Erasmus+ HEROES Project – Day 2
4 november 2025
Day 2 began at I.E.S. Ginés Pérez Chirinos with an introduction to the environmental restoration projects at Parque de la Mairena. Pupils learned how Caravaca is deliberately increasing protected green spaces and restoring native biodiversity — a practical expression of SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG 15: Life on Land. The accompanying story of the giant Tomir, a character deeply rooted in local oral tradition, reminded us that places are shaped not only by ecological planning, but also by the cultural stories communities carry forward.
We then continued to Las Fuentes del Marqués, where natural landscape and local history meet. Here, pupils learned the well-known Caravaca legend involving a Templar knight and a young Muslim woman. Without prompting, several pupils drew the connection to Romeo and Juliet — a moment where literary knowledge traveled across borders. Three pupils volunteered to reenact the story for the group, using gesture, tone and posture to convey forbidden love, tension and hope. This activity brought together SDG 4: Quality Education, as pupils learned through narrative and cultural interpretation, and SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, by prompting reflection on the human impact of conflict and separation.
We finished the visit by walking up to the natural spring and filling our bottles directly from the cold source — a simple but resonant reminder of SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation and the privilege of access to safe natural water systems.
After our visit to APCOM, the guest pupils from the Netherlands and France were hosted by their Spanish groupmates for lunch. This time provided a straightforward and natural way to continue getting to know one another outside of school.
In the afternoon, we visited APCOM, a local organization committed to SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities. This experience was hands-on and relational: APCOM’s clients taught pupils to screen print their own canvas bags using designs created within the APCOM workshop. It was not a demonstration, but a shared learning encounter — one that many pupils described as humbling, grounding and quietly powerful. Conversations as we left reflected gratitude, respect, and a widening awareness of the different kinds of strength and skill present in every community.
We returned to school for eco-friendly craft activities, where pupils created SDG-themed bookmarks and handmade games. These slower, reflective moments offered a way to process the day’s experiences while continuing to collaborate in mixed international groups — reinforcing that sustainability is practiced in both ideas and actions.
Building on the podcast work introduced yesterday, pupils ended Day 2 by recording the next short audio segments, using the same professional microphones and mixing equipment. Today’s reflections focused on personal responses to the experiences at Las Fuentes del Marqués and APCOM — what surprised them, what they learned from one another and which SDGs felt most real in practice. These recorded moments continue to layer the shared voice of the exchange, gradually shaping the international podcast that will tell the story of this week from the pupils’ own perspectives.
