7/23/2013

Our Ugandan Eco-Partner School Number One in the Whole Country!

Dear eco-friends in Europe,

I am happy to inform you that despite the long spell of drought, we have had plenty water throughout unlike before. We have really appreciated your boost.

Our school was ranked number one in the whole Country for being the best in all ECO- schools best practices. We won a National Green and 1.5 million Uganda shillings.

However, we are a waiting celebrations we would have loved to celebrate with you when time comes.  

Best Regards from pupils, Teachers and Parents,

Gordon
Focal Point Teacher
St Aloysius Primary School 
Uganda



5/30/2013

Farewell our dear eco-friends!

Dear eco-friends, here my wishes for you at the end of our project, since you will be on holiday very soon...: may you be happy, may you discover a lot of interesting things around you, may you live wonderful moments, may you remain eco-ambassadors, may you change our world! All the best! 



These are the green, bio-degradable balloons we released today after celebrating the end of our project during a European lunch...

Mrs Françoise

4/30/2013

Questionnaire on the Meeting in Oulu


Dear students that participated in the Comenius eco-project in Oulu, 

 

It is important for us to know your opinion about the meeting in Oulu. 
Did the visit meet your expectations? Did you enjoy this experience?

Please fill in the online form on the following webpage:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1W01fGJM8dIhRQRbTd114wpJgc3t9mhh3_YtkFfjoTs0/viewform?sid=366690af89bbcf5c&token=BuC3Vj4BAAA.dEbrmtSeGgHRIsfxs7uLRg.5UNewSa6oX9IO9b8JHnD0w

Thanking you for your feedback!  

Isabel Barbosa
Comenius Coordinator, Portugal

4/28/2013

Impressions on Oulu, Finland, 22nd - 26th April 2013

The Belgian team’s impressions

Hi everyone !
We would like to say that stay in OULU, Finland was interesting. We learned a lot of things, like being more eco-responsible! It was a great opportunity to discover new cultures, new people, and make new friends.
We really enjoyed the visit of Santa Claus’ village and the ice swimming…
Finland is a really beautiful country with large spaces, huge woods, wonderful houses…
The education system is really advanced compared to the Belgian one.
The farewell dinner in the restaurant on Thursday was amazing and the party in the school sports hall was unforgettable!
The hosting families were perfect. We hope we’ll see all of them one day.
The activity with the birdhouses was cool because we could paint them, in Belgium there is no lesson where we can paint! It was funny to paint Dimosthenis’ face!
The food was as good as surprising, another good experience!
Thanks to our new Finnish friends we can say a few words in Finnish now, so… KIITOS!
We miss you so much!
 From left: Céline Mangione, Yann Dreze, Marco Daniele, Francoise Goorisseen, Marc Pugliese, Esther Remy and Gabrielle Atienza.




The Greek team’s impressions

Our trip to Oulu was awesome! I met new people, different personalities, new cultures but the most important was that I made new friends. .It's been an unforgettable experience that I will never  forget and live again. All the students were sociable and co-operative. I also learnt to be more eco-responsible and I discovered   easy ways to do so.
 We can remember only wonderful moments...I hope that one day we will meet again. Until then, warm
greetings !

Maria Kilinkaridou

Hello  everyone!
The whole trip in Oulu, Finland was just an unforgettable   experience. I had the chance to meet new people, make friends   and learn a lot about the Finnish mentality, culture and environment. Furthermore I want to   say a big kiitos   to the Saastamoinen's family for their great and warm hospitality. I would like to see you again in the future.

Lolita Leras

So I am so Finland-sick already. I must confess I have been so impressed that I still have a feeling of the country itself and the warm hospitality the families offered me, especially as far as the Koykka family is concerned. I made lots of friends, I got to know about new civilizations, traditions and people in general. The chemistry among us was really exceptional, and personally I am happy to say that not only did I make many friends, but   I strongly miss one of your girls. Mrs Fredriksson   knows who she is, maybe you know as well, as she left me speechless. So with all that having been said...I promise to visit you there in Oulu the first chance I get.
Much Love,
Dimosthenis Pagkakis

The meeting that took place in magical Oulu of Finland was an unforgettable one. Not only because it was the last one since now our Comenius Project has come to an end, but also because everyone there was so crazy, warm and damn funny! I made so many different friends from different countries, everyone with his unique character. The organisation was perfect and I believe that some of the landscapes I saw in Finland, I will never have the chance to see them in my life again. Although I want to come again, it came out to be an extremely hard task to get there (I hope SAS does something about it!).Generally my whole experience with Comenius Project was excellent, as I learnt new things and met new people. I will surely be the first to take part in such projects again in the future. As I hope that I'll see all of you again in the future, I'll just say SEE YOU....Who knows? Thanks for everything!!! To all of you!!!

