A new life began this summer for 36 military members and their families who moved to Naples, Italy. To this group we must add the newcomers to Poggio-Renatico, Sigonella, Rome and Milan. And our small team from MFS Naples at the Villa Maple Leaf: Nadia Ottaviano, Maude Barrat and Rachel Gaulin.
So we were all in the same boat, getting to know the place and going through the tedious installation process.
The additional challenge for our team was to become quickly functional in order to be able to offer services and programming. I will not hide the fact that the first two months were a challenge.
We were fortunate, though, to be able to benefit from the preparatory work done by YEP students this summer, supported by Martine Bareil from Communications. It has been greatly helpful for us to have ready-made poster models and an updated inventory for craft supplies. Long live YEP Students!
With the help and guidance of Laura Neafken from PSP, our only point of reference here, we were able to get going. We have now become accustomed to joint efforts from both MFS and PSP for the building of different activities.
Our first real test came upon us very quickly with the traditional welcome BBQ. It was a great success and allowed us to meet the community and informally discuss their expectations.
September, October and here we are in November. We can now say that we have started realizing the projects that we had planned in order to give programming our own personal touch. Including our photo workshops, supported by a community member who is a professional photographer and our Italian coffee-conversation, which will end up being a very useful complement to learning the language. In addition, we have other innovative ideas for the coming year!
The philosophy that drives us is the desire to offer activities with an extra value. We find that our families are very resourceful and active. To keep them interested, you have to offer value-added.
The other motivating factor for us is our other desire to try to highlight all the talents in our community. Whether it be the firefighter from the base showing his trade to children or a musician spouse offering introductory music lessons. We are lucky! As they say in Hollywood: More to come!
