EIL Intercultural Learning

Coming from areas of social disadvantage in inner city Bonn and Nurnerg, coming to Ireland was a very big experience for these 13 - 16 year olds. Many of them had never been on a plane before and they were all nervous about speaking English and living with an Irish host family. They had nothing to worry about though. As Valerie Ahearne, EIL's local representative in Charleville said "The host families were extremly happy with them.  These kids arrived shy and lacking in confidence but left speaking more English, more confident about themselves and lastly with lots of Irish friends who would gladly welcome them back in to their homes"

The group in Charleville volunteered to paint a mural on the local hall in the village of Ballyagran. They did this with the help of a local artist. They also spent time at the nearby Castletown cemetry where they worked to remove over-grown ivy and tidy up the cemetry in preparation for the annual 'Blessing of the Graves' in the cemetry in November. The culmination of this work was the building of a rockery and planting plants cose to where the Blessing will take place in November. This work had a profound effect on the local community, in particular the older generation. Valerie says: "Every day people would come up and talk to them and thank them for their great work, the local pub lady handed out cans of coke and crisps to them. Another day an elderly man stopped his car and handed me €20 to buy them ice-creams!!".

The group in Clonmel volunteered with the Parent's Council of the local Presentation girls school in the town. The school and surrounding play areas have suffered badly from flood damage in recent times, and the Nurnberg group of student volunteers worked closely with the Parent's Council and the school principal to landscape and renovate these areas to make them appropriate for the children to play in. This is a very important project to the people of the commuity. During their time in Clonmel the group also met the Mayor and spent an evening at the dogs!