Tag: lugoj

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! 

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!

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!

We are in the last week and everyone is active. The team is working hard to accomplishing the finishing part of the Building Renovation. The finishing part of the youth centre includes painting the walls, decoration of inside walls, cleaning all the floors and gardens and fixing the scratched and painted windows. The FITT team also helped us in the last week and some more friends joined to finish the renovation work in time. Even more admirable is the work of local volunteers with coordinators till the end of the day. Our friends showed their dedication, solidarity and worked hard for more than 12 hours on the last day before arranging the opening ceremony day.

Let’s read some testimonies from our volunteers’ experiences:

I was free in the summer and my father arranged for me to join the solidarity program. I really like to work with an international community. I find the work and everyone interesting and I like the schedule – it’s a good balance of work and rest and I find that mostly the minds of the youth are same irrespective of their culture and location. (Radu Jidovin, volunteer from the local community)

The last week was full of activeness and integration, it was the week of achievement. All the members were really working hard to contribute on their behalf to the project. On the last day, at the opening ceremony, I felt proud of myself and my whole volunteering team for their contribution. We worked, learned from each other and enjoyed ourselves together. (Hussein Abdo, Iraq)

In the last week, we made efforts with full zeal and zest to finish the work. The FITT team also helped us and that was encouraging to me and my friends. We painted the interior and exterior of the walls, cleaned the floors and arranged the whole centre for the first ceremony program. It was a great experience for me. I made new friends and I find the program interesting to learn a lot about social life. (Muhammad Usman, Pakistan)

The last week of work finished with the inauguration of the youth centre. Here are some captures of the results of our work:

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You can find out more about the project on its website.

During the renovation of the building in the 4^th week in Lugoj, we were no more working in groups, but rather everyone was joining some company and started to work while laughing and talking to each other. We worked a lot on walls and windows, we cleaned them and started painting, and the colleagues were really enjoying it. We learnt how to scratch and how to paint. We got some electricity problems and water shortage but it got fixed in the same week. 

The community engagement for this week was quite successful and we got three new volunteers from the local community. But not everyone was satisfied with the work progress. The team members were getting closer to each other and after work, we were arranging parties and celebrating teammate’s birthdays. It was the reason that progress in work was a bit slower but the solidarity among us got stronger by celebrating events together so the planning for the next week was to finish the painting and scratching the windows.

Here are some personal opinions of teammates about the progress of work:

I am happy and enjoying the project because the work for this week was painting and I really enjoyed painting. I felt very happy after painting when it looks decorative. In addition, I like to interact with local people during community engagement, the people of Lugoj are quite cooperative and interesting. (Syed Quosain Haider, Pakistan)

In the 4^th week, the painting was the easiest to do and scratching the windows was really tough but we did a lot of painting and scratching. I am thankful to all team members for helping me celebrate my birthday. Their kind wishes and lovely behaviour is something I will miss after the project. (Irem Aksoy, Turkey)

This week I did a lot of scratching to clean the windows, it was difficult but I worked with my friends and enjoyed their company. Here I really want to mention about cooperative and friendly people of Romania. I find it really interesting that most of the people can talk with us in English and they are ready to help us if we got any problems while travelling. I am happy to work for the youth of Romania because I explored Romania with my friends and one friend gave us residence and served us breakfast when we were left helpless at a train station because of missing the train. (Mohammad Farooqui, Pakistan)

In the 3^rd week of the project, we got our positive vibes volunteer, Yogesh Kumar, back. We started working as one team rather than splitting into four groups. As a solo team, every volunteer helped his or her colleague and tried each group’s task. In this way, we tried each kind of work without getting bored by one work. However, the work was more physical, but being energised by our committed and diligent coordinator, Alex Foale, it became more convenient.  

The tasks that we did this week are the following: 

• Fixing the roof
• Scratching the garden walls
• Making furniture for garden through pallets
• Painting windows
• Scratching and painting of some walls
• Community engagement

With persistent progress, we finished some works this week, like fixing the roof, scratching the garden walls and the walls of the rooms. The roof was renovated by removing extra still rocks and filling holes with cement. Moreover, in the garden we did the scratching of walls, clearing out the excess branches, and setting up the furniture made through pallets. Moreover, we finished the scratching of all room’s walls. These were the first achievements that we received after continuous hard work. Everyone was happy and we got the treat of some delicious ice creams from a school.  

In addition, as the walls were being scratched completely, we started painting on them. But before that, we cleaned profoundly all the rooms so that dust cannot spoil the paint. This painting part was so fun and exciting that made everybody dance. Also, this work was not that much hard as compare to others, as it was under shadow and not that much physical.  

Equally important, this week we did two community engagements with some new ideas to distribute the flyers and that resulted in the addition of three new local volunteers. They brought new energy to work and that boosted us to work more and more.  

To conclude, this week went with lots of accomplishments and achievements; we finished almost 50% of the whole work. This all happened because of our solidarity and incessant struggle. Furthermore, the local community is also energising us by contributing their part, either by donating useful things or by helping us as volunteers.    

The first week of the project Solidarity for Lugoj aimed to build the team and learn teamwork and lots of things necessary to accomplish the work.

So in the 2^nd week, we gathered in the youth centre and the president of FITT divided us into 4 groups and assigned tasks for building renovation. I would rather say building the youth centre rather than renovating, as some tasks really demand real construction.

The teams started work and did their assigned tasks, which include:

According to statistically significant data, we almost finished 30 per cent of the entire work in the first week, which was more encouraging for all team members. In addition, we also did community engagement in person as well as on social media and we got two friends from the local community who helped us a lot during our work.

Furkan, member of group 1

I wasn’t expecting it to be so hard but I find the roof work the most difficult part because we were working under the sun and we clean it thoroughly. My teammates cleaned the room and took out all the old stuff from the roof. We also scratched some parts of the wall and cleaned the floor. The tasks were difficult but as a team, we helped each other and finished most of the hard parts in the first week.

Bidzo, member of group 2

The first day, I felt it is difficult and we took out all the old stuff from rooms like shelves, piano tables and chairs.

We cleaned the rooms and scratched the walls and we almost finished the painting of the walls in the first week. The group was energetic and all members were enjoying at the same time while working together. It was an amazing experience working with friends from different countries.

Simon, member of group 3

We were eight people, the task was difficult but when I saw my friends working hard shoulder by shoulder I forget the hardships and started working with my full energy. We cleaned the room, broke the wooden floor, and scratched the walls and ceiling. We filled the holes with cement paste, cleaned the room and made it ready for a new painting and floor finishing.

Galandar , member group 4

I was excited on the first day, our task was to clean the garden and cut the bushes and extra grass. Our group members divided the tasks and some started scratching the boundary wall of the garden. Others cleaned the garden. It wasn’t that difficult for us and we almost finished half of the work in the first week. The work became more enjoyable when we played music and while working we were dancing as well. That helped us not to feel tired during work.

We are looking forward to the next challenges!