Summer camp in Cornwall

From July, the 22nd to the 26th; I have been doing a Summer Camp in Penzance (Cornwall) with girls from my charity.

We travelled to London to Penzance by train and we have done many activities like coasting, visiting St Michael's Castle in Penzance, Barbecue in Land's End, visiting old people in their residence... But above all, we enjoyed a lot spending time all together, talking about  our different points of view in many things and trying to improve our team-working skills.

For me this has been very interesting because I've been in charge of some of the girls from Latin-America and talking with them I've been able to help them to cope their fears about living in an other country different than theirs, and they felt encouraged to learn and speak English with the rest o the girls.

I used to lead summer camps in Spain, but this has been new for me because I had the barrier of the language, I did't know the place, etc: but my team has been great and everything has gone perfect, I'm very happy with this experience.

End of the course / Fin de curso

Today we are officially in Summer holidays... girls don't go to school anymore until September, and in my charity, we have finished de normal clubs until next year.

Last week, we had our last ESOL class with adult people, and after an international tea we received our certificates.
La semana pasada, tuvimos nuestra última clase de inglés, y tras un "Tea" internacional recibimos nuestros certificados.

On Tuesday, we had a party with all the volunteers to thank them for their help in the mentoring chats and in the clubs, it was a good moment to share stories and thoughts about what the volunteering has given them and how can we improve our skills to do the best in our activity.

Time flies and now I more nervous each day, because I will fly to Spain in less than 6 weeks and though I'm very happy to meet my family and friends, I would like to remain here for a bit more time... It is being a great experience!!!

Hoy empezamos oficialmente las vacaciones de verano... las niñas no tienen que ir más al colegio hasta septiembre, y en mi ONG hoy terminamos las actividades ordinarias hasta el próximo curso.

El jueves tuvimos una fiesta para todos los voluntarios para agradecer nuestra ayuda en el mentoring y las actividades extra-escolares, fue un buen momento para compartir historias y pensamientos sobre lo que el voluntariado nos a aportado y sobre cómo podemos mejorar nuestras competencias para realizar mejor nuestra actividad.

El tiempo vuela y ahora estoy cada día más nerviosa, porque volaré a España en menos de 6 semanas y aunque estoy muy contenta por volver a ver a mi familia y amistades, me gustaría quedarme aquí un poco más e tiempo... ¡Está siendo una gran experiencia!

Knowing me, knowing you: Workshop about Integration skills / Conociéndome, conociéndote: Taller sobre competencias para la integración

Today I have attended a very interesting workshop running from Wonder Foundation in Brixton.

The topic was "The Language as a power key" and we have thought about many difficulties that refugees and migrants have when they arrive in a country such UK and they don't know the language (how to survive with a very little amount of money whether they don't know the benefits which they can apply for, the different institutions where they can ask for help...). We played many language's games (the broken telephone with messages about circumstances of refugees or news from UK newspapers or choosing the best word between 4 for some definition).

During the lunch, we have been talking about backgrounds of most of the participants, and most of them were born in the UK but from African parents... perhaps they were very interested in help refugees to be integrated based on their own experience.

After lunch we went to the central London to do a roleplay in Chinatown, we had messages in chinesse and asking people on the street we had to get something in shops or wherever... We can really feel in the skin of somebody who has just arrived in a foreign culture, and we have better understood their difficulties to be integrated until knowing  well the language and culture.

Hoy he participado en un taller muy interesante liderado por Wonder Foundation en Brixton.

El tema era "El lenguaje como herramienta de poder" y hemos reflexionado sobre las diferentes dificultades que se encuentran los inmigrantes y refugiados cuando llegan a un país como Reino Unido del que no conocen el lenguaje (cómo sobreviven con una pequeña cantidad de dinero si no saben ni siquiera las ayudas públicas que pueden solicitar, las diferentes instituciones a las que pueden acudir a pedir ayuda...). Hemos realizado varios juegos lingüísticos (el teléfono roto con mensajes informativos del modo de vida de los refugiados, o determinar entre 4 palabras de las que algunas eran inventadas, cuál era la que se ajustaba a una definición concreta).

Durante la comida hemos estado hablando sobre las procedencias de las familias de los participantes, la mayoría de ellos han nacido en Reino Unido, pero de padres africanos... quizá por eso están tan interesados en ayudar a los refugiados e inmigrantes a integrarse basándose en su propia experiencia.

Después de comer nos hemos ido al centro de Londres a hacer una gymkhana en Chinatown, teníamos mensajes escritos en chino y hablando con la gente necesitábamos conseguir las cosas que aparecían en los mensajes... realmente hemos podido experimentar cómo se siente alguien extranjero cuando llega a una cultura diferente, y hemos entendido mejor sus dificultades para integrarse hasta que conocen un poco la lengua y la cultura.