The Olympic Games, held every four years inspires the world, not only the host nation and those who organise the games but also sportsmen and women who compete in them, those who visit or volunteer at the games, and even those who watch them from afar. In 2012 the Everything is Possible team were inspired by hosting a Youth in Action youth exchange project at the London Olympics, this project impacted positively on the lives of the young people involved, and in turn we became part of the Olympic legacy. In 2013 with an existing Brazilian partner - Gol de Letra, who deliver sports-based educational activities - we began to plan our next Olympicthemed activity. We contacted an organisation in Greece who represented the first Olympic Games, we felt they could be an appropriate third partner for this project.
This unfortunately didn’t work out, so the following year we made contact with a new partner in Hungary called Polgår Foundation, who represent the Roma community and support inclusive sports activities. Hungary was chosen by partners due to it being the host of the European Olympic Youth Festival 2017 and therefore in a similar situation to Gol de Letra and Everything is Possible. We applied for an Erasmus+ Capacity Building project, received funding and began our two years of creating a legacy with the Rio 2016 Olympics as a backdrop and an inspiration. This was then the partnership at the start of the project: Everything is Possible, Gol de Letra and Polgar Foundation. Part way through the project a fourth partner ACER Brazil joined us in order to complete some of the activities other partners were unable to realise. Read on to see how this project developed...
Clair Brown
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The project The Olympic Legacy was an international project bringing together youth and public organisations in the UK, Brazil and Hungary to build on the legacy of the Olympic Games. This project gathered together and shared non-formal youth education developed through the Olympic games legacies and built on the commitment of host country government, to ensure the Olympic games brings lasting benefits to young people (particularly those with fewer opportunities). Countries which were chosen:
United Kingdom:
Brazil:
Hungary:
The 2012 Olympic Games were held in London and there have been some amazing legacy youth education projects developed as a result of the games. We wanted to share these successes with youth organisations in Brazil and Hungary in the hope that partners could capitalise on these initiatives and the benefits experienced could be multiplied and reproduced.
When we applied, the 2016 Olympic Games were planned for Rio. We agreed to offer young people from the UK and Hungary the opportunity to join local young people, to share in this phenomenal international experience in a participative way as well as developing their own trilateral sports education programme which could be rolled out to youth organisations after the Olympic waves swept Brazil in the summer of 2016.
Excitingly Gyor was planned as the host of the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in 2017. We arranged the evaluation meeting to coincide with this activity. PolgĂĄr Foundation is committed to contribute to the creation of a lasting social legacy of these sport events by providing opportunities for young people with fewer opportunities.
In each of the three countries represented, there was a local NGO/sport partner, experienced in the field of education through sports and we also engaged with local government departments responsible for education or sport. We selected the specific partners to be able to build local projects with the support and infrastructure from the local authorities in order to ensure that the programmes created through Olympic Legacy could have longevity after the project’s end.
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Partners
Everything is Possible is a not-for-profit organisation. When we formed 16 years ago, our vision was to help young people with fewer opportunities — offenders, jobless people, uneducated people, substance abusers as well as young people from ethnic minorities. We knew that non-formal learning through volunteering and experiencing new cultures was a powerful way of helping people to improve themselves. We still target these groups but in order to make our work more inclusive we also work with local schools, youth centres and young people without additional needs. A key part of our work centres around building strong support, relationships, networks and infrastructure. This is exactly what we have done, Olympic Legacy being a prime example of this co-operation.
The Gol de Letra Foundation is a Brazilian NGO created to facilitate new perspectives for children, adolescents and young people from socially vulnerable communities through programmes that complement school education, strengthen family ties and develop the community. Founded in 1998 on International Human Rights Day by former prominent players of the Brazilian national football team Raí Souza Vieira de Oliveira (Raí) and Leonardo Nascimento de Araújo (Leonardo), the Gol de Letra Foundation has served thousands of children, adolescents and young people, and has had a direct impact in their families and communities.
