Pozdrav još jednom! Milina ovdje! U Labin sam došla iz Srbije prije 6 mjeseci i to sam vrijeme provela volontirajući ovdje.

Odlučila sam se prijaviti za ESS projekt nakon što sam dala otkaz na poslu na kojem sam dugo radila i osjećala sam se nesretno. Nakon što sam dala otkaz osjećala sam da želim putovati, ali ne samo kao turist. Također sam željela pridonijeti zajednici i otkriti vlastite sposobnosti za koje nisam ni znala da postoje. Postavila sam sebi određene ciljeve i mogu reći da sam sretna što sam te ciljeve ostvarila. Čak i ako je put koji me doveo do njih bio sasvim drugačiji od onoga što sam mislila da će biti.

Nova sredina za mene nije bila mnogo drugačija jer sam, iako sam godinama živjela u Beogradu, većinu života provela u malom selu. Također većinu vremena nisam imala jezičnu barijeru. Kažem većinom jer me ponekad šokirao labinski dijalekt i osjećala sam se kao da sam u sasvim drugoj zemlji. Što ima smisla jer se Istra nalazi u blizini granice sa Slovenijom i Italijom.

Već sam govorila o svom iskustvu u ljetnom kampu i najvažnije stvari koje ću ponijeti sa sobom iz tog iskustva su opušteniji boravak u prirodi i to će mi uvijek biti veliki podsjetnik kako neugodnu situaciju možeš prihvatiti i pretvoriti u nešto odlično. Nastavit ću raditi i na plivanju jer mi je boravak uz more uvelike pomogao da smanjim strah od vode.

Kako je moje volontiranje pri kraju, mogu reći da od svega što ću nositi sa sobom, najviše sam zahvalna na prijateljstvima koja sam imala sreću stvoriti. Iskreno mislim da sam stekla prijateljstva koja će trajati cijeli život. I ne bih imala ništa od ovoga da nisam sama sebe izazvala da napravim ovu veliku promjenu u svom životu.

1.) Koje su 3 riječi kojima možete opisati svoje iskustvo volontiranja u Alfa Alboni?

 tri riječi koje bih upotrijebila su:

izazov: Našla sam se u mnogim izazovnim situacijama

učenje: Puno sam naučila tijekom ovih 6 mjeseci

samopoboljšanje: Osjećam da sam se toliko poboljšala u aspektima koji su mi važni

2.) Što je bilo najkorisnije što ste ovdje naučili i što će vam pomoći u budućnosti?

Najkorisnije što sam ovdje naučila je da sam mentalno mnogo jača nego što sam mislila da jesam i da mogu prevladati toliko različitih borbi, kako unutarnjih tako i vanjskih.

3.) Na koju ste aktivnost ovdje najviše ponosni?

Ponosna sam na sve aktivnosti koje sam napravila za promicanje mobilnosti mladih. Bilo prezentacijom ili kreiranjem različitih promotivnih sadržaja.

4.) Po Vašem mišljenju, kako ste pridonijeli lokalnoj zajednici?

Pomogla sam upoznati mlade s njihovim mogućnostima i osmislila sam radionice koje im mogu pomoći da budu kreativniji i uče o novim temama.

5.) Hoćete li nastaviti raditi s mladima i kako?

Mislim da hoću. Ako ne izravnim sudjelovanjem u organizaciji, onda barem društveno aktivnijim i dijeljenjem informacija s mladima u svojoj okolini.

6.) Zašto su ESC projekti dobri za mlade?

Vjerujem da bi svi trebali iskoristiti ovu priliku jer je meni osobno otvorila oči i pokazala mi je različite načine sagledavanja svijeta. Tijekom projekta možete naučiti toliko toga. Čak i ako ne naučite nikakve konkretne stvari iz samog projekta, i dalje možete biti u kontaktu s toliko različitih ljudi i situacija koje biste rijetko imali priliku imati u svakodnevnom životu. Samim time što se stavite u potpuno novo okruženje i izađete iz svoje zone udobnosti, puno rastete.

Hello one more time! It’s Milina. I came to Labin from Serbia 6 months ago and I spent this time volunteering here.

I decided to apply for an ESC project after quitting a job where I worked for a long time and I felt unhappy. After I quit I felt like I wanted to travel but not only as a tourist. I wanted to also contribute to a community and also discover my own abilities that I didn’t even know existed. I set certain goals for myself and I can say that I feel lucky that I did reach those goals. Even if the road that took me to them was quite different from what I thought it would be.

The new environment wasn’t very different for me because, even though I lived in Belgrade for years, I lived most of my life in a small village. Also I didn’t have a language barrier most of the time. I say most of the time because sometimes I was struck by Labin dialect and I felt like I was in a completely different country. Which makes sense since Istria is near the borders of Slovenia and Italy.

I already spoke about my experience in the summer camp and the most important things that I will bring with me from that experience are being more relaxed in the nature and it will always be a great reminder to me of how you can take an uncomfortable situation and turn it into something great. I will also continue to work on my swimming, since spending the time next to the sea helped me a lot to reduce my fear of water.

As my volunteering has come to an end I can say that out of everything that I will carry with me, I feel the most grateful for the friendships that I was lucky to create. I honestly think that I made friendships that will last all my life. And I wouldn’t have had any of this if I hadn’t challenged myself to make this huge change in my life.

1.) What are 3 words by which you can describe your experience in volunteering in Alfa Albona?

 the three words I would use are:

challenge: I found myself in many challenging situations

learning: I learned so much during these 6 months

 self-improvement: I feel like I improved so much in aspects that are important for me

2.) What was something that was the most useful you learned here and it will help you in the future?

The most useful thing I learned here was that I am much stronger mentally than I thought I was and that I can overcome so many different struggles, both internal and external.

3.) Which activity you did here that you are the most proud of?

I am proud of all the activities that I did to promote mobility to young people. Either by presenting or by creating different promotional content.

4.) In your opinion, how did you contribute to the local community?

I helped to bring the information to the young people of their possibilities and I created workshops that can help them be more creative and learn about new topics.

5.) Will you continue to work with youth and how?

I think that I will. If not by directly being a part of an organization, then at least by being more socially active and sharing information with young people in my environment.

6.) Why are ESC projects good for young people? I believe that everyone should use this opportunity because, for me personally it was a big eye-opener and it showed me different ways of perceving the world. During a project you can learn so much. Even if you don’t learn any specific things from your project itself, you still get to be in contact with so many different people and situations that you would rarely have an opportunity to have in your every day life. Just by putting yourself in a completely new environment and getting out of your comfort zone you grow a lot.