je!, tabor Lyngstad farm Gran

Ines Nabernik,

Pridne mravljice, tabor Working and horseback riding in the South Reykjavik

Anastasija Popovska,

Reflection, Soline workcamp Sečovlje

Erik Jurman,

Paša za oči in želodec, tabor Renovating Greenland

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Tips to go –

How to make an interview like journalists do?Useful tips and practical knowledge got participants of our

media and communication workshops.

Should we send questions before the interview, or not? What kind of questions should we ask? Where is the best place for the interview? How should we use the body language? This and more issues we were trying to solve together during active, non-formal workshop at Voluntariat.

Although journalism is creative work and there is no rule, that we should blindly obey, there are some useful tricks that we can use.

With five years of journalistic experience, Anika gathered the most important tips given by journalists and divided them on areas as: location, body language, questions, journalist and interviewee. This was the base for the workshop, where together with participants, she was exploring the topic through different tasks and exercises.

Meditation over a internet communicator… sounds weird?

We had a meditation session with a Buddhist monk as one of our Club of Volunteers happenings! We met to relax and find our inner peace during one hour of guided session. It was an interesting experience for all eight of us. Meditation was taking place over Skype and before it there has been a short introduction. This was a good beginning for those who want to start meditating but do not have enough motivation. If you want to try, you should gather five to ten people and write to Peace Revolution. Or contact us, so we can organize it together!

Who am I? Mobility in EuropeWe are happy to say, that the movie of Anika, our EVS volunteer, has been nominated for the Award Ceremony of the 2012 Edition of Europemobility Video Contest!

In the short movie she is sharing her experience of living and working abroad during European Voluntary Service. Cheerful, uplifting video is showing her moments in Ljubljana. You can watch the movie on the web site of the competition, here:

http://www.europemobility.tv/index.php?option=com_contest&task=video.details&id=88

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»Opening Windows to Intercultural Communication in Youth Projects’ Coordination«, an international training course in Kočevje

Zavod Voluntariat organized an international training course with the name »Opening Windows to Intercultural Communication in Youth Projects’ Coordination« which took place in Kočevje, from 6th – 10th of November 2012, and brought together volunteers and staff members who coordinate international youth and volunteer projects. There were 18 participants coming from 15 different countries from various parts of Europe. The main aim of the training was to provide a platform for participants for sharing and discussing good practices on management of long term voluntary projects and for developing their skills on the topic ensuring the high quality, the focus on the value of volunteering, active citizenship and grass-root approach for young people. The training was organized in order to go deeper with the topics and to focus more on intercultural communication and its role in the management.

The project was targeted to people with different experience in NGO and volunteer field. We aimed to use their experiences and knowledge as much as possible and useed a peer-to-peer method were participants could learn from each other.

All in all, the methods used during the training will contribute to the process of informal and non-formal learning, social and personal development of the participants and will enrich their intercultural competencies. The outcomes of the project will include increased skills and competencies of participants, improved international communication and cooperation, ideas and plans for new international projects and activities in the framework of Youth in Action programme.

PAST EVENTS

Captain culture to the rescue!

End of October and start of November 2012 I participated in a training of cultural diversity and its tools that took place in Sweden, near Stockholm in Åkersberga. I believe they have even selected us, the participants, on the key of diversity, because all of us were such different profiles. We came from 7 countries, that is: from Cyprus, Sweden, Romania, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Slovenia. Our diversities were seen also in our professional profiles, we were all from teachers, students, NGO workers, secretaries, professors, construction workers etc. We started our course by learning that Captain Culture is this superhero that needs to save the world from Racistmen and other villains and that also they have stolen his underpantants and all of the peoples underpants all over the world. And that Captain Culture lives in Bohinj lake. And that we, Supervolunteers, were the one, to save the world from Racistmen. All jokes aside, this training was made to make multiplicators that would continue to use tools that must be rebuilt over and over again with the goal to keep making alternative aproaches to intercultural learning. Our objectives were:

• Become aware of the importance that influence of culture has on person’s behaviour and identity.