Polgár foundation’s mission is to improve the life chances and circumstances of disadvantaged, especially Roma communities and individuals living in remote areas of Hungary. As a responsible social mediator it takes the initiative to set up strategic cooperation with civil, private and public organisations to encourage them to take an active part in reducing poverty, discrimination and social tensions by offering donations and support. The foundation’s activities have a special focus on young Roma people. In addition to supporting external programmes, the foundation has launched some successful talent promotion programmes in recent years. It has been running the socalled Roma football talent programme since 2009, thus becoming a Talent Point member of the National Talent Development Council.
Founded in November 1993, ACER Brasil (Associação de Apoio à Criança em Risco) started its work focusing on the recuperation of street children in the centre of São Paulo. In 2001 ACER extended its work to include preventing children migrating to the streets through founding the Hummingbird Centre, where it initially offered services to 60 young people from the community in southern Diadema, São Paulo. In March of 2003 ACER transferred its activities to a new Community Centre. After 23 years of activity, ACER currently offers services to more than 7,000 children, young people and adults, with activities to promote human and community development grouped in five areas: Social Work, Youth, Sport for Social Impact and Local Economic Development.
In association with
Funded by
Through this project Everything is Possible also worked with students from Manor C of E Academy. Manor has been serving the young people of York for over 203 years. Considered as one of the outstanding schools in the UK, Manor’s aims reflect the teaching of Jesus on three key areas; serving others, growing together and living life to the full. As well as helping their young people to achieve academic success, they encourage their students to help those in Romania and Malawi and locally through the Leadership and Duke of Edinburgh awards.
This project was funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union Erasmus+ is the European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport. It runs for seven years, from 2014 to 2020, with organisations invited to apply for funding each year to undertake creative non-formal education activities. Erasmus+ aims to modernise education, training and youth work across Europe. It is open to education, training, youth and sport organisations across all sectors of lifelong learning, including school education, further and higher education, adult education and the youth sector. It offers exciting opportunities for participants to study, work, volunteer, teach and train abroad in Europe and around the world. 7
Start-Up Seminar in The UK In November 2015, partners involved in Olympic Legacy met together in the United Kingdom. This Start-Up Seminar was a great opportunity to get to know each other’s organisations and the professionals working on the project. We spoke about Olympic Legacy: Quality, Visibility, Priorities. We planned the year ahead and spoke in detail about future mobility opportunities and of course of the Youth Exchange in Rio. Partners had the opportunity to run some sport coaching sessions in York. Back in London, we looked at the Legacy of the London 2012 Olympic Games for inspiration. Finally, we agreed tasks and partners’ role. A good start for an exciting project.
Preparation 8
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Staff visit in Brazil ‘‘Having hosted our partners at Everything is Possible and Manor CE Academy I was filled with eager anticipation to visit Gol de Letra, where we were involved in a pre-departure training for their volunteers. We were introduced to Douglas and Victor who would be coming over to the UK for 9 months. We also met some of the young people who will be part of the project in August. They were happy to receive a postcard each from my young people back in the UK and I was sure they were going to get on very well. Whilst all parties have maintained confidence in each other and have worked collaboratively to plan the project, doing this across continents and languages has its challenges. By the end of the visit all parties had a palpable idea of how the project was going to work and as a result the excitement continues to grow on both sides of the Atlantic.’’ Patrick Tasker, United Kingdom
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Training in Hungary
There were many other preparatory meetings:
In February, The Polgár Foundation selected their participants and organised a few meetings to discuss the youth exchange, the history and values of the Olympic Games and practical information about Brazil.
Preparatory meetings in Brazil In March 2016, Gol De Letra organised some preliminary meetings to prepare the two EVS volunteers coming to the UK and the Youth Exchange participants.
The organisation also tested their English language skills. For many of them this will be the first time abroad which makes the initiative even more special.
