ESC-FITT

Here we are on our way to renovating the next Youth Center for the YCUP2 project. For a month, we will make our best to design a welcoming place for the youngsters around the Dacia market.  

But this project is not only about renovating, this is also about building a team, our team.  

Some of us are here for a long-term experience, some for a short term. Some also were already here last month and decided to stay longer to continue this experience. All of us are coming from different countries, have different backgrounds and reasons to be here. Eighteen volunteers will work, live, eat together for the next weeks.  

The first step is then to get to know each other and build a bond between us in a respectful and open-minded space. To do so, every member of the team took part in activities and games to learn about solidarity and cooperation. We shared here a bunch of meaningful and funny moments. 

And now it’s time to get our hands dirty. The former heating space is huge and has a lot of potential thanks to the big windows and the high ceiling. To reveal it, a lot of work needs to be done and organized within the next weeks.  

– Cleaning and recycling the furniture; 

– Making a welcoming facade and entrance; 

– Cleaning the outside areas; 

– Cleaning and repairing the bathroom; 

– Scrapping and repairing the walls (inside and outside); 

– Levelling the floor; 

– Painting the walls. 

In this cloud full of dust, our work is changing the place hours after hours. Inside and outside are both stormed by our hands. Everyone finds his way to participate in the team effort. To make things easier we are divided into three teams (Boom, Shaka, Laka). Each one has a team leader with who we can discuss our tasks.  

Sharing is the watchword: advice on how to do the work, ideas, how to organize the effort. But also, and not the least, to hold the ladder for another to safely make a change. All this proves that we need each other competencies and energy to actually do something. And it is exciting to wonder what we will be able to achieve in such a short time until the opening event on the 11th of December.

The fourth week began as the third had ended: with a lot of paint. Walls turned yellow, ladders were
carried around and brushes were dipped into buckets until even the last corner of the building had
the colour of our imagination. A little later, we slowly reached a point where things we hadn’t cared
about before suddenly became relevant. That means, among other things, that we cleaned the
bathroom, which was full of paint, went hunting for tape remnants and tried to remove dirt and
paint from the floor. At the same time, we were able to give the youth centre more character by
means of a sofa that had been donated to us, a carpet and other furniture. In this way, we drove the
spirit of the construction work out of the building.

The opening followed. We had prepared the neighbourhood for this beforehand by putting up posters
in the streets with invitations to it. Walking around in clean clothes and without paint or dust in our
hair in the spaces we had spent weeks tinkering with was strange, of course, but added mostly to the
sense of closure. The opening included games, live music, speeches and food, as well as visiting from
the neighbourhood, which made our work seem more relevant than ever.

While perhaps not everything went perfectly and still isn’t perfect, we did our best for a month, and
certainly laid the groundwork for a place for the neighbourhood’s youth that now only needs to be put
to good use. In conclusion, all we can say is that we can look back with pride and wish the next 9
teams an equally beautiful and successful time!

We have been working now directly and indirectly on the realisation of a youth centre for three weeks. The tasks of the second week often coincided with those of the first. In concrete terms, this means that we still mainly scraped and sealed walls and removed graffiti to prepare them to be painted. At the same time, we repaired and painted furniture.

So we created a foundation on which we could build the youth centre. While the tasks themselves resembled each other, it changed how we dealt with them and their surroundings; so as we wall-scratched our way through the indoor and outdoor spaces, we became more routinised, more attuned as a team, discovering strengths and learning how to use them. We scratched problems free, then scratched our heads while swearing, but always found solutions in the end.

From the third week on, everything started to come together relatively suddenly. Within a day, a rather drab -but of course excellently prepared- facade became a colourful one, its appearance resembling that of a Rubix cube. Over the course of the week, this wave of colour continued to spill through the interiors and exteriors: we painted walls, ceilings, window frames, doors, and now and then accidentally floors and ourselves in all the colours the rainbow has to offer. At the same time, a carpet of tiles spread in one of the rooms, turning some of us into true experts in the field of tiling.

This change was also noticed by the community. Suddenly we were no longer perceived as the gang that made a shabby building even uglier than it already was, but as the ones trying to change something for the better. Our work was appreciated more than ever, with more and more residents stopping to comment on our work and ask questions.