• Recognize and be sensitive for differences that other cultures bring.

• Develop knowledge and competence in key concepts of intercultural learning and lifelong learning with young people.

• Acknowledge the Youth in Action Programme as a tool for intercultural learning and Youth work.

• Be provided with information about existing possibilities and conditions for the development of youth co-operation projects.

• Reflect about the importance, possibilities and obstacles of cultural diversity when organizing international youth projects or other youth projects involving ethnic minorities.

• Exchange best practices among youth workers in working within multicultural environment.

• Develop tools, activities, strategies for improvement of youth work on local level focused on cultural diversity.

• Be supported to promote multiplying effect of youth work in local participation.

• Develop an informal network of youth workers and youth leaders between the EU countries.

• Identify common criteria and approaches for follow-up projects and initiatives developed on this training course.

Author: Polona JaunikPhoto: Polona Jaunik

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PAST EVENTS

GLEN Annual event; 8-11.11 in the youth hostel Brežice

Global learning and global volunteering are European or let’s say, constructs of the Western society. It was obvious also on this year’s GLEN annual event that brought together 50 volunteers who carried out their 3 -month internships in the Global South (Slovenian volunteers did their internships in India, Ghana and Burkina Faso). The focus of this year’s event was the cooperation of GLEN and its Southern Partners with a task to create a more equal and long-term relationships and projects. During discussions, group work, round tables, exchange of views and a very welcome contribution of the two representatives of the global South (particularly from Cameroon and Benin) we have set new guidelines for cooperation between hosting and sending organizations. Together we re-explained the concept of global learning, which is for us, the representatives of European organizations almost completely natural, but to representatives of organizations from the global south still mostly ambiguous and yet unexplained. As it is often the case in politics and in development cooperation, where guidelines are set by European or let’s say, western policy makers, without any consultation and participation in the planning process with the global south, such a pattern was also reflected in the structures and processes of the GLEN network. Fortunately we started to realize this soon enough.

So, what’s next? The creation of tripartite agreements on duties and rights of the volunteer, the sending and hosting organizations; cooperation between sending and hosting organizations in the process of volunteer selection; joint creation of preparatory trainings, regular communication between all partners on updates of the network, joint evaluation of programs and volunteers, all of this and more are areas which will demand much of our time and attention if we want to strengthen and improve cooperation with the southern partners, which was also the key theme of the event.

We believe that this year’s GLEN annual event in Brežice was groundbreaking and will significantly equalize the structure and processes within the network, of course, success depends on all of us and on our motivation to meet the given objectives and constantly include opinions from all sides in the process of designing this new, fairer structure of the network, so that it will offer an even greater and more in-depth experience to the young people, who will decide to participate in the program.

What is GLEN:

GLEN (Global Education Network of Young Europeans) is a nonprofit, independent political initiative of 10 organizations from the old and new Member States of the European Union: Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

A few more words on the GLEN multipliers learning cycle:

GLEN educates young people in the field of global education. Its specialty is the combination of trainings and practical experience in the Global South. Slovenian partner in the network is Zavod Voluntariat, organizer of this year’s event. Internships of Slovenian volunteers were funded by the Municipality of Ljubljana and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development program through the ASA.

Author: Tina TrdinPhotos: Tina Trdin

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PAST EVENTS

Author: Polona JaunikPhoto: Polona Jaunik

Massive Clothing Exchange Party

Fourth Clothing Exchange Party, organized by Club of Volunteers, took place at the end of November in Menza pri koritu. The party was a success: besides, a lot of clothes being brought and taken away, even some books and pieces of jewelry found a new home.

The idea for the party was really simple: bring some clothes and exchange them for other. All for free, mixed with cozy atmosphere, pleasant people and great music selected by Makis, Eva and Kukla – DJ’s who voluntarily performed for us.