Meeting Brazil - UK On the 21st March, Clair Brown from Everything is Possible and Raí Souza Vieira de Oliveira from Foundation Gol de Letra met together in London to speak about the profiles of the EVS volunteers in Brazil and in the UK. Partners also discussed the Youth Exchange which will take place in Brazil during the Olympic Games.
Fundraising events in the UK The British participants met numerous time to prepare the Youth Exchange. They also organise a few fundraising events such as Sports Days. In total they raise £1715 towards the project. They also managed to get sponsors for their camping equipment and also got some books offered by Waterstones bookshop York for the local community in Brazil.
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Youth Exchange in Rio 12
The Youth Exchange This youth exchange hosted by the Gol de Letra Foundation was an amazing opportunity given to young people from the UK, Hungary and Brazil. They gathered together during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro 2016. During this phenomenal international experience, they all had the opportunity to share their culture and their experience in sports education. They organised a mini Olympic festival for local community children; shared sport activities during a UNICEF-led event; and created their own sports. They even had the chance to see some Olympic games and build a mural for the hosted organisation. A unique and unforgettable experience!
Day 1: The project started on the 8th August 2016. Participants had a long journey to the project. British and Hungarian participants landed in Sao Paulo and then went to Rio by bus. Straight after their arrival they were officially welcomed by Fundação Gol de Letra and the Everything is Possible team. Football legend Rai, also co-founder of Gol de Letra, was there to greet the group. After a dinner, the team went through the week’s programme.
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Day 2: ‘‘Today we’ve been doing lots of different stuff to get to know the other participants, because there’s people here from the UK, from Hungary and from Brazil. So we’ve all been getting to know each other. We played some name games and loads of different sports this morning. In the afternoon we organised a little mini Olympic style competition for the local children.’’ Wanipa, British participant
‘‘My name is João Vitor and I live in Brazil. In the evening, we did an intercultural activity in which each country presented a little of their culture. Our country, Brazil, presented some dances and some typical food. For me it was very special because I learnt about different cultures that I don’t experience in my day-to-day life.’’ João Vitor, Brazilian participant. 15
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Day 3: Creation of a mural ‘‘Hi, my name Richard Seres from Hungary. On the third day we painted a mural. It was a great thing because it brought the group together. After that we started painting, which was really funny Despite not speaking each other’s language, we learnt a lot about team work. This is a Rubik’s Cube, which we’re painting with flags and the Olympic symbol. And this is our gift to the Gol De Letra organisation. And the other half of the group went to watch the swimming at the Olympic Park.’’ Richard, Hungarian participant.
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Day 4: British House ‘‘On the fourth day we went for a walk around the lagoon where the rowing events and sailing events were held. Towards the middle of the day we headed towards the British house inside Rio, where we participated in a UNICEF-run event, where we played some sports with local children such as volleyball and we did some dancing. And then after that we went into the British house where we met Chris Froome who just won bronze that day and that was really special. And then, in the evening we came back to Gol De Letra to do a capoeira class which was really fun.’’ Joe, British participant.
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Day 5: Olympic Bvd ‘‘On the fifth day we visited the art museum. We saw some Brazilian art. In the afternoon, we had free time. We could walk around the Olympic Boulevard. We saw the Olympic flame, which was really incredible. In the evening we had a real Brazilian barbecue. And after that we could dance and listen to Brazilian songs.’’ Dominika, Hungarian participant.
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Day 6: Beach On the 6th day, the young participants had to create their own new Olympic Games. They had to spend some times in mixed country groups to develop and test some new innovative sport ideas. They seemed very motivated to find something original. They then spent some time learning each other’s new sport and practising it. This was such a great way to learn the Olympic Games values. On top of this, as the activities took place in Copacabana, they also had the chance to swim at one of the most famous beach in the world.
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‘‘This was the first time I ever saw the ocean.’’ Richard, Hungarian participant.
