Month: August 2019

The volunteers strike back 

One would think there’s a limit to the amount of time one can spend working on walls. Apparently not. The third week of wall work has been the most exhausting one yet. If you enter our centre at any time during the day, it’s inevitable to catch someone or everybody diligently working on the walls. But if last week was a time to despair, this week has seen the victory of the volunteers over those damn walls. Tools in hands, dancing, singing or talking, the volunteers have little by little given a complete make over to the inside of the abandoned thermal central. 

However, this victory was not without its costs. It’s has been a killing, draining, gruelling week and we are proud to say we survived it. This Friday night was spent on our centre, at midnight there were still some of us finishing up this or that. With lanterns and the lights from the FITT van we worked into the night, always with some “is this painted yet?” or “that’s already painted, move on” flying around. It was with a great relief that we saw the ten pizza boxes arriving at centre at ten in the night curtesy of our (now- after the pizza-very appreciated and very beloved) FITT organisers. 

Also, we have been battling on two fronts: against the floor and against the clock. Initially we were supposed to finish our work on Saturday but as one of our team’s member so eloquently said when asked if we were going to finish on time “nah”. As predicted by everyone on the team, we didn’t finish on time and in a demonstration of our team’s calibre and quality we are going to work on the only free day we have this week. Wish us luck. We’re going to need it. 

And although this week has been very demanding, it was with great joy that we saw our floor being built. The days of parkour and jumping around trying to get in and out of the centre and the bathroom are officially over. We couldn’t be happier because in addition to the floor we received new furniture to fill out and decorate our centre. Also, we have been feeling very loved since this week we received some guests from other teams who helped us out for a few hours. We are super grateful for these people who spent weeks saying that our centre “couldn’t be that bad” have now swallowed their words. 

It has become usual to see the members of the red team arriving at the dorms covered in paint, cement, mud, wood, etc. The night we stayed late we were welcomed by the other teams with a round of applause which was very good for our self-esteem as a group. It’s true that we complain a whole lot, complain about the walls, about being tired, about the muscle’s pain, about the noise, about the hours we have to work, about the heat, about the cold but keep this in mind: every single member of this team knows that it’s worth it and we are damn proud of what we are building. 

While we work on this mission impossible: the youth centre, the volunteers must now start preparing the opening ceremony. It might sound a bit odd that, even if the walls are not all painted yet, we are already wanting to open the space. But 

understand that this is being done only to receive the people who are going to be the true spirit of this place. They’re the heart and soul, while, we the volunteers, red team, fortatinerilor, call us whatever you like, are just the bones. That’s why, while some will be assembling furniture, making colourful paintings on the walls, decorating the outside, others, a brave part of the team, will be going out on the streets, battling on social media to organize and promote the wonderful evening we believe this neighbourhood and our beloved centre deserve. 

After all, the walls may be curved, the edges might not be straight, the floor might be painted where it’s not supposed to be but we put our hearts and souls into this project, we gave our blood an sweat, we have worked endlessly and we gave everything we got and the end result however crocked and imperfect and tainted will be ours and ours alone. And we will spend the rest of our lives reminiscing about that one summer that made us hate walls.

One week left and we are almost finished. In this week all of the center’s big tasks were accomplished such as:

Painting the ceiling, fixing up the corners, painting the main walls, building furniture, fixing up the garden and putting a new door.

The process of finishing these tasks required many hours of hard work and devotion.  We recognize the fact that we are part of a wave of change. The things we have done and the challenges we have faced, we have tried to overcome in the best way possible.

This is a picture from the begining of the week with our not yet finished corners and with the donations we had. 

Right now, we are more focused than ever. Our goal remains the same but our expectations have risen higher as we get closer to that goal. 

We are committed to seeing the change we thought about at the beginning become a reality and we were the ones who made that change happen.

Last week’s postponed lemonade party happened this Saturday. 

We had a gathering with the community to show them our progress. Not many people showed up but the ones who did were really interested in our work. 

This Monday we also have the International Youth Day Conference. This conference will give us a chance to talk about our work and share our experiences with others somethıng that we are really excited about. 

Anahit Gharibyan 

Last week was very difficult. We had a very hard job. We fixed the corners and the walls and we painted them. We received a lot of donations like wood and renovated them. I think last week was the most productive week we have had because we tried hard and finally saw the results of our work. I hope that we can finish it in time. 

