Májusban képzést tartottunk Magyarországon önkéntes szolgálatot végző külföldi fiataloknak. 21 résztvevő 11 különböző országból 7 magyar régióban önkénteskedik – ez a sokféleség megtöltötte az együtt töltött négy napot. A félidős képzés célja az volt, hogy a résztvevők megosszák egymással EVS tapasztalataikat, értékeljék a projektjüket, és különböző dimenziók mentén reflektáljanak arra. Eközben olyan fontos témákat is feldogoztunk, mint a kultúrsokk, a mentorálás, konfliktusok, a magyar kultúra elemei és a társadalmi sajátosságok, a tanultak elismerése- mindezt kreatív és bevonó eszközökkel. Emellett alternatív budapesti sétákra, filmnézésre, közös interkulturális térre is volt alkalom. Az egyik önkéntes, Marisa Zucca beszámolója a képzésről.
MOVE YOUR ROOTS
4 days intensive training where a group of guys from all over Europe shared their experience in a program called EVS – European Voluntary Service.The sensation is to feel we are all in the same boat with similar backgrounds and problems: a new city, a language too difficult,a job that is sometimes unconvincing, meeting new people, managing the budget in evs are just a few of the topics discussed.
Meeting at lunch, at first everyone is shy, and you wonder the routine questions: "where are you from? Is it cold there right? Are you working in Budapest or some remote village of Hungary?" The ones in Budapest are curious to know what those in the villages are doing and we glance at them with a look of admiration wondering how we could live without all the conveniences that Budapest has to offer.
It is the first activity which will break the ice: the game of the „spiderweb": a web streched between two trees with different spaces. The goal was that everybody had to pass through without touching the wires for any reason otherwise we had to start again. The difficulty was that in every hole we could pass only 5 people, this meant obviously that you have to come up with a strategy.
It was great to see how at the beginning each person "worked" individually to reach the goal, but failed and had to always restart. There was an „evolution of collaboration”, where everyone helped everyone in the "dangerous step" being careful that no part of the body was going to touch the wires. So we were helping each other by touching and supporting in any part without malice. I would like to mention this particular game to reflect on the fact that even if for me (Italian) physical contact with other people is normal in my culture, it is not for everyone, but at that moment we were all "culturally" equal. This activity in my opinion made us closer, as if the initial shyness had completely disappeared.
From here long conversations (god how much we speak!), jokes, laughter, teasing, hugs.
The activities were so various, from the most entertaining ones to those where you had to be more serious and express also using some artistic skills, what you were thinking: problem solving , imagining THE FUTURE in EVS maybe with fewer problems than before. I believe that it was useful to discuss about the problems, practical as well as emotional, of this parenthesis of our life. Everyone tried in a way to give advice to the others on how to deal with certain things. And maybe this was, in my opinion, the most important part: feeling not alone in a country which is not yours and when you try to feel more and more at home.
I think everyone should make a meeting like this, maybe at the beginning when you feel a bit lost, catapulted into a new context in which you are to live for the next 5, 6, 10, 12 months. You could start already to get to know new people, grow together, getting lost together. That could give a big hand at the beginning.
The EVS is not only "a voluntary service in an association", it is an intercultural experience, you compare yourself with others, you learn about yourself and where you come from. EVS as other mobility projects too, opens your mind, helps you to switch off from your roots without forgetting them, just for realising we are not trees, and we can go where we want.
Marisa Zucca, EVS volunteer