The movie from the party is coming soon! Stay tuned!

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Ghana experience - GLEN 2012

To me Ghana will always be a land of smiles. Throughout the whole three months that I was volunteering with the Embracing Hidden talents Network (EHTN) I was soaking in the kindness of strangers and trying to imprint their smiles into my memory. Now the much-too-short internship is over and I’m trying to make a scrap book of memories. These are my memories…

Mostly kids in the schools of Azani and Butre are the ones to blame, that Ghana will go down in my memory as “the time of my life”. I remember one Monday, while getting into a taxi to go to Azani school, I struggled to keep my eyes open, after feeling exhausted from a weekend of traveling. A long night the day before when my intern partner Sofia and I were preparing the workshop (in the candlelit room, because the power had been out for more than a day) only added to my tiredness. But as soon as my feet touched the school ground and I saw all those lively kids, it is like my body received an adrenaline shoot. It seemed to me like I was drawing the energy that they were culminating with. And every single time they brightened my day, even perfected my life. I know for a fact that they taught me more than I ever was able to teach them. And I am forever in debt to them, though it seemed to me that they know no such thing in Ghana.

Now I am back home and even though I am not falling asleep to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore anymore, with mosquito net romantically placed over the bed I laid in, still as I write this all the memories come back in its full intensity, clear as they were on the day I had experienced them. They carry me back to the time when we first visited the schools. “Obruni, 50 pesewas, please,” was a common practice on that first day. Of course we looked like tourists, and they did not know we had come to work with them. But as the weeks passed, and we learned about the environment, even established an “Earthpoint system”, where the kids would get points for taking actions to help save the environment (i.e. picking up a bag of trash, sharing ideas about the environment and the importance of keeping it clean), instead of asking for money they started asking for Earthpoints. The best feeling ever, knowing that you have made a difference, no matter how small.

Author: Ines Kavgč

Photos: Ines Kavgič

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Now I am thinking about the past three months, thinking about all of the things I went through with the kids in school, all of the laughs we shared, all of the times Sofia and I nearly lost our voice trying to out-voice their chatter. How are their lives going to turn out?

I find some comfort in the fact that these kids really are… something that the words in my vocabulary cannot begin to express and if there is such a thing as karma or aura then the one around them is no doubt the kind everybody wishes for. However I have never in my life felt as helpless as that last day. All I could leave these kids with was a hug and a wish that their path was strewn with good luck, when in reality they deserve so much more.

Three months is not a long period, but I believe in Ghana that is more than enough time to form bonds and make life-lasting relationships.

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Working in an NGO such is Voluntariat with many international partnerships and (information on) training, volunteering etc opportunities, is a great challenge in the sense of not succumbing to temptation of applying or accepting one of those attractive volunteer positions somewhere abroad, published through various networks information systems.

It can be such an advantage and luxury when you are working on the program of promotion of global volunteering, an opportunity to rethink your personal perceptions on the global issues, and experiencing one of these opportunities by yourself as a volunteer abroad. Probably you can contribute to the global volunteer program upon return in a better way. In its core, collaborators and sympathizers of Voluntariat believe that an international volunteering is a great tool for (self) learning while teaching English in Ghanaian village, challenging yourself and your values when co-designing handicrafts with local artisans in Tanzania, gaining new and fresh skills when working with various groups of migrants in Afghanistan.

Hesitating whether I should apply again for an international volunteer post or not, and being tempted by a curiosity of getting acquainted with UN system with a personal experience, I ended up applying again and getting one-year UNV (United Nations Volunteers) position as a Gender Specialist in environmental projects within Environmental Unit of UN Joint Office in Cape Verde. My job description said that I should mainstream gender into the environmental projects and contribute to build the capacities of project staff and partners to become more gender-sensitive.

