Thursday 22 December 2011

EP Interactive Greeting Card: Happy New Year from Everything is Possible

All the Everything is Possible team wish you all the best for Christmas and 2011.


DISCOVER our Interactive Greeting Card:


Wednesday 14 December 2011

''6 months of EVS in Uruguay'' by John C.


"The people I lived with and the friendships that were formed whilst over there successfully managed to get rid of any feelings of being ‘out-of-place’, and I eventually began to feel more and more at home in a country that is a pleasure to live in, doing my European Voluntary Service in a school and with people who made it both a special and rewarding experience."
John C.

"My name is John and I am a 23 year old ex-student, from Sheffield. I have just completed 6 months of European Voluntary Service in Uruguay where I was involved in the day to day activities in an English Language School called the Guildford Ingles-Espanol School. It was incredible taking part in something such as this, as I had no previous experience doing anything in this field. The school was run by an extremely friendly and fantastic person, Irene Varela.
My role at the School was to put together and teach 2-hour lessons, I was encouraged to use topics for the lessons which interested me and to just generally converse with the students in English whilst encouraging them and correcting any mistakes they would make both during the conversations and in any tasks they were set. In addition to the daily lessons I would teach I was very involved in a youth-based scheme called Adobe Youth Voices. This involved the School inviting less privileged children from nearby ‘barrios’ or neighbourhoods and giving them the opportunity to learn some basic English, or build on any English they already had and use this to create a video about topics that affected them e.g. Alcohol Abuse, Drugs, Pollution. This was a very interesting and rewarding scheme and I was very happy to have been given the chance to take part in it. Perhaps one of the most satisfying and pleasing things for me personally was the completion of the videos and seeing them being shown the delight of the children involved at seeing their videos both on the internet, and on a big screen. I was responsible for both teaching the children the English they needed and assisting in the creation of the videos.
I spent the majority of my time in Uruguay in Montevideo which was, for me, a lively, beautiful city with lots of traditional architecture and amazing shops and markets. It is situated on the banks of the Rio Negro and there were many evenings spent strolling along the river-side path, named ‘La Rambla’. The Rio Negro is so vast that it creates the impression of it being by the sea and as the weather gradually improved, so did the feeling of being somewhere special. The people in Uruguay were very welcoming once I managed to become less concerned by the obvious language barrier created by my complete lack of Spanish, but this was no real issue. The people I lived with and the friendships that were formed whilst over there successfully managed to get rid of any feelings of being ‘out-of-place’, and I eventually began to feel more and more at home in a country that is a pleasure to live in, doing my European Voluntary Service in a school and with people who made it both a special and rewarding experience. "

John C., Long Term EVS Volunteer in Uruguay.
Project part of BREAKING BARRIERS
BUILDING PARTNERSHIP
and supported by EACEA
and the Youth in Action Programme




Tuesday 13 December 2011

Tom's testimony about his Leonardo in Norway (Short Term)




"I learned a lot and I wish I was still there. Since I came back I started working in a youth centre."


My Name is tom, I come from Mirfield. I’m 18 and I did a Leonardo project in Norway (2 weeks).

In Norway I chopped wood, Milked cows, worked in a bakery, fed the animals, I climbed a mountain, played football with other volunteers.

I liked milking the cows and cleaning out the cowsheds.

On a night there wasn’t much to do so we had to make our own entertainment, like playing uno, card games and football.

I learned a lot and I wish I was still there. Since I came back I started working in a youth centre.

Tom, Short Term Trainee in Sweden.

Project part of Gaining  Through Training
and supported by ECORYS UK
and the Lifelong Learning Programme
of the European Commission.

 

Friday 9 December 2011

Volunteering Day: 5th December. Chaimae and Marianna at the British Council to share their EVS experience in Jamaica.

Marianna and Chaimae with Janette at the ''Volunteering Abroad'' event.


Our two short term volunteers, Marianna and Chaimae, were at the ''Volunteering Abroad'' event in London on the Monday 5th December. They shared their EVS experience in Jamaica with many professionals and volunteers who came to celebrate this volunteering day. They were with Janette, their youth and community worker of Caxton Youth Club, who supported them in Jamaica. Everything is Possible was there of course. We presented an extract of our Creative Inclusion visibility video, with images of Chaimae and Marianna in Jamaica.



Steve at the ''Volunteering Abroad'' event.


As well, Steve our ex-colleague presented his whole journey with Everything is Possible from his first EVS volunteering opportunity to his job as Short Term Programme Facilitator.

This event was organised by the British Council and VSO. Creative Inclusion and the EVS opportunity of Chaimae and Marianna was supported by the Youth in Action Programme of the European Commission.




Watch the video of the EVS project of Marianna and Chaimae who volunteered one month in Jamaica.


Thursday 8 December 2011

Hosting EVS volunteers : Read the December Turn Up the VOLume NEWSLETTER


Please, discover the Turn Up the VOLume NEWSLETTER of September and October, wrote by our new volunteer Eva. You will find in this newsletter some information about Leeds, Bradford and London, and some advices about how to spend yoru free time:
- What's on: Special Christmas Markets,
- Things to do on a Rainy Day,
- Things to do on a sunny day,
- Recipe ofthe month.


New video! Watch the video of the EVS project of Marianna and Chaimae who volunteered one month in Jamaica.

Marianna and Chaimea are two of our EVS volunteers who went to Jamaica for a month. This video will show you all their journey from the preapartion to their return and evaluation of their project. Enjoy!









short term EVS volunteers.
Project part of CREATIVE INCLUSION
and supported by EACEA
and the Youth in Action Programme
of the European Commission.

For more info about Creative Inclusion, visit the special webpage, clicking here.

Chaimae and Maz are as well  on the video CREATIVE INCLUSION:


Wednesday 7 December 2011

My 2 weeks Leonardo project in Norway, by Julie.


Hi my name is Julie. I am 28 years old. I live in Skipton. I don't work. I am on income support. I have never been abroad before or ever flow before. I went to Norway for 2 weeks with the Leonardo project.



All our Leonardo Trainees group with Adnan, their hosting tutor.

In my project, we worked on a farm and in the forest. These included work like
- chopping up wood,
- milking cows,
- cleaning them,
- picking eggs,
- shovelling poo into a wheel barrow
- shovelling gravel, 
- taking nails out of wood,
- stocking wood onto piles of other wood,
- making a trench,
- working in the bakery.

The food was great. Everything was organic and home made. It was all really nice and taste beautifull. The rooms were nice and clean and the beds were really confortable.

During our free time we went bowling, bike riding, went for a hike up a big mountain, had football matches, play lazer quest, watch DVD's, play card games.

I learn about myself and other people how to be more confident, independent, trusting other people seeing the different way's other people live and the different cultures.

I would recommend this experience and I want to go back to Norway or somewhere else. I would like to live here some day. It's like a new world. No pressure, or stress : everybody's so lay back.

After I've done my EVS, I would like to do more traveling and hopefully get a job abroad or working on a plane beeing a steward or a air hostess.

Julie, Short Term Leonardo trainee in Sweden.
Project part of Gaining  Through Training
and supported by ECORYS UK
and the Lifelong Learning Programme
of the European Commission.