Raccontiamo cosa facciamo. Le voci dei partecipanti

Our 4 volunteers captured their On Arrival Training in Roma

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Our long-term volunteers were at their “On Arrival Training” in Roma!

We are more than happy to share their stories with you:

 

Ruta: “You don’t want to miss it”, they said… “It’s one of the best parts of the volunteering”, they said… and they were right!

One week flew by like 2 days, emotions were just good ones, 30 people from 17 countries – all volunteers and new friends that we met in our “On Arrival Training” (OAT).

It’s not an easy decision to go to live abroad, especially for a long term. OAT is a tool, that helps to understand what are your duties, your rights, while doing volunteering, opens your mind to see what’s the purpose to participate in such a projects as European Solidarity Corps (ESC) and what you can get out of it.

After OAT I indeed had a feeling that a whole new room opened up in front of me – new space. And I carry it all the time with me, but it’s not heavy.

OAT is one of the things that, in my opinion, is difficult to describe and you should be there, to understand, but I will try – imagine 30 volunteers. Some of them are from the same country (like approx. 10 people from Spain, I even met one girl from my country-Latvia), but in general – 30 different people, from different countries, with different experiences and background. There is just one thing that brought us together – we all are volunteers in Italy. Our trainers not only managed to “drop our shields down”, but also made us all like one big team. And for that a big thank you! We did A LOT of workshops in different groups. At the end there wasn’t a volunteer with whom I didn’t work with at least once. We made podcasts, short movies, using various activities we opened our creativity.

OAT activities proved brilliantly that you can look at everything from a different perspective, that everyone sees, hears, perceives differently. And what’s in your country completely normal and obvious is not in others. Why? -Because it’s just not.

I’m thankful for this experience and suggest to all the volunteers to take the chance to participate in an OAT. 😊

 

Jenny: My On-Arrival-Training experience in Roma 2019

On an early Friday morning we left our beautiful Torino for Roma. It took us about 5 hours by train and there we were in the capital of the country we chose to spend the next year in. We arrived at the Scout – Center met our new roomates for the coming week and had lunch together. The first afternoon was all about getting to know other volunteers who are living across Italy. My first impression of the entire group was very good  and luckily it stayed like this until the end of the training.

Our days looked basically every day the same: breakfast, morning session, lunch, afternoon session, dinner and evening session. The sessions in most of the days were about our personal EVS/ESC journeys. What did we expect and how in the end is the reality, was the big question here!

What have we experienced?

How would we handle the situation?

How can we help each other?

What is our advice for each other?

For me it was also really interesting to get to know other volunteers their good and bad experiences and I realized that I was more than lucky and made the right choice to come to Torino and support Eufemia! Thank you for being a great Team!

Between all this “serious” talks we also had a lot of fun playing different games to understand how we, the volunteering project or even our world works. In a non – formal way of education our trainers put our attention towards our rights and duties in this whole program, the youthpass and conflict management. Learning and thinking from and about all these activities made us realize even more why we are doing volunteering and what we are here for.

To sum it all up I want to quote one of our trainers: “And you are giving an impact and as many of you said, you do not even know when this impact will come back or in which form. But you are giving and I think this is the concept … It is the main concept on how we want to set our life: GIVING!

Over the week I have met some really incredible people who follow this concept by heart. They are here to give, but not material things. They give something way more important than that, TIME.

“The greatest gift you can give someone is your TIME. Because when you give your time, you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back.”

And that is what we all do. We give our time to all the beautiful projects we have choosen to support during this service in an for us foreign country. This OAT made me realize the chance I have been giving to make a big change in my life and bit smaller one in this world, especially in Europe.

 

Irene: THE MEANING OF VOLUNTEERING – OAT ROMA 2019

What is the meaning of volunteering? This is something that we learnt in our ON ARRIVAL TRAINING.

These kind of trainings are a must for a volunteer because of so many reasons and I think every single person should have the opportunity to enjoy them. After being in Italy for 3 months we were able to join the OAT, in the country where we are doing our European project and since the first moment we felt a very good atmosphere. The trainers were super kind with us, but also the other volunteers were important during that time.

