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La mia esperienza SVE a Torino

Practicamente sono già passati quasi due mesi dal mio ritorno in Polonia dopo la mia esperienza SVE. Se oggi ripenso a tutto quello che è stato fatto a Torino mi sembra come se fosse ieri. Le emozioni, i colori ed i profumi che mi hanno accompagnato in quel momento sono ancora così freschi, così vivi…vorrei almeno per un giorno ritornare lì, poter bere un caffè in Ferrucci, fare una passeggaiata lungo i Murazzi e salutare tutti quelli che mi conoscono e che mi mancano. Sarebbe veramente bello!

Appena nella mia testa ci sono tanti pensieri, tanti recordi legati a questo momento unico della mia vita. Mi ricordo come tutto è cominciato: con la mia voglia di vivere all’estero, vivere in Italia, cambiare la mia routine quotidiana e del mio stile di vita in Polonia. Non nascosto, che aspettavo tanto per iniziare il mio progetto SVE. Mi ricordo molto bene quella data, era 2 aprile quando mi sono arrivata alla autostazione di Torino (dopo 25 ore con pullman) e aspettavo con tanta curiosità Ana e Vava- la mia conquilina e seconda volontaria SVE di Eufemia.

Ora, dopo questi dodici mesi volevo convidere con voi tutto quello è  diventato per me il più importante. All’ inizio non è stato facile adattarsi. Le principali difficoltà sono state con la comprensione che in Italia si aspetta sempre. Ci erano i momenti belli e momenti brutti, momenti di euforia ed anche i momenti di dubbio. Ma alla fine, senza ombra di dubbio posso dire che questa esperienza e’ una cosa speciale, che potrei consigliare gli altri.

Un anno a Torino era pieno di cose da fare, cose da vedere, da imparare e da scoprire. Grazie alla mia hosting associazione Eufemia e al mio progetto “Be volunteer for social cohesion” ho imparato tante cose nuove. Ho partcipato in attivita’ che si chiama “Dopo scuola” e “Studio assistito” con bambini veramente carini, vivaci e curiosi che mi hanno dato tanta energia e in mio punto di vista sono stati veramente bravi insegnanti di italiano. Con loro ho imparato tanto e ho fatto un passo avanti nella mia avventura con l’italiano. Questo progetto mi diverto molto. Mi piaceva passare il tempo con loro e soprattutto aiutare i bambini con i compiti.

Altro progetto che mi ha dato tanta felicità e rimarrà a lungo nella mia memoria era il progetto “Invenduto“. Lo scopo principale di questa attivita’era la raccolta e redistribuzione di frutta e verdura invenduta il sabato pomeriggio. Questo progetto non costava niente. Ogni sabato lo facevo volentieri, mi bastava solo un sorriso dei participanti e una piccola soddisfazione che si fa qualcosa di utille e esser utile a chi ha bisogno.

Durante il mio volontariato europeo, ho participato anche in uno scambio internazionale di giovani sordi e udenti dalla Italia, Bielorussia e Turchia. Attraverso lo scambio ho conosciuto le culture diverse, ma soprattutto ho conosiuto la “cultura sorda“ e la bellezza di Lingua dei Segni, in particolare Lingua dei Segni Italiana (LIS). Il volontariato è stato anche una occasione per conoscere altri volontari europei, convidere con loro le sue osservazioni e pensieri, fare amicizia e scoprire l’Italia insieme.

Alla fine vorrei dire, che il volontariato era un’occasione ideale per conoscere nuovi mondi, nuove culture e nuove persone e anche conscere se stessi. E’ stata una occasione da prendere le nuove abitudini come la tazzina di caffè ogni mattina, da scoprire nuove e bellissime strade della vita.

Vorrei ancora ringraziare lo staff di Eufemia, in particolare Pasquale, Giulia e anche il mio mentore Beppe per il supporto, le competenze e simpatia in realizzazione di progetto. Un grazie a tutte le altre persone che mi hanno accompagnato in questo percorso.

Spero un giorno di poterci incontrare di nuovo.

A presto!

Aga

EVS in Eufemia – first impressions – Velislava (Vava)

In my opinion the best moment to make a voluntary service is the time between the Bachelor and the Master period of your life. I chose to do it, because I believe that through the EVS you can gather skills and qualities by helping other people. I arrived in Torino on 1st of April, to be honest I’ve been lucky to make this service in Eufemia, because the person chosen for the project decided to step down at the last moment and this is where my adventure started.

