An experience in the heart of rural Denmark

By Jessica Francombe

Our group of 7 Development Instructors were taken into the bosom of a family generous enough to share their skills and knowledge.

A tired but hearty breakfast!

We spent 5 days camping at their farm in Northern Jutland. We not only brushed up on our survival skills (making fire, cooking with no kitchen, building our own toilet etc) but received courses in cheese production, edible wild plants and herbal remedies.

In exchange we offered man power. We built a fence out of branches using only our hands, some rocks and some water. We also, renovated the garden, implementing the “raised bed” system so as to increase the productivity of the soil. We did this under the farmer’s supervision and at every stage found we were gaining more and more useful knowledge for Africa; how to construct the beds, what plant to plant next to one another for optimum growth. How to adapt the system for different climates, which compost to use, and much, much more.

The farmer and his family are in the process of becoming fully self- sufficient. They grow all their own vegetables, make their own cheese, bread, sausages etc and rely on the local shops for only a small number of goods.

Why Self Sufficiency?

Firstly because they want to know what they are putting into the mouths of their children; they are worried by all the pesticides, artificial fertilisers and genetic modification that is standard in the western food industry.

Secondly, because they are sure that a food crisis is on it’s way. Denmark is undergoing financial upheaval and food prices are sure to soar. The world’s population is growing, oil and water (essential for driving the current agricultural methods) are scarce. The only source of food they can depend on is the food they make themselves.

Thirdly, because they find distance distasteful! Modern man is entirely removed from it’s food by plastic wrapped supermarket ready meals. We simply don’t know where our food comes from. Some of the young people in our school have no idea what a whole cabbage looks like or how it grows. Some people don’t even know that the chicken in their curry is the same thing they see on TV with feathers and a beak!

They derive great satisfaction of working with their land and providing for their family. Controlling what goes in and out and proudly producing your own means of survival from scratch.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time there and are definitely a step closer to being prepared for Africa.

Live the DI Experience

By Rebecca Jorquera

I have been in the DI program for nearly 9 months now and  reflecting upon my time here all I can say is “WOW”.

         

These past 9 months resemble a huge rollercoaster of personal and profesional knowledge, emotions, experiences and feelings at more than 200 km per hour!

Looking back to when I first arrived in Juelminde, it feels like it was yesturday and I can´t believe how many things have happened and I have experienced in such a short amount of time, really, I don´t have words!

My line of work at the school during my stay here has been changing according to each of the different periods of the DI program.

During my first couple of introductory months in Denmark, my work at the school mainly consisted in giving a few hours of english classes to some of the students, working in the kitchen and cleaning. I think this was quite appropiate as it permited me to slowly get in contact with the students, get to know them better and gradually gain their trust.

Once I established a good, solid relationship with them I was thrown into the deep end of a great ocean and was incorporated into the school board like all the normal Danish teachers existing at my school, I was just one teacher more.

I say thrown into the ocean because my profession is not that of a teacher and because I had no physical school material or program to go by. I had to use my personal intuition at all times and all the way in order to be able to teach the students. This was a great challenge for me and I think I can proudly say that I succeeded, of course sometimes I made some mistakes but one learns a lot from making errors and specially I must quote:  “the best way of learning is by doing!”

A couple of months ago I reached the half way mark of the DI program where the African period starts. In order to prepare and form myself better for my future development work in Angola, I have once again changed the line of my work at my school.

Now I am a full time gardener at Juelsminde, I have dropped my teaching and taken up the outdoor activity of establishing a productive and effective garden at my school. The decision of this change was mine as I think I really need to improve my agricultural skills for my future work in Africa and honestly I can say that I am loving it!

Only 3 months are left until we depart to Africa! I am really excited and waiting for the day to come when we will be sitting on the aeroplane journey to Angola! I have learnt and experienced quite a lot during my time as a DI and reccomend it to you all to try out. Really you won´t regret it!

Building Weekend 11th-13th March 2011

By Natalie Baker

Well, the building weekends were one of the features of the program that I was very excited about. A chance to learn some practical skills!

It was great to go as a Juelsminde team first of all, and though I slept for a lot of the journey it felt like we were a proper team part of something bigger than the Juelsminde Dayschool bubble that we work in. First memory that strikes me is Ellens (the headmistresses) impressive driving skills of the school bus with a full trailer on the back over extremely muddy roads. Upon arrival in the near dark still quite pooped it was great to get started on the first evening with our plans for the weekend. When volunteering for jobs and hearing the need for one handy WO-man accomplice, I did not feel that I was qualified but wanted to go for it. With some encouragement from Justyna our DI teacher, I put my hand bolt upright looking a bit overeager with other volunteers suspiciously quiet in volunteering for this task. 

So early Saturday morning I jogged after Kim the handyman striding away to the red house where I observed Kim pulling down and analysing a couple of bathroom ceiling panels. He then pottered around doing his own thing, and I realised that I would have to get used to not being told exactly what to do and just get on with it. And so I removed all the panels and about all of the nails from the ceiling whilst he disappeared to the shops without warning. After break he came back with some plywood for re-ceiling and put a couple up with my assistance, and then once again I was on my own left to put up the rest of the ceiling and perfect my skills with the electric screwdriver. And then I had it down and the ceiling up! Much to my happiness.

The next task was once again given little instruction, with my job to take off some door skirting, insulate a blocked off door and then fix some plywood over. A little more difficult than I had realised with it being fixed with screws, but after much huffing and puffing I completed this task. Following this I was to put some skirting around the outside of the pole house. This was harder once again than I thought, and I learnt to appreciate the effort that goes into even small aesthetic details of a building. 

On the whole this experience gave me the opportunity to appreciate that every small task takes practise and hard work to get it right. Also it made me realise not only that I am capable if I give myself the chance and benefit of the doubt, and that I was able to get on with tasks quickly because I listened to that small instruction that I got carefully, and then used common sense to fill in the gaps. 

I also really enjoyed the opportunity to be part of a bigger group of working volunteers and do something practical. It is amazing to see how a lot of hands can be a powerful force when all together! 

Summer Theatre Preparations

By Justyna Gach

Let’s play!

 As part of an annual tradition we are preparing theatre plays for the Summer Theatre event where all the special schools are taking part. This year the Juelsminde Day school took a challenge of creating play based on the famous ‘Billy Elliot’ musical about the struggle between classes during the miners’ strike in North England as well as the story of the boy who is breaking all the gender rules and starts to dance ballet. The play involves dancing – ballet and street dance, acting and singing and of course stage and costume making ;-)

It’s absolutely an amazing experience, especially for the students – some for the first time will be overcoming the stage fright, others are intensively practising dance moves and doing their best to memorize the dance steps and groups of few boys have created the band, therefore all the music will be played live!

It’s great to see their smiley faces against all the tiredness and demands, they are doing great job and it is important to mention that Development Instructors are fully involved in the theatre project. Rebecca is responsible for all the special effects as well as sound and light, Ana, Jessica and Natalie are backing up all the ballerina girls and taking care of the dancing boys. All together they’re making sure that there is a great atmosphere.  DI’s are motivating the students and building up their confidence, as at the end of the day the main goal is to boost students’ self-belief, show them their talents and convince that they really can do it!!!!