A Tamara veio de Belgrado – Sérvia e realizou SVE em Lisboa em Portugal. Esta é a partilha da sua experiência!
Everything started with a little dream of travelling to the most western country of Europe – Portugal – where people eat snails, nature is untouched, free spirit flows in the air, families are together, and inspiration is all around. And in the very next moment, I was in the heart of the most beautiful city that collect all this things together – Lisbon.
I thought that nothing can make a bigger impression on me than the city itself and the kind of “movie atmosphere” that it offers. I didn`t know what to expect, I had no clue how my work is going to be, who are going to be the people who I was supposed to share my life with for half an year, will my hosting organisation stand up for me if I need help. But even with all of these questions in my mind, I felt amazing! And in my opinion, this is the attitude that every EVS volunteer should have.All the good things that can happen to you depend on how open your mind and spirit are towards new things. I cannot measure how free spirited I was but this EVS brought me only good things.
I worked in a neighborhood near Lisbon called Quinta da Fonte which has mostly African population. It`s almost impossible to describe that place. Hidden among green hills, little gardens and one old windmill, I discovered a totally new world for me. While helping the kids in the school and participating and making workshops for and with them, I caught myself going spontaneously deeper and deeper in their way of living. Music, dance, creativity and passion for doing different things is something that almost every child there possess. All those kids live their own lifestory – some better,some worse – and I was there to help the wonderful people from Casa da Cultura in showing them how many possibilities they have and how important it is to be involved in these possibilities. I learned a lot of things from them, I grew with them, laughed with them and with time we became friends.
Another reality was in the flat where I lived for six months with the most beautiful view of the Tejo river. This place gathered together the very different characters, cultures, stories, names…and with all these characters I grew up and learned. I am really happy that I spent time with some of those people. And last but not the least, my hosting organisation AMC organized everything with incredible devotion, patientce, and gave us support in expressing our ideas and creativity. From this perspective now I can tell that participating in this project was one of the most meaningful things I’ve done in my life. And what is also important is that sometimes it can help you to open your eyes and mind for some things which you never thought you will be interested in.