No Borders Citizens, Timo: " A crazy and beautiful experience in which I learned an incredible amount of things"

To put it briefly: It's been a crazy and beautiful experience in which I learned an incredible amount of things. During these 10 months I felt like no week was like the one before. I met a lot of people, faced new challenges and gained a ton of experience. The project took place at the cultural association Entropia, which is located inside the University of Calabria in the south of Italy. The project was about the integration and inclusion of international students, asylum seekers and refugees.

Over the course of my time at Entropia I was involved in a large variety of activities and projects. Since the restrictions at the beginning of our project due to the Covid-19 situation were quite severe, the opportunities to conduct social activities were strongly limited. However, we were still able to meet some new people for language exchanges and perform outdoor activities with refugees and asylum seekers at a local refugee center. During this time, I also recorded a podcast about the international protection system and the refugee arrival and recognition process in Germany, Italy and Spain, together with my partner in the project. Towards the summer, as the pandemic situation calmed down a bit, we could finally reopen the association for students and some social activities. From this point on, part of my work consisted of receiving and assisting students, refugees, artists or other visitors to our space. Also, we were finally able to fully start enjoying Calabria by traveling around it's beautiful little villages and beaches. 

Our weekly program at the association included a range of activities open for internationals as well as locals. These activities included karaoke nights, public viewings, babel tea (language exchange & socialisation), jam sessions, music and art labs, movie nights and italian courses. Apart from participating, part of my duties were to promote these activities by creating flyers, speaking to people and writing social media posts. I was also involved in the promotion of our festivals and the association in general. Furthermore, we also worked on weekly live radio broadcasts. During the first period of the live shows I assisted by taking care of the social room, which includes operating the social media page, answering comments and passing the comments on to the speakers. In the second period of the live broadcasts towards the end of the project, I worked inside the studio with the speakers as sound director, a role that I really enjoyed.

One of my personal highlights and one of the big parts of my project was the European project “No Borders Festival” in which 40 young people from different backgrounds came together to organise a festival promoting social inclusion. I was involved from the interview process of the participants through to the organisation, the final implementation of the festival and the conclusion period. It was amazing for me to see how people from all over the world came together to work towards the same goal, overcoming any differences that may exist between them.

My biggest challenge during the project was learning a new language from zero, since I didn't have any previous knowledge of Italian. Many people in my environment didn't speak much English, which made it hard to communicate sometimes, but it was also beneficial for my progress in the language. Despite the difficulties I sometimes faced, I was very lucky to have many supportive people around me willing to teach me patiently and help me out in many ways. With their support I ended up being able to communicate decently in Italian. 

All in all, I gained a lot of knowledge about European projects and opportunities, refugees and asylum seekers, radio broadcasts, picture and video editing tools, youth work, festivals, social media, and most of all, about people from all over the world and their culture. I also learned a lot about the problems that exist in Calabria, especially for young people. However, I was proud to be part of an association that tries to make a positive change to this reality. 

During this year I had the chance to work with some amazing people from various origins. I really loved working on this multicultural team and managed to make some great friends along the way. I feel very privileged to have been able to be part of this project and I feel very thankful towards everybody involved in having made it possible. Overall, this experience was one of the best I ever had and I feel that it impacted my life and me as a person immensely. 

Timo Knoferl - European Solidarity Corps Volunteer

Beni Comuni, al DAM la presentazione del libro di Pierluigi Vattimo

 

CARPE DIEM, diventa volontario del Servizio Civile Universale presso la sede di Entropia APS

 

L'Associazione culturale ENTROPIA APS anche quest'anno, presso la propria sede al DAM Unical (Rende CS), mette a disposizione n.4 posti per operatori volontari del Servizio Civile Universale. Il progetto si chiama "Carpe Diem" (codice PTCSU0032821014696NMTX) e vede coinvolti 6 Enti attivi in ​​diversi comuni della provincia di Cosenza, per un totale di 32 posti. Il progetto fa parte del programma "Generatività sociale 2.0" coordinato dal CSV Cosenza . 