We started the week getting to know each other and the projects that each of us is developing in here. It was interesting to hear others and to get to know a bit more about their experiences and at the same time, share with them ours. We are all doing different jobs, but all of them have something in common which is helping others and  giving our best, at the same time we are also getting something back. I mean, GIVE & RECEIVE.

We got information about our rights and duties, about our insurance, about our mentors and everything that is around us during our volunteering periode. The training was also based on social media so we also improved our skills in video editing and podcasting, something that is more than important nowadays, in the 21st century.

All the activities were funny but educational, and they were also useful to get close to others and to get a good friendship with people from all around Europe. At the end we spent a week together, so we had the chance to be open minded and to meet people who can share with you different values and can teach you also about their origins and traditions.

We also got some tips about how to handle different situations. This experience has all kind of moments and we should be strong enough to manage our emotions and to give the best from ourselves.

We were busy all the time because we had activities during the mornings, afternoons and evenings but it was good because we were enjoying all the time.

We also had time to learn about the culture of this country, and of course we visited the wonderful city of Roma, where we were spending a whole day doing sightseeing and seeing wonderful and historical places like the Coliseum, the Vatican,  Fontana di Trevi, Foro Romano, Pantheon, etc.

Something also quite interesting is that we spent the week with two deaf guys who are doing also a volunteering, so we even learnt some sign language and we were aware about how is their daily life, so we included them in all the activities and also made them feel comfortable with us.

Definitively, it was an amazing week and I am looking forward to meet again these wonderful people and to have the next training, the mid term one.

 

Ana: “Growing up as a person has never been so easy”

When our mentor told us that in a month we should go to the OAT in Rome, I realized that I felt fear; fear of not knowing how to communicate in a language other than mine, fear of not knowing how to relate to people from cultures totally different from mine … fear in general. The day we stepped in the Scout-Center for the first time, the barrier of fear was destroyed and I began to enjoy every second of this wonderful experience.

30 people – 17 different nationalities:

Meeting people from so many different cultures has helped me to open my mind even more and grow as a person. Many of the activities carried out during the week were focused on getting to know each other, which turned out to be one of the most interesting things. This gave me the opportunity to get to know the curiosities of each culture.

All new things are usually a challenge, also for me. I promised myself, before I arrived in Rome, to learn from each activity, person, emotion and culture; today I am sure I got it.

A lot of volunteers joined this week in Rome and together we created what is now a small family; different family and with many peculiarities, but with a common goal: to help others as we would like them to help us in their situation.

An experience where fear has no place and where knowledge is the basis of everything. An experience that has made me value, even more, my volunteering in Torino with our Eufemia Association.

 

A short therm volunteer from Slovenia

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I like the fact that I participated in various projects and have come in touch with different organisations Eufemia is collaborating with (Madiba, Associazione Terra Creativa, Ecomori team). It enabled me to meet many people – social workers who shared their view on social situation in Torino, but also just regular inhabitants of the city.

European Voluntary Service

My EVS Service in Turin

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So, at first when I arrived in Torino, I had a pretty blurry idea of what my work would be with Eufemia organization. I just understood that they use the non-formal education method, which I didn’t really know about. 

My first days in Torino were very exciting: I had a very big and nice house, I discovered the city and everything was so different and exotic from Marseille! And I couldn’t wait to know what I would do with Eufemia.

My first activity with Eufemia was the Escape 4 Change project. It was a bit tricky the first times because I was not sure about the game, and of course, all was in Italian. But finally I really understood the goal of this project: make people live the difficult situation in Africa through this experience of 40 min. And to make them feel how it can be hard in these poor countries to find some drinkable water. 

When I animated the discussion with the participants after the game, it made me realize how we are all concerned by the climate change. We all can do something for the planet if we give ourselves the possibility. The main thing I will remember of that project is: even if we hear everyday a lot of pessimistic things, there is still hope. 

