Moldova Follow Up

Moldovan team made the follow up activities as different participants were in the project. So the presentation here its going to be in different activities for each participant:

Crețu Daniela: Follow Up Activity with a lot of representatives from NGO Echipa de Voluntari Oamenii V in the Town Hall of Ștefan-Vodă at 28/07/2022, Thursday From 14:00 until 15:15. With 8 students, 17-20 age, volunteers of the NGO. They was interested in activities. They came with a lot of energy and were open to try and learn new things . I told them about our project and our day's activity and I let him to choose an activity that we should do . So I made a energizer with them and then we made a long discussion about environmental problems and their impact on our health (they have chosen this topic ). So our activity was full of reactions emotions and feelings and has a big impact on our minds and life style.

Vadim Martiniuc: Made his follow up Activity in a forest in the Ocnița city at Republic of Moldova at 28.07.2022, 14.00 and the activity had a duration of 4 hours. There were 16 participants (7F and 9M) in the event. All of them hold Moldavian nationality. Mostly our participants were between 15 and 20 years old. Most of them were interested in the practical methods of how to overcome stressful situations and find the way to the inner selves.

It was an offline event aimed at dissemination of information about Erasmus+ network, the training course ReConnect with Nature for Inner Peace and sharing some of the exercises learnt during the project.

The event holders expanded on existing opportunities offered by Erasmus+ including short- and long-term projects. Some tips and tricks on how to write a successful motivational letter were also shared. The majority of time then was devoted to the project "RECNEFIH". We shared our experience of participation in the training course: organization, types of activities, the project's objectives and its learning outcomes.

It was followed by the two activities, which we had during the training course. The first exercise included guided meditation, during which the participants could calm down their thoughts and balance their inner state. This was leading the participants to the second activity, which was: «Draw that you feel». At the end of the activity, they had to reflect on their drawings and could show them as well as describe their experience to everyone on a voluntary basis.

Participants demonstrated interest in all topics having asked the questions and having been actively engaged in the discussion, which made the dissemination activity dynamic and useful for them.

Overall, the activity resulted in raising awareness about Erasmus+ projects, ways of participation in these activities as well as ways of finding yourself and reconnecting with nature.

Lucian Cojocaru, Aliona Isac

The last 2 participants Organised the follow up activity at Chisinau, Republic of Moldova on 22nd of August at 7pm until 8pm. In the activity participated 10 people, youth workers, aged between 18-25, which they were volunteers of our NGO. We did some mindfulness-based exercises that reconnected participants with nature. The activities were inclusive and build up self-awareness that helped to have a symbiotic relationship between ourselves and the environment. We discussed how to manage our stress during the day and how to focus when our minds are filled up with thoughts.

Links for dissemination:

Video

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgz2jD-qirk/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D&fbclid=IwAR3wyv0efyrQMvA5xpEsimwmz4HZ-hRvOpGX2yTcnSPClwKRuI9IFMsKCkY

What our participants said:

Aliona Isac

The project "Re-connect with nature" was one of my favorites. I enjoyed to connect with nature each time. I just love nature.

Thanks that I tried for the first time "Trataka Meditation" "Visualization Clay Therapy", "Yin Yoga Relaxation" and I can tell you that they are quite beneficial methods to find yourself in extreme situations. At the same time, through my activities with Erma, I developed confidence in people and tried to express my moods through dance, music and art, all of which were a little unusual for me.

I found out that I am the element of earth (which represents me completely ).

Outsides activities were amazing, we visited Kalidonia National Trail and the beach in Limassol.

I would like to thank once again for this project, for these activities and for the time spent together!

Daniela Cretu

In my opinion, those 10 days in Cyprus were amazing. I practiced a lot of activities specialized in informal training.

For example, Top 10 and Energeizer, which were Kyriacos Stouppas' favorites, always mobilized and charged us with energy. Thanks to these activities we met different tops and we charged ourselves with energy in various ways. Thanks to the Chess Game, each of us had to think and propose to the group a solution to protect the king. This play stimulated my intuition (I being the king , which no one expected ). Strava game is the game that made us move until we created the right figure .

In addition to everything in the project we had the task for each national team (each country) to create its own activity and implement it among the participants, being guided and helped in total by our trainers. This activity allowed us to feel like trainers and see the impact and role of activities on the team you work with. It was a thrilling feeling to train the team you recently worked side by side with. Thanks for the opportunity.

I also really enjoyed the getaways outside the hotel, where I visited the Kalidonia National Trail and the beach in Limassol. During these outings we also had activities that connected us with nature, which created a feeling of peace in my soul.

Vadim Martiniuc

During the 10 days of the RE-Connect with Nature protecting the Environment for Inner Health program, I attended many activities that got to know me better and showed me how much inner growth I have come through in the last 2-3 years. I will list the activities that resonated with me the most, in addition to yoga and meditation, which probably many people know about:

Exercises related to drawing:

Draw (not literally) someone else's dance or write a poem about it and, accordingly, dance in front of a stranger and then see or listen to how she sees you.

Self-portrait divided in half: one part - how I think others see me, the other - how I see myself.

Exercises to trust yourself and others:

"Go to my voice!" - work in pairs, where one person leads the other with his voice (sounds, not verbal instructions) walking with his eyes closed. Unlike a similar exercise, where one person leads another by the hand, here it is not so much about trusting the other, but trusting oneself - that is, other senses, which suddenly turn out to be enough to move in space.

Trees and travelers: a part of people (trees) with open eyes disperses in space and leads another part of people (travelers) with closed eyes, passing them to other "trees". During this exercise, I realized that I "failed" just to be a daughter, and not an adult who is being led, and that's nice.

Writing exercises:

Free writing or "What's on your mind right now?". During this exercise, I realized that often, even when writing for myself, I try to be coherent and coherent, combining events, actions and feelings into a logical and neat story. Why is it not always good? Because it forces me to reject some thoughts and feelings that do not fit into the general narrative. In fact, there is some self-censorship going on. The essence of this exercise is to see yourself as you are, and not to present your condition in an understandable form. It was valuable.

Choose an element of nature and write a story on its behalf. Having created a monologue on behalf of a withered leaf, I felt completeness, peace and trust in the flow of life.

I will say separately that the idea of dedicating days to individual elements (water, fire, wood, metal, earth) was incredible, because it set the tone for thoughts and activities

The main insight of the project for me is that the presence of a healthy person nearby heals.

Lucian Cojocaru

Erasmus is an experience to be lived at least once in your life! Is about going out of your comfort zone and seeing other ways of living.

Is about making friendships, growing up, becoming more independent and having a great time in Cyprus !

I'm very grateful for being a part of the "Re-Connect with Nature" project and for letting me meet with wonderful and bright-minded people that made this experience even better!

The activities were unique as spending our time outdoors and trying to understand the bad habits of our unhealthy lifestyle and how we can improve it, and re-connecting with nature was the best way to learn from. After this project I've learned to improve my mood and energy level as well as reduce stress, avoid burning out and find creativity and clarity in my life.

"Sharing is caring" and this project taught me how to improve my inner health but also how I could help others to find peace and improve their lifestyle.

Being in this project wasn't only about mindfulness and finding inner peace but also about learning useful tools to use during training sessions with Youth Workers and also how to gain Environmental Awareness in my community.

With the help from Acpelia & Consiliul Naţional al Tineretului din Moldova