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Day 7: Water Polo On the last day of the Youth Exchange, the young participants went to the Olympic park where they had the chance to see some water polo matches and to look around. This was such a great way to celebrate this busy week. At their return, we organised an evaluation meeting, where each participant had the chance to hold the Olympic torch given to the Director of Gol de Letra Beatriz Pantaleão, who was a torch bearer. Each participant shared the impact that this project had on him or herself, before a celebration meal.
‘‘Yesterday we woke up and we went to the water polo. I’d never seen this sport, it was a very different sport for me. I very much enjoyed it. The supporters who were with me were great fun. Everybody enjoyed watching it. Everybody experienced the sport a little because many of us didn’t know about it.’’ Larissa, Brazilian participant.
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‘‘I learnt to respect other people’s cultures because they are two countries I have never had contact with and because of this, I had to respect their diversity.’’
‘‘This programme is a very great opportunity. It is very useful. You can get an experience that will change your life.’’
‘‘It’s been the best week of my life.’’
‘‘I learnt a little of the language from each country.’’ 26
‘‘On this exchange, I’ve learnt team work when you can’t really understand somebody.’’
‘‘Even if it sounds scary applying for this kind of project if you ever get the chance, if you don’t it would be the biggest mistake you’ve ever made.’’
Watch the video One year ago, young people from Brazil, Hungary and the UK gathered together in Rio for a youth exchange as part of the Olympic Games 2016 and our project Olympic Legacy.
Watch the video on www.olympiclegacy.eu or scan this QR Code.
To celebrate the 1st anniversary of this project Everything is Possible produced a video with all the highlights of this incredible week in Rio. 27
Mobilities 28
Youth Workers’ Mobility Projects Bence ‘‘Az Olympic Legacy projektnek köszönhetöen két hónapot tölthettem Brazíliában a Gol de Letra alapítványnál, amely életem egyik meghatározó élménye lett. Kint tartózkodásom alatt lehetöségem volt megismerkedni a fogadó szervezetem mindennapi tevékenységével, a szegénynegyedekben megvalósított szociális programokkal és a brazil kultúrával. Mind Sao Pauloban és Rio de Janeiroban szemtanúja lehettem annak, hogy a sport mennyire hatékony eszköze a társadalmi bevonásnak és egyben milyen fontos eszköze a nevelésnek. Sok, nehéz körülmények közé születö brazil fiatalnak a sport egyben kitörési lehetöséget is jelenthet, de a Gold De Letra és hasonló szociális alapítványok munkája nélkül mindez elképzelhetetlen lenne. A két hónapos periódus alatt én is igyekeztem a saját tudásommal hozzájárulni a program sikeréhez. Brazil fiatalokat tanítottam angolra, az általam ismert nevelési célzatú játékokkal ismertettem meg a helyi gyerekeket és persze néha azért én is beálltam egy meccsre. Szerencsésnek érzem magam, a projekt alatt életre szóló élményekkel gazdagodtam és nagyszerü embereket ismertem meg. Az élmények mellett azonban nagyon sokat tanultam egy idegen, de annál befogadóbb kultúráról, illetve önmagamról is. Számomra az Olympic Legacy projekt bebizonyította, hogy a sport nem csak kitünö eszköze az emberek közötti barátság elömozdításának, de egyben olyan univerzális értékeket is közvetít, mint az esélyegyenlöség vagy a szolidaritás.
