Young people participating in EVS projects have to face several challenges and difficulties after they arrive. Most of them coming from far countries and find themselves mostly alone in a new and interesting situation.
For them – besides the support of the recieving organization – on-arrival training is a very good opportunity to meet with volunteers doing their service in other cities and villages.
The team
The training has two important tasks: providing information about their rights and responsibilities, insurance, and the Youthpass, that logs the volunteer’s acquired knowledge and competences. Another goal is to help the volunteers to get to know each other and themselves as well. There were 30 people in the training (from Spain to Siberia). Some of them (like us) came one or two weeks ago, others are already here in Bulgaria since some months. In order to get acquinted with so many and diverse people, to get to know each other’s projects, stories and motivations, organized programs are essential. Each session was about different topics, which included teamwork and presentation, that encouraged the volunteers to interact with each other. There were easier games and some discussion with more serious topics, like dealing with conflicts, multicultural understanding, solving problems.
Our Schedule with the main tasks
Though the training was pretty intense (mainly mentally), could be a positive experience for everyone. We are going to visit each other for sure, which is a huge help to get to know Bulgaria, and maybe after the EVS. We can share our experience and knowledge, and support each other in the future.
Author: Volunteers at „The Change is in You“
The project is funded with the support of the Erasmus + program to the European Commission. This post reflects the views of and only to its author. The Commission is not responsible for the use of the information contained herein.
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