In the past two weeks, we also continued to take time every day to actively reach out to the community. In addition to the usual engaging people by asking questions, we added active promotion by distributing flyers. This was supplemented by the help that the community offered us. This included local volunteers helping us with crafts and donating furniture for the youth centre. This kind of response was very motivating and encouraged us to continue to do our best every day at the youth centre.

At the end of the third week, we are now close to the completion of the youth centre. We have now reached a point where a coherent picture emerges from a construction site and can hardly wait to finally complete the project and declare the youth centre opened!

The first week of the Youth Centres UP 2 project (first team of international volunteers for 30 days), in which an unused heating building is turned into a centre for the youth of a neighbourhood within about a month, started with team building activities.
This was followed by a shallow transition to the actual work on the centre, which, if one disregards the two-meter-deep hole in the entrance area, is a good starting point. So, initially divided into three teams with their own areas of responsibility, but ultimately as one team, we set to work.

Within three days, we performed the following tasks:

• Cleaning the garden and the building
• Scraping the walls
• Removing holes from the walls, leveling them and preparing them for painting
• Cutting trees
• Redesigning and making furniture

In parallel, we made a constant effort to involve the community by ending each of the days at the future youth centre with a joint community engagement. We talked to as many people as possible and collected opinions and ideas in order to design the place according to the wishes of the neighbourhood.
So, in conclusion, all we can say is that if we have been able to learn and create so much in such a short time, we can only look forward to the coming period with joy!

The 10th of October is International Mental Health Day.

That is quite a broad topic, but what does it entail exactly?
Of course, there is the prominent part: Mental include all the disorders and illnesses of the mind: Paranoia, Bipolarity, Schizophrenia, Split personality, Anger issues, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Phobia… From the most famous to the less known ones, those often belong to psychiatric disorders. Some are really bad, others lighter to bear; they’re often feared or unknown by a general public full of misconceptions toward them. The way fiction portrays them is generally wrong, scary, full of error and really negative. They at least are recognised as illnesses for the most part, and as such, medical professionals try their best to help.

However, the less-known part is what interest us here: the mental health that has nothing to do with psychiatry: anxiety, sleep disorder, depression, stress, apathy, panic-induced attack, burnout… Those are on the rise in this modern world, brought out by the economic and social models that we are following and the rules and atmosphere of our work and life environment.
Though they tend to be more and more recognised, some people keep minimising the reality of it. They refuse to give them the denomination they deserve, often chalking it up on the person’s character and personality, or passing circumstances.

And still, everyone has some risk of developing a mental health disorder, no matter their age, gender, ethnicity, or social standing. The covid crisis showed us that many people could be developing troubles during hardships and periods of isolation and that mental health care was critical.

It is also alarming that a significant and increasing number of young people across Europe are concerned by the rise of high stress, anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses amongst them. Statistics from the previous years showed a rise in mental health problems among the youth in Romania, especially with those who are part of a minority or whose parents are working abroad. During that time, Romania has set a series of specific programs addressing children at specific risk of social exclusion.

Working on this, different organisations that work with youth, as well as association such as « Mental Health for Romania » (founded in 2020), are doing their best to fight stigmatisation and ignorance by developing informational programs, mental help workshops in school, and promoting the existing services for mental health proposed here in Romania.

Working with youth, they hope to develop a healthier mindset in society, with less competition and more appreciation for individual skills and strengths.

Mental health isn’t always taken seriously or treated equally in the world. Still, by raising awareness of it, we hope to take a step in the right direction. With access to information, mental and medical care, and recognition of the problem, everyone can help or receive help if need be, which is the goal this day is pursuing.

link to the website: https://mentalhealthforromania.org
For those who need it, they developed an interactive map showing all the available services concerning mental health in Romania today.

Sources: Medical News Today, World Health Organisation, Mental health for Romania, mental health briefing sheets from member states in Europa archives.

Before I came to Romania, I thought that one year was too much, but now when I look back, six months have passed so quickly. Even when you move from one place to another in your city, many things change your life. Some of them are conscious, some of them not. So moving to another country is a challenge itself. Putting everything aside and starting a new life for one year it’s like intensive life school.

I am learning by experiencing living with people from different countries. When you get to know more people, you also discover what you are doing, true or wrong, good or bad.

A lot of things have changed in my life. First, I met new people, and some of them will stay special for me. Secondly, you can see yourself more precisely what have you done or what haven’t you done in your life.

We did a lot of different kinds of activities, from cleaning the space to organising activities, collecting signatures, or making videos. Maybe I didn’t give my best in some of the activities, but I had enjoyed them a lot. 

We had some difficult times like everyone during this period. It has taught me a lot: how to be more tolerant, more patient, but also more critical. If you can see or evaluate yourself objectively, you can get the results if it’s worth it or not spending time in another country with many people in the same house.

Last but not least

I wanted to be here because I didn’t have anything to do better and I do not regret it at all. On the contrary, I am glad I am here because I am in the middle of my ’20s and I have time to be part of this team. It’s an excellent experience because when I turn 30’s, I will not have time and motivation for this kind of activities.

Maybe Romania is unknown to many people but it was not the same for me. I have been here before; moreover, my father has been here for a long time ago.

Let’s see what time will decide for me. I already have passed my six months. I hope the next six months will be better than these. 😊

About my travel and first week in Romania.

If people asked me for how long I have wanted this, I would say that I don’t know. Forever, probably.

I think I have always wanted to travel abroad. Even if the plan wasn’t clear for a long time, even if as a child I didn’t know anything about volunteering or long-term services in foreign countries, there was always the notion, the knowledge that one day I would leave for an adventure somewhere around the world. Now that the moment has come, I don’t realise quite well what is going on. But that is for later.

Like every one of us on this planet, Covid and 2020 have thrown all our plans away. Luckily for me, I didn’t really have one, except going somewhere. I had to volunteer in France for a year instead, which was really nice too, but as soon as things calmed down a bit, I saw the opportunity and took it.
Prior to covid, I was able to travel to Moldova for 3 months, and that allowed me to realise 2 things :

• One: I would totally be able to do this on a larger scale. Like a full-year stay.
• Two: This part of the world seemed interesting; why not explore it more?

And so, I found this opportunity for volunteering abroad in Romania for a whole year. Without really believing in anything, I applied. Three weeks later, I was departing to Timișoara without realising what was happening.

Since I never seem to do things the usual way, I took the bus instead of the plane. It was great because it really seemed that I was travelling. I felt the distance, I saw the gradual change of my reality until I lost all my marks and was really in a foreign environment. It was also very stressful and complicated, but that was part of the adventure. In retrospect, I’m glad I did it this way.

But the only real emotion I felt when I finally arrived and met everyone was relief. I was exhausted after all this stress and two days of non-stop travel. My following first week was healing. I arrived at a time where lots of people were on vacation. It allowed me to ease gradually into the environment, get used to things at my pace, learn about this new place, take care of all the administrative paperwork…

I came at the perfect time, both in this project and in my life.
Time to see what the future hold for me. Now, I will just let myself be carried by this project, this place, these people, like I always do.

But this time, I know for sure: I’m in the right place.

So much has happened in such a short time that my head cannot assimilate them all. The permanent roller coaster I am riding on does not give me much respite to stop and think about everything that happened. But I have been in Timisoara for six months now, and the truth is that they have not been indifferent.

During these months, we have made practically everything: activities, events, trips, training, renovations, community engagement… and through all this, I have learned to be more decisive, to adapt myself to changes that may arise at the last minute, to be more patient…

Thinking that I have already passed the project’s halfway point gives me vertigo and a bittersweet feeling. I sincerely believe that I am making the most of every day here, and I always try to do my best. Although we have also gone through some difficult times, positive things are much more significant than negative ones.

In addition, the learning process at all levels is so great that I am not aware of everything that I have changed in just six months. And that is just thanks to all the people I am surrounded by, who inspire me and help me improve every day.

Living this experience is allowing me to see beyond and be aware, more than ever, of my limitations, strengths, concerns and goals that I want to achieve. It is, without a doubt, an intense, imperfect and full of ups and downs adventure that is giving me lessons that I am sure I will never forget.

Because being a volunteer is much more than what I initially imagined. It is to be willing to do anything, help without expecting anything in return, give your best, and know how to do it with humility and respect. Being a volunteer is learning how to listen, not judge and contribute as many things and ideas as you can. It is opening your mind and heart without fear of the unknown and being willing to create bonds that overcome any problem or barrier. And definitively, it is to be aware that your small actions can generate significant changes in society and that the impact on the community may be possible.

Maybe when I decided to apply to this project, I did it because I did not have many other options then. But now, six months later, I can assure you that it is the best decision I could make, and, somehow, I am proud of that.

Being outside the great famous “comfort zone” allows me to test myself in many aspects and gives me the chance to know myself deeply, in a thoughtful way.

