Day eight - Connecting the visions

Hugs, kisses, (no tears), just smiles and promises to keep in touch and to organize a plan to develop our common projects...

Then just a few rounds of waving goodbye, and... for us Romanians, the sensation that Cluj is just not going to feel the same, at least for a while... Because this past week, Cluj wasn’t just a city, not even just „the capital of Romania”, but more like Europe united in a common purpose, more like the holy ground in which people from different cultures came together and discovered that they share the same dream: to make a difference in the mental health of those around them. And together, we will make steps further to fulfill this dream!

 

So, it was never goodbye, just „see you soon”!

 

 

And with this occasion, we thank Dumitrita for having such a great idea with Connecting the Visions, writing such a good project and inspiring us every day :) 

(Articol scris de Manuela Nedelcu)

Day seven - Connecting the Visions

This was our last official day spent together... L

I heard a lot of people expressing regret that our time as a group will soon come to an end, I heard other people saying how glad yet absolutely tired they were... but I think each and every one of us felt happy because we managed to outline great projects by combining our ideas and our skills.

Today we developed a strategy to promote our projects (our precious-darling babies! – sorry, I’m just really excited about all of them!). It was a fun-filled and very creative activity, because we had the liberty to exploit our imagination to its fullest and to use all kinds of different materials (coloured paper and pens, balloons, string, cardboard, flipchart sheets... just about anything we could find in the room, plus ourselves and our personal assets). Each project team chose the best ways to make their project and the Youth in Action Programme visible, to maximize the impact in the community, as well as to disseminate and further exploit the results of the project. Not to mention some ideas (quite serious ones) got the chance to be expressed in amazingly creative, metaphorical or funny ways.

When we returned from the lunch break, Lecsa and Bogdan had prepared a beautiful harbour opening towards the great sea for our paper boats (each of us made one in the first day of activities, and wrote on it his/her expectations, fears and contributions for „Connecting the Visions”). I know what you’re asking yourself: when did Bogdan and Lecsa have time to eat?! – we don’t know, but somehow they managed to do everything in time and be even more creative and full of energy than any of us would have ever expected... We simply couldn’t have asked for more wonderful facilitators than them! (Thank you for creating the perfect environment for connecting our visions! :*) 

... The idea is that our journey has, in some ways, just begun. We take with us this wonderful experience together, and sail back home, richer in so many ways and eager to make our common projects a reality in the near-by future J

In the afternoon it was time to reward everybody for their special contribution to the  group and to the project. We each received diplomas, honouring that special thing we brought to Connecting the Visions – it was just like the Oscars, only better: because you could feel the joy and love coming from the cheering crowd, and... we all won so much, didn’t we? J

The day ended as it should have: with a farewell party to remember!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Articol scris de Manuela Nedelcu)

Day six - Connecting the Visions

Time for our project ideas to take the shape of a tree and grow just as strong J.

Today we learned how to formulate the need or problem which our projects address, and also how and where do the causes and effects fit in the bigger picture. We worked into groups and created, step by step, our “problem trees”, then later on, we derived our project trees to help solve the different problems which our projects addressed. Everyone agreed that this method came in very handy when we had to put our ideas into order and further develop our projects. It was an amazing feeling to actually work together towards developing common projects – ask Lecsa and Bogdan – it was hard to get the people to stop working! J

Today we also had the chance to share our inspiration with the group – each of us showed a little glimpse of what inspires and makes us tick – it was a quite moving and motivating moment.

We further developed our projects by thinking of the beneficiaries, the place and time frame, the title, the methods involved. In the afternoon, we all stepped out for a walk in the near-by (peaceful and secure) woods. But it wasn’t just any walk – meanwhile we talked in pairs (proceeding in an Indian row fashion) about what particular competencies we wanted to develop for the participants of our common projects and how we could make that possible. If you ask me, the idea of the Indian row and switching partners at the sign of Bogdan’s bird whistle – it was all just an excuse to further have fun with the whistle J Personally, I learned a lot from the discussions I had during this short trip, plus people seemed to really enjoy spending even a few minutes out in the nature. 

