What does my LiA consist of? 

For my LiA project, 6 students from different universities across the globe are being hosted by the NGO MakeSense to complete two separate projects. MakeSense is an NGO which aims to work towards an inclusive and sustainable world by developing engagement programmes to help those who are passionate in taking action on environmental and social issues. For my project, myself and two other students have been partnered with an organisation 'Les Jardins d'Haïti' which is a retirement home in Marseilles, with the goal of improving the living experience of residents by improving their shared garden.  

My experience so far: 

So far, my LiA experience has been extremely busy and insightful. Myself and the 5 other students on the programme began our experience with a few orientation days in Paris with the goal of getting to know one another and also the organisation MakeSense. We were hosted by Jade and Emma, our project leads, who gave us an insightful introduction to MakeSense. They hosted a course on ecological and social transition which encouraged us to reflect on things such as our carbon emissions, and also provided us with Mental Health Training in order to prepare for any challenges which may arise during the programme.  

During the rest of our first week, we travelled to Marseilles, which is where we will be staying for the remainder of the project. We visited the organisation 'Les Jardins d'Haïti' and were given a tour by our project leads Marion and Jean-Marc. The highlight of the trip so far is certainly this tour, as myself and the other scholars were incredibly impressed and in awe of the organisation – the retirement home has so many impressive resources, including a hair salon, a café, a creche where children can come and spend time with the residents, and most impressively, a huge theatre style music room where the organisation holds music lessons every week.  

After our first week of settling in, we began to get stuck into our projects by meeting with the organisation to discuss our expected deliverables, followed by many brainstorming sessions to decide what our plan of action will be to carry out this project. Upon reflecting, I found the initial stage of formulating ideas to be extremely challenging, particularly because we were working with little to no budget, and our resources were limited with the 5 week timeframe, and our limited proficiency in French. As we began formulating ideas, we observed the amazing facilities that already existed and used existing events as inspiration for how to improve. For example, every two weeks Les Jardins d'Haïti host an 'Apéro Live' live music event which is beloved by the residents. Therefore, we brainstormed ideas such as volunteering events in the garden and family fun days to try and replicate a reoccurring event which can be enjoyed by the resident. So far in our event planning, we have begun to reach out to local organisations to attempt to form partnerships which can continue at Les Jardins d'Haïti after we leave Marseilles. 

Another highlight of my experience so far has been our opportunity to get involved with the other project in Marseilles that the other 3 students in our MakeSense group have been working on. They have been partnered with the marine biodiversity NGO MerTerre, and we have been lucky enough to all get involved in assisting this charity with beach cleanups. This has been an incredibly rewarding experience as we have explored some beautiful beaches in Marseilles – it is truly shocking how much waste you can find on the beach when you truly look, which I usually wouldn't even notice! 

As well as the work we have begun with the NGO's, we have also been making the most of our weekends exploring Marseilles! We have visited many beaches, as well as the island of Frioul which we reached by boat. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience so far and I'm looking forward to seeing the impact we can initiate in the coming weeks.