ESC story from Latvia

Hi, I’m kety 26 years old from BATUMI and I’m doing my volunteering job in Latvia, small beautiful city Liepaja in Nīcas jauniešu centrs (Nica youth centre). I came to Latvia last summer (July) and started new life. At the beginning it was hard to live in new country, with new people, new culture, new language and new food but I’m person who adaptation everything soon and try to be strong within all situation.

I always had a dream go abroad and make myself in new challenge, get to know new culture, new people and friends. One of my friend told me about project and I immediately sent CV. At that moment I thought it was only attempt and I can’t do this but I’m here right now and I’m so proud of myself, I think this period of my life is one of the unforgettable year.  Now I live near of forest and sea, one of the most beautiful place in Latvia.

About the project > As I said I work in youth centre with 8-22 years old children and teenagers, I make everything what I can to do for them, I made English club (also help them to do English homework if someone need it), movie nights, competition of different games, cooking workshops, art workshops, handmade workshops and sawing workshops. We planned to make camping and cleaning days in summer time. My relationship with children, teenagers and manager is super cool we are friend, they are very friendly. A bit about my mentor she’s great woman she help me whatever I need, Our relationship is more than just mentoring.

I had two greatest training where I met volunteers from different countries, we share each other our country culture and traditions, many of them make wish to visit Georgia, I hope they will. I learnt a lot of things by this project and this period of my life. My English level is higher than it was before project. I discovered different skills and talents in myself, got new great experience and new friends. I have to tell big THANK to ESC, NA, GYE, RVP, ERASMUS+ and all of them who make project for youth, it’s great opportunity for us. I wish to all youth to do ESC project once in their life.

Volunteering in the football association "Supra"

Hello, I am Konstantin from Georgia. My project is in Kwidzyn, Poland, in the football association “Supra”. My project includes sport activities with children, age 5-13. Everyday we have several group of children, who are coming in our football club. Our aim is to teach them professional football, discipline and respect. I am assistant trainer and my competence is to help head coach to do training sessions. Also, we have senior team, with whom I am playing in polish league.

When I came here, everything was strange, because here is the problem of English communication, people know only polish and you are obliged to know polish. After months, I learnt polish well and everything became better step by step. Kwidzyn is really small city and all people knows each other, so you have opportunity to know more people as much as you can.

People from my association (host organization “Supra”) are brilliant, they accepted me as a friend and it helped me to get used to training, our lifestyle and etc. even more, I have private English lessons to children from our academy, which gives us opportunity to understand each other better.

I should say several words about my coordinating organization “Akwedukt”, who always helps us in any case of trouble. We are keeping touch almost everyday and they always warn us about new laws, new government restrictions.

To conclude, I will admit, that I am very happy to be here and I wish I had more time here, than I have.

Explore and acquire the culture of the country by traveling -ESC Bolzano

Ciao.. I am Teona Tvauri, EVC volunteer in Bolzano, Italy. With this letter I would like to tell you a little but about my voluntary project and my experience here in Italy. I am almost at the end phase of the project and since the current global situation, namely Corona virus that has touched Italy seriously for now volunteers are not allowed to enter our workplace.. Therefore I will talk about in the past tense.

To begin with, I start expressing what my voluntary work involves and what are the main duties there. My voluntary service in a nursing home, (Casa per anziani Don Bosco) involved activities in which me and other volunteers helped elderly people to socialize, to feel the place where they currently live as their own home and people who are surrounded as their family members. We were organizing many interesting events, carnivals, ice cream parties, indoors and outdoors, we were taking part in regional competitions, like Olympic games for seniors and so on. The life in a nursing home is busy and joyful which creates a positive atmosphere. I saw the importance of young's’ too in these institutions. We saw in their eyes how motivated they were to take part in the activities we were doing together. I am also aware about new attitudes and approaches on elderly with Alzheimer’s Disease where we were actively involved in activities like: music therapy, art therapy, gymnastics, pet therapy and so on. Besides communicating with elderly, my daily work with other volunteers was another experience... We shared the same work but different culture, languages. During this time I got more motivated to improve my language skills more. Friendly and open minded Italian made me welcome and free to communicate with them freely. Moreover the project gave me the opportunity to explore and acquire the culture of the country and its characteristics with the best way, by travelling. It was one of the attractive parts of my life here. I visited the places I studied in an art school, city of art, Florence, it’s museums and many other impressive places. To the end I add that this year and this experience in a whole will be one of the best periods of my life in which I grew up personally, became more independent, and I gained many other useful skills that we need for our entire life.

Volunteering in Italy

Hello , I'm Gela Gotsiridze volunteering in Pergine Valsugana, Trento, Italy.

My receiving organization is Youth Orientated Organization.

