Hi everyone! I’m Alessia, one of Internationaler Bund Polska’s volunteers in Krakow. I have never been to Poland before and I arrived in the city on 10 February to be exact. I’d like to tell you a little about my experience as a volunteer and what inspired me to become one.

I am 23 years old and I am Italian, to be precise Padua is my city, it is near Venice (naming this city is a certainty, everyone knows it). I was looking for something totally different from my own country, I was starving for new experiences and especially to get out of my comfort zone. Discovering new places, new cultures, getting to know new people, learning new languages and what was even more wonderful, I discovered a way to do it by helping someone who was not as lucky as I was in life. 

Immediately after (and even while) my graduation I started looking for experiences that could help me realise these desires and that is how I found ESC – European Solidarity Corps. There are many projects and you can choose the one that matches your needs. After several searches I found this wonderful project offered by the organization Internationaler Bund Polska.

WHAT I DO

Most of the other volunteers have the opportunity to test their experience with children, people with disabilities or children with special needs. I chose something that was a bit more my cup of tea and that, most importantly, would allow me to increase my work experience in the field I studied for and I am very satisfied with what I am doing. Particularly because I have the opportunity to collaborate on several projects: I spend three days in my organization’s office, in one of which, however, I take care of some tasks from the Multicultural Centre, a partner and collaborator of Internationaler Bund Polska which focuses on helping foreign people and their living situation in Krakow. One day a week, on the other hand, I spend at one of the Ukrainian refugee aid points. So far, I have been working at Bartników, a distribution centre for school kits and equipment for Ukrainian students. I was lucky enough to meet some great people and other volunteers from Poland or other countries who came all the way there to help. As an alternative to that place, I worked in Szafa Dobra, a kind of shop where clothes and shoes are donated to people in need, not only Ukrainians.

On Wednesdays, on the other hand, I collaborate in the Krakow Together project, a project created by UNICEF, in the area of social media and creating content for posting. As you can see, my life is far from boring, I am always surrounded by new stimuli and I learn new things every day. 

Besides all this, I have had the opportunity to meet many people so far, volunteers and others. All fantastic and with the same energy as me. And I hope to meet many more in the course of my months here. I have also been nicely surprised by the city, I will never stop saying that it is a wonderful city, with a thousand things to do and places to visit. I have to be honest, it was not easy to make the decision to leave my life in Italy and go against the opinion my parents have about these experiences, and I know it must not have been easy for many other young people. But I don’t regret one moment that I made this decision and that I am doing something that is making me happy.

Thanks to reading me and have a nice day!