EVS, Teach Me Something
Under the European Solidarity Corps project, our volunteers have created a creativity club and every week they implement different kind of activities. last week they tried to make homemade soap and the result was very impressive
Celie, a volunteer from France is the leader of creativity club and she tells more about the homemade soap.
Why should you make handmade soap ?
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It is a really hard time for everyone, especially for young people. when everything is closed and you must stay at home. We came to Poland at the beginning of Autumn and so far we have not been able to enjoy the city and discover all its excellent sides.
Our host organization tries everything to create comforts for us and the last week they offered us to spend Friday evening at the Trampoline, which is a huge place for burning calories and having fun. After several months of being at home and eating Zapieanka which is a traditional polish food, this idea seemed cool. This place was amazing to spend an hour with the people who are parts of our Polish family. Read more
Even in Corona times we will not stop meeting new people, may it be via Zoom, Skype, or any other video messenger. So did we with Dawid Wojtyczka from the Equality House, or DomEQ, in Krakow.
The EQ-House is a place that was founded in 2016 to create a place that is offering a safe space for the LGTBQ+ community here in Krakow. LGBTQ+ is the shortening of the words Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual, Queer, and every other sexual orientation which there is e.g. Pansexuality.
By meeting Dawid we had the chance to talk with someone who is working in the DomEQ (Equality house) so, he could give us some insides into what the organization is doing and what they are standing for. Read more
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. War and ethnic, tribal, and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries.[1]
It is important for your understanding to define the term “refugee” first so that you know on what base we were talking about this topic together with one of the founders of “Rethinking refugees”, Sindhuja Sankaran.
Let me tell you of a woman whose compassion led to the foundation of the well-known special schools here in Krakow. A woman not afraid to take matters in her own hands, not fearing any obstacles. A woman who never intended to do something like this and ended up in a different profession than she ever thought. Read more
Since Italy is a religious country Easter is celebrated everywhere and in different ways, even by the ones who are not religious. I’m sure there are many traditions in whole Italy but in this text I am going to talk about the ones which are famous in my region, Apulia.
Starting from Palm Sunday I can say that people are used to go to church in the morning, especially the masses at 10 am are full of children and parents. The tradition is that people, after the Sunday mass, exchange crosses which are done with palm leaves, to wish peace to the others.
The following week we were invited to take part in a project of a special kind. Our organization Internationaler Bund Polska, yes, it is a German name due to it’s founding back in Germany. Of course, not the Polish office was founded in Germany, but the idea and the concept of the Internationaler Bund institution originates in Germany. Anyway.
Mentioned Project was about dancing with seniors. If you think about it the first time maybe adjectives like “Cute, slow or lame” might come to your mind, but believe me what awaited us there was everything but boring. This group of elders rented a place in Tychy a city near to Krakow but besides a factory for beer nothing seems really worth a visit there and the city by itself is also not what I’d call a beauty. Read more
The on-arrival training started for us (Dylan, Fabian and Theo) on a Monday morning. We stayed the whole week in Agrykola hostel in Warsaw, which is the on-arrival hostel for all the volunteers from Poland. In this week 22 volunteers from all over Poland came together for 6 days to take part in the on-arrival training. It is to say that their countries of origin are distributed all over Europe, from Spain, France, Germany over Ukraine, Georgia and more. Read more
We organized all together an event for mothers of disabled children. It was held in a picturesque place that it was about to open for customers – cafe BUSZ. We were first in that new place.
We were around 10 volunteers and our goal was to interact with children while their mothers had cosmetic treatments.
I was satisfied with taking part in such activities cause my experience in working with disabled children is small. I think the work with vulnerable people requires attention, empathy, inner energy but I was doubting whether I could have such features. Read more
My first impression about the event is that it was done professionally. The panel was really interesting and the ideas that were discussed were really important.
On the first day there was a movie by the Lebanese director Nadine Labkeh, I didn’t attend however I heard it was a really good movie. On the second day there was a panel presenting different topics which was really interesting and I think it was planned really well. Read more
Last week I had a pleasure to participate in classes provided by Staromiejskie Centrum Kultury Młodzieży in Cracow. I was invited as a guest to journalism classes where children learn the basics of journalism and media knowledge. I heard that for the past weeks they have learned what an interview is and they were preparing to conduct and give an interview. This day was a big day for them, because they had to do their first interviews. I was a bit surprised that the guest that was invited to this special day – was me!
Today EVS volunteers Maria from Greece, Josie from Germany, Aurore from France, Maram from Egypt and Zeynep from Turkey visited a place where old people with disabilities live (Dom Pomocy Społecznej im. Helclów w Krakowie). At this interesting meeting the volunteers did some activities to present their countries.