Kick-off Meeting and Workshop for Whispering of the trees

On this late afternoon on the 5th of November 2019, the Kick-off Meeting for “Whispering of the trees” took place in the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development. “Whispering of the trees” is a Citizen Engagement Activity, supported from the Interreg Volunteer Youth Programme. With those so called CEAs one can implement own little projects to promote the EU Cohesion Policy.

So we started the event with a cosy get together and tasty homemade chili con/sin carne. Together with cheese, tortilla chips and drinks we discussed the movie “The Meaning of Wild“. Also the participants were keen on lerning more about EU projects and how the Cohesion Policy helps poorer regions.

Get your senses ready for the trees

For this CEA, we do a two-day event in Eberswalde with an all-senses workshop in the beech forest Grumsin. It should help experience the forest in another way and feel the power of the trees. With University students, the Director of the Biosphere Reserve, the mayor of Angermünde and local citizens we will carry out the workshop.

And indeed the all-senses workshop was a great experience. The outcomes in the form of poems are really great. Unfortunately the weather conditions weren’t good at all – cold and a lot of rain coming down. So we decided to just make the workshop in the forest around the University and not going to the Grumsin. Due to that decision, the two guest speakers then couldn’t join, as they had other appointments and the way to Eberswalde and back would have been to long. But anyway we managed it quite well to “close the gap”. And even though the weather was shitty, all participants afterwards said that they had fun and enjoyed it.

Being close to the University also meant a quicker hot lunch. Since we still had some chili leftovers we served them with some bread, wild boar sausages, tomatoes and carrots. After being warm and fed again, the creativity phase could start. Everyone did a great work with putting together what they just had experienced within the forest. So in the end, even though the conditions were not perfect, the day was still a great success.