The Olympic Legacy project has proved that sport is an excellent means of transmitting universal values such as equal opportunities or solidarity.’’ 29
European Voluntary Services Ruama ‘‘I volunteered with Everything is Possible at Poppleton Ousebank School with Ms Armstrong and it was an incredible experience. Basically I helped her in various activities in the classroom. I monitored children in their daily chores and play. I had the privilege of some activities with Disabled children and this was very important for me, because I had never had this contact, they are incredible, loving and caring, I loved it. I was able to participate in celebrations like Roald Dahl Day (I was in character as Matilda), Halloween and a beautiful presentation of Christmas made by the children for their parents. The city of York is a wonderful place with lots of interesting history and beautiful places to visit. During my time there, I encountered great cafés, shops, museums and contemplated the city walking the walls around it and the view from there is just perfect. I also discovered Leeds, a larger city and also with beautiful scenery. I went to Glasgow and Edinburgh, amazing places and breath-taking landscapes. All the places I was able to visit were wonderful. Participating in this project was a challenge for me, because it would be a new language, staying away from my family and friends, a new culture with different customs, but it was an incredible experience. It would be great if all the young people had the opportunity.
I feel more mature, independent and more confident after this project, I was able to find out what I really like to do, and what I would like to do in my future, which is working with children. Thank you Erasmus +, Everything is Possible and Gol de Letra for giving me the most incredible experience of my life. Thank you Ms Armstrong for the patience and kindness you taught me and received me with at the Poppleton School. To the next!’’ 30
Victor ‘‘Olá, Meu nome é Victor de Lima Prudencio, tenho 23 anos e sou Brasileiro. Eu cheguei ao Reino Unido um pouco assustado, mas confiante que eu estava prestes a viver um ótimo tempo por lá. Eu trabalhei em diferentes atividades. Ajudei os treinadores em uma academia de futebol, treinando garotos de 6 à 15 anos; também trabalhei como assistente de professores de Educação Física, Artes e Design e Tecnologia em uma escola; trabalhei em escritório de Marketing como Designer Gráfico e ainda trabalhei por alguns dias em um centro de educação infantil e um clube de atletismo. Meu projeto pessoal foi um clube de Fotografia durante o horário do almoço na escola que eu trabalhava. No final eu pude ouvir uma garota dizer “Eu espero conseguir fazer parte deste clube novamente no próximo semestre”, mas infelizmente não estou mais na Inglaterra. Foi uma jornada bem longa, mas tive excelentes experiências, conheci muitas pessoas, conheci projetos maravilhosos e hoje tenho boas memórias e histórias para contar. Uma das coisas que eu mais desenvolvi profissionalmente foi minha comunicação. Eu sempre soube conversar com outras pessoas, mas ter que lidar com pessoas diferentes, em lugares diferentes e até mesmo de idade bem variada em outra língua foi algo novo e que eu posso falar com 100% de certeza que minhas habilidades de comunicação cresceram muito. Já pessoalmente eu digo estou muito mais sonhador. Eu quero viver coisas diferentes o tempo todo, eu quero criar mais. Nós podemos ter uma vida
melhor no Brasil. Eu amo meu país e eu vou lutar para fazer dele um lugar melhor.
Esta experiência mudou minha vida. Eu voltei um filho melhor, um irmão melhor, melhor cidadão, um designer melhor, um sonhador melhor e um amante melhor. Eu quero ajudar muito mais pessoas. I want to help more the people.
This experience has changed my life. I returned a better son, a better brother, a better citizen, a better designer, a better dreamer and a better lover. Eu tenho mais amor para dar e sinto que o amor é o começo para mudar vidas e lugares. Nós precisamos de mais pessoas prontas para mudar o mundo. Eu sou um rapaz jovem e este projeto foi bom para minha vida e espero que outros jovens e pessoas mais velhas tenham a oportunidade de mudarem suas vidas também. Eu recomendo para todas as pessoas trabalhar junto com a Fundação Gol de Letra, Everything is Possible e a Erasmus+. Eu só quero agradecer a cada organização que fez este projeto acontecer. Muito Obrigado!’’
