Testimony from Alice about her Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project in Italy:

“The weather is becoming much colder here. I am seeing a different side of Italy now that it is winter. People tend to go out less in winter so the town seems to be a lot quieter.

Anffas has started to prepare for Christmas. Lots of beautiful decorations are being put up everywhere, and there is a big Christmas festival this Sunday. The families of the disabled people will come, along with some other people, and we will eat lunch together. I am looking forward to this because Christmas is my favourite time of the year. Also I think it will be nice to meet some of the families because I think it could help me to be more understanding in the future when I am working with the disabled people.

Recently I have felt like I have got to know some of the disabled people a lot more. This is partly due to the fact that I have been here a longer time, but also because now I can have a very basic conversation in Italian. It’s easier to get to know someone when you can understand what they are saying. Speaking and understanding more Italian has made me feel more confident both at work and also outside of work in my free time.

One weekend I went to a service in the local town, known as ‘Sacra Cuore’, with some people from anffas (workers and disabled people). Apparently the purpose of the service is to bless the tractors, to bring them good luck for the harvest, although I’m not one hundred percent sure about this. The day started with a religious service in a church. After, we all went outside and watched the blessing of the tractors. The congregation said a short prayer and holy water was thrown on the tractors as they drove past. I found this quite interesting to watch however it was also a bit strange. The disabled people seemed to be having a good time though, which is what matters. The rest of the day consisted of us all eating together with people from the local community. The dinner lasted for five hours! There were many different courses of all different kinds of food. It was nice to have the opportunity to sample the many foods of Italy, and also it was free!

Since my last report I have visited many beautiful places in Italy with my friends, including some very cute Italian villages and some big country parks. I went to one of the zoos nearby with a friend, which was a very interesting experience. I am enjoying having the opportunity to see different places in Italy and it is nice to get out and do things when I am not working.”

Alice Hinchliffe, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project

part of Empowered From Within

and supported by ECORYS UK

and the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission (Now replaced by Erasmus+ )

“Just wanted to quickly say how much I am in love with this island! Every single day I feel beyond privileged to be here, and constantly throughout each day I am overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude, from driving the car around like I’ve been here all my life to scooping donkey poop, the list is endless to all the things I am grateful for and thoroughly enjoying. Desiree has a heart of gold & has done everything, above and beyond to make us welcome, comfortable and accommodate us. If I could stay here forever I would! Unfortunately that isn’t possible, but if there is anyway my stay could be extended, I would be the happiest girl in the world!!!! It breaks my heart to think I could only have two weeks left on this glorious island, with my beautiful adopted family (that includes the donkeys)!
I really enjoy the work here, it is so much easier and rewarding than I even imagined. All the team are a joy to work for and being covered head to toe in donkey doo doo dust, hard working sweat and chicken poop each day is a pleasure. Each day I think “this cannot get any better, I cannot possibly be any happier”, and then I am blown away again with how amazing everything is.
Thank you so much for this opportunity.”

Felicia, Leonardo Da Vinci mobility trainee in Aruba.

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project

part of Empowered From Within

and supported by ECORYS UK

and the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

The 4th episode of our comic book ”Empowered From Within” is out!

Discover the adventure of Andy, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee in Aruba:

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project supported by ECORYS UK and the Lifelong Learning programme of the European Union.

I arrived in Pordenone, Italy, on the 20th August. I’ve been here for a month now and I’m really enjoying the experience so far.

At the moment I’m still in my induction period, working from 7am to 1.30pm. In the mornings I help the workers get the disabled people out of bed and tend to the personal hygiene of the disabled people. At around 9.30am I participate in one of the morning activities, such as taking the disabled people to the park, or working in one of the many craft rooms making things such as pottery or wicker baskets. At lunch time I help feed the disabled people along with the other workers, and after that I help the workers put the disabled people to bed for a nap, which is called a ‘riposo’ in Italian. Working with the disabled people is a great experience and I find it very enjoyable. They are all very loving and appear to be happy and content most of the time. I think ANFFAS is an amazing place because not only are the disabled people cared for, they are also kept very busy and are entertained throughout the day.

At ANFFAS, the workers are very friendly and will go out of their way to help me and make sure I am okay. At times, communication is difficult, but since arriving in Italy, I already feel like my understanding of the Italian language has improved. I’m also due to start attending Italian language lessons at the school at the end of the month which will hopefully help support my learning.

