On the picture below you can see the vision of the yard, which is in transformation!

And…after the changes that we’ll try to “happen”, it should look like this:

So, just a day before the great Eco event in Nadodrze district, we would like kindly to invite you on our yard being very open to participate in all the activities, which we’ll organise there!
Hope to see you there

Picture… Some flowers in a plastic vases under the grey sky of Nadodrze…
They are trying to “survive”.
Is it possible?
One person, really interested to make these flowers blooming, just wrote us.
We were very nice surprised by the initiative of her sight.
Her name is Karina, neighbour from backyard number 23.
She wrote us in order to ask if it is possible to do something together on the yard, where she lives. In our project she saw a chance for cooperating and making our actions wider and wider.
That’s what make us happy – to feel that people really appreciate the things we are doing.
As a result of the conversation with Karina, we decided to give the people there to fill the questionnaires, we have made on yard 39. In the weekend we’ll collect the answers.
Right after that Rozruszniki Podwórek will start with concrete actions on the yard, referred to the answers.
We would like to say “Thank you, Karina, because of your help!”
Let’s plant a flower, let’s bring the sun on the yard.
Already 11 degrees , best time to get motivation and to start designing the future vision of number 23!
And soon, I hope you’ll be able to see a bit changed atmosphere.

Just the day before inauguration of Infopunkt Łokietka 5, still in working athmosphere, we managed to meet architects from Ikropka. For these, who are interested in this kind of professional activities for the yards, take a look on their website:

http://www.ikropka.wroclaw.pl/

As it is connected with our project in Nadodrze district, we have shared our aims and experience. Going further, we’ll have their support on our meeting with neighbours on 13-th of March. The most important thing, which should be done is the professional map of the yard. Together with the people, living there, we have to make the plan for the future actions.
We are preparing also for a big event, which is in the frame of the project – Eco Festival 2010 in Wroclaw.
On the picture down you can notice the moment , when the architects from Ikropka said: “Yes, let’s do something together!”

A small factory for dolls.This is what I tried to create in 2 days during the winter vacation of the children. With their help and with the help of their parents we have made several different kinds of these dolls, in which you can see the mix of something traditional with some modern elements!

 Actually this was the most important aim – to make an experiment what could be created in a meeting between two different cultures?

Everybody has been prepared with his own materials, which allowed us to show our unique vision.

In the end, when our dolls where almost done, we decided to make a small exhibition just for ourselves.

The girls were really excited and happy that they were sewing the clothes of their dolls…

Nice time around the table..with all the scissors, threads and materials from old clothes..

And of course our best friends – the dolls, that we made…

After our unofficial meeting with all the neighbours, who live on the backyard number 39, we felt more convenient in what we are doing. Of course we had a lack of some things, that we could not predict, but now we have a bit more experience.

It is obviously that communication is a question of both sides, but the thing is how to make it easier. For all of you, who could not participate on the meeting, here some of the things we made:

-         presentation of Nadodrze Revitalization Project;

-         presentation of some similar succesful projects in Poland;

-         showing the results of the questionaries;

-         plans about how the backyard should be changed;

-         some sweets and coffee for good mood;

The same day itself was so sunny, that people were walking around the yard, looking at us, trying to get some information who we are…

The most important thing that we achieved on Sunday was to make the neighbours to believe in the common changes. The essence of these changes is the great potential to create a new vision of their backyard.

Working over the frame of the future yard, we will use the so called method of temporary gardens!

Some of the members of Rozruszniki Podwórek are measuring the yard right now, in order to make the size of the map.

This map we’ll use for introducing the visible changes on the yard.

From that moment of mobilisation we see the future cooperation J J J

Spośród wielu pytań w ankiecie skupiliśmy się szczególnie na dwóch z nich. Zapytaliśmy więc sąsiadów z Nadodrza:

1)    Czego nie lubisz na swoim podwórku?

