Dzień dobry everyone!
I'm Tuğçe. At the beginning of July (from 2nd to 15th), I was leading the workcamp Przedwiosnie 01, in a centre for disabled people in Warsaw. I had the privilege of working with 6 awesome international volunteers from Ukraine, Spain, Mexico and Czech Republic.
For our first day of workcamp, we explored the old town of Warsaw and we were joined by the local volunteers, Iga and Kuba. We had an awesome first day.
For the next two weeks, we had many trips to many places such as the beautiful Łazienki Królewskie Park, Praga and other beautiful places of Warsaw.
And of course to one of the most beautiful cities of Poland, Gdańsk!
Beside our trips, we also had an awesome time in our workcamp with the lovely patients and workers of the centre. The patients were so eager to work with us and the workers were so nice to us. Everyday from 9 to 12.30 and 14.00 to 15.30, we had various types of work. From 9 to 12.30 everyday, we had a day for each country and cooked its traditional dishes. I cooked a turkish salad called kısır with a yoghurt drink 'ayran' and a turkish dessert called revani, while others cooked other delicious dishes. Since making a dessert is fun, I wanted to do it with patients. And they were so eager to help me too.
In addition to cooking, we helped them with their workshops and daily activities from 9 to 12.30. After 14.00 we had our own time and prepared activities for the patients of the centre. We did various kinds of games, songs, dances and mini quizzes about cultures.
On top of having fun and learning something in the workcamp, we made great friendships. Each of us tried to teach the others something from our own countries. We had great relationships with the patients and some of the workers. I can say I was definetely lucky to lead this workcamp. 😊
Dzień dobry everyone,
Two weeks ago was already the end of our “Intergenerational Garden” project (FIO - Mazowsze Lokalnie) and we celebrated its success with a sunny picnic in the garden of Senior Wigor. Here is a quick summary of the last few weeks of this project!
Workshop number 3 (Tuesday the 11 of July)
During this workshop, we finished assembling our pallet benches and tables and created flower pots out of apple boxes, to later plant strawberries, lavender, roses and so on. For this workshop, we had a nice group of seniors, adults and youth. My parents, who were in Pułtusk to visit me, even helped us with the flower pots!
We then had an informal gardening meeting with the seniors to plant lavender, roses, strawberries, etc and we were very happy with the result! 😊
Workshop number 4 (Tuesday the 25th of July)
During our fourth workshop and a couple of informal meetings afterwards, we created five bird houses and five bird water feeders with plastic bottles, as well as golden coasters and jar lanterns .
Celebratory picnic (Tuesday the 8th of August)
In order to celebrate our project, we decided to organize a picnic with all the participants. Of course, we used all of our “creations”: pallet benches and tables, coasters, pillows, lanterns and we decorated the garden with balloons, pictures and bird houses. For the occasion, we gathered the seniors and volunteers who helped with the project. We were also very happy to welcome the deputy mayor of Pułtusk, the director of the social care center, a journalist from Pultuska Gazeta Powiatowa and of course the director of Senior Wigor.
After lovely thank-you speeches and presents, I presented the results of the project and gave more information to the seniors about how they should use their new compost and bird houses in the future. We then played games such as crocket, darts, tin-throwing game, board games, etc. and finished the day with a barbecue and dances.
The project in numbers:
2 tables made with pallets
6 benches made with pallets (3 new and 3 restored)
5 bird houses (3 small, 2 big)
5 bird water feeders
6 flower pots made with apple boxes (lavender, strawberries, roses, etc)
Pillows for the garden benches
Decorations: golden coasters made with magazines, lanterns made with jars
4 official workshops and several informal meetings
More than 45 people involved
16 seniors
17 young volunteers and 10 workers and other participants
In addition to the creation of DIY garden furniture and decorations, the “Intergenerational Garden” project also enabled the participants of all ages to exchange and to learn a variety of new skills and knowledge, which they can reuse and share with others.
This project was also an important part of my EVS, as one objective of my own voluntary service was to develop exchanges between seniors and youth. It was a lot of hard work and I discovered the multitude of tasks, skills and details a project of this scale requires. Among many other things, I learned how to apply for a grant, to defend a project again a jury, to recruit volunteers, to organize workshops, to think in details about tools and budget and of course, how to build furniture. It demanded a lot of organization and energy and I am very, very thankful to my coordinator Sylwia for guiding me through the running of the project for the past three months. And of course, a huge thank you to everyone from FIYE, from Senior Wigor and to all the volunteers who helped in this project! Bardzo dziękujęmy for making this fun adventure possible! 😊
Na razie,
Julia
