A Calendar for the Future Year

Even if we didn't state we will, we wanted to prepare a physical final product for our project.
After lots of talks, ideas coming and going, proposals and arguments, we have decided to make something that would meet several conditions:
- to be easy to make, to give and to cary
- to be cost effective and not expensive
- not to have a big impact on the environment
- to reach as many people as possible and have a big impact on them
- to be time-resistant, meaning it could be used not only this month, but at least for one year
- to say basic things about the project, the partners and invite to find out more about TOWEL - TOgether WE Learn project
So, we have decided to make a pocket calendar. It fulfills all the requirements and it can also be personalized by each partner. Each one can make it's own design or use different photos. And we have even ensured the resistance in time, because we have chosen to make it with half a year from 2013 (July-December) and half from 2014. So, it can be used until at least one year from now!
We can show you some of the calendars with Esperando images:

Towards the End

The TOWEL project is coming to its end! No more project meetings, no more talks and decisions about the future. The only things that will still remain are the nice friendship among the project partners, the lessons learned and memories from the spectacular places we have visited and the possibility to go on organizing learning events in the future.
And this is because we have made together, all three partners, a model that can be easily followed by anyone interested in informal learning and involving disabled people in easy and pleasant learning happenings. It's easy just to decide on a topic, a time and a place, to meet there and to share what each participant knows on that topic. No teachers, no grades, no exams, no failure or mistakes, no all-knowing or useless persons. Just learners.
We had the opportunity to organize lots of learning events, each partner. And the topics were also extremely diverse: culture, history, social life, sports, organizational development, strategies, photography, filming, food and drinks, ceramic manufacturing and many, many others. And we had the chance to see how people with disabilities enjoy tremendously these events, and how non-disabled people came together and loved being there, without having any negative attitudes towards disabilities.
The entire project was a great experience. Everybody won from it, and we are all better persons, we know more and we are better professionals. New doors have opened, new horizons and dreams have started for each one of us.
We'll meet again! For sure!

Salamanca, End of the Road

So, our project is at the end. The final meeting of TOWEL - TOgether WE Learn project took place in Salamanca - Spain. 
The three project partners - Esperando Association Baia Mare (Romania), CRMF Salamanca, Polish Teachers Union Bialystok Branch - met again, for the last time during this Grundtvig Learning Partnership Project.
The Spanish hosts made a great job again. They have not only prepared very well the meeting, but also arranged for a wonderful visit to the State Reference Center for Alzheimer Salamanca. It was a a really great opportunity to visit  this state-of-the-art center where Alzheimer research and treatment is one step ahead of the world. Incredible place, fantastic facilities and extremely dedicated professionals - these are the ingredients of a model centre, visited and admired by Alzheimer specialists from all over the world. A pleasure for us and a unique opportunity to learn about Alzheimer, about the proper way to work with the patients and about the modern tools available (most of them would be extremely useful for any facility for disabled people).
Other highlight of the project meeting was the Conference on Unemployment in Disadvantaged Collectives, organized by CRMF. Lots of students attend it, but also many officials from the Government and state institutions. And with many interesting and well informed presentations, too!
We had also the special honor to award the diplomas to the CRMF students who worked in the TOWEL project. Some of them prepared the project logo, other prepared other materials for the project and the meetings, some of them filmed the work, some participated in the contests launched in the project by the Spanish partner, and others just participated in the learning events. And we have to admit that their work was very professional and we were impressed by the quality of the the products.
Well, and the final learning events on Salamanca, Spain, automotive history and the final talks on the final report and the project products concluded this visit. And the project is coming itself at the end, slowly but surely...

