First international meeting Cyprus , Limassol 3-10 October 2010

The first meeting of the project took place in Limassol Cyprus in the period 3-10 October 2010.

First working visit to Cyprus under
GRUNDTVIG PROJECT HOBBY AS INTEGRATING FACTOR OF EUROPEAN SOCIETY (HAIFES)

October 2010

Visit report

The first working visit for Grundtvig Partnership project HAIFES has taken place in Limassol, Cyprus instead of Turkey because of the rejection the Turkish partner.

16  participants (4 staff and 11 learners) from three approved institutions: from  Poland, Romania and Cyprus has attended the meeting. A partner from Italy, although not awarded the Grundtvig grant, joined the meeting. The organization from Portugal couldn’t take part in the gathering due to high travel expenses resulting from a short notice. Although not physically present, the coordinator from Portugal was included in all discussions related to the project as we were connecting via Skype and on Facebook.

The main objectives of the visit were the following:

1/ Getting  to know each other.

2/ Presentations of each delegation.

3/ Clarifying the aims of the project, planning activities, methodology and time table of the project

4/ Reorganization of the project schedule and tasks due to rejection of many partners

5/ Participation in cultural and educational activities such as visits to archeological and cultural sites (eg. Kykkos Monastery, Medieval Castle Museum, Omodos village, Lefkara Folk Museum)

6/ Informal education during various workshops such as: dance improvisations, byzantine icon painting, textile art and others

7/ Initiation of virtual platform for exchange of experiences

The workshops held in the meeting exemplified beautiful integrative hobbies as an inspiration for the future activities of the partner organizations .

Each presenter involved in the first working visit in Cyprus under HAIFES project showed his hobby  witch  sometimes became job. 

1)           1) Mariusz Dabrowski: a skilful, hard working, empathetic and dedicated Massage Therapist and                 enthusiastic world traveller. His passion sare unique body treatments that originate from different parts of          the world.

       He has travelled from East to West and climbed from North to South, discovered and bolted new                climbing routes in many countries, built and operated high ropes and survival courses and worked                    extensively with disabled sportsmen. He has built my own climbing website and is also passionate about          Tai Chi.  (Mariusz gave us a presentation about different body treatments, taught us a few simple ways of        giving massage to ourselves in order to decrease stress and regain wellbeing as well as presented                    photographs from his world wide journeys)

2)      Maryla Malinowska: Pedagogist, dance and movement therapist. Uses movement and dance as a tool for self expression and personal development. (she gave us dance and movement workshop)

3)      Tamara Yankevich:  Business Trainer, HR-coach, NLP&Enneagram Trainer, personal development facilitator (she gave us presentation about communication)

4)      Sylvia Braun: yoga instructor, holistic mind-body therapist, personal development coach and trainer, stress management coach (she gave us yoga workshop and taught us how to use breathing and gentle stretching in order to relax)

             5)    Menelaos Kyrou :  iconographer,  he studied Byzantine Iconography in Limassol at school of Mr.                Akis  Kyriakides in 2000-2004. Since 2004 he has been creating icon paintings either for                         churches or for his own collection and also FRESCO in Churches. Since 2007 he owns a                           work shop in Limassol where he teaches Byzantine Iconography to adult learners.

1)                     He gave us lessons in an  icon painting workshop.

1)      6)Christodoulos Christodoulu: adult learner who gave us a presentation of his hobbies: mountain climbing, diving, travelling and photography.  His hobbies help him lead active life that gives him plenty of joy and satisfaction.

     7)Eleonora Budur , the Romanian group coordinator   showed her passion for knotted macramé.    

Results of the visit:

1/ Delegations have met personally and established good relationships and friendly interpersonal communication

2/ A detailed plan for future actions has been created

3/ The coordinators have introduced own institutions using modern ICT

4/ The staff have exchanged experiences, good practices, methods used in adult education

5/ A logo of the project has been created

6/ A blog, google group and Facebook website for the project have been created as a platform for further exchange of experiences

7/ The participants have learnt about Cypriot culture and traditional hobbies

8/ The participants developed new interests through participation in  various workshops

9/ A traveling exhibition that presents achievements of the learners has been created (to be developed throughout the project)

10/ Various aspects of the visit have been evaluated with questionnaires