Me and other volunteer are helping to educators to communicate, play and share experiences with young people who are  15-25 y.o. In Kairos the main objective is to provide young people with tools to express themselves, compare and enrich themselves within a vital, multicultural, inter generational environment, open to projects and ideas proposed by young people. I always try to communicate with youngsters in English , teach and help them to improve English language skills, sometimes we go with them to ice skating, for skiing in the mountains , have plans for camping and swimming in the nearby lake. 

The squad is really friendly and supportive, i have a lot of friends already from different countries. The project gave me a lot new experiences, learning Italian language, living in independent environment , having new friends , visiting beautiful places of Italy , try local and traditional foods , communicate with Italians and etc. 

I’m very thankful to GYE for giving me this opportunity,

this project opened a huge gate of chances and possibilities for my future. 

Volunteering project in Poland

Hello, My name is Lasha Achelashvili. I am European solidarity corps volunteer in the organisation “Caritas” in Poland. It has been almost 3 months since the beginning of my volunteering activity in Gdansk, Poland. But I can not say it was a successful beginning for me. On February 2nd 2020 I departed from Kutaisi (Georgia) and arrived in Gdansk. At the airport my coordinator Martin picked me up. As it was mentioned in my contract there should have been a flat where I was supposed to live with other volunteers, but my coordinator told me that I had to live in another place for several days. This several days was extended for one month and I had to live in a nursing home where I saw scenes of elderly people dying which was very unpleasant to see. During the first one month I was living with uncertainty and Caritas’ answer was “at this time we do not have information”, “your problem will be solved in several days” and so on. I changed 4 flats during three months and believe me it was not easy to pack and unpack every 2- 3 weeks.

After my arrival in Poland, the organisation gave me several addresses where I could start working. Even though I did not know the city I visited four different places and chose one of them. I had several duties, for example I was playing with kids, helping in the kitchen, planning presentations and activities for children. Because of the Corona-virus lock down my real volunteering only lasted about three weeks. Of course we stopped working and started living in self isolation. Because of the situation our arrival training in Warsaw was canceled.

My project ends on December 31th and I hope it will continue and we will be able to do voluntary work in near future.

My ESC in Trento

Hello everybody! I’m Nina from Georgia and I’m gonna tell you about my volunteer’s experience. I always wanted to be an international volunteer and my dream came true last year. I’m doing my project at the nursing home in Trento, North Italy. “Stella del Mattino” is a place, where elderly people live their quiet life. I’m happy I got  a chance to brighten up their days. At the beginning we had a language barrier, but despite of this we understood each other. They were very patient with me and tried to teach me Italian even with body language.

Every day starts with the gym, where old people spin the exercise bikes and do some simple exercises to stay healthy. Then there are some activities which include drawing, painting and making decorations. I already prepared some crosswords for mental activities and I was amazed at their knowledge.One of my favorite activity is “Tombola” – old lotto game, where everyone hopes to win a small present. It makes me happy to see the sparkle in their eyes when they get a gift. During this short time these people became very close to me. Some of them remind me my granny. I got so much warmth and love from them that I’ll always keep in my heart. It’s priceless to see smile on their faces. Each of them is individual and everyone needs a special approach. Some of them don’t speak, they just hold my hand and see my face well, touch my hair and smile to me and at this moment you understand you can bring some warmth and happiness to them, who needs it most of all. And now I’m writing this story I remember them and miss them so much.

Thank to this project I met another volunteers from different countries and I really enjoyed spending time with them.This project gave me a chance to discover myself, to see how I can act in different kind of situation and how to live abroad alone without family. 

I recommend every young people to participate in ESC projects which give us so much nice opportunities and chances. 

Journey of being volunteer in abroad -Tatia's story

Almost 1 year ago association "Georgian Youth for Europe" helped me, I became participant of the European Solidarity Corps project and joined to Caritas of the Archdiocese of Gdansk.  I Started journey of being volunteer in abroad.  To be a part of an incredible project means a huge experience, I developed various competences such as social, personal, linguistic.

To live and work with foreigners, to meet other volunteers from different countries, gave me opportunity to feel other cultures, to compare everything, to see myself from different perspective. Here I started to express, to talk about what disturbs me.  One day, after an issue my Spanish friends asked me “Tatia, how do you feel”- and the little question became absolutely enormous, I couldn’t answer, because I was not accustomed to express my emotions and go so deeply.

I think the European Solidarity Corps project is must do thing, because within project you are developing, becoming totally different person and for sure the whole your life you will feel the feedback of ESC.

ESC Story from Poland

Hi, my name is Gvantsa and I am working in the Autism Center. As the name might suggest I am working with children and youngsters with an Autism spectrum disorder.

