France Volontaires hold farewell event for volunteers

France Volontaires, an agency of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs with the core mission to promote international solidarity through volunteerism has seen off three of its volunteers where in Ghana.

France Volontaires recruit and deploy volunteers from France to different countries and from different countries including Ghana to France.

A farewell event was held last Monday, November 21 at Alliance Francaise to see three of such volunteers who had come from France and Italy to volunteer in Ghana.

The three are Valentino Attanasio who is an energy engineer from Sicily, Italy. He holds a Masters Degree in Energy Engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin.

Before joining EcoCare Ghana through the European Aid Volunteer programme, he worked as Logistician on Lampedusa Island for Immigration Emergency and as an eco-volunteer in Colombia.

At Eco Care Ghana, he worked to support coordination and partnership for Forests and Climate Generations projects.

Sara Lorenzini is a PhD student at the University of Milan, activist and co-founder of the Diciassette Student Group.

She studies Common Goods’ Governance in the perspective of Socio-environmental justice with a particular focus on forest governance.

As a Senior European Aid Volunteer for the Climate Generation and Forest Project, she supported research as part of EcoCare Ghana’s Landscape Restoration Projects and facilitate the implementation of the Climate Generation Project.

Noah Mengoumou is an 18-year-old volunteer from France. He was born and raised in Paris to a Cameroonian family. He graduated from Lycee Montesquieu in the city of Le Plessis-Robinson with majors on Physics and Biology.

He served as a France Volontaire with EcoCare Ghana as part of the European Union Aid Volunteer Programme. At EcoCare Ghana, he supported the implementation of the Climate Generation Programme and EcoCare Ghana’s work on Cocoa and Forests. He hopes to study Medical Biology after his work in Ghana.

The Director of Alliance Francaise Emmanuel Labrande welcomed everyone and wish everyone a pleasant evening, ‘’It is a delight to have you all here this evening and I hope that you all have a very pleasant evening,’’ he said.

Speaking at the farewell event, Mr Obed Owusu-Addai, Managing Campaigner of EcoCare Ghana said his team has had an amazing time with the volunteers, ‘’It has been wonderful having you around, I believe you learnt so much and will have a lot to share with your folks back home. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need any form of assistance.’’

All three volunteers took turns to talk about their experience in Ghana and used the opportunity to thank all those who contributed in making their stay a memorable one.

There was also the screening of their works with some students in the Ashanti and Bono East Regions as well as some farmers.

There were solidarity messages from The French Embassy and other agencies.