A hard day's work

Tuesday 21 April We are slowly getting used to the Italian spring weather. There is a change in the rhythm but it never ceases to rain. This didn’t prevent us from exploring the surroundings of Voghera on Sunday. Some students travelled to Genua, others to Milan and we drove around in the mountains, visited an abbey with its local saints and hermits, and ended up around an open fire place with snacks prepared by a colourful Peccoraran farmer who also entertained us with card tricks. Once you had seen the size of the hands of Roberto you would understand why I could never perform any of the tricks, a shame, they could have amused the students in the bus on the way back to Holland! So as the Sunday quickly slid into Monday, duty called. The students set out to discuss and merge their statements on sustainability and it was nice to see that former EEP students chaired the new groups. We got reacquainted as they had the new students do the work they too had done so many years ago! It was still raining incessantly as we left the school to go to the pizza place “ Paralello 45° ” , where 82 of us enjoyed the renowned pizza alla taglia. We had a clear view of the stone oven so that we watched the cooks slaving away for all those hungry teenagers! I started Tuesday morning with a run along a road towards the mountains – accompanied by some rain – and then went to school where we split up into three groups for the fieldwork. One group went to a research centre which specialized in second generation bio fuel, a second group got some inside information at the local police headquarters and from a council-member, learning how politics influenced decisions concerning sustainability and I joined a group which visited the Centro Adolescere. It was interesting to see people at the centre presenting their work, as I had only stayed in the youth hostel in previous years and spent some time in the theatre during every visit to Voghera. The work they did with the community and the adolescents in particular was all based on quality of life. To get quality of life they believed even small things must be carried out as if they were big. Truly a vision which must appeal to this group of students which focussed on social sustainability. Now everyone is polishing the statements and the debating techniques so that the General Assembly tomorrow will be a powerful performance. If the propositions are powerful enough we might even influence some of these politicians who take decisions with their heads rather than with their hearts! Anne Reichart