Connectivity (3rd training)

Do you love outdoor activities? Do you like meeting new people and cultures? Are you creative? Do you need to know how you can be better facilitator? Then you will love the Connectivity project!

Connectivity is a fountain of unique experiences for everyone who participates in it. Specifically, from the 17 th until the 24 th of March of 2022 the third training meeting of Connectivity project was held by the Olde Vechte Foundation in Ommen, Netherlands.
A bunch of people from Greece, Italy, France, Portugal, Bulgaria and Croatia was gathered in the Olde Vechte house. From the very first day the pure green harmony of the forest embraced us and made us feel comfortable in this new location that we were going to live.
However the shyness we felt at the beginning our enthusiasm broke every form of ice. During these days we created a village, named Verde Village, with groups of families made of us, the participants. In this village we managed to find different ways of communication and interaction and common places to stand in.
We learned to respect the differences by accepting the others’ characters. We also discovered which were our limits, our possibilities and we generally understood the importance of understanding ourselves in order to communicate with the others.
Furthermore, we brought energy to our village by organizing and participating in a great number of activities, by always following essential instructions of the helpful trainers. These precious activities offered us uncountable skills and united us more. Actually, the activities lead us to a continuous role changing from learners to teachers to the contrary, by creating and formulating ,this way, the knowledge that we wanted to acquire.
Another key thing to remember is that our imaginary village didn’t have houses, because day by day we were starting to become the “houses”. Our community proved uniquely that the house are not built by walls but the existence of the human interaction and bonding is the substance of the home’s sense.
Last but not least, the coexistence of so many and different people in the same building and environment proved that care, interest, patience, orderliness and corporation is the key for the peaceful maintenance of the human societies.
Above all, for me this program proved that the power of the human kind can be unstoppable. Despite our differences we can always find ways to connect with each other and learn things from each other. We only should be receptive to new knowledge and new ways of learning, as the education is a process that never stops, but changes forms.

My own experience
Concerning my own experience from the program I found myself changing through this. My creativity and my imagination had been tested into specific limits and as a result I have been “forced” to be more practical and methodical in order to achieve making my ideas more comprehensible and interesting for the other people.
I also had the opportunity to interact with different opinions and ways of thinking. This thing helped me to learn to respect and to listen more to the others and reinforced my empathy. Additionally, as an introvert I have never participated in so many activities with so many people and for that reason the importance of this program was notable for me because it changed me internally and made me more extrovert, brave helping me to trust other
people and expressing myself when I communicate with them.
I felt that my opinion matters and I was given enough place to show my personality and share freely my opinion
about various issues. Moreover, the fact that I was given the opportunity to create activities (together with other
participants) in limited time helped to be more fast, by simultaneously trying to limit my stress, more inclusive and more responsible for my choices and my proposals.
The Connectivity Project also lightened up my love for my job. As a teacher I wasn’t sure if my job will be impactful for any student or if I can make any difference in the section of teaching, as in my country is a traditional space and does not leave the door open for newer and more innovative ideas and practices. However, learning how to be a better facilitator ,by acquiring especially important soft skills in many of the program’s activities, and seeing other participants being passionate about their jobs as facilitators my passion found a way to return and now I feel much more confident and sure for the job I have chosen to do in my life.

Athina Chrysafi