Ippokratis Zoumpoulis










Impressions on Oulu (Portuguese delegation)

We can’t even describe the experience with the right words, because there really aren’t enough words for it.
When it was decided that we were going to Finland, we all got personal expectations. Some of them came true, others blew our minds.
Just a totally different country from Portugal, with such a different culture, that was the best for us to know, so we could enrich our personalities.
Some specific experiences, like, for example, diving into the freezing Nordic water was something we consider a great memory, an opportunity of a lifetime! The moments spent on the bus, the ice breakers, the air guitar moment, meeting Santa… All so special to us! You have no idea how much it meant to us, how much it made us grow and be thrilled after such an awesome week. We wish we had more chances like this one.
It was great to meet Finnish style, and the other teams as well. It was great to experience Finnish habits. It was great to visit Oulu, we truly loved it!

From the left: Ana Paula Pereira, Vasco Otero, Nuno Fernandez, Bárbara Mendes, Tiago Gomes, Mariana Duarte, Abílio Morais, Sara Ferreira, JoãoPalmeiro and Manuela Lima.




The Comenius week was one of the best experiences in my life so far. At first I thought that the schedule was kind of boring with Nokia and the bird watching, but some of the students liked it. The first day was just getting to know each other, checking places and sleeping. During the week we had icebreakers, birdhouse building and some lessons at school and so many other things after school. The school had organized a trip to Rovaniemi where the foreigners met Santa Claus, had a snowball fight and did many other things. The school also organized a trip to Liminka where we watched birds and a trip to Nokia and Oulu sightseeing. Almost everyday after school we did something all together like went to Megazone, played football, went for coffee or downtown. It was so nice to get to know the different kind of people and the cultures. The whole week was awesome!       Erika Fredriksson

The whole Comenius week was absolutely awesome! I didn’t expect it to be anything like that. I was happily surprised that I can speak English so well. At first I was little shy with all the people who I didn’t know, but in the end of the week I knew everyone. I was also so nervous about hosting a Greek boy who I didn’t know. But luckily Dimosthenis was so kind and funny and we came along very well! My whole family liked him and we had a great time together. It was nice that we did almost everything together with all the Comenius guests here. Everyone was so happy and excited all the time. I miss that week and everyone who were here in Finland with us. I really hope to see everyone again, we had so much fun!       Mette Köykkä
I think that the Comenius week was the best week in my school  history. The week was unforgettable and so much fun. It was nice to meet different people and make new friends. I was really nervous about how to get through the week with my English skills, but luckily the week went really well and now I miss everyone. 
I thought that the trip to Liminka would be boring and the weather was bad, but it was very nice there because everybody was together. The Comenius week was a very good experience and I learnt very much about different cultures, and especially about Romania because I was Delia's host sister. The guests spoke English very well and during the week I learned to become a better English speaker. The best thing during the week was the evenings with students when we went to the city and did all kinds of fun things together. I hope that our guests enjoyed being here and I hope we will see each other one day again!     Hanna Loukusa


My Comenius visitor for the week was Emil Baida from Romania. During the week we visited many places together, such as Oulu university animal museum, koitelinkoski- rapids and liminganlahti- bay. This was Emil’s first visit to a foreign country, and he was excited to see and experience new things. He was especially impressed by Finnish nature, which he found to be beautiful and tranquil. I found the trip to liminganlahti and koitelinkoski to be the most enjoyable, because I share Emil`s love of nature. I also learned many things about Romanian culture and history, which was very enlightening. I think that the Comenius program and similar international projects ought to continue and evolve, since they strengthen our community spirit and bring a great opportunity to exchange ideas.        Tatu Salo