Volunteer journey to Cape Verde

Author: Katja Celin YerePhotos: Julie Pudlowski, Dramane Yere, Masakazu Shibata

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And here I am, sitting in the office, surrounded by kilos of documents and various materials, and trying to figure out why I am here and what is my personal challenge of working here.

Initial enthusiasm of trying to learn everything in three months, “moving mountains”, building strong partnerships, getting into the development problems of local communities, soon turned into disorientation, feeling of isolation and uselessness, adding to this the cultural shock, language barrier and almost no contact with the local community at work as I was used to with my previous jobs. I couldn’t accept, even if great supervisor said to me, that my job description and desired results are far too ambitious for one-year position and that I shouldn’t expect too many changes towards gender mainstreaming. United Nations have a great mandate in itself but how much of the written and produced on paper get realized? Not much, we know all.

Reinstallation took me a while and now, after half a year, I finally know more or less what I can expect from myself and where the things do not depend on me anymore. I re-shifted my volunteer experience in an intensive learning journey, understanding better development challenges, development aid flows, UN mandate and nevertheless the realities of Cape Verde outside the “blue UN fortress”.

I am sure that all volunteers with an international experience know very well this “amplitude” journey of extreme ups and downs. According to my experience so far, the most important is to accept these amplitudes and make the best use of them during your stay abroad because they will happen everywhere you go and with no matter if you already had a similar experience or not. The difference from the first and second time for me is that I know it supposed to happen. All the rest is on us alone to handle.

Working in an international organization I find challenging from an aspect of learning more in depth on power relations and deepening knowledge on certain development issue. At the same time it is also frustrating exactly because you see closely how these power relations are functioning and how much “development aid” or “budget support” to the governments in these countries can be inefficient.

Since May 2012 I have been working as a UNV volunteer in UN Joint office on Cape Verde. One-year volunteer position is financed by Slovene Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In case you are interested to learn more about my work and development challenges of Cape Verde, follow this link: http://www.mzz.gov.si/si/zunanja_politika_in_mednarodno_pravo/zunanja_politika/mednarodno_razvojno_sodelovanje_in_humanitarna_pomoc/utrinki_s_terena/

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The plane is slowly landing. I usually like to be awake when that is happening but this time I like sleeping more so I decide to fully wake up when I absolutely have to. The plane stops and I remember where I was flying to in the first place. I look out of the window and I realize that I am in Mongolia. Mongolia! Until that moment I didn’t really believe it was actually going to happen. I have officially arrived to Mongolia. It has been almost a day and three flights since I left my homeland, Slovenia. When I realized where I just landed I got overwhelmed with excitement. Part of the reason I could not believe what was happening was that my decision to join a work camp in Mongolia was very quick and therefore I did not have much time to think about what I was about to experience. And to tell you the truth it wouldn’t help much if I thought about it because it was beyond anything I could have imagined.

I spent two weeks at a work camp outside of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, with 16 other volunteers who are mainly from Asia (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Netherlands). The general idea behind the work camp is for volunteers to help children from an orphanage in Ulaanbaatar with farm work in the fields outside of the city. And of course to play and laugh with them when work is done for the day.

First week we mostly worked alone because kids were on fields further away and we only saw them after dinner when it was time to play cards and other board games. After just a couple of days of working we left to take a three – day trip to little Gobi desert. We got a chance to get to know each other better, ride camels and horses, get to know Mongolian history, get a glimpse of nomadic life, sleep in traditional tents called “gers” and experience nature we only saw on National Geographic before. After three amazing days we returned to our camp and so began our second week of the camp. The work got harder and time flew by much quicker. Each volunteer was paired up with a kid who directed us and tried to speed our work but at the same time also told us to rest every now and then. We were getting more and more tired but still tried to play with the kids, who were still full of energy despite working all day, as much as we could. As the end of our camp was getting near we realized how quickly we got used to our schedule and the way of life at the camp. Last night at the camp kids threw us a farewell party, we said goodbye and left early next morning. Most of us stayed in Ulaanbaatar for a couple of days after the camp and we talked a lot about our experience, kids, work and how none of us wanted to return home. We all agreed that kids were loud, full of energy, always fooling around, laughing and just awesome. We also admitted we would miss each other and promised to visit if we get the chance. But at the end we had to say goodbye and return home. Nonetheless we all shared a great experience and a lot of great inside jokes which we will never forget.