In particular, I did not choose the country, because of the best pasta, gelato and coffee in the world, but because I believe that the destiny sent me this opportunity that I couldn’t miss. And so I came and the Italian life absorbs me.

The description of my project had a slight difference than the actual nature of my work, but this resulted in a big challenge for me, because I was assigned to work with children in Italian. The funny part was that I couldn’t understand them and neither they got me, because of the language barrier, but I hope at the end of my service we can establish good and valuable connection.

On the other hand, I came with the objectives to learn how to write European projects; how the non-formal organizations are operating and to increase my knowledge about the Erasmus+ program and all the projects connected to the youth mobility.

All these things are connected to my future carrier path and I am happy now, because Eufemia is giving me the chance to reach my goals.
Moreover, I could say that despite of the small team of the organization, I always solve my unpleasant situation and I can count on the people to receive their support.

This is the first letter of my experience in Eufemia, but I promise it won’t be last, look forward for updates of my specific responsibilities and progress of learning points.

Survival boxxx – coming back home

Five countries, five groups of different people, just one rule: survive.
It has been a return to a rustic style of life, “primordial”, community, based on the sharing and on the union of the strengths.
Activity of formation and information about how to turn on fires, how to recover apparently  unusable matches, to recognize and to avoid animals and plants poisonous… Those have been the beginning of the exchange.
A long journey, departing from Usma, little town on a lake, following the course of the river, separated in three groups (home, boat and walk team) that every day varied on rotation to reach the Baltic Sea with a baggage of experiences to sprout on the list of the “things to be done for feeling alive.”
In this exchange, as in all the others, there have been games of knowledge, of construction of the group, typical evenings, in which a small part of each own country are introduced, but this one, perhaps for a return to the nature, it has been more of others an experience of life and not a simple trip.
Survival boxxx is a conceptual box whose walls have been the immense and beautiful Latvian landscape, in all the facets, and the content they have been the participants of the exchange.
Everyone at least once in the should be able to look us inside and to become departs from there.

EVS at Eufemia – Vera’s experiences

I arrived in Torino one year ago, excited to live in a new city, learn a totally new language and work on a new field. I’ve chosen to try European Voluntary Service in Italy because I felt that I need a new experience and I’ve met some amazing Italian people during my travels. This was my first time to live abroad alone so it was a big challange, but I always got all the support I needed. The members of Eufemia, Ana, the other EVS volunteer, my amazing Italian flatmates and friends were always there to help and show me all the beauty of Italy: the language, the culture, the nature, and of course the food J

Apart from our EVS project , the Eufemia has diverse activities, so I had the possibility to try out a lot of different tasks. I was teaching English, helping kids with their homework (a particular challange as I didn’t speak any Italian in the beginning), collecting and distributing unsold vegetables from the market, helping to organize a Youth Exchange, managing documentation and mails, translating the website… My favourite was definitely being with the kids of the neighbourhood. With patience we managed to earn their trust, create a little community and, after the hard work of doing the homework (it was hard work for me too as I didn’t speak any Italian when I arrived) had lots of fun together!

This was a very intense 11 months and I came home to Hungary with beautiful memories, a new language, more competences and knowledge, some precious friendships and a wish to return soon to my second home, Torino. Thank you, Eufemia!

EVS experience – Elisa

Hi everyone!

I would like to share my volunteering experience with you from France, more exactly from Strasbourg.

I arrived into this city six months ago and though I’ve been here during my Erasmus in 2010 but this time I had the opportunity to live in the city and get to know its inhabitants in a completely different way. I discovered many things that are impossible to discover during a foreign study experience.

My EVS project included activities designed for people “with fewer opportunities”, for inhabitants of the city that live in peripheral districts. Almost all of them come from immigrant families thus they are not so well integrated and don’t have a full access to all the opportunities that a city like this has to offer.
During these months I was involved in different workshops for children and youngsters: cooking, recycling, traditional and contemporary dance, music and games with marvelous people with diverse languages and cultures filled my days. Here’s a photo about my experience, that was, as you can see full of smiles!
Good luck with your own EVS projects!

Elisa