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Douglas ‘‘Sou Douglas Oliveira, brasileiro, 28 anos de idade e sou envolvido com projetos de impacto social desde meus 16, pois acredito que todo mundo pode ajudar a mudar o Mundo para melhor. O projeto de EVS que fiz parte foi relacionado ao Legado Olímpico e desenvolvia atividades de esporte em uma escola pública e em uma academia de Futebol , com o desenvolver do projeto também realizei atividades administrativas e financeiras. A jornada foi longa e cheia de momentos difíceis, mas gosto muito de me lembrar dos momentos em que eu chegava à escola Woodthorpe e os alunos vinham animados para as atividades e me chamando pelo nome, mesmo com a dificuldade na comunicação em inglês sentia que o trabalho estava sendo bem feito e deixando as crianças felizes. Profissionalmente a experiência me trouxe uma grande evolução na língua inglesa, alem de ter desenvolvido muito meus conhecimentos na área de prestação de contas e conhecimentos de didática com crianças. Pra minha vida pessoal vou carregar o aprendizado com as diferenças culturais e o respeito e educação dos Britânicos.
Sem dúvida alguma ser um EVS transforma a vida de qualquer pessoa,
without any doubts, EVS transforms the life of any person
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Os aprendizados e experiências vividas nos mostra uma outra forma de olhar o Mundo, recomendo fortemente a todos que tiverem essa chance, só posso agradecer a todo os envolvidos nesse processo Fundação Gol de Letra, Everything Is Possible, Manor School e i2i, obrigado por mudarem minha vida.’’
Andy ‘‘For my EVS (European Voluntary Service) I have spent the last seven months at ACER Brasil, an NGO that provides activities for children and young people of Eldorado, a neighbourhood in Diadema on the outskirts of São Paulo. My main focuses were photography and mural painting. I used my experience in photography to take a lot of photos that reflect the exciting and wonderful work with the children here, as well as creating some short videos and interviews with the children and staff. The majority of my time was spent organising three mural projects; one at a school in a small town outside São Paulo called São Luiz do Paraitinga and two of the local football courts in the neighbourhood where ACER run some of their sports activities. This is the work that I am most proud of and that will leave a lasting mark on the community. Aside from the visual impact I am proud of the personal relationships that I have made and improved through this work.
I have learnt that it is important to follow your goals and inspiration. Big projects such as this take a lot of work, organisation and persistence but if you believe in its importance you can make it happen. I will take a lot away from my time at ACER in this regard, to believe in myself and my abilities and the impact that I can have on others. It really reminds me that the relationships and connections that we make are what is important in life. It is an amazing privilege to be able to work at ACER with such amazing children and young people and be able to have some connection with them and some impact on their lives. I would like to thank Everything is Possible and Erasmus+ for making my voluntary experience possible, I will be forever thankful for the support. I would also like to thank Jonathan at ACER for all his help during my time at the organisation and for setting up the program.’’ 33
Ayesha ‘‘The last three months have been super busy as I am approaching the end of my volunteering. I’ve been here for 6 months in total. Now that the children are comfortable with us and a stronger relationship has been built, we have been trying to work on behaviour and respect for each other. We were also involved in sports and games classes; I was able to join in with the Futebol Feminina (girl’s football) classes and used my experience of football coaching previously in England. I ran a few sessions which at first were very difficult with limited Portuguese and having to do lots of demonstrations! But after building a rapport with the girls and learning/ practising more Portuguese, the sessions ran more smoothly and I now do a range of activities. One thing I learnt is that it is very difficult for young women and teenage girls in the community to take part in sport due to stigma and lack of confidence to take part in a very male dominated sport in Brazil. This is something I tried to work on alongside some colleagues at ACER to
show the importance of participation in sports for women and to increase this especially from a young age.
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A huge thank you to Everything is Possible, Erasmus+ and ACER Brasil for making this opportunity happen!’’
