Hello from Danail.

After six months Gaia period, (in which I had many unforgettable moments) I was super excited.

The feeling was strange, but in the best sense.

In the upcoming five months in which I will enrich my knowledge about issues which are interesting for me:
-where the problems in modern society come from;
-how to solve them;
-how to overcome poverty;
-how to protect our planet and the wildlife in it.
All these issues need addressing.

I cannot tell you everything that happened in those five days, as I fear that might be boring for you, but every one moment deserves to remain in my memories forever.

My team is made up of eleven completely different people. Different but with common goals and ideals. These people are more than classmates, we are family. Family which went through many different moments during the Gaia period.

These people will definitely remain in my life after the course.

Our teacher is young and ambitious and has become our twelfth team member.

This week all the teachers visited us, they told us about their experiences in Africa, they set an example and inspired us, they told us that when a man wants something and never gives up, he can change not only himself, but also the world around him.

This week the focus was on climate change, we watched videos and had discussions, which opened our eyes to more problems.

But learning in CICD is not just theoretical, here we learn how to take responsibility and how to live not as individuals, but as a united society.

We are involved in all the many activities that are part of the daily life in the college:
- Cooking;
- Baking bread;
- Cleaning;
- Food shopping;
- Taking care of the garden

Skills which are useful for everyone throughout life.

I’m sure the upcoming months will bring unforgettable and unique moments.

The slogan of the college is “let’s act”, and I’m very happy because I do exactly that.

And you, what are you waiting for?

Peace Conference was a 3 day event, which took place from 29th of April till 1st of May in Tvind campus, nearby a town called Ulfborg, Denmark. Around 50 volunteers from various countries in Europe gathered to make it happen during a 3-day long Preparation Camp. Around 350 people attended the event as both participants and guests.

Tvind is a place where a windmill (Tvindkraft) was built by students and teachers between 1974 – 1978 as a sign of protest against nuclear power.

Students and volunteers from CICD had the pleasure and responsability to take part in the Preparation Camp of the Peace Conference in Tvind and in the event itself. It was a week of full-steam work and fun, long tasklist and various cultural events, plenty of workshops, inspiring speeches, art, dance & music performances and discussions about topics as global peace, military conflicts, construction of peace, human rights, etc.

The volunteers were distributed in several working groups according to their interests and skills and according to the area they could be the most helpful and useful - Kitchen Team, Accommodation Team, Media Team, Culture Team, Transport Team, Maintenance Team, Sports Hall & Outdoor Team and Decoration Team.

I was part from the Media Group and me and my group-mates we had the challenging task to be everywhere in the same time and to take as much as possible photos, interviews, videos and to prepare all that to be presented to the public. So we created a newspaper that is already on-line, so you are welcome to take a look:

For every Development Instructor (DI), it’s a very important part of the program to take part in the preparation of such an event, because there are many benefits out of it. Like for example you are gaining practical experience, organizational skills, team work skills and the feeling to achieve a common result just some days later with someone, who was completely unknown in the beginning, is very fulfilling. We also meet some new DI’s from the other schools who we could meet in future during the project in Africa, and meeting a known face when you are completely alone in another continent… that is something!

During the Peace Conference there was a very rich and diverse program covering big range of different aspects and point of view regarding the topic “PEACE”. We met refugees telling their stories and what is to get to Europe by boat for the sake of a new life. A lot of people also were sharing their experience in supporting and helping refugees. There were speakers who introduced the reality of living a daily life in the middle of a war, military conflict and human rights injustice, with concrete examples from Palestine, Shri Lanka, Eritrea, Western Sahara, etc. The full program of the event, you can check here: http://www.peace-justice.org/workshops/independent-volunteering

There were also big space for art, music, dance & performance as a powerful tool of expression and to broadcast a message.

Understanding PEACE, and how to achieve it, is essential for the improvement of the whole world. That’s why a lot of discussions and speeches were dedicated on that what we can actually do in order to construct peace and educate peace, what can be done with concrete practical actions so that the crisis of global peace should be decreased. For me personally this event was very important. After being part of the Peace Conference in Tvind I can feel a big change in my mind, in my way of thinking, in my perception about all these topics that were discussed. I feel really inspired of meeting all those people. I come from a small European country, where unfortunately topics as refugees, wars, global peace, and military conflicts are very much manipulated by the government and the media. Mass people have bad opinion, they are ignorant and even unfriendly with the refugees, so I think that being part of the Peace Conference, I have the mission to open as much eyes as possible, to talk with as much friends, family and different people possible just to bring the awareness of all these very important topics.

- by Mirella Ka.

 Visit Mirella's profile >>

You need good support for the house/team to stand strong, strong walls/companions to help you stay warm in even the coldest situations, windows for light/fun and many other things. That is why a team has to be built slowly and with great care. If you just throw all of these things together you will not get a house, but a pile of rubble. A house/ team built too fast and carelessly will fall and collapse. But if you go slow and put the pieces together brick by brick, you can build something that will last your whole life.

Becoming a team has been difficult, with ups and downs comparable to a massive roller-coaster in an amusement park.

When we all first came together there were more of us. Over time our group has grown smaller but we have also grown closer. We have come to know each other as people not just as fellow students or volunteers. We have seen the different sides of our teammates, many of whom we can now call friends.

Being together for these last 5 months as an actual team has been challenging to say the least. There have been harder and easier times. Arguments, shouting and insults. But also forgiveness, apologies and many hours spent in fun and interesting discussions.

Managing and working as a team is all about balance. Balancing tasks and work, your teammates and even yourself.

Many times you hear the sentence: “There is no I in team”, meaning you can’t focus too much on yourself when you are working as a part of an unit. You have to let your ego go and focus on what would be good for the team as a whole. But of course, we are human and because of that flawed. It is very hard for us to let go of our egos and just focus on others. That is why we fight. Our opinions clash and arguments that can start as innocent conversations can turn ugly quite quickly.

But it’s not all bad. Far from it. After every rainstorm, there’s a rainbow. Meaning good things can come after a bad period in time. These arguments present a great learning opportunity to all of us. While we fight, we are letting go of our anger, resentments maybe even fears. And so, after the fight the so called “playing field” is cleared. The rain has stopped. Now it’s time to look for the rainbow. Time to make up and find out what caused the conflict really in the first place. It’s not always easy. Sometimes things accumulate and in the end, it’s the smallest thing that pushes you over the edge.

But the good thing in this is that we have grown as people. We have tried, and still do, to improve ourselves. Yes we fight, but all of our conflicts just bring us closer together, because from every one of them, we learn more about our teammates and ourselves.

So like I said in the beginning, a team is like a house. In the end we are the architects, the builders, the owners and the inhabitants. And although the building process was hard and at times difficult we are proud of what we have done and how far we have come.