In the summer of 2021, to be more exact from July 15 to September 06, Tramonti was filled with ideas, laughter and motivation, as 28 young people were visiting from four European countries. ACARBIO hosted the project Make it Blue.
The volunteers came in two separate groups, each one staying in Tramonti for four weeks. The participating organizations were Solidarity Tracks (Greece), Aventura Marao Clube (Portugal), ATA (Romania), IMAGINA (Spain, Malaga), Cocat (Spain, Barcelona), ExpoItaly (Italy), and Acarbio (Italy).
The topic of the project was sustainability and all activities aligned to the goal of raising awareness amongst the participants as well as the inhabitants of Tramonti. The Make it Blue team, as we called the volunteers, did a great job cleaning paths from trash, making abandoned paths accessible again by cleaning overgrown plants, painting dirty walls, and spreading good mood among the local people.
The first group of volunteers, which was in Tramonti from July 15 to August 10, had workshops on the importance of water pollution and saving water. They also painted signs and hung them all over Tramonti to make the inhabitants aware of the waste pollution and to motivate them to get rid of their trash in a sustainable way. A big project of Group 1 was the painting of the mural in the main square in Polvica. Joana Torgal, a participant of the project and artist, designed the wall painting and led the group of volunteers. The result is a beautifully made collage of paintings that represent the every-day life of the people of Tramonti. From the tomato plants, pizza makers and lemon trees, to the churches of Tramonti – all is included in the mural. Before their departure, the mayor of Tramonti, Domenico Amatruda, invited the participants and thanked them for their engagement and good work.
The second group of young people arrived on August 11 and stayed until September 06. They were very motivated and cleaned some areas from the trash. Additionally to the cleaning, they analysed the collected waste in a workshop; included activities were the counting of the different types of waste (cans, bottles, cigarette buts, paper napkins etc.) and research about their degradation time. Other activities involved painting of dirty walls and clearing an abandoned path from overgrown plants. Unfortunately, we had a Covid case and half of the time was spent in quarantine. Although many activities could not be realized, the volunteers still managed to stay positive and do the very best with the given situation. During quarantine, a group of them finished an art piece made from trash.
In the evenings we organized international nights. Participants from each country prepared an evening where they cooked traditional dishes, talked about their culture and country, showed the others typical music and dances and had a lot of fun.
In their free time, the young people had many opportunities to explore the area of the region of Campania. They visited Naples, Pompeii, the island of Capri, Amalfi, Positano and many other beautiful towns on the Amalfi Coast.
During their time in Tramonti, the volunteers learned a lot. Not only were they able to become more aware of environmental issues and gain an understanding for how to contribute to the solving of them. As they lived in an international community and had to cook for themselves, they learned how to communicate their own needs and work out problems, how to manage cooking for many people and how to minimize food waste and use up groceries. The second group of volunteers experienced community-life on a whole different level, as they spent some days of quarantine together with people from many different countries and cultures. With a great amount of creativity and patience they made the best out of it and gained lots of knowledge and experience. The participants also got to know many different cultures, dishes, and languages.
Outcomes of the project: