Marco Santos

Hello,
My name is Marco Santos and I'm the project coordinator of Estonian Special Youth Work Organisation, situated in Tallinn, capital of Estonia. I'm 29 years old and I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
I like very much a quotation that I think it suits very well for that training "Be the change that you want to see in the world" Gandhi.
I arrived in Estonia to make a European Voluntary Service and I decided to stay longer working. Before that I worked for 3 years in Montijo (Portugal) as an international project coordinator for the City Council GDAC and also trainer in non-formal education in subject as intercultural sensibility and Active Participation and Citizenship.
I hope to see you all in Azores.
Best regards

Michel Skapa

I am Michel SKAPA, the president of the European and Mediterranean Youth Association ( AJEM in French) and of our network of 17 youth associations in 17 countries of Europe and the Mahgreb Mediterranean (North African) region. We have existed officially since 24 March 2004 when the Government of France registered us in their government hansard. We have about 400 young members in these countries and 20 youth leaders, all volunteers and unpaid. Corsica is the headquarters and coordinating bureau for the youth associations in our network. I myself have worked for Caritas as well as for the French Sécours Populaire, in the same fields as Francisco's association, in Europe and in the Third World (Africa, the Middle East and Asia). And of course I am one of the youth project managers, and a teacher. Our basic objective is to integrate or to include all youth into the various programmes that exist for them, such as the Actions of the Youth in Action programme. I'll give you all more information later, and I'll be happy to answer all of your questions also.

Third appetizer - you are invited

It's time for some presentations. We will be waiting for a photo of yours and a brief presentation of yourself. Please, tell us someting about you and the organization you're representing.

I'll try to set a good example...My name is Francisco Simões. I'm 30 years old. Presently, I'm working as a researcher of the University of Coimbra. Until 2 months ago, I was the training coordinator of Cáritas da Ilha Terceira, the organization promoting this training course. Now, I'm still cooperating with my former organization as volunteer on international exchanges and a school mentoring programme for local youth.

Second appetizer - So how does The Azores look like?

Angra do Heroísmo - Terceira Island

Capelinhos Volcano - Faial Island

If you haven't checked yet we advise you to do it. Here you have some photos of The Azores. What do you think of this as an appetizer?
You can check more on The Azores on the photos galllery of http://www.visitazores.org/

First appetizer - a warm welcome

Dear friends, here we are giving birth to this space that's intended to be a useful way of exchanging some ideas before the training course "Creative Strategies to Approach Challenging Youth", in April 2010, in Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira Island, Portugal. By now, do you have any idea where that is? We truly hope so!
This blog will enable us to share some expectations and to provide you some important informations. So, please, check it and cooperate as much as you like. We can promise you in April hospitality but we do not promise that our project will fulfill all of your desires simply because we don't know enough. Although we have a programme in mind it's extremely important that you share with what you really want to learn, experiment and discuss during the 7 days we will have the chance to be together. And this blog is the right way to do it.