April 2020

The quarantine period, working from home and returning to office

As we mentioned in the last article, the pandemics affects us and the whole world. News travel and we found out information from the news about the situation in our countries. Regarding what is going on in Romania and what are the rules which have to be followed here we have been informed by our host organization – FCASEC. The state of emergency, issued on March 16^th, continued until May 15^th, as we are now in the state of alert. We still have rules to follow, but things are more relaxed.  Between April and July we’ve focused on personal development, each of us having their own rhythm and developing goals. You never know what time can bring you, what experiences, the important thing is how you handle challenges. Thus, for some of us the start of the quarantine was boring, then we managed get ourselves together and… some of us started to learn a new foreign language (Spanish, Korean), others to enter in the secrets of philosophy, meditation, or started a series of reviving physical exercises. We talked quite a lot on the phone with our families, watched film series, cooked. One of our colleagues, together with his flat mates, “arranged” small musical shows on the balcony, delighting the neighbours who joined.   We also had an online project meeting on ZOOM. We were glad to see each other again, talked about the period we’re going through and then about the activities that need to be done. We worked from home on the articles for the brochure and newsletter of the project, as well as for our final conference. Also, in this period we were told about the extension of our stay in the project, the departure in our countries being almost impossible. After May 16^th, when the state or emergency ended, we were able to come back to the office, but also had the opportunity of working from home. It was up to us.

Final Conference of the project

The moment of saying goodbye also came. We had to prepare and hold the last activity of our project. The hardest one: the final conference. As mentioned in the previous articles, the project suffered changes in its componence, only two countries remaining until the end. And we are: Gjorgji (North Macedonia), Ayșegül, Eda, Esra, Menekșe, Murat, Onur, Safyie (Turkey).

Preparing, we had to look over all of our activities, all of the changes in the project. We smiled, we were also sad because we will not have the possibility to work with a part of the youngsters, we enjoyed the changes brought in the communities and we felt we also changed. It was a full year, a year with contradictory feelings, a year in which we developed and learned more than ever.  The conference was held respecting the state of alert rules, without so many participants, but the emotions were according to the aspects presented to the public. We decided that each one of us will present two or three months of the project, mentioning both positive and negative aspects, according to the presented moments. There were no negative aspects, the emotion of remembrance bringing us smiles and tears.  It was a year with a lot of experiences, with a lot of memories, with friendships that will last. We recommend this kind of experience to other young people, to “taste” a different volunteering stint offered by the Erasmus+ programme or the present European Solidarity Corps (ESC).

Activities outside the project

A project based on volunteering brings into the mind of every person – new friends, experience, joy and development. An EVS volunteering project within the Erasmus+ programme offers a lot more. EVS supports youth translational volunteering which offers learning through the non-formal learning experience, the youngsters gaining and improving personal development, educational and professional competences.

During our stay for one year, we had the possibility of participating also in many activities in our free time, visiting different places in Romania, but also from other countries. Moreover, we had the possibility of interacting with people from the community, we went to the Philharmonic concerts and certain theatre plays. Some of us participated at the călușari (a traditional Romanian dance) dance festival, a complicated dance, with fast leg movements. Some of us also joined activities of some local organisations, activities regarding environment: ecologizing, cleaning the trash from the banks o Olănești River.

Each of us are leaving this country and this project with a lot of memories, with the desire of coming back some day, but also with the wish to involve more in activities and events in our native countries, to use our gained experience.                                                                                                 We end our articles with the motto of our group: Be part of something bigger than yourself!