Simon ‘‘Our new family here at ACER Brasil have welcomed us with open arms, generosity, kindness and a lot of patience! Amongst futebol, percussão and other ‘esportes’ sessions, we have been trying to get to grips with the beautiful language that is Português…Paulista style! We have started delivering small games within the futebol sessions and also leading the ‘toy and games’ sessions, which is a non-competitive group of mixed-aged children. It has been difficult to begin with in terms
of explaining and describing new games to the children. We rely heavily on the older kids to get our ideas across. People back home have been really generous and raised money to buy new equipment, such as balls, cones and a classic parachute! (Everyone loves a parachute right?) This has allowed us to add more variety to the sessions as there is very little equipment accessible to us. All in all, it has been a great start to our journey here in Brasil. Ate mais! (See you soon)’’ 35
Final Seminar in Hungary
The Final Seminar In July 2017, partners from Brazil, Hungary and United Kingdom met in Hungary for a final seminar. This was the opportunity to evaluate the impact of this project and the progress made. The 20 young people and youth worker gathered together during two major sport events: The European Youth Olympic Festival in Gyor and FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. During five days, participants learnt about using sport as a tool for social inclusion; shared the successes and areas which could be developed for the future and also identified what dissemination of the project would take place. Youthworkers took the opportunity to arrange evaluation activities on the evenings, so the participants could also take part in sports activities during the day and take advantage of the EOYF which was taking place in the country at the same time.
‘‘On our day of arrival, I saw all my old friends from last year’s Youth Exchange in Rio. There were lots of joyful faces and hugging. My favourite thing from this moment is that it proved how lasting the friendship between us all is and hopefully will be. After we put our bags down in our cabin for the next few days a little way from the centre, we went to a little book filled building in which we had our dinner. After dinner, we stood in a circle and played a game to remember the names of everyone. Then we headed back to the main hall to get involved in the camp’s evening activity- dancing. Luckily the Hungarian participants did a great job of integrating us and making us comfortable. Finally, after a log day, it was time for bed rest.’’ Rebecca Atkinson, participant.
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‘‘It was great to have the continuity of participants and professionals who had been involved from the start of the project right through to the evaluation seminar. However there was also benefit to the new group from ACER Brazil having a presence at this evaluation event as they could share their experiences of joining a partnership which they had not helped to create and consider their different position of joining this established partnership. Likewise the participants who had not been involved in every aspect, as an EVS volunteer or a participant on the youth exchange could focus during the evaluation activities on how they had observed benefit to the organisation and local community as a result of the project Olympic Legacy.’’ Godfrey Brown – undertaking a youth worker mobility
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‘‘The Brazilian participants brought along a book with Portuguese- English translations in, and we all had a go at learning a few phrases in Portuguese which was very fun despite a lot of us were not very good with pronunciations. After the morning evaluation events, we met outside the building where we played games on the grass such as ‘Splat’ and ‘Horses, Knights and Cavaliers’ which we had to teach the other participants despite the language barriers. We were also able to learn games from the other nations such as a Brazilian game where we ran around in a circle trying to catch the person on the other side which was hard but very fun. We then headed back to Budapest where we gathered back and decided to bond more especially with the Brazilian participants. We put blankets down outside under the stars in the dark, ate some traditional Hungarian food, and talked to the other participants using lots of hand gestures to communicate. We also were able to engage with them despite our language barriers.’’ By Grace Armstrong, participant.
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‘‘On one of the day of the final evaluation seminar, we travelled into the City of Budapest to complete a ‘Budapest City Quest’. When we arrived in the City centre, each nationality were handed a booklet, in which had several pages of instructions of activities we had to complete in order to receive information about something which would earn us points. Due to the fact that many of the Hungarian participants already knew a range of information about the City itself and its History, we were placed in teams, Brazilian and English participants joined together and split into smaller groups, and the same format with the Hungarian teams. This enabled us to exercise and work on our communication skills, as we were put in a position which meant we had to communicate across a language barrier, equally share and listen to ideas, and efficiently work as a team to successfully complete the quest. This task helped us evaluate the different skills Olympic Legacy helped participants to developed. Activities within the booklet helped explore many skills, such as working in a team, leadership skills such as organisation and creativity, but also taught us interesting and important information about the history of Budapest itself. For example, one of the pages had an old photograph from the city many years ago, and the task encouraged us to go and find the location of the picture, and then in teams recreate the photograph as close to the original as possible. This saw us being creative and working in a team, getting everyone
involved despite the language barrier. This activity was a great thing to take part in as it meant we got to travel across Budapest, seeing many interesting sights, learn about its culture and history, all the while working on many leadership skills such as teamwork, communication and building friendships.’’ By Emily Dodd, participant.
