Colourful ageing: Workshop report from Craiova, Romania

Voit lukea Urho Vuoren Grundtvig-työpajakokemuksista Romaniassa suomeksi
blogista Kampin Kimmat ja Kundit 
http://kampinpalvelukeskus.blogspot.fi/2013/07/vapaaehtoistoiminta-vei-romaniaan.html

Ikinörtti julkaisee Urhon alkuperäisen raportin englanninkielisenä.

The Grundtvig Workshop "Colourful ageing: storytelling, social media and volunteering activities” was organized by EDUNET Organisation in Craiova, Romania, from 23 to 29 of June 2013 for 10  adults  from 10 European countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Turkey, United Kingdom and Portugal) and 3 participants from  Romania which were  interested in preventing their  passivity or social exclusion before or during retirement and  learning of building social networks and doing volunteering activities".
http://colourfulageing.wordpress.com/


My first encounter with Romanian person happened already on the way to Craiova. On my commuting flight from Amsterdam to Bucharest I sat next to a Romanian person, who was travelling Britain to home for holiday. She introduced herself as Blackbird. I, on the other hand, introduced myself as "Hero Mountain", as my name translates to English.  

Day 1:

On the first day we met with the whole group and got to know the Romanian young volunteers. We made together a trip to a wonderful park in Craiova, which was the third largest park in Europe. The park really made a big impression on me.

Day 2:
The second day we were getting to know to all the different cultures; the Romanian culture and all of our own cultures. During the day we visited a local ethnographic museum, were we learned about the roots of the Romanian culture. In the evening we had a get-together party. During it everyone presented their own culture; we ate different sorts of foods, danced and enjoyed stories. 

 Day 3:
On the third day we took a trip about 100 km from Craiova. Our first destination was an art park called Targu-Jiu, where we saw the Table of Silence, Endless pillar and the Kissing Gate.

The trip continued towards the mountains. We had a chance to see the rural side of Romania and experience the breathtaking views of the mountains.

In the evening we dined in a holiday-paradise, where we went fishing for our dinner! The staff prepared a dinner for us from the very fish we had caught. The cold breeze that came down from the mountains in the evening really suprised all of us.
I really enjoyed the trip and I would be happy to visit the mountains again some day.



Day 4:

We worked on our memory boxes. We paired with  the young Romanian volunteers to share our stories. As I come from Finland, a big part of our cultural heritage and folk-stories is the Santa-Claus, or Joulupukki in Finnish. In Romania they have the stories about Dracula, we have stories about Joulupukki who lives in Lapland in Korvatunturi. We worked together with my pair and made a presentation about this. Even if we didn't have a common language, we were able to communite through the artistical methods used.

Day 5.
The farewell. I showed a presentation to the whole group about my sending-organisation and about the volunteer work I'm involved in Finland.
In the evening we had all together a farewell dinner, which was a grand-finale to the whole week. The location made the farewell feel very emotional. All of us received a diplom from the organisator from participation to the workshop.


Observations and conclusion:
In Finnish we have a saying ”matkailu avartaa”, which means that travelling broadens your view of life. I experienced this myself during the workshop – I had some fears before going to Romania, but they disappeared during the week under the Romanian sun.

Now looking back, I hope I would have been more active asking questions and making notes or keeping a diary during the workshop. This would have given me the chance to get more out of the whole experience all together. I would like to take the opportunity once more to thank everyone.

Un mare multumesc la toti din timpul meu in aceasta säptämänä minunat din Romänia.

teksti ja kuvat Urho Vuori - Enterin vertaisopastaja