ESC-FITT

All the roads lead to Dorobantilor! More than 13 nationalities travelled to Timisoara, Romania. We came here ready to start and finish our project, meaning renovating the youth centre Dorobantilor. 

-Social activities were the first and most important thing that helped us integrate and get to know each other, their effect is understanding through teamwork and acceleration towards the goal.

-Boom, shaka, Laka are teams that create a kind of competition and vitality in our collective work.

-We have created social media accounts.

We are on our way to actually work and some obstacles that were not taken into account began to appear day after day. I love obstacles 😍

That changed and separated one group from the other and the beginning of a station that made us live successive stations.

It is the digital work week

The obstacles still did not give up our confrontation, but we learned a lot from the previous problem, and we were ready to work and focus on two objectives, which are to provide the centres and to work to collect information by speaking to the population close to the centre: Community engagement 📝

  And in the end, like a winning team, we are all ready and very excited to see the video that we have created. Our memories forever!

Here you have the lyrics of a song that we have invented:

DOROBANTILOR ROAD

Yeeeeaahhh…. We’re gonna take the pipes from Dorobantilor

We’re gonna work when they let us go

Can you come and take my flyer?

Please come and take my flyer

Can you come and take my flyer?

 Before the time expires We’re gonna scratch the walls

We’re gonna fix the holes

We’re gonna write about it and put it in a song (ASA!)

We’re gonna cut the wood

 We’re gonna make a stool

We’re gonna call Vasili to check over the tools

Can anybody tell me something?

Please tell me something Can anyone tell me something?

I didn’t come for nothing

Riding in the Logan

Walking down the river

I go take my langos

I think I have the fever (ASA!)

Eleven different counties

 working all together

 When I paint the ceiling

 can you hold my ladder?

Can you come and take my flyer?

Please come and take my flyer

Can you come and take my flyer?

 Before the time expires

We’re gonna take the pipes from Dorobantilor We’re gonna work when they let us go x 2 x 2

I have been in Lugoj for a bit less than 3 weeks, but it feels like it’s been more time. It is very different from where I live in Portugal but somehow it kind of feels like home. It’s very comforting, everyone is very welcoming and nice. 

It is weird to think it has already been 3 weeks but also weird to think it has only been that. It’s a feeling very hard to describe honestly. Everything has been happening so fast, but I have established a routine and it feels like I’ve known everyone for more time.  

The youth centre from Lugoj is a place where we all feel good. We are working but in a very relaxed way. There’s always room for laughter, music, discussion, and new ideas. Talking with the other volunteers, hearing, and discussing ideas for the youth centre is very exciting. I think we have really good plans, and we have the opportunity to do meaningful and fun things here.  

Activities with the locals in Lugoj

In these past weeks, I have met the local volunteers and other locals. Everyone is very nice, most of them are excited to get to know us, learn something about our countries and how we got here. When we are in a group, we find a way to communicate, a big mix of English and a bit of Romanian. The environment is always fun and chill. We are learning every day, whether it is Romanian words, traditions, or just curiosities about the country. Also, we are planning, promoting, and developing activities, which also makes me learn a lot, obviously.  

Last week we planned our first event: a treasure hunt. We thought about clues, riddles, codes, characters, superpowers, and a story to put it all together. It was a well-taught and planned event, but I think that the participants’ engagement and enthusiasm were what made it really magical. They were really into the story and the mystery. My character, “the black witch” had the power to make the participants be in silence for one minute if I managed to touch them. They took this very seriously and were running from me like crazy and always got “scared” when I got close to them.  They solved the mystery and we all got together, made a bonfire to eat and drink. I think this day was one of my favourites since I arrived in Romania, everyone was so happy and comfortable. It was even better than what we had imagined.  

I’m excited to continue the work we started and create bigger and better things.  

After two absolutely amazing weeks in Lugoj, all hell broke loose for me. I am indeed talking about what we have all been dealing with for the last 2 years, Covid. It was the first time I had to be absolutely locked in a room and it felt like everything was falling apart. It’s a moment when you have nowhere to turn, no one to stop you from thinking, from being alone with your own thoughts.

The bads of my isolation

While I had amazing roommates who were always concerned about me and did their absolute best to be there for me it was still a very hard time. I spent 8 days in that confined space that started to feel like the walls were closing down on me, it was a special kind of torment to spend so much time with my thoughts. My mind was constantly thinking of everything I ever did, every chance I took, everything that has ever happened to me, good or bad. In moments like this we often think of all that’s bad, we wonder if we could have changed things for us and if so how different would we be today. Would the things I would have liked to change in my past affect my presence in Lugoj? How different of a person would I be? And we keep on wondering about hypotheses and what-ifs. What if after this experience I will still feel as lost as before? What if I am not good enough to do what I want to? What if, what if, what if…  

The goods of my isolation

In the middle of so much wondering and questioning there were also good parts. There will never be enough words to thank those that have helped, that made me stop thinking, that made me feel less alone, that showed worry towards me. What those people did was the best they could ever do without even knowing how much they were helping me feel less lonely, less anxious, less depressed and more like the person I want to be. They showed me that we don’t always have to count on those that we’ve known for the longest time and that know our deepest darkest secrets. They showed me that I could indeed trust them in a moment of need, that they will be here on bad and good days, just like I will do the same for them.  

I am thankful for what this experience has brought me so far and I hope it keeps on being as good or better! 

It was a week of getting ready and cheering each other on.

The first wing was a preparatory group work, part and the end of last week.  Week after week, we learn how to climb the mountains of adventure, our adventure is to jump in order to look into the far future.

It was only possible to encourage each other and pay attention to the smallest details that changed the course of our work and our psychology, which is the most important thing.

The second wing was full of surprises that are getting to know and talking to local people in order to get more information which is really a way to deliver young people a youth house in their neighbourhood (Dorobantilor).

Talking to people and getting to discover more about Romania, is a wonderful thing for me personally. This was the best of every team I was in, with all humility!

The most surprising thing I found out is that my name is love in Romanian, which, by chance, was told to me by a former FITT volunteer (thank you, Eliza!).

SURPRISES STATION

The beginning of the week was full of surprises that put us to the test of self-control and prudence to continue our work and reach the next stations.

It was a surprise with some of the things that we naturally encounter and how we should deal with them.

VIEWS STATION

It was the occasion, during this week, to live with different kinds of windows like points of view. We also shared time with the team through digital games and meetings. We had to confront the digital issue because we were not prepared and used to have 100% of our interactions online with the rest of the team.

The question was how to consider these new borders when we watched outside:

Positive sense > pay more attention outside, be attentive by observing the landscape, etc.

Negative sense > considered as impassible borders or obstacles that we can not reach, overtake.

The last window was the metaphysical window of time and liberty. It is a spiritual question. The question was how to be in peace with ourselves, how to be occupied and to be active in this period of time in a very limited physical space.

ASSIMILATION STATION

What is assimilation for me?

You have more time to sit down and talk to yourself, and it was an important station to move forward in the project and think about everything that could happen and how to deal with it or in the sense of being fully prepared for obstacles.

Also, meditating on nature and observing people’s behaviour from the window, when you see people waiting for the bus and the ascender helps the other to get off, this is part of nature.

This week has been one of the most wonderful parts of the project.

Last summer I was an au pair in England for 3 months and it was my first experience abroad alone. I really enjoyed it because I met good people, I improved my English and I discovered myself. This period has changed a lot of things in my life and made me realize that I’m not sure about my studies in Science of Education and my desire to become a schoolteacher. So, I decided to do a gap year to think about what I wanted. I first decided to go to Stockholm as an au pair for 3 months and at the same time, I was looking for a volunteering project abroad. I wanted to be a volunteer to get involved in a project and be useful to people. I also read a lot of testimony of previous volunteers from all over the world, all of them said that it had changed their life and that if we have the idea to be a volunteer, we should just do it. So, I trusted them, and I wanted to live a unique experience.

I’m used to working with children, so I wanted to discover a new public like teenagers. This volunteering project in Lugoj with FITT met all my expectations because it’s in a youth centre and non-formal education. I’m happy to have found this project because I will have a lot to learn and to discover about people, Romanian culture and also live with international people. I hope this experience will enrich me personally and professionally.

When I arrived in Lugoj, I met the other volunteers of Lugoj who are my roommates and my coordinator. On the 1st day, we visited the Youth Centre in Lugoj, and I was surprised by how big it was. There are a lot of rooms, a garden, and also an office for the volunteers and the coordinator to work on projects for the centre. The building was refurbished last summer by some volunteers, but some rooms still need a little bit of work like putting the floor, heaters and painting in order to make it useful.
I am already excited by the idea to renovate and make these rooms good for the youth.

We also met the other volunteers from Timisoara, and it was nice to exchange about what they did because most of them have been here for a long time. All the people I’ve met since I’m in Romania, which are international volunteers, Romanian youth and staff, everyone is very friendly and funny. Everyone talks with everyone, I like the atmosphere and feel very comfortable. I can’t wait to live these 8 months in Lugoj and make the youth centre live with the other volunteers.

In my last year of secondary school, I decided that I wanted to go abroad and be a volunteer. As the school year got close to an end, I realize that I had made, for sure, the right decision. I felt the need to go away, to do something different. I had been living in Sintra with my family for 18 years and had been studying for almost all my life, I wanted to do more. Don’t get me wrong, I had loads of fun, I always had the privilege of trying different things. With my family and in scouts, I have always been motivated to do bigger things and pushed out of my comfort zone. Still, I needed a bigger challenge, something more permanent, something that would really impact me in a different way.

So, I started applying to ESC projects. I applied for very different projects, I wanted to help people to make a difference. I applied for projects with youth, migrants, women, I really wanted to be in a project where I could experience different social dynamics. I wanted to meet new people, different realities and interact with them. After some time applying (which really tested my patience), I found this project in Romania that looked very cool. I hadn’t applied to any Romanian projects yet, but the project was exactly what I had been looking for: one where I could get to know different people, where I could develop different activities and turn my ideas into reality.

I applied to that project and now here I am. Lugoj is very different from where I lived, it’s smaller, it’s very cold. Almost everything here is quite different, that’s what makes this a bit scary, but that’s also what makes it so exciting. I have new people, a new city and a new country to discover and explore! I think the next seven months will be very challenging, and intense, but mostly I hope they are fun, happy and memorable ones. I’m really excited to meet everyone and start to implement ideas, create events. I’m glad that I can, with Pauline, Diana and Silviu, make Lugoj a better place for young people and make sure that in the youth centre they have fun, they feel safe and comfortable and that it is a place where we can all learn.

The road to Lugoj has had its twists and turns and I’m sure my stay here will be full of them but, mostly, I feel so lucky and grateful that I get to be here and have this experience!

On my way to my first destination outside Morocco, It’s not easy to leave my beautiful country for a long time but Romania deserves it, especially for a volunteer project.

Can you imagine?

One of the most important stops was getting to know each other and discovering more about the organization FITT as well as Timisoara while gaining awareness of the meaning of teamwork in all its dimensions.

I was, am and will be proud to be part of the organization.

From the first week, I became aware of the importance of social activities to homogenize a group that will work in the long and short term.

We witnessed the work of ex-short-term volunteers on previously restored centres along with the long-term volunteers, who gave us their input from their previous experience restoring those centres.

The actual station is for activating the responsibilities of each person who likes to get up and take an adventure.

Show up and be ready for a station full of teamwork!

A new breath, a new stage with good energy.

I arrived in Lugoj about a week and a half ago to start the Youth Centres Up 2 project with FITT, and that’s how I got involved. Volunteering has always been one of my interests and I could never find anything in the area where I lived. When I found out about ESC and all the international projects I could get involved in, I just knew I had to do it.

But then the pandemic and the fear of Covid-19 came, so I abandoned the idea for a while until I embarked on a whole new adventure: a human rights internship in Geneva, which was probably all I wanted. The experience itself was amazing, but I realized that this was not exactly the path I wanted to take. I want to be active in helping people, building better communities, creating safe spaces, and still working in the field of human rights. In the same year (2021) I got the chance to do a training course in Malta under Erasmus+, another life-changing experience. This opened the doors to youth work for me to do all that I want to do and be happy at the same time.

Getting to Lugoj

Maybe I should not say this, but I only applied for this project, I did not want any other. I saw it, I liked it and I applied without thinking twice about it, I did not need to. I believe that we have to take every chance to do what makes us happy and if we feel that something is the right thing to do, we just have to do it, and if it’s a mistake, we just learn a lesson from it.

After I passed the interview and got the acceptance letter, it became a real thing that I did. I was nervous and excited because there is always that nagging fear of not being good enough or making too many mistakes, not being able to integrate or not making friends in a new country. But that soon subsided, and I was just happy to move to Lugoj and get the chance to find my way and myself.

Arriving in Romania was amazing. I come from an area where it does not snow, and seeing everything white was just beautiful. Meeting the other volunteers and staff from Lugoj and Timisoara was absolutely fantastic. Everyone is so friendly and makes you feel like you have known them for years. It’s like a warm hug when you do not know what to expect. I cannot wait to see where this trip will take me!

On the 14th of December, the Youth Centre of Dacia exchanged the noise of construction work, with the sound of a guitar and a beautiful voice. Helped by the youth workers from FITT, the place changed its atmosphere. The opening was on! A little buffet, a workshop area, a lot of welcoming puff, and some thankful speeches.

The latest details were made the same day: to embellish the place and put the furniture. What a relief for us to see that big day coming! We were now able to say: we did it! The challenge of renovating a formerly industrial place to a welcoming one in a month is completed. Time was definitely our worst enemy here. But in the end, we achieved to make the list of the Youth Centres growing.

Now, the association CoderDojo will make it its own. This building provides them with a place for their activities as a “general quarter”. Until 2023, as the year of Timișoara European Capital of Culture, other Youth Centres will rise with FITT and hopefully provide local associations places for their work and activities.

2022 will then be a year of hard work for the FITT team. Months after months, the experience will be improved. Other volunteers will come and join this enriching movement. This volunteering was for me a unique, multicultural and most of all intense experience. Full of dust but also full of friendships. And I wish the next ones to enjoy it as much as I did.