”Supporting Learning Communities” is the first EVS project designated to help disadvantaged communities in Cabanyal neighbourhood from Valencia (Spain).

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The project lasted for 12 months and aimed to offer a new perspective for one small part of the neighbourhood's population, which lives in extreme poverty, barely having access to food and clean water.

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Three volunteers from different countries have gathered, providing social work in one school from Cabanyal, ”Escuela Santiago Apostol”. This is where most kids from the community are going to school, the role of the volunteers being to assist in the educational process and offer guidance.

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Personally, this project means more for me than simply teaching kids English. It means being able to offer them a new perspective on the world, to offer them resources to be able to start dreaming big about having a better future, a great career, offering them that sparkling hope that their life, maybe, can be better and different from the mess they see around themselves right now.

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Besides working in the school, the project has also the function (indirectly) of saving the neighbourhood. Seven years ago, the Government decided to extend a boulevard for reaching the seaside more easily, by destroying Cabanyal Neighbourhood. The population opposed and received help from various NGO's. As a consequence, the project was abandoned, not before 100-150 houses were destroyed. Nowadays, associations such as Salvem Cabanyal are doing a great work in protecting the patrimonium houses which are still standing up in the Spanish ”barrio”.

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Besides working with children, I was also volunteering for other local NGO's:

 

- Association Brúfol - working with women, teaching them how to read and write;

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- Movimiento contra la Intolerancia Valencia - small team organising all sorts of events for disadvantaged communities, treating delicate themes like:

• islamophobia

• homophobia

• antisemitism

• intolerance against diverse etnies

• human rights in the world

• xenofobia

• racismo etc.

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- Benimaclet conFúsion - joined the team in september 2017, just before the IV edition. Continuing for the V th edition as well;