Internships at MOJU

Internships at MOJU

During the month of August, the Mais Sucesso Project received two Social Worker internships. Let’s read their story…

My name is Anna De Bona, I`m 24 years old and I live in Muenster, Germany. There, I study social work and enjoy the life as a student.At the moment, I`m doing an internship at MOJU for my studies and travel around Algarve.The objective of this internship is to find my way through the whole world of Social Work and get to know the work with kids at this age. I am doing it in Portugal because I can imagine myself working abroad and also to gain experiences about this topic.

I am really happy and thankful to get the chance and hope I make the best out of it.

Hallihallöchen ihr lieben,

My name is Josi and I have the fortunate opportunity to be one of the newest members to this nice little EVS Family in Olhao. Originally, I am from Germany where I have just started to study Social work this last April. In this course of study it’s mandatory to finish an Internship in the Social Work field. Because my friend’s friend we got to know of the Mujo Mais Sucesso Project, which fits with what we were looking for and they were happy to take in new volunteers.

In Germany I am originally from Nürnberg, wich is in Frankonia a part of Bavaria (South of Germany / Oktoberfest ;)). Bavaria is known for its Beer culture. We even have our own Beer commandment which is called: Bayerisches Reinheitsgebot. Next to beer, the food is what I miss most from my home country (Bretzels and Bread). Especially,  good dark bread with a nice crust which is hard to come by outside of Germany… With those three B’s you cannot go wrong!!!

At home I am a very active person, I really like to be outside and find new adventures that want to be done. As a hobby, I have found climbing. Here in the Algarve with all of its cliffs along the coast there are such nice climbing spots. I hope to be able to try one of them before I go.

Since my start at MOJU, quite some time has already past. I started on the first of August and will finish on the 31^st. Sadly, since I only have a little time to get to know the way things work here, I will probably leave before I could completely integrate myself into the work. But I see the chances in this situation. I think it’s a great opportunity to be involved in this kind of organization; away from my home, to see the cultural differences, how things are handled, etc. Besides, I think a month is (also if short) enough time to fit in the position I work in. I am very excited to see what the next week will bring!

Liebe Grüße

Josi

Mid-term training

 Mid-term training

As we are in the middle of our volunteer project, we went to our Mid-term training.

We spent three days full of activities and dynamics in the conference room…

… and in the open air. They were not only fun and inspiring, but they helped us to reflect on our learning process during our EVS.

We were lucky to be in Viseu these days because a lot of things were going on at this time!

Markets, workshops, concerts, etc.

The hostel we stayed in gave us the opportunity to play volleyball on the free time we had!

Project in Alte

Project in Alte

 We spent two days in Alte, a beautiful little village, with another young association from Loulé.

We had time to discover the place, do many different activities inside and outside, and bond with everybody involved.

Moreover, it gave us the opportunity to participate in a project with the community of the village. We planted and watered plants and flowers all around, in honou to a man who used to do this.

Amazing place with great and welcoming people.

Road trip around Portugal

 Road trip around Portugal

We made the most out of our holidays renting a car, going all the way up north through the countryside and coming back near the coast.

In only a few days, we met all four seasons of the year and we were able to do many things like; camp, explore castles, swim in Roman thermal baths, wonder around cities, have a coffee at the beach…

… which gave us the opportunity to discover this county’s culture, gastronomy, and beautiful well known and hidden places.

It was a fun and crazy trip!

On arrival training

On arrival training 

We took the road from Olhão to Viseu, excited to spend a week there for our program. Every new volunteer has to go to an on arrival training to complete our knowledge about EVS, to get to know other volunteers and to learn more about non formal education.

We had three awesome trainers, who prepared many activities and dynamics for us: our and our organization’s introduction, sharing our thoughts and what we had experienced since we came to Portugal, acquiring general and specific knowledge regarding our volunteer work, etc.

We had the chance to cooperate and show what we can offer and discover Portugal’s and Viseu’s culture.

Spending so many hours together and sharing a lot of great moments made us bond with EVS volunteers all around the country.

It was also an awesome opportunity to wonder around this beautiful city and to visit the Cathedral, the museum, parks…

We had a great time and we learn a lot, it went by too fast!

Mid-term training

Two of our volunteers, Emanuela and Veronika, went to their mid-term training last week in Viseu.

On their way there, they made a stop and visited Coimbra (The fourth-largest urban centre in Portugal it is the largest city of the district of Coimbra, the Centro region and the Baixo Mondego subregion. Among the many archaeological structures dating back to the Roman era, when Coimbra was the settlement of Aeminium, are its well-preserved aqueduct and cryptoporticus).

During the training course they gathered with other people doing their volunteering work in other parts of Portugal.

They spent 4 days discussing how their EVS experience was going so far, their future opportunities and involved in non-formal educational activities.

And spent their free time bonding with the other volunteers.

When they finished the mid-term, they had time to make a one day stop in beautiful Aveiro (it is the second most populous city in the Centro Region of Portugal ) before coming back to Olhão.