POLAND Again - Together with Disabled Youth

March was a special month. Not only because, instead of being the beginning of the spring, it was one of the most cold month of this winter. But also because we have organized the fourth project meeting, in Poland again.
This time, we took advantage of the smaller distance and we have organized a trip also together with disabled young adults. 5 of them (3 in wheelchairs!), accompanied by 4 staff, joined Daniel and Andrada, and so the Romanian team was impressive this time!
The meeting was great! We had the chance to make some learning events again about Poland and Warsaw, about history and culture (Chopin rings you a bell?), social life and foods and drinks. We visited The Institute for the Deaf and Mute, a special vocational school, where the Romanian students were fascinated by all the opportunities to learn a job/ trade.
We also had a great event in Bialystok: a very well organized conference - "Understanding Disability". Lots of people, teachers, officials from local authorities and from the Government, students and wonderful artistic show prepared by disabled students. And, after the Conference, we had a very interesting interactive debate with the members of the Teachers Association from the Podlaskie region.
Back to Warsaw, we continued the discussions about the future of the TOWEL project, the final products and report, and the future meeting in Salamanca. We have also talked about new projects, especially since the the Polish and the Romanian partners submitted already a new Grundtvig Learning Partnership this year.
All the experience was extraordinary for the young adults with disabilities from Esperando. They had a wonderful time in Warsaw, despite the tremendous cold and the lack of accessibility in many places. But having the opportunity to visit a new country, a splendid city of Europe and a couple of well established educational institutions make it worth entirely. TOgether WE Learn has a different meaning now for us, for the partners (impressed by our young adults) and for the individuals with special needs who travelled to Poland.
On their way home, our young adults were only talking about coming back to Poland. And, when they crossed the Romanian border, most of them started to cry and ask to stay there and not come back...

Welcome to Baia Mare! Welcome to Romania!

Well, it's time for the Romanian Grundtvig project meeting! And our guests, project partners from Spain and Poland, were here from October 2 until October 7.
We have had great, full days! We have learned together about Romanian traditions and culture, about our food and drinks, about the history of these places. We have seen Baia Mare and Maramures, with the wooden churches and monasteries, the wooden houses and gates, the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, the traditional costumes and clothing, we have enjoyed traditional meals, we have tasted the Maramures hospitality and kindness.

And that was not all! We also have visited Esperando Day Care Centre for physical and mental rehabilitation of physically disabled people and talked to the staff. And we have had the opportunity to learn even more: we all took part in Esperando's International Conference on therapies for disabled people. One day filled with presentations from specialists from Romania, Hungary, Poland and Spain (each partner made a presentation, too!). But not the usual boring talk-talk-talk-no results Conference. Because every single presentation had to show also a practical demonstration of one therapy. Most of the presentations were live, on the spot, including with the disabled people! So, no wonder we have seen standing ovations, tears and happy faces!

And, of course, we have talked about the project, the job done so far and what is still to be done. And we do have a lot of work ahead us!








The third project meeting is now over.
What remains is the memory of a beautiful time spent with great friends, lots of things learned and a little bit of Romania in every one of the partners that were here.
For me, there is one more thing that has remained: the nice words of the foreign people about us and about our work, and how more people should have the chance to learn about the real Romania and how Romanians really are...
Daniel

Learning Events - Education with a Smile

Hello, hello!

Together We Learn, or TOWEL, isn't just about project meetings and international activities. It's also about learning events made in each of the partners' countries.
For Esperando, it was a great opportunity to experiment this wonderful way of making education a blast, while sharing with the staff, volunteers and other people knowledge and information.
We have started with events regarding the non-profit life, the organizational management and development, strategic approaches. We have passed through learning how to make small painted ceramic objects, "martisoare" - spring symbols in Romania.
We have then dedicated few hours to photography and filming. How to use a camera, how to take the shot taking into consideration the lighting conditions, how to frame a picture and so on. How to make a nice film, a kind of documentary, basic rules, functioning of cameras.

Well, apart of the satisfaction mentioned by the participants, the results have come in the form of better work and relations, and in better pictures. Yet to come: the beautiful films!
Education can be fun! Learning is good! Together we can learn better, easier! Together we are strong!

Daniel

Salamanca, Mi Amor!

Hola! Que tal?

Well, we have moved forward, to Spain, this time. The second project meeting of the TOWEL Grundtvig Partnership project was in Salamanca, in the spring of 2012.
It was time for Beatriz and Enrique to become the lovely hosts. After a bit of trouble because a general strike in Spain, all the partners met in Salamanca. Impressive city!
University that is the best industry of the city - as Enrique loves to call it. CRMF Centre that is a beauty and a wonderful place for the individuals with disabilities. History on every street, at every step. Tourists and students, in a perfect blend with the local people. A great museum (with a Dimitris Cipariu great Romanian sculptor of splendid criselefantinas).

All these in a nice harmony and balance with very good project meetings, with nice results presented to the partners, things done by the CRMF students. They have done a great lob! Starting with the logo for the project!
A surprise for everybody was the presence of the journalists in the meeting, with a long interview that was nicely reflected the second day in the newspaper.
Gracias, companeros! Thank you, dear friends! Hasta la vista, Salamanca!
Daniel