My EVS – Kristine (Denkmark)

It is already August and it seems almost unreal that 6 months has already passed since I came to Romania. There is now less than 20 days back before I will head home and say goodbye to a country and friends, there has become my 2nd home and family. If people in February had asked me, why volunteering?, Why EVS, why not work and earn money in your own country? My answer would definitely be different than today. Before I left, I had an expectation to experience new cultures, new values ​​and create new experiences, but I did not expect that as a volunteer, you become part of the community. You experience not only other cultures and values, but they become a part of your daily life and yourself and in just six months, I have probably learned more about my country, values, myself, my strengths and weaknesses, than the last few years and that these weaknesses can be turned to one’s strength.

Therefore it will also be with mixed feelings that I will travel home. I regret, however, none of the choices I have made, or the development I’ve done along the way. My project took place in Brasov, Romania, where we have been working with children and young people, Romanians and Romas from both rural and urban areas and through non-formal activities and games, we are working with themes such as science, the world, nature and try to increase their attention about a clean nature, it’s resources and recycling.

In the last months, have we worked with weekly activities in the park, major events in the local communities, as a last goodbye before our projects will end. The way people have reacted to the events, gives me hope that our time and work has had a small effect on the local community and all our work has not been in vain.

 

Kristine took part in the Science Playgrounds project, which aim was to bring science closer to children and youngsters. The 2 EVS volunteers involved in the project developed and implemented different in- and outdoor playful workshops, experiments and non-formal activities in order to initiate children and teenagers from rural and small urban communities in the fascinating world of science. They worked mainly in schools from rural areas, with children from isolated or discriminated communities, but also in poor urban areas in order to diversify the opportunities for leisure activities.
The volunteers were also involved in organizing different games events, such as games afternoons in the park or board games evenings in a café, as well as in developing and implementing their own initiatives: like a big Catan event in a small, isolated village or a kite workshop initiated in the frame of a one-day summer festival that we organized together with other EVS volunteers and local volunteers from Brasov and surrounding communities.
Besides this, the project was a great learning experience for the 2 EVS volunteers involved.

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