Zhenia Sakanelashvili’s ESC story

Hello to Everyone. I'm Zhenia, a 20-year-old student from Rustavi, Georgia, and I'm going to share with you a short story of the happenings that took place in Krakow, one of the most breathtaking cities in Europe, which is also home to some of the loveliest, friendliest, and most supportive people. Krakow is a city rich in culture and history, with architectural excellence. Everything had an easy beginning. For years, I've wanted to take part in the ESC project. The comfort zone is the cause of why it remained only a desire. But when the moment was perfect, I submitted the Krakow application, I felt that I was ready and now here I am.

My project started in September and it'll take 10 months. It is difficult to condense all the benefits, but the environment that permeates both inside and outside of the school is the first thing I can mention. After facing many things, I can say now that, despite individual differences, there are no limitation to what humans are capable of. My host school is absolute heaven. It is impossible to go there and not transform. Even one day is enough to leave entirely changed. I've been observing the attitude toward kids every day for the past three months. THIS IS MORE THAN CARE.

In addition to the school's uniqueness, during these three months, I underwent a noticeable personality change. Furthermore, I met and got to know a lot of people from various nationalities and religious backgrounds, which improved significantly my intercultural communication skills and encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone and bravely take on new challenges.

After completing this project, I will be certainly a completely different person who continually strives to have an active social life. I want to express my deep gratitude to ESC and GYE for providing me with the chance to join the large ESC family as a volunteer for this.

ESC in Rustavi - Laurin

Hello, I’m Laurin from Germany and I’m volunteering at GYE in Rustavi for one year. I have been here for already 2 months and so many great things happened already!

My tasks are mainly doing German conversation clubs for youngsters and young adults which I really enjoy, but also supporting ERASMUS+ youth exchanges by running energizers and get-to-know-each-other games and general support for the group leaders. The youth centre also offers other activities, such as national evenings or outdoor activities which I help with. In the future I will also assist teachers in one school for German and French classes.

Working with international people brings me a lot pleasure, it is so cool to have volunteers from different nationalities (although many of them are German) and Georgians and other European people. It helps to reflect on your own culture but also gives you so many opportunities to learn about other cultures.

I have already seen many different places in Georgia, I was in Kobuleti, Lagodekhi, Udabno, Stepanzminda and visited Tbilisi many times. What I like most about my voluntary service is that while I am doing a meaningful job, I still have enough free time to travel and explore the country. I’m so happy to be in Georgia because it is a completely new culture for me, everyone is so welcoming and the nature is incredibly beautiful.

Although I had some difficulties in the first weeks, I feel very lucky to have a safe place here in Rustavi where I can be myself as a queer person and have people around me who support me regardless of their nationality. I didn’t expect that, but I guess I’m generally surprised by the extreme comity of Georgian people, which certainly doesn’t exist in this form in Germany.

As I have just finished school, it is the first time for me to live in a foreign environment without my family for a longer period of time. I love my flatmates a lot, we support each other and have a great time together.

I’m very glad that I took this opportunity, there is no other place I would rather be than here now.