NOORTEVAHETUS
Name of the project: “Bee Active – Go Further” Youth Exchange
Date: 22nd – 28th May 2023
City/Country: Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal
What was the main topic of the event?
Liis Rets – The main topic was to connect activity and learning. The project included two things – bees and being active.
Olev Kork – Promoting biodiversity, learning more about the life of bees, nature and learning more about different cultures.
Marten Lepik – Getting to know about the purpose of bees and learning actively.
Laura Vlassova – Bees.
What were the biggest learning moments of the event for you?
Liis Rets – I learned a lot about bees. Never been so close to them and getting information from a real beekeeper made everything feel so exclusive and unforgettable. Through this opportunity.
Olev Kork – I was already familiar with how bees live and how they make honey, but for me, the biggest learning moment was meeting all the people from different countries and places and hearing their stories and learning about their cultures.
Marten Lepik – Learning about what are bees good for besides making honey.
Laura Vlassova – The complexity of bees work
Do you have any plans to continue being active in the field? If yes, in which way?
Liis Rets – Yes, I would be happy to be volunteer at local beehives and get to know even more about the details of bees’ life. Also those energizers, if I’m going to another youth exchange or training course. I’m going to use them!
Olev Kork – I would love to be. To take part in different projects, maybe organize a project myself someday in the future. Share the information about this field.
Marten Lepik – Economy wise I know why bees are useful but overall no.
Laura Vlassova – I want to be active in different international projects.
Would you recommend this experience to your friends? If yes, why? If no, why not?
Liis Rets – I was very surprised by what a wonderful team made this project. What support and help was provided by the organization sent from Estonia, I wish my first project would have been so transparent and safe. Thank you, Marco. I am also grateful to Andreia, who did everything she could to offer almost fifty people an unforgettable experience. Projects that include both new knowledge and active movement. The best!
Olev Kork – Yes, I think it is definitely something every young person should take part in and travel more and learn about different people and cultures. That way we will have so much less hatred and ignorance in the future.
Marten Lepik – Yes. It’s always good to meet new people and as I was a little bit more introverted than other people then this really brings you outside of your box as you need to work with people from different countries.
Laura Vlassova – Yes, I would, because it’s a great opportunity to learn in a non formal way, meet new people from different cultures and get an unforgettable experience.
Other comments or anything else you would like to share? You can answer in your mother tongue if you want!
Liis Rets – Since there were people from six different nationalities, there were some idiosyncrasies. It is known that people from northern countries are more punctual, and people from southern countries are more carefree and easy-going. At times, there was not enough information about the times and the daily schedule. But everything else, one of the best projects I’ve had!
Olev Kork – Just do it!
Kätlin Laur – If the Estonian group wouldn’t have been like they were then the week would have been so so difficult. The big group could not get a chance to properly get familiar with one another (lack of supportive activities) and the participants made a safe choice of mostly hanging out with their own countries. The organisers kept mentioning it in a bad way and blaming us for not interacting with others. All the suggestions and feedback given to them were taken as an attack. There was a lot of thick blood between the organisers and most of the participants. I see that Andrea is such a kind person and does everything with passion but in this field … you have to be open to learning from others and accepting the feedback given to you. I believe with some time and help from others, the passion from the organisers will transfer to the project and to the true outcome (the experience received) as well and then there will be ~50 happy people 🙂