Alice met our ‘Green Message’ participant, Jara

I’m currently sharing the flat with two other volunteers, a French girl and a Danish girl. They are roughly the same age as me and both very friendly, which is great! Another volunteer, a French boy, is due to arrive next month. I am looking forward to meeting him because I love meeting new people! The flat itself is very nice and quite big, as well as being in a great location to get to work and into the centre of Pordenone.  Also, I’ve made lots of new Italian friends who are very sociable, which has helped me settle into my new home. I’m always busy here, either going for coffee with friends after work or to the beach at the weekend.

I have learnt so much already and I have only been here for one month out of my six month Leonardo da Vinci project! I am having an amazing time and I hope the next five months are just as good!

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project

part of Empowered From Within

and supported by ECORYS UK

and the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

”Today we had breakfast half 9 and after we was waiting for someone to pick us up so we can go the cat centenary to help out by cleaning up the mess, when we got there we was met by loads of cats and all the cats were friendly and came to you, we stating to take pictures of the cats before we started any work, the place quiet smelly but got use to it after a while. After we finished there we came back to the hotel and had some free time and had quick nap before tea, for starter I had carrot and lentil soup, for main I had fish with potato, carrots and peas and for desert I had tiramisu. Then went for a little walk and got a henna tattoo, then came back to the hotel room to chill and was listening to music that was happening outside.”

Testimony from Joe Harrison, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee in Malta.

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project

part of Empowered From Within

and supported by ECORYS UK

and the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

We are really good here, It is an amazing experience (Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility), we are enjoying a lot! Everybody from mission locale is taking care of us.
Here is our last two weeks diary.

WEDNESDAY 10th JULY

Multimedia workshop: young people from Mission Locale were recording a short film in some locations of the island. We had the opportunity to meet them, exchange our languages and know the way they work on.

THURSDAY 11st JULY

Multimedia workshop:   second and last day of filming in some new locations. We participate in the film as extras and helping in whatever we could. We enjoyed a drink with the team to celebrate the end of the filming.

FRIDAY 12nd JULY

Multimedia workshop: editing and mounting the film with the team of Mission Locale. Meeting with Raphael to talk about the association and about the CV workshop in English (first proposal).

MONDAY 15th JULY

Meeting: we met with the team of Mission Locale to talk about all the different workshops we are going to do during the week. English class workshop: we began to prepare our personal workshop (English class and CV workshop). Brainstorming…

TUESDAY 16th JULY

Theatre workshop: we were “acting” with the young people from Mission Locale. First, we were playing some different scenes, then… Cayoning: we went to do cayoning with other young people form Mission Locale in an incredible location of the Island.

WEDNESDAY 17th JULY

English class workshop: during all the day we were working on our workshop preparing different activities and stuff for the first session.

THURSDAY 18th JULY

Comité Jeune meeting: Mission Locale from Saint Pierre organized an event to get together both offices (St.Pierre and St.Joseph).It was the perfect time to showed the sort film and other young people´s videos.

FRIDAY 19th JULY

We went with Filo to another associations in St. Joseph  where people with social  problems  can go to , for example, have a breakfast, have a shower, wash up their clothes, get info about jobs and some activities.

More coming soon…

Ana and Marcos, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainees,

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project

part of Empowered From Within

and supported by ECORYS UK

and the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

5th Day In Norway ( Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project ):

“Today was an early start for me as I had to be at the farm for 6.30am to milk the cows which took about an hour. I also had to give them fresh food. When I had finished 5 of the cows and feeding them all I went back to Morgan House and had some breakfast, we went to the morning meeting, after the morning meeting we went back down the cows and gave them some fresh bedding and cleaned the cow pat from the stands where the cows stand. After we had done this we went down to the field where we were knocking the fence down and cut some branches and put them on the trailer.”

Shelby Taylor, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

“Yet again another amazing day in Solborg started as usual sitting at the table sharing breakfast with the people in Morgan House. This for me is very important because it is something I never do at home. Then work started, we went down the farm and cleaned out the cow shed, once clean we fed the cows. Then we headed down to the field where we took the fences down. Trees had been cut down to clean up the field boundary. We then persisted in sorting out the wood into 2 piles. One for burning in the village houses, one for the compost pile. I think we sorted 5 trailers full of wood. We worked hard and very efficient, it was really nice when we sat down for diner and there was wood on the fire. It was rewarding thinking there will be a fire keeping people warm thanks to the work we did today.”

