Keti Gulishvili story from Lithuania

 Keti Guliashvili - "My hosting organization was a gymnasium, therefore I’ve been working with adults from 9^th till 12^th grade. I was responsible for their non-formal education. At first, through presentations I shared with them my country’s culture, history and traditions. Afterwards, presentations involved different topics about social problems, ecology and so on. With my Ukrainian co-volunteer, we made a “discussion club” for increasing their awareness and improving their English speaking skills. It was absolutely different from typical lesson, it included various games, quizzes, competitions, movie sessions and then discussions about this.

   We also took part in all the school events, carnivals or culture evenings. Besides, we cooperated with school self-governance and planned many activities which should have been implemented in spring, but on account of the COVID19 lockdown, everything was canceled. Since March 11, we stopped working at school and I felt so desperate and sad, because I really enjoyed with every day spending with them. I loved the warm and attentive atmosphere at school, our tutor who always tried to arrange everything with us and if there was any problem, she was the one who always solved it.

   When we spent whole 3 months in lockdown, I felt extremely desperate, because I didn’t want to finish my project like this. Me and my Ukrainian co-volunteer, had a consultation with our tutor and we organized summer camp for the certain group of students. Therefore, we decided to extend the duration of the project for one month. I’d say, that this was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, because after for so long inactivity, I needed to revive and to regain my strength as well as the students. 

At the end of our project, we made the collage of our volunteering year. This is our legacy and I’m immeasurably proud of it. I expressed all my creativity because I wanted it to be very special and every time students will see that, they will remember all the memories connected with us, with me, a Georgian volunteer, who always advised them to experience themselves in volunteering instead of continuing study at the university straightaway after school".