Author: Urška RenduličPhotos: Urška Rendulič

MONGOLIA – MCE: Orphanage’s Farm

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72 hours volunteering without compromise was a project made by Mladinski Ceh - national youth organization. In the voluntary actions were involved young people between the age of 14 and 30 years, diveded into groups of 5 - 24 people helping on various project around Slovenia.

We were a group of 10 Rok, Sašo, Manca, Andreja, Anastasija, Peter, Ben, Lara, Tamara...

Our local project was to make a better home for one beautiful family. And we did it! We managed to equipe

the kitchen, found two double beds for the children, desks for children, wardrobes, clothes, etc....With help from the children Eldin (9), Elvedin (8), Pamela (6) and Ariela (2) we made a beautiful drawing on the wall in their “new” room. It was trilling to be part of this project and to see the smiles on the children faces.

We named our pjoject Is that? Interior Design?

Read more about the project and check out the other actions round Slovenia on

https://www.facebook.com/72urjunaki?fref=ts

Another Great Volunteering Experience

72 h Volunteering without compromise 20 local projects, 500 young people, 72 hours = 30000 hours voluntary work.

Author: Anastasija PopovskaPhotos: Anastasija Popovska, Tamara Lah

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Why going to Africa?

The idea of going to Africa actually occurred to me a long time ago, when I read a few articles on African countries and their cultures, and watched movies like “Hotel Rwanda” and “Sometimes in April” etc. The main reason why I`ve been so interested in Africa is that, even though this is our nearest continent, according to the distance in kilometres, it`s at the same time the furthest place on the Earth for most of us – for the people living a comfortable life in the modern western world.

The curiosity about Africa led me to an organization called Voluntariat where an extremely kind staff made my final decision of going to Africa even easier. I decided going to Uganda and do some construction work there as a volunteer.

Constructing and living among African brothers and sisters

In the beginning I have to say a few words about the cultural shock that I experienced after landing on the “black continent”. To be quite honest, there was nothing I hadn`t expect before I went to Africa, what was actually shocking was the fact that most of the things I heard about Africa and all my personal ideas and expectations were almost equal to reality. For instance, time in Africa really has a different dimension than time we know; roads in urban areas are gravelly and full of holes; animals and plants are way bigger than those in Europe...

Anyway after a series of “shocks” I finally came across a group of people which had a common idea and common purpose combined together in a place called Nansana. Nansana is a village with almost hundred thousand inhabitants and is basically a part of Uganda`s capital and largest city: Kampala. We were 15 volunteers who decided to stay three weeks together and built a house for other volunteers who`ll come to this place in the future. Seven of us were from Europe, United States and South Korea, the rest were local volunteers from Uganda. Home organization “Uganda Pioneer Association” provided us with a simple place for sleeping and a few sacks of potatoes and beans. I really liked it when on the first day the leader of the camp said that the main goal of our work camp was to experience the African way of life, to get to know the local people and to learn about cultural diversities and that the construction of the house and all the rest comes second.

