Updated on November 20, 2020
At the middle of the Project
4 months and half, 136 days, 3264 hours, 195840 minutes, 11750400 seconds, has been passed since we started our adventure, our marine adventure respecting the environment. We are in the middle of the project and we can not be more excited!
And… what happened during this whole time!!!???? Let’s make a small time travel along our experience.
LAND AND SEA EXPLORATION. Excursions, hikings, kayaking… We had the opportunity to do a lot of exploration: Torca, Regina Giovanna, Punta Campanella, Monte Faito, Monte Comune, etc.
ITALIAN LESSONS + CULTURAL IMMERSION. April was the month of the Italian lessons and the italian cultural month. We couldn’t expect that we would be able to speak that good this language. Actually, right now, our communication language between us is more italian than english, or as we call it, italenglish. During April we also learnt how to cook Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, Tiramisù, dancing and playing typical music, … after this month, we became a real italian!
CULTURAL MONTHS. After the italian cultural month, we continue with the cultural months of Spain, Portugal and Tunisia. From Spain we had Tortilla, Ali-Oli, Cuban Rice, Sangria and the an amazing rithual from Galizia, “Queimada”. From Portugal we could learnt some words and tasting the delicious food and drinks from there: Francesinha, Porto wine, Bacalhau à Brás, Bolinhos de Bacalhau and Rissóis. From Tunisia we had a lesson about their alphabet and we also had the chance to eat delicious food such as Tajine, Kafteji, lablabi, tunisian soup and green tea.
FRIENDSHIP AND TEAMBUILDING. We all came from different countries, different cultures, but with something in common, our love for the nature and the sea. Our bonds became stronger, we share some secrets between us, so we became more a family than just 6 volunteers working together. We organised a lot of nights, dinners and plans together during our free time.
MARE MEETING. From 21st to 28th of May we organised the meeting between all the volunteers of the past years. Getting to know better the old volunteers of MARE project was a special experience for all of us. We finally saw the young people that everybody was talking about. And they are exactly what we been told, warm, inventive, interested in many different fields, but the most important of all, friends and a great support in our journey.
IERANTO BAY. June was the month to starting to work in Ieranto bay, doing the monitoring at sea and the land. Despite the long way back and forth, the hours there, under the sun, sometimes also under the rain, all of this is worth it just to protect this amazing bay, the biodiversity and the beauty that it has.
A SEA TO EXPLORE. We provide 9 educational activities during the months of July, August and September, for children from 5 to 99 years old on the theme of the sea and its impacts, with activities in the square of Massa Lubrense and in the protected bays of the MPA Punta Campanella. We already did 3 days, the next one will be next Thursday 1st of August with the topic Habitat Destruction.
US INTERNS. Andrew, Sara, Jonathan, Elsa and Maddie. Our interns during the last months. They helped us with our work, and, at the same, we created a friendship that will last even though we will be separated by an entire ocean.
MORE ACTIVITIES. At the same time, we participated in many other activities.
Activities with children. We received children from a school of Capri. We also went to a school in Somma Vesuviana.
Ischia. Our volunteer Érica has participated with the Diving Center of Ischia in a course of diving for disabled people. Then, also three of us went to Ischia to collaborate with the Regno di Nettuno AMP during the celebration of Sant’Anna. We did games with kids, they were in the party with bags to encourage people to use them for their trash, and we finished with the underwater cleaning and the cleaning of the seawall where was the party.
Marine Biology Course. The MPA of Punta Campanella organised a Marine Biology Course where our volunteer Érica could participate and get some more knowledge to help in the marine biology lessons that sometimes we organise.
Collaboration with Sant’Anna Institute Sorrento. Since the beginning we organised a lot of activities with the students of the marine course from Sant’Anna institute. Therefore, we prepared activities as snorkeling, kayaking, marine biology lessons, beach cleaning, …
Times flies dears…it has already passed half of the project and it was amazing. We still have other half to continue learning, enjoying and having the time of our lives. Don’t miss our next adventures in our next posts!
Updated on July 21, 2019
A Sea to Explore II: Invasive Specie
On Thursday 18th we hosted our second round of “Un mare per esplorare” (A sea to explore). This week our focused topic was invasive species! After a brief introduction, everyone was given an individual species to “be” for the night. Once everyone created their picture tags, we went around in a circle and re-introduced ourselves by our species name. After doing so we spent some time explaining invasive species and how they affect the marine life in the Mediterranean.
Our first activity of the night was a competitive game for resources. In the first round, each child is a local species searching for oxygen. The floor is covered with 3 different colored balls representing oxygen, food, and substrate. Everyone has a short amount of time to collect as many as they can before they are sent back to count what they’ve caught. Each person needs at least three balls of each subject to pass to the next round without being eliminated.
During the second round, we explained that there is a bloom of alghe, so there is less oxygen. One of the volunteers took 20 oxygen balls out of the population, and the kids were sent out again to collect as much as they could in order to pass on to the next round.
During the third round, a fisherman came and took 30 balls of food, so there was less food in the environment. The species (kids) had to go out, and again collect as much food and oxygen as they could without being eliminated.
In the fourth round, everyone that was eliminated during the first three rounds will become an invasive species and will compete for food and space, playing the game with the natural species but taking less balls then them because they need less to survive, even if they are able to take more.
To finish out this group activity, we discussed the whole game and reiterated the harm that invasive species brings to our marine environments. We explained how these harmful species are more resistant and capable of taking from the resources of the natural specie.
