Save the Village of Volunteers!

June is already beginning, that’s crazy how time flies down here: summer, which seemed so far when we first arrived, is now so close! And we can feel that the city is following this season; coffee shops are full and the flowers in the park have blossomed. To celebrate the end of the scholar year, lots of events have taken place on every part of Maribor.

One of them was particularly successful in my opinion: Prostovoljsko Mesto (Village of Volunteers). It happened during the week of Volunteering: local organizations participated, where people could attend different kinds of workshops, lectures and events and on Wednesday, all these NGOs gathered together in the main square. The concept was that every association had its own stand and had prepared a little game or activity for the audience. Every time kids arrived at the stands, they were given a notebook with an investigation to solve: to fill in the clues, they had to go to as many stands as possible, to collect stamps which would allow them to resolve the case and finally save the village of volunteers. Circus workshop, DJ, interviews from the “mayor of the volunteering village”, scientist games, team-building and creative games: everybody could find their favourite activity! 

With Sofia, our task was to build up a game that could adapt to different numbers of participants, different ages and that looked attractive from far (kids will not visit all stands, they will choose the more eye-catching). We made up our mind for “the volunteering snail”: instead of one big game, there would be 6 mini activities… First, the participants were invited to draw their idea of volunteering, then they had to write what they could offer (I can teach guitar, my good mood, I know a lot about gardening…) and what they would like to learn (a new language, a new competence…). After this reflexion phase, we had prepared some more active games: in a big bowl full of water was floating another smaller bowl. Kids and adults had to put stones in this little bowl, paying attention that the bowl doesn’t sink. For each stone that they put, they had to tell a word about volunteering. The next game was a memory game: they had to match actions (helping, teaching…) to images. In the next one, in bigger groups, they were proposed to try the “stick game”, where they had to collaborate and think “as a team” and not as an individual to succeed in their task. Finally, they could jump on our hopscotch snail, to end up with telling something that they learnt today. The game had quite a lot of success: our stand was busy almost all day! 

Actually I didn’t expect kids would be so focused, and will really take the time to think what they can bring and what they would love to receive. We also got amazing drawing about volunteering, and we were quite surprised that some children were so quickly efficient and collaborating during the stick game: we had already tried it during our on-arrival training and it took us much more time to stop putting the blame on the others! I realised that lots of young people were already quite familiar with volunteering and it was great that this day was meant as well for the discovery of volunteering, as well as a day of Joy for all the current volunteers, who could have fun together. Laughs, music and good mood created a convivial atmosphere, and the square became a lively place for meeting and cooperation. I’m really glad to see that these little and big events such as culinary or creative workshops and any kind of cultural events are enriching the life of the locals, that always have the opportunity to learn new skills or improve their knowledge, if they ask for it. I deeply think that these moments of sharing, collaborating and gathering together are continually constructing our happiness: They allow us to build connections with others, and being fullfilled personally.

Coline

EVS (European Voluntary Service) izkušnja kot prostovoljec na cirkuškem uličnem festivalu Cu'fus

Slogan »Svi pod mus na Cu'fus« mi je v glavi napovedal nov izziv – izrezal sem šablono z napisom in ga odtisnil na majico, nevedoč, kakšna dvotedenska dogodivščina me čaka. Vedel sem samo, da bo največja naloga in s tem najtežja zdržati 5 minut brez smeha. Prava misija nemogoče, verjemite.

Simpatično, mirno hrvaško mestece Samobor se je s pomočjo 10 motiviranih prostovoljcev iz Srbije, Slovenije in Francije za nekaj dni preobrazilo v pravi cirkuško-umetniški raj, poln dogodivščin, izzivov, nasmehov, kjer nihče ni ostal bosih nog.

Mesto, skozi katerega se vije reka, ki vedno znova očara, parki, ki te napolnijo z dobro energijo, bližnji Stari grad in Vidikovac ponujajo lepe tekaške treninge in nepozabne panoramske zahode nad mestom. Srečen sem, da sem tu in delam, kar me veseli, razveseljujem, spodbujam in navdušujem ljudi s tem, kar rad delam, in talenti, ki jih razvijam ... Sonce se je skrilo za grički, čas je, da pohitim nazaj do hostla, ki mi bo dom za naslednjih 14 dni. 