The whole week was amazing and I was glad to meet people from countries where I've never been. I don't think I'll ever forget that week or the people I met. It was so fun and special that after it you have no motivation for normal school anymore! - Comenius - connecting people!     Johanna Sandberg

We were waiting for the week for a long time. And when the day came, personally, I was nerve-racking. For the Finns, the first culture shock was at the airport, namely the cheek kisses! The week was the best of my life! When you went to school, you got cheek kisses, you heard other languages and you were around new people! It was fun to host and also my parents enjoyed it. We learned more things about different cultures and countries, and I think  the food was the biggest culture shock.
Of course we made friendships which will last a lifetime! But I have to confess that I didn’t expect that the week and people were that amazing! The activities were a little bit boring at the beginning, especially the Arktikum, but it didn’t matter, because we still had fun together. One of the culture shocks was also that here in Oulu there is nothing to do compared to the cities where our guests live!
It really was connecting people, because now we all are one big international family! And we will see each other again but it could be a longer time in here…  I think I can say for all that you all have a place in our Finnish hearts! KIITOS!       Roosa Still

Comenius week with awesome guys!
First of all I was a little frightened about the whole week and about having to speak English all the time. Then I didn’t have any idea how great and glamorous one the week could be. I am so happy that I hosted Tiago that week. After that week I know that I always have a place and a brother who I can visit in Braga. The whole team and everybody who were part of the project were amazing people. From the program of the week I think the best day was Thursday and especially the evening. The most boring thing was definitely Nokia Siemens’s man who could have even been a sandman ‘cause of his voice!  We heard two amazing voices during that week, so thanks to Esther and Marco for the performance. This week taught to me a lot of things about these five countries. I am also so happy for you guys for seeing Santa Claus! I’m always going to remember this week. The reason why this week was perfect is because you all were part of it. Missing you all!            Veera Uusitalo


4/03/2013

Update from Uganda

Dear eco-friends in Europe,

The school programs are moving on smoothly. I am happy to inform you that
we have completed the tank and just waiting for rains to harvest the water.
Attached are different stages of construction.

We are really blessed with this facility. We hope to collect more water that will sustain
our population.

Best regards,

Gordon
Focal Point Teacher
St Aloysius Primary School
Uganda

2/24/2013

« Eco-supportive ?-Yes, we can ! »



The last action to help the « Green Flag » Ugandan school (Saint-Aloysius Primary School in Mbarara) took place in Collège Saint-Barthélemy, Liège-Belgium in December 2012 : we raised 1500€!

I sent the money at the beginning of this month (February 2013) and I got a message from Gordon, telling me they got it and were so happy. They have already begun the foundations for the second water tank and he will send some photos later…

I think we can be proud of helping those courageous African pupils and teachers especially during the World Year of WATER Cooperation...Let us not forget than more than one billion of people in the world don’t have access to drinkable water!

ASANTE SANA! = thank you very much! (in Kiswahili)

Mrs. Francoise Goorissen

Romanian, Portuguese and Belgian Students' Impressions on Thessaloniki, Greece


We would like to thank, from the bottom of our heart, for the really special experiences we participated to, within a framework where the human being was able to keep the relationship with nature. It all the times reminds us that what we received must be sent to the ones to come, the every generation’s responsibility is even bigger and it can’t be dealt with only in case of a unity in thinking, as much as possible, and of developing desirable behaviours as far as the environment is concerned.
The activities of the project reunion strengthened our belief expressed by a Romanian proverb: „Man sanctifies the place”.  Because this is the feeling that we had when visiting each of the places in Greece and interacting with the Greek teachers and students. They impressed us with their hospitality, with the way they appreciate  their civilization, in perfect agreement with natural values awareness, with their aim to underline everything we all have most beautiful and best.
                 Aristotle said that „friendship is a soul in two bodies or a heart in two souls.” It is what the team from the Greek school managed to do, unifying us into friendship, all our efforts to plead for a nature to continue to exist through everything we do, regardless the different languages we speak or the cultures we belong to.
                                                   The Romanian Team in Thessaloniki, Greece

