Today we have here the story of Edyta, volunteer from Warsaw. Her project and experience is very interesting especially because her European Voluntary Project took place outside Europe. (Yes, it is also possible!). Edyta was in Argentina and here is her story:
I had the opportunity to do my EVS in one of non-European countries. I chose Argentina, firstly because of the description of the project and my will to learn Spanish. Secondly I wanted to go to one of the South American countries.
My project lasted 8 months. During this time I worked on 4 different projects:
“Fundación Prasam” in Ezeiza
“CHAP Curar Haciendo Arte con Pequeños”
“La Sartén por el Mango - SOG” and
“La 2411”.
My hosting organization, Subir al Sur assigned the projects to volunteers according to their interests. For example I knew I wanted to work on projects related to art. Below I attach links to projects where I worked. I really recommend you to look into it!
In brief, CHAP is a NGO which works in pediatric hospitals. It is a place (one of the corridors of the hospital), where children can come with their parents and paint whatever they want. With the coordinator – Pedro and other volunteers we were responsible for preparing the “art space” for the kids who were waiting in line to see a doctor.
With the Foundatión Prasam I worked for the longest period of time. Every Saturday I had my own art workshops with small children (up to 7 years old). Also I helped children with their homework and I was teaching them English.
Most of the projects lasted up to 2 hours. A lot of time took also the arrival to the place of the project itself.
For example in the La Sartén together with other volunteers we worked from 10:30 to 15:30 (I worked there three times a week). It was a very nice project. Every volunteer had his/her own role. For example, once a week I had my art workshop with older children. "Normal" day in the project looked like that we had been cooking together for the children then we were looking after the children in their houses and after the meal the children had their activities (every day different like: art, music, theater games, homework day).
I didn't have a steady time of job from 9:00 to 17:00. I had flex time, because of varied projects.
Here are the links with some more information about particular projects:
CHAP Curar Haciendo Arte con Pequeños:
http://www.chap-ong.org/
https://www.facebook.com/CHAPCurarHaciendoArteconPequenos?fref=ts
Fundación Prasam:
http://www.fundacionprasam.org.ar/
https://www.facebook.com/fundacion.prasam?fref=ts
La Sartén por el Mango - SOG:
http://socialopportunitygroup.com/about-sog/
https://www.facebook.com/LaSartenSOG?fref=ts
A volunteers day - Subir al Sur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMQHBlIauX0&hd=1
What would you tell about Argentina, local people and their habits - is there something really different from Poland/Poles?
Argentines are very friendly, open and talkative people. They always have time for everything. Argentines greet each person with a kiss on the cheek, even if they see this person for the first time. Even the man kisses another man on the cheek. In Poland, it is rather unthinkable. We, Polish people are definitely more formal nation and we work a lot! The Argentines are very relaxed, they always repeat "don't worry", "calm down" or "nothing happens". I like it but it took me some time to get used to it. And what annoyed me a lot, their unpunctuality.
What did you do before your project?
I study Public Administration, so I took a gap year to do my EVS.
What did you learn/gain from your EVS experience?
First of all, I have learned Spanish. I have met amazing people who are like family to me. I have learned a lot about Argentine culture, history, art, philosophy etc. I have started to drink mate. EVS in Argentina taught me to be optimistic, but on the other hand after my EVS I have started to be an unpunctual person :)
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