After we finished this activity, we took a snack break! Our treat for the evening was cinnamon rolls and brownies made fresh by some of the volunteers.
Once everyone was ready to begin again, we moved onto our next activity and split up into teams. Each team was assigned a story to present in mimicry to the rest of the group, much like the game charades. The individual stories described how the assigned invasive species arrived, and once the presentation was over, the other groups had to guess the explanation. Each volunteer took a team and guided them to help with the performances.
After all groups had presented their final material, the volunteers summarized what we had learned for the night about invasive species, and hosted one last wrap up game for fun. We’ll be hosting our next session of activities next Thursday in Ieranto Bay! We invite you to come out and have fun with us while learning about our next topic!
Updated on July 14, 2019
Inauguration A Sea to Explore 2019
We provided 9 educational activities for children from 5 to 99 years old on the theme of the sea, with activities in the square of Massa Lubrense and in the protected bays of the MPA Punta Campanella.
The past 11th of July was the first day of A Sea to Explore. After talking a bit about the M.A.R.E. Project, we got to know each other better. We all introduced ourselves with our names and our favorite marine animal…the seahorse, the turtle and the dolphin being the most popular amongst the children.
After introductions we began the treasure hunt, and what better treasure than the ones we have under the sea… the most important organisms of the Mediterranean. Firstly, the children guessed the animal and the algae through a description and then they found the drawing somewhere in the square.
After doing so we COLORED! Everyone colored their drawings with the real colors of the organisms and after it, they let their imagination explode and draw them on the floor with chalk.
The next game included 1 dice and 64 boxes. The goal? Reach the end before the others. Within the boxes you can find marine organisms or positive actions (Pinna Nobilis, Posidonia, MPA of Punta Campanella, Stella Marina…) for the environment that makes us move faster. Unfortunately, within the boxes we can also find invasive species, overfishing, marine litter, anchorage… which takes us back.
Talking about marine organisms is interesting, playing is fun, but there is no doubt that the next part was the favorite part for the children … FOOD TIME! Each of us (volunteers) prepared a recipe relative to our country. And, of course, we are in Italy, so we also provided pizza!
We finished the night by dancing to some traditional music orchestrated by our friends who played the accordion and tammorra!
We want to give a big thanks to everyone who participated !! The next meeting will be next Thursday 18th of July in the square in Massa Lubrense center, from 18:00 to 22:00, see you there!
Updated on July 3, 2019
Young people: protagonist of today
The weeks are passing by and we can not believe it…we are already in June!!! We just started the summer season and we are totally immerse in all our daily work. We are starting to get use to our job in Ieranto, we are preparing a lot of nice events as part of one of our internal projects (Un mare per explorare – more information will be given in the next days), doing a lot of research about our local fauna and flora… and, at the same time, we are enjoying the weather and the sea everyday.
Last Monday we went to Napoli for an event organised by the Agenzia Nazionale Giovani. This agency is a public body, with organisational and financial autonomy, supervised by the Italian Government and the European Commission.
Promoting the active citizenship of young people, developing solidarity and promoting tolerance among young people, promoting knowledge, understanding and cultural integration among different countries; are some of the main objectives that this agency has.
From Torino to Palermo, during June and July, 10 events are taking place around Italy to to tell about the opportunities given by the Government and the National Youth Agency for new generations and to create real connections between young people and institutions. The hashtag #OggiProtagonistiTour shows the main message of these events: The youth people, are the protagonist of today.
The 1st of July, they were in Napoli, and of course we couldn’t miss the change to go, represent and talk about our amazing project. When we arrived and we realised that in front of us we were going to have a lot of people, cameras, microphone, radio and TV station…we got really nervous, but once we started to speak about us and the project, all those feelings disappeared and we just felt happy to share our experience.
It was a really nice experience and we would like to thanks to everyone who make this events possible, all the organisation, all the interventions, all the people involved in different institutions, organisations and project, thanks to all of you we are making the young European citizen getting active and contribute with their dedication and motivation in a lot a lot of different and important topics for our present and, overall, for our future.
To finalise the day, we went all together to eat some pizzas (something that we don’t do usually in Italy, maybe just 100 times per week).
Posted on June 16, 2019
M.A.R.E. meeting 2019
From 21 to 28 May we organized the meeting between all the volunteers of the past years. This year, we received a visit from:
- Dani (MARElini 2018)
- Joana (MARElini 2018)
- Laura (MARElini 2018)
- Fabi (MARElini 2018)
- Toni (MARElini 2018)
- Tannia (MARElini 2014)
- Álvaro (MARElini 2014) – but, we can consider him almost like a Neapolitan ;)
Here, we present our days. funnier than the whole week:
-22 of May. Hiking in Monte Faito. A tiring day, walking a lot, a lot, but, beautiful, unique and with the best people.
-24 of May. Climate Strike: Activity in Sorrento. On May 24, people from all over the world joined the World Climate Strike. A restaurant under the sea, organisms, climate change, invasive species, marine litter, builders and people who want to change the current situation.
-25 of May. Open Day in Ieranto. Sharing best practices and advices, Kayak, Snorkel all together in Ieranto and the mystery of Jelly Balls.
-26 of May. Cooking Pizza together. How to be a little more Italian … learn to make homemade pizza, together with friends and family.
You can reed more about our days clicking in the link attached on each tittle.
We would like to thank all the people who have been with us in these days with us (friends, family, people who have participated in our activities …), without everyone, it wouldn’t have been the same