After dinner came time for an intriguing movie: “Let’s talk about Kevin”, since we are on the mental health topic... (brrrr!!! – it could literally send shivers down to your spine if you’re a little more sensitive).

(Articol scris de Manuela Nedelcu)

Day five - Connecting the Visions

Time to speak a little “Youth-in-Action-ese” J

We started by accommodating ourselves with the Youth in Action programme. First we had a funny quiz about the programme and several major topics, countries which can apply, actions and sub-actions, vision, objectives, priorities – and we gave our best answers – some funny noisy trinkets helped us announce when we knew the answer. Also, organised into teams, we made a few short presentations of the main sub-actions that YiA has to offer. It got all  more exciting when we had to come up with project ideas and envision how they could fit into one or more YiA sub-actions – we put all of them on separate post-its and voted our favourite three. When we got back from the lunch break, Bogdan had worked his magic and we found that our ideas had come together, combined into three wonderful project ideas.

The last part of the day was dedicated to preparing for the theme party which was going to take place later in the evening. The theme we commonly decided on was 60’s & 70’s music. Everyone had their share of responsibilities: some of us took care of make-up and costumes, some designed games and activities; some created the decorum, while others searched for 60’s and 70’s songs. 

Around nine o’clock it was time to catch the bus (mostly by running, screaming and laughing our heads off) and off we were to theme party land!!!

 (Articol scris de Manuela Nedelcu)

Day four - Connecting the Visions

Today we went deeper into the issues of mental health and what services can be provided by NGOs to people with mental problems. Our day started with a visit at Estuar – the most important non-governmental structure that addresses the needs of people with mental health issues in Romania. We took a brief tour of the centre, found out about the activities that take place in Estuar, who are the beneficiaries, what are the good aspects and what are the short-comings… and also spoke to Silviu – the first beneficiary that Estuar had in Cluj-Napoca. It’s basically impossible not to like Silviu and not to laugh and cheer around him – he’s probably the best example we’ve met lately of how much potential and how many abilities and open-mindedness a person with mental issues can have!

The day continued with a chance to learn how the organizations where we each came from work with people with mental health disability. Lecsa and Bogdan organized a talk show and we were all invited to share our vision and our good practices with the other participants in the public. I think it was extremely useful for each of us to find out new ways of addressing mental health issues, different aspects of the same problems, how different organisations from different cultures deal with these needs, but also what already works in some countries or NGOs and could be implemented in others as well. 

In the night, most people chose to have some more old-fashion fun, and play games, dance and drink great Romanian whine, until late into the night. Of course there were some casualties: some of us were too tired from the excitement of the last three days to join the party anymore – so they went to sleep… and some of us that really partied with passion (“Youth in Passion” J - inside joke) were a little bit on the zombie side the next morning J All in all, it was another fun-filled and also revealing day for all.

(Articol scris de Manuela Nedelcu)

Day three - Connecting the Visions

Sooo, to sum it up in just a few words, today was a really active and enjoyable day – special thanks to Valerian – a friend of Minte Forte who’s here in Romania for a few months as a volunteer worker for Estuar (he’s originally from France – and has the special charm to prove it J).

Valerian introduced us to the benefits of theatre and physical exercise in creating group connections, expressing ourselves and discovering new ideas and possibilities. We took turns in leading the exercises for the whole group – something like a blend of thai-chi and dance… and just improvising. We also created infernal machines together (making different sounds and movements as a whole, in order to ‘create’ a metaphor). One very inventive and inspirational exercise was to enact (in groups) a special personal experience with mental health issues.

During the second part of the day we went hunting for treasures in the capital of Romania: Cluj-Napoca! (we all agree that a capital can be chosen with our heart, not just based on administrative credentials). The Romanian member in every team was merely a consultant – he could only answer 3 questions and couldn’t translate or lead the way. Needless to say all of our participants now know how many tits the statue of Lupa Capitolina on Eroilor street has (J), one Romanian saying and one phrase in Hungarian, how you can run through the fountain in Piata Unirii without getting your feet wet… and many more fun and interesting details about Cluj. We all had fun, it felt like a great adventure, and at the end we all got prizes!

Most of us decided to end the day at the Beer Factory, accompanied by good beer and great people J.

(Articol scris de Manuela Nedelcu)