Do you feel like something is missing from your life?

Sometimes in our daily life our thoughts take control. Then we start to think about how much we’d like to travel, to change something for ourselves or how much we’d like to do something useful for someone, for our society or for the environment. The problem is that we tend to believe that we’re too small to make changes.

I’m a university student that has just started to work at “Universo Intercultural Association” and this time our weekly blog post doesn’t talk about one of our interesting city-tours or about our upcoming events.

This week’s post aims to present how your collaboration could be important and how this experience can open your mind, your eyes and your heart.

Our association involves internships, European exchanges and volunteering. All the participants cooperate to do something they like or something they are good at and in each activity, you will surely meet someone new.

Here are some examples.

If you would like to be useful in the social sphere:

• you can be active at the information point where you can help people write their CVs and help them look for a job;
• you can teach various subjects such as Italian, a foreign language that you know, informatics, and civic education.

If you prefer to join a team and do something good for the environment:

• you can get involved to the “Manymani” project where you can clean parks and other public spaces with asylum seekers and volunteers.

Finally, if you would like to travel and get to know new cultures:

• you can go to our interesting city tour, “Universo in Gita”, organized once a week with the aim of discovering new places and meeting new people;
• you can participate in the “Foro dello scambio” (Exchange Forum) and in the “Transcultural workshop” to exchange knowledge about traditions, gastronomy, music, etc. of different cultures and to have fun at the same time. This way, we have the chance to develop together every day while having a great time and doing something useful.

Maybe this is what you are missing from your life, we’re waiting for you!

Last week was a busy one for all of us working at Universo. We organised a party on the rooftop of Centro Commerciale Pilastro, next to one of the offices of our organisation.

All of us contributed in many different ways. There were many different dishes offered at the event – from tzatziki and the good old hummus to some interesting dishes from different parts of Africa. We created a nice atmosphere with recycled furniture made from old wooden pallets, small lights and colourful flowers made of paper tissues. There was live music: first we got to listen to Iranian music, later on to the band Orchestra Migrante who created an open environment in which every voice and instrument was welcome.

During the party there was also the exhibition of the project Multimedia Library. Accompanied by some nice environmental sounds, the visitors could learn about eco-friendly tourism the different parts of the world where we come from.

We enjoyed the process of preparing the event and we were glad about everyone who came. It would be very nice to continue organising such events in a place where people do not usually hang out.

Nonetheless, we continued with our weekly activities: with Universo in gita we visited Mercato delle erbe, we had our language classes, linguistic assistance, informatics class, Manymani and other projects.

We welcomed the arrival of the spring in a very nice manner. If you were not with us, we hope you made your entrance into the bright part of the year as pleasant as possible.

This week during Universo in Gita at Universo we played the Action Bound which is a digital hunt in the city about famous touristic sights, historic monuments and places where people can get information about legal situations. Participants as well as interns had fun exploring the city and discovering interesting sights.

Later in the week we participated in a transcultural workshop, where we talked about food of our countries and how connected some ingredients are between different countries. It was interesting to see how many common things are between us and how close some cultures really are even If we don’t know about it.

Also this week we’re preparing for our upcoming party on Friday 29th, starting at 16.00. It’s a spring party where we’re offering food and drinks based on donations. This way you can have an aperitivo and help our association.

This week our Universo in gita trip was something special. We went to the zoological museum where there were many different animals, mostly birds, from all over the world. And since the members of our group come from all over the world, we took the opportunity to share our stories connected with different animals we had seen. So we listened to stories about monkeys stealing phones and biting glasses and about crocodiles being chased.

We continued with our regular activities: language courses, informatics class, linguistic assistance (individual or in small groups) and all the rest. We have to admit that our participants are really making a good progress.

At the transcultural workshop we played with stereotypes. We took different roles and explored how it felt to have them said directly to us. Then we discussed different stereotypes and roles assigned to certain social groups in our countries. Some of the stories were quite surprising!