With Eufemia I also have been included to  a cooking workshop made thanks to the fruits and vegetables collected in “Pane in Commune”. The participants of the workshop were some people that lived in a “dormitorio” and who used to be homeless.

I really enjoyed this activity because it gave me the opportunity to get in touch with all these mysterious men, so interesting in my opinion… Moreover, it gave me the opportunity to speak only Italian and to learn some delicious Italian recipes!! I discovered how cooking can be a way to have fun and to easily create some link with people.

servizio volontario europeo, torino, scambi europei, european exchange

Lois nel suo SVE a Torino

Another very positive aspect of my SVE is the language side. In fact I was talking in English all the time with the other volunteers and in Italian every time I had the chance. It completely allowed me to change my way of being, escape from myself, and eventually, find a way to build a new me.

To be honest my fear before going to Italy was to not be able to get in touch with people and to build some deep connections  with them, because of the language barrier. And finally I understood that it was the opposite: speaking 3 languages gave me an opportunity to understand more people, way more than I thought. 

Moreover, we organized some language club in English and in Italian. I learned more about the non-formal education method : using some games, videos… all the opposite of how you usually learn a language in school. I found a new way to learn without getting bored and having fun at the same time.

What else? Going abroad gave me the opportunity to overcome my fear of being alone, live on my own (more or less)…  I am capable of way more things that I could imagine!

This is an experience that I recommend to everyone, at least once in a lifetime.

Kingsley e il suo volontariato a Calahorra

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Spagna, tutto comincia con un soggiorno improvvisato a Saragozza, dove la prima sera un couchsurfer mi mostra il calore del popolo spagnolo.
La mattina dopo sono già sul treno per la città che mi ospiterà fino a metà Novembre, il paese si chiama Calahorra.
22 Febbraio 2019
Alla stazione di Calahorra i volontari mi travolgono col loro calore e i loro volti sorridenti, non potevo chiedere un inizio migliore.
Tappa veloce a casa e poi subito si comincia, a breve ci sarà l’anniversario dei 25 anni dell’associazione, rimbocchiamoci le maniche e si comincia.
Devo ammettere che queste settimane sono passate in fretta e allegre, sono capitato nel momento in cui a Calahorra succede di tutto, prima la festa del Consejo tra danze sfrenate la sera e momenti di condivisione e riflessione coi volontari la mattina.
Poi la città ha preso un altro volto, si stavano preparando tutti per il grande evento, La Festa di Marzo, dove la musica e le tradizioni hanno trasformato tutti per tre giorni.
Il progetto è partito sotto le stelle più brillanti e sta andando avanti nei migliore dei modi, sì certo, un po’ la lingua frena le azioni, ma non c’è nulla che un sorriso e una bella risata non possa risolvere.
Tra eventi artisitici da organizzare, lezioni di spagnolo e gruppi di conversazione di cose da fare ce ne sono e ce ne saranno tante, ma oggi è domenica e mi godo il paesaggio (che merita tantissimo), al resto ci si pensa più avanti!
Aprile 2019
Che cosa sarà?
Si dice che a Calahorra sia stato avvistato un lupo mannaro, o forse si tratta solo di dicerie.
Non lo so, ma come agente speciale, inviato sul campo della Citta Perduta di Calahorra dovrò indagare.
Oggi ho ricevuto la visita dell’agente speciale Virgo (che voi conoscete come Virginia) e mi ha dato una mano a riaccendere il dispositivo di comunicazione con la base madre.
Di cose ne stanno accadendo sotto la luna di smerlado che brilla per tutta la città, approffitto di queste ore notturne, quando la sorveglianze del cybersistema è meno stretta, per scrivervi e mandarmi aggiornamenti dal fronte spaziotemporale.
La situazione si sta evolvendo nella maniera migliore, abbiamo cominciato a parlare strane lingue con la gente del posto, una la si chiama Inglese, l’altra Italiano (tutti idiomi scomparsi dopo l’avvento della Lingua Unica) e sta procedendo tutto per il meglio.
Vi mando un resoconto dettagliato di quello che sta accadendo, però ricordatevi che è Top Secret e che se dovesse finire nelle mani dell’Impero dei Ragni non ci sarebbe più salvezza per la galassia.
 
