PROJECT 25 - ALCOUTIM
Algarve - Portugal

TESTIMONY

From: Maud Langlois, French volunteer [maudlanglois@yahoo.fr] - Alcance project
Sent: 26 June 2002
To: Mai-Phi Millot, coordinator of the RIVE programme [gec@apare-gec.org]
Object: a short account from Portugal (Alcoutim)

" Summer is here and the heat slows everything down a bit. In the restaurant, the mixtures of cod and potatoes are followed by tomatoes, watermelon and melons. The mosquitoes remember to sting you at least ten times a night and the fishmonger wakes you at 7.30 am with shouts of "Pescado, Pescado vivo. Venga!!"

After spending 5 months here, time has slipped by without me realising it and thousands of things still need to be done. Every day, we share with the other volunteers our time, our space, and the discoveries of life here. We have become so accustomed to being here that leaving in so short a time seems impossible. […]

The project continues to progress at its own rhythm, with no start or finish … it just is. In a small sheltered village, cut off from the rest of the world, helping five women who work with earth, with clay, slowly handcrafting sculptures, vases, plates, cups, etc.

They are trying to pass on their traditions, painting typical scenes from their region, flowers, ancients gestures for making bread or milking goats. These are ways of speaking and acting that we have discovered and acquired as we try to help them on toward new things, new designs, new forms of pottery… The objective is to retain traditions whilst innovating at the same time. We must help them understand the idea of commerce, of selling, something that I had never thought of myself doing in the past. But things seem different for those who are isolated in Martim Longo, with no formal existence, no documentation to be obtained from tourist offices, it is difficult to earn a living from such a job. […]

Maud (left) and Boyana (right),
crossing the river between Portugal and Spain.

Crossing the river in a rowboat after the day's work at Alcoutim in Portugal, we return home to San Lucar in Spain. There, we have a small apéritif, sat out in the sun in front of the house, with music from Greece, Germany, Bulgaria or France (depending on our mood). We talk about the future, the present and the feeling that, sometimes, time and space are no longer what we thought they were. It's an indescribable experience… "

Beijinios
Maud