2)    Jak chciałbyś je zmienić?

Poniżej synteza uzyskanych odpowiedzi:

Podwórko nr 3 – „zniszczone podwórko” brak porządku idzie w parze ze złymi nawykami dorosłych

Zamiast parkingu ludzie potrzebują miejsca do wyprowadzania psów i więcej  przestrzeni do zabawy dla dzieci.

Podwórko nr 5- „hałaśliwe podwórko” zniszczony plac zabaw i brak zieleni. Trochę zaniedbane i brzydkie, ale wciąż używane przez ludzi, którzy mieszkają w jego pobliżu. Ma opinię ciemnego i niebezpiecznego miejsca. Bliskość Caritasu sprawia, że ludzie bezdomni wykorzystują to miejsce zgodnie ze swoimi potrzebami.

„Więcej światła” wydają się prosić mieszkańcy tego podwórka.

Podwórko nr 39- „smutne podwórko” sprawia wrażenie wielkiego śmietniska. Szare i brzydkie świetnie spełnia funkcję parkingu. Powinno być zmienione zgodnie z wolą mieszkańców w:

„miejsce gdzie można czuć się dobrze”

Innym problemem jest brak oddzielnego placu zabaw i miejsca na śmieci.

Marzenie mieszkańców to możliwość segregacji odpadów.

Rozruszniki Podwórek są gotowe pomóc mieszkańcom w zmianie sposobu korzystania z podwórek.

W tym celu ruszamy z pewną formą aktywizacji lokalnej społeczności. Szczegóły wkrótce!

Przygotowujemy się do pierwszego, nieoficjalnego spotkania z sąsiadami!

Do zobaczenia na podwórkach!

The summary itself!

Finally we are ready to present you the summary of the questionaries that we gave to our neighbours. In the very beginning you should know that we have around 70 filled questionaries. The fact is that in this way we could be able to recognise the real problems and to cope with them. It was a long process to collect these opinions in one paper, but it is worth.

Among all the questions in this “ankieta”, we focused our attention on 2 of them. The neighbours in Nadordze district were asked:

1) What they don’t like on their backyard?

2) How they would like to change their yard?

And now a very short description about the habitants’ vision for their own yard.

Number 3 – the destroyed backyard…lack of order, together with bad adults’ behavior

People need special place for dogs and more opportunities for children’s playground, instead of parking!

Number 5 – the noisy backyard…destroyed playground and lack of green stuff. A bit neglected, but still in use by the people that live there. It has the profile of a dark & dangerous place. Due to the Caritas lots of homeless people use this place, according to their needs.

“Add some light!” , says the voice of the people..who actually should start doing some changes by their own.

Number 39 – the sad backyard…as it seems to be a rubbish container in general.(( A bit grey and ugly, it perfectly fulfills the functions of a parking. It should be changed, according to its habitants, into:

“place, where you can feel good”…

The other problem is the lack of fenced playground and fenced rubbich place.

The dream stays : “Smart and regulated rubbish collection”

Rozruszniki Podworek also stays to the same opinion, that we will help these people to change the whole idea of using their backyards..

For this aim we’ll start with kind of local activation, which details you’ll received in some days.

We are preparing the first unofficial meeting with the neighbours!

Get ready to take a part in the activities of Nadordze Revitalization Project .)
See you in your backyard!

Some words left after the Christmas party…and some  pictures!

As you know on 18 th of december we orginised special party for our neighbours in Nadodrze! The main aim was to meet them in such kind of unofficial athmosphere, where we also can present our cultures and how we celebrate Christmas. What was also important is that everyone of us has prepared a traditional dish from her/his national kitchen. In this way we could enjoy the Christmas food not only from Poland, but Bulgaria, Germany, Spain and Portugal.

During the party in klub “Pod Kolumnami” we hang our wishes for the new 2010 year…here you can see one of all these wishes…

In the end of the night we had a small game, in which we exchanged our presents.