Si è tenuta inoltre la prima delle due giornate internazionali, dove ho avuto modo di presentare l’Italia.
Mamma mia, quando mi sono divertito e mangiato bene.
I paesi presentati il 2 aprile erano: Marocco, Italia e Romania.
Oggi si va avanti con Russia, Ecuador e Bolivia!!
E il 4 sera cena internazionale dove vado a prepare per la prima volta la pizza ahahah
Agente Speciale King Blaze passo e chiudo!
Escape 4 change

4 volontarie e una Escape Room

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Educare alla lotta contro il cambiamento climatico attraverso il gioco può essere una modalità divertente per bambini e adulti.

È stato il caso dell’ Escape Room educativa che abbiamo lanciato il 15 marzo in collaborazione con l’associazione di cooperazione internazionale LVIA. La città di Torino ha potuto godere di Escape4Change fino al 12 maggio 2019 presso il BUNKER, in Via Paganini, 0/200.

Le nostre volontarie SVE sono subito state coinvolte nel progetto, sia come partecipanti che come staff di supporto all’organizzazione. Ecco il loro racconto!

 “Siamo 4 volontarie europee – Ana (Spagna), Jenny (Germania), Irene (Spagna) e Ruta (Lettonia). All’inizio di aprile ci siamo cimentate nel gioco di “Escape4Change – Per capire e agire contro il cambiamento climatico“, organizzato da Eufemia. È una Escape Room Educativa dalla quale si può uscire risolvendo diversi enigmi a tema climatico. Siamo rimaste piacevolmente sorprese dalla creatività dei realizzatori dell’escape room!

Immagini, video, vari contributi studiati e realizzati per farci sentire come se fossimo in un altro continente! E4C ha incluso informazioni sull’Etiopia e su quanto sia difficile avere accesso all’acqua per coloro che vivono lì.

La parte educativa era in italiano, ma lo staff di E4C è stato molto amichevole e ci ha aiutato con la traduzione e lo svolgimento del gioco. Anche se solo una di noi conosce l’italiano, questo non è stato un ostacolo per giocare e risolvere gli enigmi, quindi anche gli stranieri sono stati i benvenuti! Abbiamo trascorso il nostro tempo magnificamente e in maniera utile!

Dopo essere sopravvissute a questa esperienza come giocatrici, abbiamo aiutato nell’organizzazione dell’E4C come volontarie: abbiamo introdotto i giocatori alla mostra fotografica “Afar: dove i sogni e la terra bruciano” a cura di Simone Migliaro, che racconta la vita in Etiopia, abbiamo spiegato le istruzioni prima del gioco e alla fine di ogni sessione abbiamo preparato l’E4C per il gruppo successivo di giocatori. Esperienza meravigliosa e, a nostro avviso, una fantastica forma di educazione non formale!”

E4C

 

Latvian in Italy. Part 1.

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Ciao! I’m Ruta, a Latvian in Italy now for more than a month. And 11 to go ☺
My life in Latvia in few words – family, good job, nice apartment, drivable car, wonderful friends.. why to leave this place, right? “Learn with a heart, not with a brain” – one of the little lessons I’ve learned in here. And I want to say to everyone: “Make decisions with heart”.

Mole Antonelliana Torino Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso

 

I chose to leave my previous life and to feel unknown experience abroad. Now I live in Turin, doing my EVS project and till now I have not regretted my decision, even though every little things to solve abroad is a bit harder. You are not used to the system, you don’t know the language.. At the end you solve everything, of course, just with a bit more effort and others help.
Weather here played some jokes and this month average temperature in Latvia I think has been higher than here 😀 A lot of rain, so I was good – felt like home ☺

Eufemia Volunteers

I feel lucky with my sending organization Ventspils jauniešu dome and hosting organization Eufemia. They are there for you and will help, when it’s necessary.
Now we are 6 volunteers (from left) – Lois (France), Me-Ruta (Latvia), Ana (Slovenia), Irene (Spain (north)), Ana (Spain (south)) and Jenny (Germany). Lois and Ana (Slovenia) are for short term, we others – for long term.

