¡Hola a todo el mundo!

Hello everybody! This is our official blog for the CISV IPP in Almeria, Spain, where we will be posting our experiences, projects, thoughts and feelings. We are a group of 26 people from all over the world, with delegations and staff from: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, Germany, Lebanon, Portugal and Spain.

The project we are participating in is called "Pateras", which is the name of the little boats in which illegal immigrants arrive to Almeria from Africa. Our job is to help the Spanish Red Cross with their work, providing assistance for the immigrants in many different ways.

The Cruz Roja helps the immigrants in many ways, providing them:

• medical care
• humanitarian aid
• food and shelter
• new clothes
• courses: spanish, computer literacy
• information about the Spanish law
• legal assistance if needed
• psychological support and counseling
• hygiene basics.

 We are divided in three groups to help the Cruz Roja with their programs for now:

• The OPE (Operacion Paso del Estrecho), meaning crossing the strait of Gibraltar, location: port of Almeria --> here we will be working in the nursery at the port, where African settlers in Europe come to travel back legally to their home country (most of them on vacation). Our role is doing activities with the young people, diverting them from the long wait for the ferry.
• The Warehouse --> helping to store the deliveries of food and other supplies immigrants may need.
• The Asentamientos (settlements)--> Later on, we will be spending time in the immigrant settlements, distributing food, water, clothes and friendship of course.

Also, we have another responsibility with the Red Cross,

• Pateras: hen they reach the coast of Spain, the immigrants have  often been without food or water for days at a time, and they require medical and humanitarian attention. The Red Cross have an emergency team, and we could be called at any time to assist the Cruz Roja.

In addition, we have an educational component to our project. We are giving presentations about immigration and travel in our own countries, in order to help each other understand the problems that immigrants and the governments of the countries involved face. This in turn will improve our understanding of the immigrants we will be working with here in Spain.

We will also be spending time together as a group, learning from one another and growing as individuals. And of course having a lot of fun! :)

So far we have been here for 5 days and have been training for 4 days with the Red Cross in a variety of areas, from the basic principles of the organisation to the specific skills and knowledge needed in our projects. Today is the first day of practical work and the real start of our IPP journal.

¡Hasta luego!