Tag: solidarity

I find it incredible that a year has passed since I decided to come to Timisoara to do a European volunteering project. After a year of feeling lost and unmotivated, this experience came at the perfect time to give me back the desire and enthusiasm to do different things.

During this year, I have done more things than I can remember, and I have learned in so many aspects, that I still need time to process it. From construction and DIY, through marketing and social networks, to community engagement and facilitating activities for young people…

But it has also been a process of learning and personal discovery that has given me a lot. Living with 15 people in the same space has made me realize how important respect, patience, and empathy are. The multicultural environment in which we have moved here has made us more tolerant and aware of our weaknesses and strengths. We have experienced what solidarity is and we have learned a lot from each other. Despite some moments of chaos or small conflicts, there have been good vibes at Casa Tineretului all the time.

What, without a doubt, has made this experience something special and unrepeatable has been the people. Friends (who are already family), coordinators, youth workers, colleagues, locals… people who have inspired me and given me their time and love selflessly, and with whom I have shared everything. People who have made me feel at home from the first minute, and who have shown me that the bonds you create in experiences like these are much stronger than you can imagine at the beginning. They have made this something more than volunteering.

It is indisputable that what volunteering brings you goes far beyond the mere work you do in the host organization. But it is not only the project itself that makes this experience something remarkable that you will remember all your life. It’s all the extra hours you spend with colleagues, the talks that make you be more open-minded to new realities and points of view, teamwork, commitment, and dedication to a project that can have a very positive impact on the community… and, of course, all those fun moments you spend with your people.

Despite fatigue, improvisation or doubts, all this has been very worthwhile, and as much as I try to explain what all of this has meant for me, few people can understand it.

I have shared so many things, enjoyed everything so much, and received so many from others and from this experience… it excites me to know that I have been part of something so great that it has inspired, motivated, or encouraged other young people.

This will be with me forever and I hope to remember with pride that together with FITT and YCUP2, a group of international volunteers made magic.

I am back home exhausted but happy, grateful for the opportunity, proud of everything we achieved and looking forward to being back in Timisoara soon and seeing my dear adventure partners again.

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)