I know that I am where I need to be, and given the rapid passage of time, I can only make the most of the opportunity to be here and make this an unforgettable adventure.

This year started out as one of the weirdest of my life. If someone told me six months ago everything I was going to live, I would have said, without thinking, that it was not possible to happen.

Going out of the comfort zone

This is the first thing you experience when you decide to be a volunteer. I arrived in Timisoara 6 months ago without expectations at all. Then, all of a sudden, I saw myself sharing a flat with nine other people from other countries around Europe.  

Since your first week of volunteering, you can realise you are living with people who are very different from you, have other traditions and ways of thinking. This experience makes you be able to respect everyone and adapt yourself to them. Being more open-minded is something that you learn even without noticing it. 

An intense experience

We all agreed that time flies when enjoying it. Anyone who has ever lived something like this before, might have lost track of time for sure. How can time go that fast and, at the same time, be full of emotions, discoveries and learning? 

So many new people in my life (most of them will stay forever) who I spent time with (living, working, going out, …). There are things that bring people together, experiences that create such strong bonds that they will never be broken. People who are with you through this personal and professional learning process. The personal change is great, but also the one related to work. Your development increases day by day. 

Sharing this adventure with young people like me, doing something new for other young people in a country which is not yours, is one of the best things when it comes to be a volunteer, even though it is hard sometimes. 

I still have other 6 months to continue making the most of them, adding new people and lived experiences to my life. Let’s see what the future has to offer! 

Hi! My name is Charlie and I am a volunteer in Timis County Youth Foundation, I’ve chosen to volunteer in this organization because it was for me a great opportunity to leave abroad and to do something concrete for other young people like me, somewhere else in the world. I work together with a team of international volunteers from all over the world, and together we want to present to you 10 reasons why you should become a volunteer as well!

Meet wonderful people from everywhere in the world

“I felt like being involved the in important things for the society we live in and I met wonderful people. Volunteering is an experience, and I would encourage anyone to do this wholeheartedly”

Change the world at your scale and make a difference

“Now, in Timisoara, I am trying something different, challenging but at the same time, a teaching thing: helping young people in a different country have their own youth space, and it was one of the most yielding decisions I made in my life”

Create bridges between the communities

“This is a great opportunity to do something meaningful for a community. It is a rich human experience that opens up to different realities and will for sure make you grow”

Open yourself to new realities and problematics

“Volunteering is a unique experience that allows you to know other realities and points of view and gives you the chance to be part of a project that unites communities. It is the best way to enrich yourself as a person and as a professional”

Help people in need

“Volunteering often involves helping those in need and it can be useful in showing us that, in fact, our own lives are not as bad as we thought they were”

Know yourself and the ones around you better

“It gives you the opportunity to improve your skills and learn new ones, to better know yourself and those around you, and to make friends for life. Volunteering is life-changing and, somehow, it changes your way of thinking”

Try a new experience

“Volunteering gives you the chance to give something back to the community or just to make a difference from people around you. It also helps you develop new skills or build an exciting experience and knowledge”

Become more confident in English

“Volunteering gives you the chance to improve your language and communication skills and make you expanding your comfort zone”

Learn deeply about a culture

“Volunteering is a way to discover the world: you get abroad for a more or less long period, you stay in a place and learn to get to know it, the habits, the language, the people… all in a truer way than if you were just passing by and visiting. You learn, you give things, and those you meet along the way will give some back to you. You might even get to meet your own true self in the end…”

Accept differences and be more tolerant

“In the beginning, joining in a big volunteering project could seem scary, changing your all life for a long period of time is a hard challenge. But there, I learned a lot of life lessons, but some of the most important are that all origins are the same. It doesn’t matter your religion, where you come from, or the color of your skin. Those things don’t define if you are a good or bad person.”

And an eleventh one because we are generous …

Have fun!!!

“During my volunteering project, I’ve learned to collaborate with other people, learned new dance steps from different countries. Tried a lot of new drinks especially local drinks. And enjoyed a lot of laughter and nice memories. I would motivate all of you young people to come and join this or kind of these volunteer experiences if you wanna spend good days away from your normal life and improve your social circle. It’s a little work with a lot of fun. But always the fun part is hidden. It’s top-secret. ;)”

If you also wanna know how can volunteering change your life and are curious to try a new experience, check our website.

We propose new volunteering projects regularly and you can see more about our organization.