After a week of different social happenings and getting to know the local people while we were waiting for the building materials which were coming late – by the way this is quite a common African phenomenon waiting a long time for something – we finally started with our work. We were divided into 3 groups of 5 volunteers; 2 groups were in charge helping with the construction works (carrying timber for the building, mixing concrete by hand, bringing water, roofing, raising walls...), and one group was preparing meals. Every day a different group was in charge of preparing meals. Even though, we did a great job on the house - we built the main part of the house - the main purpose of the working camp was socialising and learning from each other. All the volunteers contributed in creating a magical synergy among us. American, Korean, German volunteers and myself actually realized how incapable and poor we`re in a society where things aren`t as obvious than

Author: Luka MrakPhotos: Luka Mrak

WAMALA CULTURAL HERITAGE SITE AND CONSTRUCTION WORK IN NANSANA

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they seem and water, for instance, doesn’t boil with a press of a button. Many of us couldn’t survive in those circumstances without the help of our African friends who had to teach us how to make a fire, prepare meals for 20 people and wash the dishes with 5 litres of water, wash clothes and make them really clean, make concrete without a concrete mixer, staying a few days without electricity, etc. On the other hand, we (foreign volunteers) inspired the locals with our stories of the places we come from, we talked about our culture and described our way of living.

After a few weeks, full of genuine African “everyday life”, where a day without smiling, singing and dancing doesn’t exist, I almost forgot that this isn`t the place where I actually live. A bit sad and full of emotions I had to say goodbye to all of my new friends and come back to reality – my reality.

After Africa

I would exaggerate if I said that I came back from Africa as a new person. Six weeks spent there weren`t even close to enough to assimilate and get to know more about their way of life. In the end it was only an experience which gave me a new longing to return to this continent one day.

In spite all that, I became more aware of myself and of the things I do every day. The importance of creating values and the realization of how small we really are – this is what “mother Africa” bestowed to me at my first time there.

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EUROSHA HUMANITARIAN MISSION IN KENYA

Author: Janja MikulanPictures: Janja Mikulan

In October 2012, 26 volunteers from Europe and Africa have begun with their 6 months humanitarian missions in Africa. We are being deployed to 4 African countries within the EUROSHA project - European Open-Source Humanitarian Aid. EUROSHA is a pilot project coordinated by France Volontaires (the national French platform for international volunteer-sending) in partnership with 8 European NGOs within the framework of DG ECHO’s European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps. And I am writing this article as one of the volunteers chosen in Slovenia and being deployed to Kenya.

After 3 weeks of intense training in France, we have started with our mission in Kenya. The objective of our mission is to reinforce humanitarian information sharing and management in crisis preparedness using open-source tools (OpenStreetMap, Sahana Eden) and new technologies (GPS, smart phones, etc.). During our deployment we will create maps with relevant (humanitarian) information and upgrade the humanitarian data-base in order to contribute to crisis preparedness and timely and efficient crisis response in country. Our main activities are: identifying humanitarian actors and issues that can benefit from mapping and information sharing; collecting humanitarian data and making it accessible through open source websites; training actors and handing over the mapping activities.

In the first weeks of our deployment to Kenya our group of 6 volunteers (4 European and 2 local) began meetings with relevant actors. They will support us in identifying which information in the context of crisis preparedness are already available and which still need to be collected and uploaded to the maps (OpenStreetMap) and data base (Sahana). In Nairobi we have met the representatives of some of the biggest humanitarian organizations such as UN OCHA, Kenyan Red Cross and World Vision. We presented them our project and tried to collect the information mentioned above. We have also had an opportunity to get to know the work of non-profit organization Map Kibera Trust (MKT) which mission is very similar to ours – collect the data needed for efficient humanitarian response. Their work is focused on slums of Nairobi (Kibera is one of the slums) since more than 60% of the people in Nairobi live in slums. We have witnessed the disastrous conditions in which they are living. Work of MKT really proves the importance of collecting and sharing humanitarian information.

We will implement most of our activities in Molo and two other neighbouring districts (Njoro, Kuresoi) that lie in the Rift Valley Province. That’s why we had meetings with extremely welcoming local authorities (commissioners of districts, members of different committees, police) from these districts. They are extremely important source of information for our mission and at the same time their approval and support is necessary for our undisturbed and safe work on the field.