In the beginning of this school year we heard about this Commenius Project. We talked with our teachers about it and they explained us that the motto was to take care of our beautiful planet therefore we decided to get in and help as much as we were able to.
Some months later, more precisely at 27th January, it was our turn to make a trip. This time the meeting was in Thessaloniki, Greece.
 We have to say that we felt truly welcoming since the first day when we arrived at the Airport and everyone was hugging us, even if they didn´t know us, until the last second when we had to say goodbye.
It was one of the best weeks of our life. Everyone was so nice, so kind… We went to a museum, to waterfalls and we visited the city. It was just wonderful. We met people that we will never forget, made strong and lifetime friendships, learnt their language, their culture and we are beyond grateful for that.
At the last day before we came back to Portugal we went to a theater and we present our play. It was about the environment and we mixed that with some humor. It was really funny. Everyone was laughing but at the same time we could transmit a really deep message. The plays showed what we can do to change the situation of the Earth and it showed too that we have to do something because the problems won’t be resolved by themselves: we have to change for a better world.
This is what we could take from this week: This lesson and the friendships. We will never forget this experience; We will keep the country and all the people in our heart forever because it´s “my memories, your memories and our memories”!
                                                           The Portuguese Team in Thessaloniki, Greece
 

"Our stay in the North of Greece was very interesting and an unforgettable experience! We discovered a beautiful country and nice lanscapes : the incredible waterfalls of Edessa, the ancient city of Thessaloniki or simply the coast and its blue sea...We appreciated the culture, different from ours in many ways, like the timetables that were sometimes difficult, the delicious food (we would like to have some recipes!), the traditional dance we learned with a lot of pleasure and honour (and pride too because we could show off in front of our friends!)...We met a lot of people and made new friends we keep in contact with and we hope we'll meet them again...one day!Who knows?

This adventure gives us the desire to go on travelling, meeting people and discovering new cultures.
THANK YOU for everything! EFKARISTO for making our stay so great!"

Liselore, Chloé, Axel and François

2/10/2013

Questionnaire on the Meeting in Thessaloniki


Dear students that participated in the Comenius eco-project in Thessaloniki, 


 

It is important for us to know your opinion about the meeting in Thessaloniki. Did the visit meet your expectations? Did you enjoy this experience?

Please fill in the online form on the following webpage:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/129s2IDR93J0HVutBNV7lKx8pmwVhFqYciNNHs9L2bFs/viewformsid=6f783adff230a519&token=fk5LxDwBAAA.dEbrmtSeGgHRIsfxs7uLRg.SaruXhaosLHqdYOBK513wQ

Thanking you for your feedback!  

Isabel Barbosa
Comenius Coordinator, Portugal

2/08/2013

The Greek Team's Impressions on Thessaloniki


In order to properly chronicle that eventful week, it is necessary to keep in account the individual experiences and sentiments of each member of the Greek team. Indeed, those may vary and, at times, contradict one another, yet it is utterly plausible that some are mutual, representing a multitude of students. One thing is certain, though; everyone, despite their exhaustion, has gained something valuable. Now, defining that ‘something’ is up to each person. Some might have had the opportunity to brush up and enhance their skills in the English language; others might have made new friends...
     More to the point, each activity offered us the gifts of companionship, unity and friendship, along with a sense of intimacy. The members who hosted foreign students, in particular, have felt the aforementioned intimacy at an even greater degree; making someone with whom you’re not at all familiar part of your family for a week can have such an effect. The tour around Thessaloniki gave us plenty of time to chat and to get to know each other, as did the lengthy bus trips to and from the American Farm School and Edessa. Concisely, each excursion was unique; from tree plantations to getting soaked by a waterfall, these little points in the journey of that week will remain unforgettable.
     Thursday’s presentation went swimmingly as well. All five delegations did a wonderful job on presenting their works, and the variety of material showcased prevented the audience from tiring or losing interest. The Power Point presentations provided us with fascinating information and the more artistic, creative side of what each team had to show us was an absolutely enthralling delight.
     Even our non-scheduled outings (‘our’ pertaining to us, the students) were also quite enjoyable, for our fellow Comenius members were able to get a taste of the multiple activities and entertainment options available in our city.
     In conclusion, and I hope I speak true for the entirety of the Greek Comenius team, we are thankful for gracing us with your works, your personalities. We are grateful for having the chance to experience different cultures. We wish you had an equally great time as we did.

  Sofia Charalompopoulou (on behalf of all the Greek students)