The time has come and in September of 2022, older and newer members of the group gathered all together for the fourth and last training meeting within this project. As a tradition, the meeting took place in the beautiful city of Ommen.
The goal of the meeting was the following: new participants got informed and familiarized with the topic of the project, they were encouraged to be creative, step out of their comfort zone, take initiative, and implement their own activities while using different tools. For sure, as always, the first challenge was to have a tremendous team spirit from the beginning; the oldies (older participants of the project) helped the novice to feel comfortable and confident while trying to grasp the mentality of the meeting. That’s why from the first day the members received the task to cook their own dinner with some difficulties such as the fact that some of them couldn’t have the possibility to talk, see or use one of their hands. The days of the meeting passed quickly, and the members faced a lot of challenges. It would be remiss of me not to mention the fact that the weather was a significant factor that brought difficulties to the surface every day. However, everyone had to show patience while adapting to the new conditions. During the project, each person colored outside the lines in their own way and had the chance to broaden their horizons. During the meeting, the participants got the opportunity to create their own activities and to implement these. All the activities were fascinating and challenging, also they had common elements such as the time limit and the outdoor context. After this, all members needed to face their fears. The last challenge of the meeting was to form groups of 5 people and to leave Ommen for 24 hours with bicycles. The challenge was to stay outside the whole day and to solve funny and crazy assignments. Last but not least, the most difficult part for the majority was finding food, water, and a place or a house for the night. Most of our members felt uncomfortable and only 8 of them accepted this challenge. The rest made the decision to drive to a different city near Ommen for a day trip, meet the locals, go around the city, create their own challenges and of course, get out of their comfort zone as much as possible.
This training meeting had plenty of challenges and surprises. Together we closed this beautiful circle of meetings and the era of Connectivity. It was impressive to look at all the effort, ideas, happiness, and appetite for knowledge that the members had while ending this era in the best way possible. From now on, Connectivity will be a precious memory with a big impact not only for the people who participated but also for everyone who wants to use the tools that Connectivity brought to the surface.