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After various meetings we have come to conclusion that data collection is currently most needed in the area of general elections and on the topics of tribal violence, IDPs and their resettlements, and land ownership. Currently the general elections that will occur on March 4 next year are in the centre of the attention. They are one of the most crucial elections in the history of Kenya. First of all because this will be the first elections after the adoption of the new constitution in 2010 which is bringing many changes for Kenya. And second of all because of the last disputed elections that triggered the post-election violence in 2007/08. Molo was one of the worst hotspots of violence, mostly because of its big tribal diversity and its instrumentalisation by politicians. At the same time Molo district is the place where many IDPs were settled due to the government buying land in this area for them. But even though there are 5 years since the elections, we have witnessed that there are still IDPs camps in Molo area where people are facing many difficulties. They have told us they still have many problems with water and food, sanitation facilities, they are facing problems regarding the education, health services and employment. But on the other hand there is also a problem of identifying “real” IDPs since some people pretend to be IDPs in order to take an advantage of receiving free goods and services, land and accommodation. Therefore problem of land ownership is one of the issues strongly connected to this topic since it is creating a lot of discontentment among local population who lives near the areas of resettlement, tribes who claim the land is historically theirs and “newcomers”.

Most observers seem to agree that the election is likely going to trigger post-election violence therefore our data collection in the next months will be focused on information that will contribute to crisis preparedness and potential response. These information include the information about pooling stations, hospitals, IDPs camps, roads, humanitarian organizations on the field and their project, etc.

You can follow our future work In Kenya and also the work of other 3 groups of volunteers in Africa on our blog.

http://eurosha-volunteers-blog.org/

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It’s so obvious to me that I can spend a whole afternoon shopping, that I can choose between a row of products to keep my hair shiny and even that I turn on the computer and check on the Internet when the next city bus will arrive tothenearest station. But why thenin AfricaI hadto wash my clothes by hand, why didn’t I even have toilet paper and why was it worth to sew my trousers rather than buy new ones? Let’s just say that there can also be a critical point of view of our everyday habits and that we can try to understand the inequalities and global problems. For this purpose I got involved in the network for the global education GLEN and went on a tree month long internship in Burkina Faso.

I did my internship in the association Kafuli in the second largest city Bobo Dioulasso. Kafuli works in partnership with Humanitas (an association in Ljubljana) on sponsorship and animation of children, responsible tourism and fair trade. It also runs a library with internet access and organises various courses and events. I worked in trinity with one Czech and French volunteer. Our mission was to animate and promote the association. We organised different activities for children, theme animations and courses. The association also cooperates with craftsmen (they are the manufacturers of wood, bronze and leather products...) and sells their products by fair trade. We spent some hours or days learning the manufacturing techniques with them.

GLOBAL EDUCATION FROM BURKINA FASO TO SLOVENIA

Author:Vesna GorencPhotos: Vesna Gorenc

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In our free time we hang out with our friends and visited different places. Every day was an experience for itself and even after three months I couldn’t get enough of the city spirit.I was amazed by transportingliving animals on the top of vans and the women carrying big baskets or containers on their heads, taxi driversand rides, sleeping in the cottage with domestic animals, eating with hands... I won’t forget even the women who sell fruit, vegetables and meals by the road, or men who make master products with so little utilities.

I was lucky to participate in this internship and I’m still attracted by these kinds of projects, but I have to stress that the major work is to be done right here on our own native soil where the story about the inequality begins. Here I give priority to the global education system as anawareness raising and critical thinking. People often connect the volunteering in Africa with unselfish work, but we are not aware that we can help the most at home by changing our everyday habits.

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You need:

Frames Tutorial

Author: Deja Dudič

Photos: Deja Dudič

old cardboard box a photo scissors hot glue gun pieces of textile pieces of colored paper

pencil double-sided tape olfa knife ruler buttons picture frame hanger

Place the ruler on the cardboard box and draw a rectangle.

1

Put the card board on a piece of a textile and cut out the rectangle which

has to be bigger than the cardboard rectangle.

3

Press well and wait until the glue is dry.

