Minu
Portugal
Mäletan, kuidas
aastaid tagasi Tartus Tiigi tänaval sõbrannaga kõndides temalt esimest korda
EVSi kohta kuulsin. Tol hetkel teadsin, et ühel päeval võtan julguse kokku ja
lähen ka. Viis aastat hiljem, peale ülikooli lõpetamist ja aastast tööpraktikat,
oli aeg käes. Lendasin Portugali, et ühes puuetega inimeste keskuses aasta aega
vabatahtlikuna töötada.
Arvasin enne
minekut, et Portugal on tüüpiline lõunamaa. Et inimesed hilinevad igale
kohtumisele vähemalt pool tundi, vesteldes karjuvad üksteise võidu ja lõunaajal
peavad pikki siestasid. Oma suureks
üllatuseks mõistsin peagi, et portugallaste
olekus oli hoopis miskit väga tuttavat. Põhilised hilinejad olid tegelikult
teistest riikidest tulnud vabatahtlikud ja oma temperamendilt olid
portugallased kohati sama rahulikud kui eestlasedki... kui just mitte
poliitikast, fadost, ajaloost või toidust rääkida.
Elasin
esialgu ühes Lissaboni neljatoalises korteris
koos Itaalia tüdruku, Saksa ja Austria noormehe, Saksa tüdruku, Horvaatia
tüdruku ja tema poisssõbra ning nende koeraga. Viimased kolisid esimese kuu
lõpus välja; aasta jooksul lahkusid ka mõned teised ja asemele tulid
vabatahtlikud Hispaaniast, Prantsusmaalt ja Poolast. Leppisime juba päris
alguses kokku, et oleme justkui üks suur pere, seega lepime üksteise
veidrustega. Tänu kodusele segasummasuvilale õppisin palju nii erinevate kultuuride
kui ka iseenese kohta. Juba sajandat korda köögikapile ilmunud räpased nõud
(meil oli isegi nõudepesumasin!) või kuu aega resti peal kuivanud riided ei
tähenda hoolimatust. Vahel nõud lihtsalt on. Riided on. Ja inimesed on alati
olulisemad kui asjad.
Iga tööpäeva
hommikul sõitsin koos kolme korterikaaslasega pisikesse külla Sintra lähedal,
et seal ühes erivajadusega inimeste keskuses abistada. Kuna töökohas rakendati gentle teaching metoodikat, mille
kohaselt 80% sekkumisest põhines suhtlemisel, möödusid mu päevad peamiselt
kallistades, põsemusisid jagades ja vesteldes; samal ajal nendega koos midagi
meisterdades, tantsides, kokates, kohvikutes
käies või youtube’st Disney laule kuulates.
Esialgu meenutas
ligi seitsmekümne minule arusaamatus keeles rääkiva peamiselt vaimse puudega
täiskasvanu nägemine mulle hullumaja, aga aja jooksul sain ise selle osaks.
Seal ei olnud Downi sündroome või autiste, vaid erinevad inimesed. Romantik Tomas
tegi oma komplimentidega iga neiu päeva ilusaks („Su silmad säravad veel eredamalt
kui päike lõunataevas!“), Monicale meeldis väga teisi abistada, Rita soovis
saada moedisaineriks ja joonistas igapäevaselt oma uusi kollektsioone, Fernanda
armastas köögis toimetada ja porgandeid koorida, naerupall Afonsole meeldis end
tüdrukuks pidada ja salaja küüsi lakkida. Igaüks oli oma erilisuses sama
tavaline nagu iga teine inimene.
Töökoht oli
justkui miniühiskond ja sealsed inimesed pisikesed peeglid: kõik, mis endast
välja andsin, tuli lõpuks ringiga tagasi. Kui Gonsalo mind esimestel kuudel nii
kõvasti kallistas, et hing pea kinni jäi, sain näiteks aru, et mul oli probleem
enesekehtestamisega. Seega ütlesin talle, et saan kallistades haiget ja
eelistan põsemusisid. Nii igal hommikul, kuni ühel hetkel mõistsin, et uus
enesekehtestamisoskus oli ka välismaailmas levima hakanud. Suurest tänutundest
kallistasin teda kõvasti, mistõttu meie oma tsüklit jälle otsast alustasime.
Puhkepäevad
kulutasin enamasti reisimiseks. Portugal on väga ilus maa! Olgugi, et väike
(kaks korda suurem kui Eesti), on sealne loodus põhjast lõunasse ja saartel
täiesti erinev. Lisaks imelistele vaadetele sain seljakotireisidel ka osa
portugallaste piiritust külalislahkusest. Kui küsisime kaaslasega teed lähima
linnani, viidi meid sinna autoga kohale ja soovitati häid ööbimiskohti. Ühel
korral jättis baarmen isegi oma kliendi letti valvama, et ta saaks mulle
isiklikult näidata, kus lähim pood asus. Portugallaste jaoks oli see
iseenesestmõistetav ja abist keeldumist loeti ebaviisakaks, isegi kui põhjenduseks
tuua fakt, et külakostile tulles oli suur oht lennukist maha jääda.
