Week 2 - Fireworks, Workshops and a Taste of Action

Week two in Marseille brought a beautiful blend of celebration, learning, and our first tangible act of community impact. It was a week that perfectly encapsulated the spirit of our LiA, with a blend of learning and action.

The week began with a truly French experience, for this Monday was Bastille Day, a national French holiday where the people successfully stormed the Bastille some 236 years ago. As expected, the city was alive with celebration, and partying locals crowed the streets. Along with my five other teammates, I walked up the hill to the basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde. From that breathtaking vantage point, we watched fireworks explode over the Old Port, painting the night sky in brilliant colours. It was a fantastic team bonding experience and a memorable way to immerse ourselves in the local culture.

Tuesday brought us back to the core of our project with a crucial online session. Our Makesense coordinator, Jade, guided us through a lesson on design thinking. This methodology was a revelation, teaching us the importance of deeply understanding a community's needs before designing any solutions or events for them. It shifted our perspective entirely. Instead of assuming what might be best for the residents of Les Jardins d’Haïti, we learned the value of asking them first. This session was the direct precursor to my idea of developing and distributing surveys to the residents and staff. Their insights, we realised, must be the foundation upon which we build all our future activities.

On Thursday, we had an inspiring in person leadership training workshop with another Makesense coordinator, Marilou. She helped us explore and understand our individual leadership styles. Through various exercises, we learned how to recognise each other's strengths and communication preferences. This was not about dictating a single way to lead, but about fostering a self-aware and cohesive team dynamic. Understanding how we each operate means we can collaborate more effectively, ensuring we support each other and the community in the best way possible.

The week ended with a fun beach clean up activity. On Friday, we joined the biodiversity team for their first beach clean up with Teo from MerTerre. While this wasn't officially our project, it was an incredible experience. The beach was sadly littered with countless cigarette butts and pieces of plastic. For a few hours, we worked together, filling bags with straws and wrappers. The transformation was immediate and rewarding, and the stretch of sand looked visibly cleaner afterwards. Now, recounting how stunning the beach looked, I feel that our hands on work, though messy, proved profoundly meaningful. It was a concrete reminder of why we are here, to roll up our sleeves and contribute to positive change, whether in a garden or on a beach.

This week was about building a stronger foundation, both as a team and in our methodology. We are learning to listen first, lead with empathy, and are ready to start turning our ideas into action — the spirit of Leadership-in-Action.