Owen Reece, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

“Today we have breakfast at 7.45am in the Morgan House and we left the house at 9.00 to meet the villagers for half an hour and we went to the cows’ house, we cleaned the cows’ houses.”

Samiy Fesahya, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

15th May, Solborg, Norway

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project

part of Gaining Through Training

and supported by ECORYS UK

and the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

Testimonies from our Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainees in Norway about the Fourth day of their project:

“Today we started by having breakfast at 7.45am in Morgan House. After this we went down to the field and finished taking down the fence, when we had finished taking down the fence we went up to the forest workshop and chopped some wood. Then one of the volunteers who works on the farm came down with the tractor and trailer and we put most of the logs into the trailer, when we had finished work we had a nice friendly game of football with the villagers.”

Shelby Taylor, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

“Today was another amazing day, we started off as usual by having breakfast with the people of Morgan House. I really enjoy sitting down as part of a family.
The work started same as the day before, we finished taking down the fences and then we worked on the farm, chopping some wood in the forest. Once that was finished we helped with the animals, cleaning out the cows and feeding them, as well as the sheep and chickens. Once work was finished we had a nice friendly game of football although I don’t really care for the game it was a great chance to bond and have a good time with the villagers and care workers.”

Owen Reece, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

“Today we are doing eating breakfast with the people of Morgan House and we are going to work the same place we worked yesterday, we had a break at 10.30 for half an hour and then we have been chopping wood. We had lunch at 12.00pm and we went back at 2.00pm in the cows’ house. We were feeding the cows and gave them grass. After that we finished at 5.00pm and we had diner at 5.30pm with the people of Morgan House, at 7.00pm we played football with the people in the village.”

Samiy Fesahya, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

14th May, Solborg, Norway

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project

part of Gaining Through Training

and supported by ECORYS UK

and the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

Testimony from our Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainees about their third day in Norway:

“The 3 days that I have been staying on Camphill have been great. I have really enjoyed meeting the people who live and work here. Today we worked on the farm taking down an old rotten fence to get it redone for the cows to graze in.  I really enjoyed doing this because I like doing manual work as I am used to doing it because I’m working with animals at college. Today I also had lunch with one of the other families.”

Shelby Taylor, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

Samiy and Owen pulling down an old fence

“Our third day in Camphill has been great. I really enjoyed socializing with the people who live on the site. But I thought it was even better starting work and showing I am an asset to Camphill. Today we worked on the farm and started pulling down an old fence so it can be replaced, then the cows are able to graze the field. I was really happy to get stuck in and work hard. I already know I am going to learn and gain so much from this training experience. The least I can do in return is make sure I work well. I will take things from this to better my own life. So I would be happy to contribute and help people in their lives.“

Owen Reece, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

“I had a good day today, I did work in the farm where we worked hard. In the morning we worked for 3 hours and we had a half an hour break. After, we went back and worked the same place in the farm. I had lunch in the farm house, we met with the farm people, they are so nice.”

Samiy Fesahy, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

13th May, Solborg, Norway

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project

part of Gaining Through Training

and supported by ECORYS UK

and the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

Here are the testimonies from our 3 trainees about the second day of their Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project in Norway:

“My opinion of Norway is great. Today we asked Adnan questions about Solborg, the work we will be doing and what hours of work we will be doing. Today we also went bowling in Honefoss with the rest of the volunteers and people that live and work in Solborg. I really enjoyed bowling because I got to meet more of the community of Solborg as the people are really nice and polite.”

Shelby Taylor, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

“My over all opinion of Norway is still amazing! Today we asked questions to Adnan about the type of work we are able to do on the farm, such as what time do we start, are we on the farm or are we doing something else. Afterwards we took a drive into Honefosss and enjoyed a nice game of bowling with the full time volunteers and the people who live on Camphill. It was a great opportunity to talk to the people who live here, and plus to introduce ourselves to the ones who we haven’t met yet. I can’t wait to get busy and show I am a reliable and hard working person.”

Owen Reece, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

“I am happy to be here in Norway, today I had a great time when I had breakfast. We went to the farm house, took pictures with the cow and we went to bowling with my mates and the farm, we played bowling, I had nice time.”

Samiy Fesahy, Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility trainee.

12th May, Solborg, Norway

Leonardo Da Vinci Mobility project

part of Gaining Through Training

and supported by ECORYS UK

and the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.