Eufemia Volunteers

I cannot even count in how many events we have participated till now and how many dinners/parties we had (ok, I can, but it’s much 😀 ). It’s amazing! And so much new people around ☺

Eufemia Volunteers

I’m from northern Europe, so of course I had my first culture shocks and conclusions:

1) Be careful while crossing the road. Cars just don’t stop.

2) Here is really delicious ice-cream.

3) Overall the food is better… coffee stronger…

4) Don’t be afraid to touch others and get used that others will touch you – will kiss you, will hug you, will caress you etc.

5) No one is interested how you look. So dress whatever if you are ok with yourself.

6) Never say NO to food. And coffee.

7) If you don’t understand Italian, with you will speak Italian till you will get it.

8) What is chaos for Latvians, can be still organized order for Italians.

9) Nothing starts on time. Don’t count on public transportation schedule.

10) +20 counts as not so warm. Don’t wear shorts 😀

11) Small cars rule!

12) Speaking without gesture is not possible.

14) Yes, you skip Nr.13.

Parco del Valentino

During EVS you are never alone. If in Latvia I searched for more people, here I even search for more time with myself ☺ And it’s completely not bad, just a surprise for me. Who can count as an extravert for Latvians, could be an introvert for Italians 😉

Eufemia Volunteers

 

Doing projects here, I feel useful. You want that or not, those kind of projects test yourself and maybe in ways that you couldn’t even think of. And if I’m saying this just after a month, I’m looking forward what Italy will bring me in the next 11.

Pane in Comune

And actually it doesn’t matter where you are. You can feel perfect in Latvia and you can feel perfect in Italy. It’s the people around you, who matter. But if you feel like going abroad – why not? ☺

View From Balcony

Sì…sono tornata in Italia! Il volontariato di Koro

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Soy Koro, una Laudioarra (ciudadana de un pueblo del Pais Vasco) apasionada de Italia. Aunque me proponga viajar a otros lugares, siempre termino en el país de la pizza y Buonarrotti. Estudié tercero de psicología en Padova, trabajé durante unos meses en Roma… y ahora, cuando me decidí por volver a vivir una experiencía en el extranjero, y a pesar de que me juré que cambiaría de destino para así conocer nuevas culturas, aprender otros idiomas….aquí estoy, en Torino (la cuna de Italia). Y he de admitir que ¡encantadísima!

Conocía los proyectos Erasmus+ desde hace tiempo, pero todavía no me había llegado el momento de participar en alguno de ellos. Fue este febrero cuando decidí hacer las maletas y unirme al gran equipo del Servicio de Voluntariado Europeo (SVE). Hasta que no te adentras en estos proyectos no sabes toda la gente que forma parte de este grupo y todas las posibilidades de formación, voluntariado… que tienes.

Entre las organizaciones que gestionan proyectos de Erasmus+, hubo una en particular que me llamó la atención. Era Eufemia, una asociación de Torino con su proyecto de crear una Escape Room educativa sobre Cooperación Internacional. Sabía que me había propuesto conocer otros países pero… no pude resistirme y envié mi solicitud. Cuál fue mi alegría cuando, unos días más tarde, recibí un email diciéndome que había sido seleccionada y podía empezar en 15 días.

Hoy hace un mes que llegué a Torino. Desde el primer momento me he sentido realmente integrada en el país y en el equipo de trabajo. Gracias a Eufemia he podido conocer diferentes iniciativas que se llevan a cabo por una ciudadanía activa y la integración de todas las personas que viven en esta ciudad.