We are also deep in the preparations for our next event which will take place on the 29 March. There will be music, activities, lots of nice people and, hopefully, warm weather. Stay tuned for more information!

This week Universo in Gita visited Giardini Margherita! We had fun while playing some ice breaking games betweens participants and interns of Universo. Universo in Gita aims to help migrants of Bologna and interns to make most of their time while they are here. We visit historic sites as well as places in the site where everyone can relax and get to know each other.

On Wednesday the Universo in Gita took place!

Universo in Gita offers a possibility to get to know the city of Bologna from a different perspective and in more intense way. This project should make the participants aware of certain cultural, interesting, useful, etc spots, they usually won’t visit on their own or don’t know where to find them. Moreover Universo in gitá is a platform to build a relationship between interns and users.We visited  the famous Finestrella. This corner of the city is known as “little Venice”. Looking out among the buildings, you can see one of the few stretches of running water, which was not covered with asphalt between the beginning of the twentieth century and the postwar period. After that, we visited The Basilica di Santo Stefano, also known as Sette Chiese (Seven Churches), is the most popular in Bologna.

On Thursday Universo was in Sala Borsa to take part in the initiative “Bologna si prende cura. I tre giorni del welfare”. There are three days dedicated to the services of several associations, and their projects. Visitors are welcome to stop by and see the exhibitions of the organisations, talk to them and learn more about what they offer to their participants.

All the other and usual activities of the association also took place, so it was a busy week for Universo but also very interesting !

Yesterday, Thursday February 28th, Universo was in Sala Borsa to take part in the initiative “Bologna si prende cura. I tre giorni del welfare”, a big demonstration which will continue animating our city until March 2nd. These three days are dedicated entirely to the services, the good practices, the projects, promoted by the Municipality in synergy with the institutions and the social actors in the area, through more than 50 events including conferences with international guests, seminars, exhibitions, shows, screenings, neighborhood walks, workshops with citizens. You can visit twenty spaces set up on the themes of: health promotion and prevention, leading a correct lifestyle, inclusion, work, support, the reception and integration of migrants.

For the duration of these three days Sala Borsa is being transformed in a narrative space where associations like Universo can tell their story: allowing citizens to explore the welfare system of their city and explaining how these socio-cultural and socio-sanitary organizations are central protagonists in the creation of such system. “Tre Giorni del Welfare” is an opportunity to remind the city of the honorable and necessary work of volunteers who often work in contexts which are overly politicized or completely disregarded by governmental institutions. It is through the effort of volunteers and non profit organisations that our society can grow around an egalitarian coexistence, continuously rethink itself and move towards a better future.

Last week our 8-week drama workshop called YOU-ARE-ME began, and it was very exciting! The aim of this workshop is to gather people from different backgrounds and with different nationalities to try and tackle some of the most pressing topics in today’s Italy. Through the method of social theatre we hope to explore topics like diversity, inequality, cultural stereotypes and intercultural communication, whilst learning more about the things that make us both unique and similar at the same time!

Social theatre is a form of theatre that does not focus on following a script or creating characters, but starts from within and uses the participants’ own stories and perspectives to improvise small creative acts or activities. These improvisations can often highlight complicated issues in other ways than what is normally said out loud, and invisible or difficult topics can come into the spotlight. We are so lucky to have with us the experienced drama facilitator Antonio Graziano to lead the participants in this work.

This first week the aim was to use social theatre to  know ourselves better before we can start exploring our relationships with others, and we did this through using something called image theatre. In image theatre, we try to illustrate how complex words can be by showing all the different interpretations that can come out of it. In this first session of the workshop, all the participants had to turn themselves into statues based on what they felt when Antonio said the words ‘Intercultural Dialogue’. Then we shared one-word explanations of what we saw. Words that were shared were “fear”, “openness”, “love”, “insecurity”, “loneliness”, “community”, “help”, “pride”, and “doubt” to mention a few.

We are very excited for the next weeks to come, to learn more about theatre, ourselves, others and the way we live together!