‘‘As late participants in this project it has been both challenging and rewarding to integrate with the groups from the other countries and which was very successful at the wrap up meeting in Hungary. Our teenagers and staff got a lot out of the encounter and we are looking forward to participating in more similar projects as the gains the young people have are very great. The job shadows that four staff members have had in the UK have all been valuable to contribute to the improvement of our sports delivery in Brazil and it had also been a great opportunity for the children in our community to be having different sessions with our EVS volunteers Andy, Ayesha and Simon. A big thank you to Everything is Possible and the Erasmus+ programme for making all of this possible.’’ By Jonathan Hannay, ACER representative who joined the project towards the end. 43
‘‘On the final day in Hungary, the group had really mixed. The evaluation activities allowed participants new and old to integrate and all be fully engaged in the evaluation process. They were all really nice people, and we all got on really well by the end of the seminar. The evaluation activities were split up by games. We walked back through Budapest and then Bence got us to play a game called Chicken Goggles which was really funny and confusing. When we got back to the camp, we, the British group, and the Brazilians all went in the pool to celebrate the success of the evaluation seminar. When we got out, Bence told us to get everything ready and to head back to the main building. When we got there, the Hungarian group were waiting with T-shirts and bracelets to say goodbye! It was a very emotional goodbye because we’d all got so close and we were all going to miss each other a lot. The final seminar was an amazing experience and I made some really good friends.’’ By Lottie Hastings, participant.
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Spreading the word... Partners and participants made a huge noise about the project by spreading the word on social media and media; and promoting the project at various events. Here are some examples of the media coverage that Olympic Legacy received.
British participants regularly hit the media. In June they promoted Olympic Legacy and the books they managed to collect in order to donate to a Library in Brazil. The article has been published in The Press, York’s local newspaper. In June, the Press interviewed them again to know more about the Youth Exchange itself. Throughout the project they also did a few radio interviews for Vale Radio or the BBC Radio York.
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British participants were not the only ones who appeared in the media. During the Youth Exchange, O Dia, a major daily newspaper in Rio de Janeiro, mentioned the project in their Sunday paper. The average circulation of this newspaper is 300,000 copies. It gave great visibility to our project in Brazil!
Visit www.olympiclegacy.eu for more information about the dissemination of Olympic Legacy, read the articles and listen to the interview. 47
Thank You First we would like to thank the European Commission and the Erasmus+ programme for funding this amazing project, and making it possible.
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We would also like to thank all the partners involved: ACER Brasil, the Gol de Letra Foundation, the foundation Polgár Alapitvany, Manor C of E Academy. We would also like to thank our generous sponsors: Manor PTA, i2i Sports, the Foreign Commonwealth Office, Future Cleaning Services, British Airways, brf and Voe GOL Linhas Aéreas. Thank you to Waterstones for donating the books which the British participants offered to local community libraries in Brazil. Thank you to Millets for donating camping equipment for the youth exchange participants in Brazil. Thank you to all the individuals who’ve donated, helped organised or supported in any ways the project. Thank you to all the participants from Brazil, Hungary and the United Kingdom. And finally, thank you to all the people who contributed to this photobook (photographers and writers), including the talented András Farkas and Ayesha Ismail-Gilroy who took the picture for the front cover.
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