From the Gaia course | Experiences

By Margarita Barbeiro, Colombia

I have heard that if Life takes something from you, it is because it has something bigger prepared on your way… and it is true. One of the biggest challenges that I have experienced this year was to be separated of my family in Colombia and it was incredible the way that my feelings to be far away from home were compensated in CICD this Christmas with a new and amazing experience.

The day started with the preparation of the event with only 12 people in total, considering that most of the team had travelled to their home countries. Food, decoration and activities were the main points to keep in mind. The food team started to organise the ingredients very early and the result was an incredible “english moment” adapted with a mix of skills, feelings and flavors of Portugal, Algeria, Spain, Italy, Romania and Argentina; a magical composition of colours, shapes and spices. I have to say that every vegetable, meat, potatoe and desert that I tried was perfect thanks to the mix of love and excellence behind the desire of giving the best of us and our gastronomy.
Everything was served in the dinning hall in the middle of candles; these lights illuminated an exclusive and eclectic “brik a brak”* combination of red and golden fabrics, reindeers and stars. This decoration can not be completed without a Christmas tree; parts of a recycled old plastic tree was rebuilt with a new support and a touch of creativity.
It was complemented with the perfect soirée; even though this is a time that generates different feelings, in this case the nostalgic ones was overpassed with joy. After dinner, we enjoyed some words about the meaning of Christmas, a violin piece and a beatutiful romanian chorus as a tribute for the ocassion. In addition, the “Secret Santa” not only brought personalised presents but also unexpected messages that touched hearts, reafirmed friendships, made some eyes cry and made it an unforgettable special moment. Afterwards, the Bingo kept our attention and it was followed by an international music combination that made us dance until 2 am.
I have to say that nothing in the world could replace a moment with my family, but I need to admit that in an incredible and impredictible way the Life brought me a new experience, full of flavours, colours and feelings that made this incredible CICD Christmas unforgettable. So, in the process to learn about detachment and be open to new begginings, the Life could surprise and invite you to keep hope and trust that good things come to our lives in many and beatutiful ways.

*Brik a Brak: Storage of recovered ítems to be reused or sold

By J. Paola Gomez Garzon, Spain

I never thought that at the age of 28 I would live the best New Year’s eve of my life.
31st of December 2018, it was three month and 9 days since I arrived to a very special place in the north of England, CICD (College for International Co-operation and Development). Leaving a life of comfort behind, I enlisted to a life changing project to Africa. Everything starts at CICD living in a community, getting to meet new people, new stories and new experiences and sharing mine with them too. So far the Gaia period is being a school of life for me, where hard situations give me the best lessons. Now I am looking forward to get to the Development Instructor period in February, to engage with even more experiences full of learning.

