Week 3 – Team 3

Everyday in this week, we got home, dirty, tired, pieces of wall in our hair. Our legs, hands and feet covered in cement. The feeling of exaustion is a little bit overwhelming for all, the pride and satisfaction is even greater. How can we be so tired, sweatyand yet so happy? Maybe that is what volunteering is all about.

Another week has passed, quick as always and full of challenges. We spent our time working on our walls. We cleaned, filled holes, made roads, smooth them out… A lot of work but also a lot of fun. 

Our favorite part of the day is the famous morning spot. We have to participate in it every morning, with activities, games, talks, music, dancing. Pretty much everything you can imagine. We did not even know we could be so creative. Sleepy, coffee in hand and a lot of good mood: that is morning spot. After this amazing moment, of course, there is even a better part of our busy busy day. Public transportation! Running after buses is even better for waking up than our sweet morning spot. So, we could, in fact, call it morning sport.

In the end, when we are finally all in our center, an unreplaceable part is complaining about our sleep deprivation and making plans and, most importantly, a healthy amount of memes. After we finish all theses tasks, the work can actually start. With smiles on our faces and tools in our hands, we put on the music and start dancing with the walls.

Walls, walls, walls and more walls. Dasquin can’t even be indoors anymore. Just the thought of it makes him sick. So, we became  great poets. Writing great quotes, songs and stories. About what, you say? Walls, of course.

We have to admit, in spite of the dirtyness of our clothes, we are really lucky that we are a part of the red team. No matter what the CHALLENGE is, we always solve it, laugh about it and, of course, make some more memes.

The results of our work are not simply kind and funny stories, or memories about our youth centers, but the visible impact we made through our teamwork, passion and motivation. Besides having support from each other, we also get a lot of support from neighbours. One of the nicest moments we would love to share is this lovely story with our team mate Arus. She was resting in shade, sleepily, and our sweet neighbour just came to her and took her into her house. A few minutes later, the team had three big jars of jam. That really does sum up the spirit of our neighbourhood.

This week was also special and really emotional for all of us, because of our first furniture donation. Now, we have a big pile of doors, teacups, tables, chairs, a little bit of everything really. We couldn’t be more proud. The main emotion in the team was that we had finally become members of this community, slowly but surely we are reaching our goals. And that does not only include the physical appearence of our center, it means engaging the people around us and building awareness.

We can tell you for days all about our hard work and jokes we made this last week, but what we truly want to share with you are the plans for our future. First of all, we want to win the meme competion. We know we desserve it. Secondly, maybe try to catch the bus earlier. And of  course, the biggest highlight of everything, BUILDING THE FLOOR! We believe that after that, everything will come in its place. Then again, we can use our creative thinking and imagination to create a safe and productive environment, where our peers can carry out the hard work we are putting in this space.

This story about European projects, became much more than just that for us. It became our life story. We want everyone to know and to hear about the one hundred young people which came from all around the world to make a difference! To make a change.