Il bando generale, pubblicato dal Dipartimento per le Politiche Giovanili e il Servizio Civile Universale, scade il 10 febbraio. Affrettati a fare domanda! Il primo passo è dotarsi dello SPID e poi procedere alla compilazione  QUI .

LEGGI  la scheda sintetica del progetto CARPE DIEM

Il videoreport del NoBorders Festival

Senza confini, senza limiti, senza barriere. La comunità che abbiamo in mente e che stiamo costruendo passo dopo passo, giorno dopo giorno, grazie al supporto dei programmi europei destinati ai giovani e con il coinvolgimento attivo dei destinatari, è una comunità multiculturale senza frontiere. 
NoBorders Festival ha usato i diversi linguaggi dell'arte per includere tutti e tutte, aldilà delle provenienze, delle differenze linguistiche, della condizione sociale o economica. 
40 partecipanti selezionati attraverso il Portale del Corpo Europeo di Solidarietà hanno vissuto un'esperienza forte e intensa di socialità e apprendimento. Si chiama "apprendimento non formale e informale" ed è certificato e riconosciuto in Europa attraverso lo Youthpass.
Le opportunità sono tante, anche nel nostro territorio: cercatele! E intanto godetevi il videoreport del Festival.

Corso gratuito di italiano base per studenti, rifugiati e richiedenti asilo

 

Babel Tea ogni mercoledì al DAM con i volontari del SCU e del Corpo Europeo

 

NoBorders Festival, volunteers become actors and musicians for solidarity and inclusion

The 1st of October took place the NoBorders Festival, a multicultural and inclusive event involving young people, languages and cultures from all over the world, that filled with colour the Amphitheatre of the University of Calabria. The Festival, organised by the Cultural Association Entropia, was part of a European Solidarity Corps volunteering project that involved more than 40 volunteers from Italy, Spain, Portugal and non-EU countries (Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Uruguay, Afghanistan, Burkina, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Syria, Guinea, Guinea Bissau). In just two weeks, the volunteers organized the festival through their participation in four diverse workshops: theatre, art, communication and music, characterised by linguistic and cultural diversity.

The event started with the NoBorders Food stand where Afghan, Ecuadorian and Spanish dishes were prepared and offered by volunteers. The first performance of the Festival showed the migrants' journey: the conflicts and threat, but also the beauty and strength of diversity. The performance, which involved the volunteers themselves, was the outcome of the theatre workshop led by Paolo Spinelli. The second performance, led by the orchestra director Checco Pallone, was a jam session with a mix of styles, talents and rhythms from around the world. Closing the event was the eagerly awaited concert by Moti Rivoluzionari, an emerging music group from Acri, which brought to the Campus the energy that had been missing for months.

Daniela Ielasi, president of the Entropia association, thanked the team of volunteers of the European Solidarity Corps for their commitment and enthusiasm in promoting and building together the multicultural festival of inclusion, inviting all young people present to follow the example of the volunteers, to commit themselves, to be active citizens and to develop a critical conscience. The festival's message was also one of solidarity with Mimmo Lucano, who a few hours earlier had received a harsh and controversial sentence, and who in Calabria has become the symbol of resistance to a system that excludes and leaves the last ones behind. Marta Petrusewicz, culture councilor of the city of Rende also thanked the association, the volunteers and the participants, expressing the pleasure of being in a varied and international environment from a linguistic and cultural point of view.

The NoBorders Festival project gave the young participants the opportunity not only to get out of their comfort zones, but to return to social environments after more than a year of isolation. The opportunity to share their life stories, create new ones, forge new bonds and work side by side to build a community without borders. Anna, a Spanish participant who said after this experience: "For a long time I was trying to understand what I should do with my life. Now I can say that I have understood: I want to work with migrants and refugees, and help them on their path to integration". Or Lassina, a young refugee from the Ivory Coast, who has been in Italy for less than a year, who said: "For the first time since I left my country, I felt part of a group. I felt welcomed and understood, despite the difficulties due to the language".