By Silvia Rivas, Poverty Activist team February 2023
The process of the programme for a Poverty Activist is the tool that leads you to take action.
Action, through knowledge and practice with a perspective of the TOPICS that move the world.
When you receive and study informattion, you need to consider:
- Do I have the information I need to align my arguments with me?
- Could I contrast this information from another point of view?
- What is my conclusion?
Topics that we tend to talk about in our daily lives (such as money, politics or simply the situations that occur in your city or in the world) and often in a superficial way (through the ideas that we have created through our experience or we have acquired from the opinions of our environment, after a good "defence of the argument") without really stopping to think.
To be able to acquire knowledge of the "rules" that are currently moving the world, to understand what you are acquiring, having the possibility of expressing your point of view in creative ways, through your experience with your peers.
In my opinion, the most attractive thing is to be able to listen to other points of view of our peers, to discuss them, leading us to clarify our ideas through other perspectives, and generating CLICK moments, in our brain. What does a CLICK moment mean? To feel as if you have found the piece of the puzzle that connects to understanding.
You will face many challenges during the DI period
Being able to communicate in another language is one of the most complex, as communication is essential. Not only to be able to acquire the knowledge we talked about before, but also to be able to create relationships and moments with your peers. Especially at the beginning, when you start to have contact with the new language, and you would like to be able to express yourself in your language, where you feel comfortable and fluent, and you have a wall where the person you want to communicate with does not understand your language, you have to be patient, creative and resolute. You will try to express yourself in another way, maybe it will work, maybe it won't... if so, you will use the tools you have at your disposal, such as the translator on your phone, so that the other person understands the message you want to convey. Step by step. Until you are able to break through the walls that separate you by being fluent in the foreign language, and once again you feel that moment of satisfaction in your brain.
Another challenge that almost all of us have in common could be said to be "FREEDOM" or at least, understanding the different concepts that each one has of it. We can say that depending on the country you come from you have a different concept of the word freedom. But how do you explain what freedom is for you? It means different things for different people…..
We can say yes, we have free time. The complicated thing is that the school is not in the city so there is no option during the week to meet people from outside or to get to know new places. Don't worry though, during the weekends off or on Sundays, you can make plans to disconnect and visit other places on the island. During the week you will learn to create your own time slots, to be able to connect with your hobbies or even develop new skills, such as playing an instrument, learning to draw or even dance.
About expectations....
In my opinion through my experience, it is very important not to have expectations of what you are going to find - because when expectations are not realised, it generates demotivation within you, it lowers your energy, and you need it as you are on a long road of learning and achievement.
Secondly, keep an open mind, by this I mean that uncertainty should be your best friend. Not everything that we plan comes out perfectly and being pigeon-holed into one idea or opinion will not lead you to evolve with what you must achieve.
And thirdly and finally, there is a phrase that I love that says: What you like can change, what you are passionate about stays with you. When I came to CICD I wanted to take a break from what I had been doing for years and learn new skills, skills as simple as being able to climb a ladder to sand a wall or clean windows without fear of falling and breaking your head. Haha
Perhaps one of the hardest parts of life here is when you make connections with people who make the decision to continue their journey in another way, and you feel happy for them but at the same time you feel sad for them because they bring to the team, and also to you.
Getting out of your comfort zone in an area of your life leads to personal or professional growth, this process will help you to observe, listen, feel and understand much more than what you may be thinking at the moment.
The whole team has a common goal, but individual and group challenges are very different, and at the same time very similar. I can't tell you what you are going to experience, because as I said before, the culture, the experiences and the way we understand these, are what you are today, but as the days, weeks and months go by, through the situations you will encounter, I am sure you will evolve with your own learning.