Erasmus+ nos ofrece una gran variedad de oportunidades para conocer nuevas culturas (no sólo la del país de destino, sino la del resto de voluntarios que te acompañan durante esta aventura), aprender varios idiomas, desarrollarte profesionalmente y personalmente, y sobre todo, para disfrutar (y si vienes a Italia, para pasarte el día comiendo pasta y gelato!).

Si pudiera dar un consejo a la gente que se está planteando tener una experiencia en el extranjero, es que no se lo piensen más y que compren ya el billete de avión, ¡vuestro EVS os está esperando! (pero cuidado, cuando empiezas a viajar y conocer nuevos lugares, ya no puedes parar ;p ).

Thank you Associazione Eufemia and Asociación Arrabal for giving me this opportunity!

 

Koro Allende

EVS is short. Eat gelato before dinner!

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It all began on a rainy day of April last year. My journey from Ventspils to Turin was long and grey, but an old Baltic belief says it’s a good sign when it rains during the trip. And I guess it’s true.

One year of EVS is a long time and it’s definitely not an ordinary time of one’s life. However, now I feel that the time passed really fast, and when I’m reflecting about this past year, I’m not sure what to start with. All I know is that you live experiences that change and challenge the way you look at certain things and yourself, as you are thrown into an environment that is completely different from the one you’re used to.

The first weeks of my EVS passed by getting to know my new home – Turin, my new workplace and the projects; meeting Eufemia’s friends and other EVS volunteers and eating lots of gelato.
Italians are very friendly and welcoming. In most cases it’s completely fine to bring 5 of your friends to somebody’s house party or dinner, and some of those friends might also bring some of their friends… And I will always be amazed by the amount of food people consume here during one meal. When we just arrived, our EVS coordinator warned us that we will gain weight in Italy. We didn’t believe it until a couple of months went by. So if you’re in Italy, you will be trapped into a world of incredibly delicious carbohydrates. Just surrender, there is no way out.

                    

I have observed that Italians are definitely happier and they smile more than people in my home country. My guess is that it has to do something with the amount of sunlight they get here compared to the north. I have often been asked here: “Ma perché sei triste?” (Why are you sad?) I am not triste, I am just… not smiling.

Most of the time I’ve been living out of my comfort zone, as I have been doing things I’ve never done before, such as working with kids and elderly people, and participating in meetings and activities where only Italian was spoken. During this year I have been involved in various projects, such as Pane in Comune – collecting unsold food from the markets for people in need; English tandem with people in search of job; Language club for locals willing to practice English, Dutch, Spanish and Russian with my EVS partners Lotte and Virginia; children summer school in a church; a youth exchange “Urban Sustainability”; cooking, gardening and creative workshops in a homeless shelter; Escape 4 Change – raising awareness about climate change; and organizing events such as neighbourhood celebrations, Halloween and Christmas parties. So it’s been a year full of impressions and new experiences, learning a lot about communication, being a part of a team, taking responsibility and initiative and understanding what I do or do not like to do.

                    

My longest stay abroad before doing EVS was 5 months, and I would not think I am the type of person that might actually get homesick, but turns out I am. And I guess it’s also a part of long-term EVS experience. I feel that during these months I have developed a higher empathy towards people that for various reasons have moved to another country, as for the whole year I have been a foreigner myself, which is not always easy.

During my EVS I’ve learned that it’s OK to fail. I was afraid to fail and I’ve failed many times here, and now I see that it’s absolutely OK, because you just keep moving forward and actually no one cares that you’ve failed. I’ve also realised that kids are not as scary as they seem. When you talk to them, you might learn something new. An 8 year-old once told me that EVS is cool, but I could also be an astronaut. I’ve been considering this idea since then.
At first I was skeptical about working in the shelter with elderly men, but it turned out to 
be one of my favourite projects. So it’s good to set our presumptions aside from time
to time. 

During this year I’ve met people that have changed the way I look at many things and I’ve done things I thought I can’t, so I can surely say that the learning we need the most happens in our stretching zone.

And in the end, after a year under Italian sun, I might be looking less triste now!

Diana