Maria Dinca

I am the romanian girl from Timiteam who is responsible for the community engagement actions. Sometimes I don`t like to do this because we need to walk in the sun for 40-50 minutes but at other times I feel like I am the most blessed girl in the world. 

I always have the most amazing people in my community engagement team and I am so thankful for that. When I am in a bad mood to do community engagement, citizens show me why it`s so important to talk with each other, to connect with other people , to know their story and to get closer with them.

 Their smile makes me so happy and confident, it`s my source of motivation and inspiration. Also, I found out that Romania has beautiful people and youngsters who believe that Romania is still their dream country.

Christina Foundou

I think this week was the hardest week because we had to basically finish everything. Despite the fact that it was really hard, I really liked it. This week made me a more creative person. During this week I didn’t like that we had a lot of pressure because of the time and we had lack of materials.

Vasilis Tsalos

For me, the last days in our youth center were the most creative and productive from the whole project until now. We spent a lot of time creating furnitures, painting and cleaning. We did a great job and we had a strong teamwork. I can’t wait to see the final result of our lovely youth centre.

Mo talks about the week that just ended

As usual, Pangea ends its working day with the weekly report, doing its best to organize the following week. On Saturday, Pangea gathered in the kitchen since the reading room was busy at that moment. Even though we were sleepy, hungry, and lacked the motivation because of the rainy weather, we ended up discussing the plans anyways. 

Firstly, during the following week, we aim to finish cleaning the walls with the sandpaper as well as start painting the walls. We are not sure about the color of the walls yet, but there is an idea in the team of having the wall “Before I die.” This can also be in the Solidarity Corner that each center has to have.

Secondly, we should fix the walls from the outside with cement and start painting them. One creative idea regarding the outside is having the replication of famous artists, like Van Gogh, Claud Monet, etc. Additionally, we are thinking of having “angel wings,” so that locals, as well as tourists, can come to the center to take pictures. In this way, our center will not serve on its purpose but also become a touristic destination. 

What comes to the interior and the design, the architects of our team have created a plan of how we want our center to look like. We are trying our best to make sure that the center will be interesting for different age groups, owing to the fact that we do not really know the target room of the future youth center. During the past week, we made benches, chairs, tables, and a sofa out of scratch painted them and decided how to place them. Furthermore, we have already ordered the material for the big table that we are going to have as well as the bricks for the movable stage.

In general, we have an idea what we are going to do in the following week, which is extremely important for us, as we have faced problems in the previous weeks regarding it. There were a myriad of cases when we had no idea what to do, where to start, and where to go. Nevertheless, now, we are motivated and guided enough for completing the weekly tasks that we set for ourselves.

 Moving on to the third week, we`re proud of what we`ve accomplished. We were able to clean theoutside completely and do some real progress on the inside. 

We repaired the walls almost entirely so that after some finishing touches it will be ready to bepainted and we cleaned the rust and painted the fence in blue, as well. 

Meantime, in our thursday action the team gathered in the youth house to make furniture fromused materials for our centre. More precisely we made a sofa, a coat hanger, two tables and a chairto use as decoration. 

Besides that, for the community engagement, we interacted some more with the locals and got our first furniture donation. 

Aditionally, for this saturday we planned a lemonade party to welcome the neighbourhood to ourcentre and show them our work and progress. We even designed an invitation flyer which we laterdistributed throughout the neighbourhood. Unfortunately, the weather conditions didn`t allow usto go through with it so we had to postpone it. 

Here is our invitation flyer; 

To sum up, this week was a tiring but rewarding experience. We aknowledge the importance of our work we grew together as a team. At below there are reflections of our team mates that we would like to share. 

Ana Sofia Barata 

This week was very important for us, we finished the parking lot and the garden behind our centerand it was hard but worth it. We also found an electricity post that we didn’t even know was there. Inside we started repairing the walls and hopefully next week we can start painting. We had a lot ofchallenges, but overall it was a good week for the team. 

Beatriz Ferreira 

Finally, i’m starting to see progress on our center. We’re almost finished working on the walls andthe community is getting more and more used to our help and presence. 

As a team we still have some issues but we’re working on solving them. 

We also planned a lemonade party this saturday which we had to cancel due to the weather. 

All in all, it was a good week for us and I’m excited to continue the work. 