7 8

The back sides should look like this.

2

Cut out the rectangle.

Turn on the hot glue gun. Mean while try out different colors of textile and choose the ones you like the most.

4

When you make a decision, cut out the letters, signs, numbers, different

shapes etc.

5

Glue the textile rectangle on to the cardboard with the hot glue gun.

6

Assemble the photo, letters, signs, buttons and shapes which you cut out from the card board,

colored paper and pieces of textile until you are satisfied.

9

Picture frame in the end. 14

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Another idea for Christmas present (this one I will give to my grandmother.

Signs translation: once & today – always)

Glue the picture frame hanger on to the marked spot with the hot glue gun and hang your picture frame to the wall or

wrap it up as a Christmas gift.

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Glue the photo on to the front side with a double-sided tape.

10

Glue the rest of the items with the hot glue gun.

11

Find the middle of the back side and mark the spot with a pencil.

12

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SKUHNA

It just happened – Voluntariat is more and more connected with food. International food, of course. Slovenian way, for sure! Everybody likes to eat, so why not using food as a connecting tool.

Skuhna - World Cuisine the Slovenian Way, is a social business initiative of some migrants living in Slovenia, which is managed and coordinated by the Zavod Global and Voluntariat.

Culinary culture has a vital role to play, by linking the cultural and living environment, nature, customs, rituals and the way of life. Through flavours, seasonings and ingredients we taste diverse cultures and their nuances. Through food rituals we get to know peoples of the world. Food is our entry point into the world of other cultures; in addition to flavor, color and taste, food has rhythm, melody and dancing steps. Food is culture in miniature. Food is life.

Main activities of the project will be: culinary workshops, intercultural catering and (the most important for Voluntariat) intercultural culinary camps.

All the food and all the workshops will be prepared by migrants living in Slovenia. They will teach us how to prepare food from their homeland. We will make sure that on every workshop and every event there will be more than just food – we will share food and culture and have a great time together!

So – the project is born, but it’s still very very young. It is just trying to make some first steps. But in three years time we hope it will grow big enough, to live at its own.

Join us on http://www.facebook.com/Skuhna and visit our web page (that is still under construction, but soon … soon… you will be amazed! ;-)) www.skuhna.si

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Upcoming events

EVS project in Ghana!We are looking for 3 volunteers, who will join the project in April 2014 for the duration of 6 months.

“Communities development through activities of volunteers” project will provide educational support to children with fewer educational opportunities in Busua (Busua Community Library) and other surrounding villages and towns in Ahanta West District, Western region of Ghana (Yakaw, Azani, Sankor, Butre etc.) with an aim to help them to improve their knowledge and level of education and hence providing options for better life.

If you are interested, please contact Urban at programi@zavod-voluntariat.si

Call for GLEN participants 2013!The application period for the Multipliers’ Training Cycle 2013 has started! The Multipliers’ Training Cycle is the main activity of GLEN and consists of two Training Seminars, a three-month internship in the Global South, a Transfer Seminar (optional) and the RENew Seminar for Reviewing, Engagement and Networking. This annual cycle trains every GLEN participant to become a Multiplier for Global Education.

Zavod Voluntariat, GLEN member organization, will offer three internships to its volunteers this year. Internship in India (Integration of school drop-outs and marginalized groups), South Africa (Supporting early childhood education in Cape town) and in Ghana (Encourage young people to become environmental watchdogs).

Please contact globalno@zavod-voluntariat.si for further information on how to apply. Deadline for applications is the 10th of January 2013. The detailed call for participants will be published also on http://www.zavod-voluntariat.si.We are looking forward to your applications!

New year, new Volunteers!With the year 2013 we are welcoming new volunteers from Bulgaria and Hungary in Voluntariat. At the same time, we would like to say goodbye to Anastasija and Anika. Thank you girls for your involvement, motivation and energy! One year with European Volunteers behind us, but next one before us!

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December, 2012