Ko se na hitro spoznamo z Matijem, vodjo festivala, in ostalimi prostovoljci, vem, da bomo kljub kulturnim, socialnim razlikam in različnimi sposobnostmi delovali kot odgovorna in razumna ekipa, ki bo čez teden izkovala načrt in izpolnila vse naloge, se soočila z vsemi problemi za uspešno izpeljan festival uličnega cirkusa. 

Kljub temu da smo bili vsi na začetku neznanci, me je vsak posameznik dopolnjeval na edinstven način in s tem pripomogel, da sem izpopolnili sebe, svoj potencial in samozavest. Spoznal sem veliko različnih kultur, ki jih ne bi bilo mogoče spoznati v tako kratkem času. Ne samo da smo skupaj delili bivalni prostor, šampon, hrano, obleke, ampak tudi celo našo življenjsko zgodbo in majhne rutine, ki nas izoblikujejo v osebe, kakršne smo. Kljub kulturnim razlikam smo vedno našli skupno točko, ki nas je vse združevala, nam odprla srce in mišljenje, da smo delili, razumeli, videli in ljubili svet drugače. Vsi smo se učili o razlikah med nami, ki niso isto kot problemi, in da lahko rastemo, delimo, se zabavamo skupaj z ljudmi različnih kultur, spoznavamo stvari, ki so pomembne za naš razvoj in se bolj zavedamo sebe, kako drugačen in unikaten je vsak od nas.

Torej, kaj sem delal v Samoboru?

Fotografiranje, snemanje, risanje, izdelovanje šablon, ustvarjanje prijetnega ambienta v mestu za umetnike, prostor, kjer se širijo nove ideje, delovanje v skupnosti, reševanje praktičnih problemov, učenje novih veščin in znanj, nabiranje izkušenj, boljše poznavanje sebe in navsezadnje potovanje. Biti del te izkušnje s strastmi, ki me navdušujejo, je veliko zadovoljstvo. 

Naša naloga je bila pomagati lokalni skupnosti in organizatorjem festivala zbirati čevlje, barvati, dekorirati mesto, pripraviti instalacije v parku in s tem smo pripomogli ustvariti zanimiv tridnevni festival. Spoznavali smo lokalne ljudi in se učili o novih kulturah. S tem sem začel tudi bolj ceniti svojo kulturo, mesto, v katerem bivam, domačo hrano, glasbo, sleng, okolje, ki me obdaja, in ljudi, ki me podpirajo na moji poti.

Po končanem delu smo imeli vsak dan tudi prosti čas in aktivnosti, ki so vsebovale vse, od umetnosti, glasbe do spoznavanja mestne kulture, kar sem zelo cenil. Za radovedne duše smo namenili pohod na Okič (grad), izlet v Zagreb, gledališko predstavo, obisk Medike(podobno Metelkovi), koncerte, tek, jogo, učenje novih jezikov, reševanje problemov, učenje novih veščin, biti odgovoren in širiti pozitivo in uživanje ob zvokih kitare v parku, dokler ne pade noč ...

Ni slabo za 14 dni, kajne?

Vsak posameznik, ki sem ga spoznal, je pripomogel k temu, da je bila to zame najboljša izkušnja prostovoljstva, ki sem jo imel do sedaj.

Počutil sem se zelo koristnega, da sem sodeloval pri izvedbi festivala za ljudi v Samoboru, ki so bili zelo zadovoljni z našim prostovoljnim delom med festivalom. V času bivanja sem se razvil v novo osebo s pomočjo ljudi, ki so me obdajali vsak dan s svojo pozitivno energijo, ki mi je prinesla veliko ljubezni in sreče v življenje, kar sem odnesel s sabo tudi nazaj domov.

Cu'fus mi je dal čudovito izkušnjo v življenju, ki se je bom z veseljem spominjal. 

Rekel bi: »Hvala vsem prostovoljcem, ki so se mi pridružili iz vse Evrope, da smo bili skupaj kot družina in da smo skupaj doživeli to čudovito izkušnjo.«

Uroš Frelih, zapis in fotografija