Vasilis Tsalos 

Today,it’s not actually a summer day. We woke up and it was raining a lot. It’s time to rest a little bitcause we cannot work under those conditions. But it’s also time to think about what we did thisweek. 

For me, it was a very good and productive week. We were working in our centre inside and outside, we tried to fix the things and we did a great job. I really liked the spirit of the team. 

It was colourful and multicultural. We did it in a creative way with music, dance, jokes and smiles. Many smiles. Many different smiles. 

Alina Sferl 

About this week: people from neighborhood are actually speaking about us with each other, theyare visiting us, and because we worked hard the interior looks like a new one, you can picture howour place will be full of young people. 

Christina 

This week was a very productive week because we made the walls inside. Unfortunately saturday1slemonade party was canceled. 

Davud Azizov 

In comparison with the other weeks, this week was the toughest because of the things that needed to be done. We built a sofa, chairs etc. for our youth center but the problem was we didn’t have enough equipment, as always. 

On the same day, we started to paint the fence but again we didn`t have enough equipment. The next day we did community engagement and tried to fix all the things inside of the building. Now,we have only a week to finish it all. 

Gozde Siir 

As a team everyday we decide together and we make things happen together. As with everything there are good and bad moments but when I think about the good ones I know it’s just worth it. Day by day I can see that locals are passing by and recognizing and appreciating our work and I am very grateful for that. 

Everyday in this week, we got home, dirty, tired, pieces of wall in our hair. Our legs, hands and feet covered in cement. The feeling of exaustion is a little bit overwhelming for all, the pride and satisfaction is even greater. How can we be so tired, sweatyand yet so happy? Maybe that is what volunteering is all about.

Another week has passed, quick as always and full of challenges. We spent our time working on our walls. We cleaned, filled holes, made roads, smooth them out… A lot of work but also a lot of fun. 

Our favorite part of the day is the famous morning spot. We have to participate in it every morning, with activities, games, talks, music, dancing. Pretty much everything you can imagine. We did not even know we could be so creative. Sleepy, coffee in hand and a lot of good mood: that is morning spot. After this amazing moment, of course, there is even a better part of our busy busy day. Public transportation! Running after buses is even better for waking up than our sweet morning spot. So, we could, in fact, call it morning sport.

In the end, when we are finally all in our center, an unreplaceable part is complaining about our sleep deprivation and making plans and, most importantly, a healthy amount of memes. After we finish all theses tasks, the work can actually start. With smiles on our faces and tools in our hands, we put on the music and start dancing with the walls.

Walls, walls, walls and more walls. Dasquin can’t even be indoors anymore. Just the thought of it makes him sick. So, we became  great poets. Writing great quotes, songs and stories. About what, you say? Walls, of course.

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We have to admit, in spite of the dirtyness of our clothes, we are really lucky that we are a part of the red team. No matter what the CHALLENGE is, we always solve it, laugh about it and, of course, make some more memes.

The results of our work are not simply kind and funny stories, or memories about our youth centers, but the visible impact we made through our teamwork, passion and motivation. Besides having support from each other, we also get a lot of support from neighbours. One of the nicest moments we would love to share is this lovely story with our team mate Arus. She was resting in shade, sleepily, and our sweet neighbour just came to her and took her into her house. A few minutes later, the team had three big jars of jam. That really does sum up the spirit of our neighbourhood.

This week was also special and really emotional for all of us, because of our first furniture donation. Now, we have a big pile of doors, teacups, tables, chairs, a little bit of everything really. We couldn’t be more proud. The main emotion in the team was that we had finally become members of this community, slowly but surely we are reaching our goals. And that does not only include the physical appearence of our center, it means engaging the people around us and building awareness.

We can tell you for days all about our hard work and jokes we made this last week, but what we truly want to share with you are the plans for our future. First of all, we want to win the meme competion. We know we desserve it. Secondly, maybe try to catch the bus earlier. And of  course, the biggest highlight of everything, BUILDING THE FLOOR! We believe that after that, everything will come in its place. Then again, we can use our creative thinking and imagination to create a safe and productive environment, where our peers can carry out the hard work we are putting in this space.

This story about European projects, became much more than just that for us. It became our life story. We want everyone to know and to hear about the one hundred young people which came from all around the world to make a difference! To make a change.