The party’s topic was “Hippie Flower Power”. When I finished the tasks of the day, I got back to the college and start preparing my costume. We met in one of our mate’s room and did our make up and dressed up. In the mean time, some other people were in the kitchen team, cooking for the night. For dinner we had veggie risotto, tortellini, veggie soup, salads, fry vegetables, salmon, burgers and many deserts such as tiramisu, white chocolate cake and lemon meringue. Everything was very delicious. While all of that was being cooked, another team was decorating the dining hall and preparing activities for the night. At around 7 in the Facebook group they call everyone for dinner.
There were games and activities after dinner – the first one was a theatre play made in groups. My group had a play called ‘Sand and Stone’, an Arabic tale which let us with a good message. We have also ‘a date in Samarra’, ‘the dog and the wolf’, ‘the tow donkeys’ and the last one was perform by 7 volunteers who improvised while the “author” narrated it. It was a load of fun, we really had a laugh!
The second one was a game; I would call it ‘guess the song’. The aim was to guess songs of the 60’s. It was such a competitive fun. While we played, people from different parts of the world were getting calls and happy New Year’s wishes, while other waited until the day after to get it from the home country.
The third activity was a very special one to me personally. We each got a Mandala, a paper with circle with different fields for the aspects of our general life. We had to draw something that represents our goals in each aspect and keep it until midnight.
Then we went out to receive the New Year at 12 o’clock - just like everyone in the world but in our time. We got grapes like in Spain and a non-alcoholic sparkling drink; at the school we have the rule of non-alcohol and non-drugs use; so we unlike the rest of the world, receive our new year with all our senses alert and happy to be living every single moment of this special night. Also unlike the rest of the world, we did not have fireworks, but we had a bonfire outside where we all burned our mandalas as a sign of detachment. The bonfire hesitated to get started, but in the end it caught fire. We each had the 12 grapes and the sparkling drink, we cheered for the New Year and also hug each other.
Suddenly I realised I was here with these people around the bonfire; speaking, laughing and keeping warm. There were no nostalgia, sadness or needs; I did not miss anyone and anything. I then realised how happy I was, I realised that I didn’t need anything more than what was there. I felt my soul quiet, in silence and my heart full!
It was all out of the ordinary world. I realise that, I am not my values, I am not my traditions, I am not my country, I am not my typical music, I am not what society once told me I have to be in Christmas time and in any other time of the year. I realised that I am simply a free human being, I am love and that is everything I need.
For the rest of the night we danced around the fire to the rhythm of a variety of percussion instruments. We allowed our beat to flow; we let it express itself with the music until the night end magically when the fire went out. It was a unique way to start the year.
I wish you all a wonderful 2019.

On the 24th of September we had the possibility to visit Siemens Gamesa at their training centre in Hull. All this was made possible by Allan and Britta who are working with the Tvind Wind Mill in the Danish town Ulfborg, which was built by volunteers in the 1970’s as the then world’s biggest wind mill .
More about the Tvind Wind Mill and its’ relation to Siemens can be read here https://www.tvindkraft.dk/en/a-trailblazing-windmill/the-tvind-windmill-showed-the-way.html
Also listen to this https://soundcloud.com/cicd/building-the-biggest-windmill-in-the-world podcast in which our Headmistress Karen who has been one of the volunteers building the Tvindmill speaks about it)
While in the factory in Hull only the blades for the windmills are built, the training centre enabled us to get insight into windmills in general. When we arrived, the head of the training centre gave us an introduction on the wind power sector of Siemens, the tasks of the centre and the education programmes and we had the option to ask all questions which we had. He told us for example about the high impact longer blades have on the energy which is produced and also explained that wind energy is a sector of growing importance in many countries.

Windmill Factory Logo

Afterwards, we divided into two groups. While one group at first got an introduction into the safety training which is offered in the centre, the other group was equipped with helmet caps and got the opportunity to go into different types of Nacelles (kind of the head of wind turbines) which surprised all of us with their tremendous size. Inside the turbines, we could see how much technique is involved in the process of producing energy out of the wind and also how important it is that all the components work without mistake for a long time -especially if it is an off-shore turbine and therefore only accessible via boat or helicopter. Meanwhile, it is astonishing to see how much energy can be generated just by the power of the wind - one turn of an average wind turbine is enough to cover a family’s daily use of electricity! Afterwards the two groups changed so that everyone could see everything and take the most out of this excursion.
A big thank you for this experience goes to the staff from Siemens for enabling us to get the insight, Alan and Britta, who by the way also made presentations at CICD about the Tvindmill and wind energy in general, and I hope that future Gaia's and volunteers will have the possibility to visit the Training Centre as well!
Svenja Schroeder, Gaia student and future Climate Activist for India

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My Christmas in CICD

Merry Christmas from CICD

Preparing Christmas dinner

Time for Christmas Gifts

A journey to remember a lifetime

Visiting the Siemens Gamesa Training centre for wind turbines in Hull

Gaia Team At Windmill Factory

Gaia Team In Stairs

Margarida And The Wing

Svenja And Oxana

Guided Tour

Windmill Factory Logo