Hello dear ones,
This week we had the lovely opportunity to a lead a workshop with the kids from the initiative “Alive Soul” from Kyustendil area, together with my coordinator Mihaela. The workshop took place in the children’s center “Live with love” in the village of Smolichano. Eight kids and their parents came to enrich their knowledge about permaculture. It was so much fun!
All week we were wondering of whether we will actually do the workshop, or at least in which day to do it. The weather prognosis was changing day by day, and we were in communication with both the initiative and the children’s center. Finally, on Thursday, we looked at the prognosis and decided to make the workshop in the day and time it was planned, with some small changes.
The first plan for the workshop was for it to have two parts. The first one, which we actually managed to do, was the game with the plants companions, in which everyone chooses by chance one plant and kept it a secret. Then they made a mask for that particular plant. After that, we grouped together with our other plants companions that belong to our guild. We were also supposed to make an instant garden and plant some seedlings in the garden of the children’s center, but the day before the workshop they contacted us to tell us that because of the rainy weather the garden was too mudy, and it was not suitable to work there. So we changed this part with a little game of puzzle in the beginning of the workshop, and the puzzle was one of the companion plants posters. We also had a shared lunch, where everyone brought some food.
The kids and the parents were both involved in the activities, and it had a very positive impact. They had lots of fun and learned new things. We got an amazing feedback and also personal insight on what we can change to have even better results.
Some of the pluses I noticed from this workshop that made me an impression were that kids function better when they are outside in nature, the time limit does not work good not for both sides involved, the ones leading and the participants, and last but not the least kids love being and playing with their parents in a different set-up than every day life. I believe this was the most impactful thing we could have given them, and of course this is just my own personal view on things, but even when we started gathering, before we started with the activities I got a beautiful feeling that people should gather more like this, for good things to happen.
After the two activities, the kids lost their concentration, so we gathered with their parents in the dining room while they played hide and seek outside. We presented them with the method of the instant garden and had a discussion on the subject. Most of the parents are gardeners or have interest in gardening, so it was useful for them.
We all had an amazing time and I am looking forward to next weekend when we take our project to Todorovo. I have heard a lot about this village and the community center there from my coordinator, so I am really excited.
Love,
Marija