Portugali
läksingi eelkõige ennast tundma õppima ja oma mugavustsooni laiendama ning seda
sain seal teha lõputult. Võõras maa, võõras keel ja võõrad inimesed ümberringi
on isiklikuks arenguks üks täiuslik kompott. Jälgisin pidevalt oma tundeid ja sisemist
kompassi, üritades aru saada, mis suunas see liigub ja kuhu mind juhatada
tahab. Vahel olin eksinud, vahel justkui seisin paigal, vahel lausa lendasin,
aga alati olin teel. Täpselt seal, kus olema pidin. Portugalis veedetud aasta
on kahtlemata mu senise elu kõige intensiivsem. Armastasin, naersin
kõhukrampideni, nutsin esimest korda elus ennastunustavalt ja veel avalikus
kohas; nägin hingematvalt ilusat loodust ja Portugali elu pahupoolt, sõin
maailma parimaid saiakesi, jäin kohvist sõltuvusse, õppisin suhtlustasandil ära
uue keele ja leidsin omale mõned maailma parimad sõbrad.
Õnneks on
Euroopa piisavalt väike. Até já, queridos!*
*Peatse
jällenägemiseni, kallikesed!
My
Portugal
I remember when
I first heard about EVS while walking on the streets of Tartu with a friend. At
that exact moment I knew I would do it one day. Five years later, after
graduating from the university and a year full of work, the time was there. I flew
to Portugal to make a year-long voluntary service in a centre for disabled
people.
Before arriving
I thought Portugal was just a typical southern country. That the people there
were late for every meeting at least for an half of hour; that instead of
talking they just screamed all at the same time and that during the lunch time
they had really long siestas. To my
surprise I understood quite soon it was not the case. The majority of latecomers
were actually volunteers from other countries and the nature of portuguese
people was often as calm as an estonian one... unless they talked about
politics, fado, history or food.
I lived in a
four-room flat of Lisbon together with an Italian girl, German and Austrian
boys, a German girl and a Croatian girl with her boyfriend and their dog. The
last ones moved out by the end of the first month and during the year some more
people were replaced by the volunteers from Spain, France and Poland. Already
in the beginning we agreed on being a family which also meant accepting the
others with all of their quirks. Thanks to this mixture of people I learned a
lot not only about different cultures but as well about myself. Often the dirty
dishes in the sink that appear there over and over again (despite the fact we
even had a dish washing machine) or the clothes that had dried on a reck for
months didn’t necessarily mean ignorance. Sometimes dishes just are. Clothes
are. And the people are always more important than all of the things.
Every morning
from Monday to Friday we took the train together with my three flatmates to a
small village near Sintra in order to volunteer in our hosting organization.
According to gentle teaching method
used there 80% of the work consisted of creating the relationships and only 20%
of technique. Therefore my days at work were mainly spent by hugging, kissing
and having conversations with the clients, meanwhile making handicrafts,
dancing, cooking, going to the cafeterias and listening to Disney songs in
youtube.
My first
impression after seeing almost 70 disabled grown-ups talking in a language I
understood nothing about was as if I had somehow ended up in a bedlam. Without
even noticing it I was soon a part of it. There were no Down syndromes or
autistic but people with different character. The romanticist Tomas made every
girl’s day happy with beautiful compliments („Your eyes are shining even
brighter than the sun in the sky!“), Monica was keen into helping others, Rita
wanted to become a designer so draw her new collections every day, Fernanda
loved to work in the kitchen and to peel the carrots, shiny happy Afonso liked
to act as a girl and secretly paint his nails. Every one of them was as normal
in their singularity as every other person in the world.
My place of work
was just like a mini society and the people there were little mirrors:
everything I gave out eventually came back at me. When Gonçalo hugged me so
tight during the first months that I couldn't even breathe I realized I had a
problem with assertiveness. So I told I him I preferred kisses on the cheeks
instead. Repeated it every morning until one day I noticed that my new
assertiveness-skill was also useful in the real world. So from great joy I
hugged him tight which also meant we started our circle all over again.
Vacation days I
spent mainly on travelling. Portugal is a beautiful country! Though small (two
times larger than Estonia), the nature there varies from north to south and is
even more different on the islands. Besides seeing the breath-taking views I
could also witness the hospitality of locals. When we asked for the way to the
nearest city we were just driven there and given a list of the best places to
stay. Once a bartender even left his client to guard the bar so that he could
take me personally to the nearest shop. For them it was a natural way of acting
and a refusal was considered to be impolite. Even when the excuse was the fact
that there was a great chance of missing the plane when eating together with
them.
The main reason
I went to Portugal after all was just to get to know myself better and to
expand my comfort zone. This I could do there endlessly. A foreign country, a
foreign language and foreign people around you is a perfect recipe for self
growth. I was always trying to follow my feelings and that inner compass to
figure out in which direction it wanted to lead me. There were times I was
lost, times were I felt like standing in one place and times when I was just
like flying but all of the time I was on the way. Exactly where I had to be.
The year I spent in Portugal was by far the most intensive I have ever had. I
loved, laughed until I got a stomach ache, cried once very loud in a public
place with no strength to stop, I saw the breath-taking nature and the dark
sides of Portuguese life, I ate the world’s best pastry and got addicted to
coffee, learned a new language and met some of the most amazing people I have
ever known.
Luckily the
Europe is small enough. Até já, queridos!*
*See you soon,
darlings!
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