If you decide to volunteer for this Job you are going to work in two different places. The first is located in Szopaky 8. There you will work in an elementary school and support the teacher during the classes. The special thing about this place is, that not only children which suffer from the Autism spectrum disorder but also children which suffer from various other mental disabilities.

The other place you will work at is in Spadochroniarzy and it is specialized in secondary and high school education. 

I’m working from Monday until Friday.  Mondays and Tuesdays, I’m with my first-grade class in Szopkazy. In this class I am supporting three boys, the special thing is that none of them are able speak, though they understand everything. We communicate through a special book designed to help them to express themselves which is called “Mowik”.

The day starts at 09:00am with having breakfast together with the students. Our main tasks include that we support the kids during their meals, show them how to brush their teeth after finishing their meals. After that we start the lessons which consist out of various activities to improve their motoric skills, the way they express and handle their emotions, followed by gymnastic lessons as well as a training on how to recognize people. Once in every two weeks we have an outdoor activity which is held in the climbing center in Krakow. During those trips each teacher/volunteer is supposed to take care of one student in particular and take care of him. Of course, over the year we have way more activities always connected with the seasons and festivals which are going to be celebrated such as “Teachers day”, carnival, Halloween or Christmas. Especially in those days you will be needed to support the school in decorating, organizing and of course taking care of the children. If there is no special event, then you’ll probably finish around 01:00pm. Also, you will never be totally alone with the children, there will always be another teacher or a responsible person which is with you in the room

In Spadochroniarzy, I only support the school during the English lessons, with several different classes, and one ceramic class. You will be there only from Wednesday to Friday. Maximum amount, of students per class is 4, so you can see that they are rather small. Usually, teachers have their schedule and program and they are following it, during this time I’m helping the pupils, who need my help while the class is ongoing. This help varies from writing over reading to the organizing of their materials.

Sometimes we have special events there too, like in Szopkazy. Meaning, they also need my help to organize, decorate or take care of one pupil. There is one different kind of English class, which is dealing with the improvement of their ability to speak and express themselves in which the students and I are discussing different topics, are playing some board games or watch movies in English.  As I mentioned you will have ceramic lesson once in a week in which the teacher, our students and I are producing mugs, bowls as well as Angels or other motifs etc. and color them. So, you are producing actual art! The walls of the school are full of the student’s works. I finish my working day a 1 o’clock, if there is no special event.

I have two coordinators, because of the two schools. In the school in Spadocronyarzy it’s Anna, here is, in Szopkazy school it’s Sylwia.

In my opinion I think that if you’re going to work in the Autism center for those next ten months you will be the luckiest person in life. For me it is the best workplace in the whole world. The students are super active and kind, though sometimes there can be difficulties you will enjoy this time for sure.

-          Gvantsa from Georgia, 2020

Should I stay or should I go?

I will try to share my experience of the following project (European Solidarity Corps), this is not standard article, I am trying to give you ideas and challenge to do same project.

We always have choices in our lives, We usually have Dilema, should I stay or should I go. Exactly same happened to me when I was heard about Erasmus + (European Solidarity Corps) project in Different countries and mainly in northern Italy. I had everything in my amazing country Georgia - Job, family, friends… but still if you also have felt that something is missing of these beautiful list, you will understand– this is called desire of changes, discoveries and challenges.

I always wanted to discover different countries, cultures, nationalities, languages. Especially Italy was considered as my second homeland from my childhood. I am still talking about my background knowledge and experience in order for you to understand that I had normal and good life in my country also, I have not made this decision of spending one year in Italy because I had nothing to do, no it is vice ‘versa. The decision is always hard for me  and somehow painful, but we all do it time by time. The thing is that I wanted to go out of my comfort zone.

Why I decided Italy (Bolzano, Alto-Adige) and not another European country?

The answer is so simple – it was my goal, my target country was Italy and also I wanted northern part because of Alpes, Dolomites and amazing nature. Also this is very Interesting region – Trentino – Alto Adige.   As you know, Bolzano is bilingual city (Italian and German), So if you like multicultural environments, this city is for you. In the Bank, Shops, Markets, Banks, in almost all public spaces you will discover that almost everyone speaks German also, that happens because the city itself is very close to border of Austria. Also this part of South Tirol was part of Austria till the first world war.

What about my organization – ,,la strada der weg’’ – it has services: study center, children’s and youth area, dependence area, culture, territory and family area, women’s area and equal opportunities, prevention and advice area, volunteering area, school area. I work in volunteering area and my job was to help children after school with different kind of activities in Italian language. (I am studying Italian now too online because there is no chance of face to face communication and work while we have lockdown).

The difficult part started when we realized we have to be at home when Corona virus appeared. But I hope from Summer it can change a little bit, but schools are no longer going to be opened until September. I am finishing my  volunteering at the end of September, 2020.

This is amazing experience in life – you see how strong you can be even in different country and with different community.