Interview
with EVS volunteer from Spain:
1. Where do you know EVS from and why did you choose
volunteering?
I knew EVS because I met
some European volunteers that worked in different associations of my hometown.
They talked me about this
experience and I decided to participate too.
On September 2013 I went the
first meeting about EVS in my hometown.
After I sent several Cvs and
Letters of Motivation to different projects and I looked different sending
organizations that could help me about that issue.
One of those sending
organizations was AIPC Pandora.
Finally I decided to work
with them because they sent the information about the project “Dare to Dream”
from Jaunuoliu Dienos Centras.
Other of the reasons to make
EVS was I wanted to break the routine and to live that new adventure.
This project would help to
grow myself as professionally as personally.
I think the volunteering is
one beautiful job though this is nonprofit.
I was participated in many
associations in my hometown.
Some of them:
- One association about
media and communication called Asociacion Comunitarias Almerienses.
One of the projects was
Radio Cortijo and my main function was to perform interviews to artists of my
hometown and another places.
My other function was to
perform videos and photography’s of different events and radio workshops in
neighborhoods.
- One association that
fights for LGTB people rights called COLEGA.
- And one association that
integrates disability people in the field of the art and culture called
Capacitarte.
I performed a radio workshop
with a few users and I put music in different markets the association
organized.
Some of the European
volunteers I met worked in one of those associations (COLEGA).
I´m keeping in touch with
them.
2. Why did you choose Lithuania for your EVS?
If I´m honest, I didn´t care
the name of the country.
It´s true I was interested
the field of art and culture because it´s a very important thing for me
(especially cinema, photography, music and radio).
I remember the job I was
performing in two associations from my hometown: Acciones Comunitarias
Almerienses (As I said, I was making radio interviews to several artists from
Almeria and another places) and LaOficina Producciones (this is an alternative
sociacultural association that organize different events and my main functions
were to take photography’s of these events and to coordinate the songwriter
concerts).
It was very nice.
Also, I´m studying Artistic
Photography (I have to finish those studies after my EVS project).
Though I had more interest
for this field, I sent my Cvs and letters of motivation to another kind of
associations too.
I thought I would be able to
offer artistic-cultural ideas in them.
Finally, on march 2014, I
was selected in the project “Dare to Dream” from the center Jaunuoliu Dienos
Centras from Panevezys (Lithuania).
After I was selected in
other project of one association from Ukraine too but I decided to no
participate because previously I was selected in the project from Lithuania.
3. How was the beginning of your EVS (easy, hard, what
problems did you have, what things did you make happy, how did you solve your
problems...)?
The beginning was quite
hard.
When I arrived Lithuania, my
English level isn´t very good (I could understand writing and reading but I
couldn´t understand listening and speaking).
For listening I had many
conflicts in my job and my first flat.
I also had conflicts in my
flat because I was much disorganized in the house keeping.
It was my first experience I
lived out of the home of my parents and I hadn´t custom to do those tasks.
During the first month the
situation of my flat were horrible (each day was worse than the previous) and
my mentor and the director of my job decided I should to move other place.
(It was the best solution to
everybody).
I recognize my behavior
wasn´t right but the behavior of two of my roommate wasn´t right neither (I think they have should been
more understanding).
After it, I was improving
day by day with the language.
I need more time to improve
in the topic of house keeping
(This is one great weakness
for me).
During the second and third
month I had conflicts with my ex- roommate and some
of the social workers in my job but now the situation is more calmed.
I knew to see my mistakes
and try to not have them more step by step.
One situation I felt happy
was when I met my friend Leon from Panevezys.
He was a ray of hope during
my first month and the next’s.
He was one of the persons
that helped me to improve my listening and speaking English and he was patient
when I had problems with both things in the first months.
In this moment Leon (and
also me) has very good relations with the majority of the European volunteers
that live in Panevezys.
Other reason that made I
improve my English was I decided to go English lessons in Kalba.lt (One
language academy from Lithuania that was located in different cities and towns
of the country).
From January, I´m also going
to the English lessons of one European volunteer in one of the library of
Panevezys.
4. What did you do at JDC in your EVS Project (witch
activities did you organize, how was your feeling with the students and how did
the students feel with you...)?
In the first month I knew
the different groups of the center.
There are 8: Sport,
Housekeeping, Technology, Art and Theatre, IT, Music, Ceramic and Alternative
Communication.
Each group is coordinated by
one social worker and one assistance, except Alternative Communication (it is
coordinated by one assistance and now, from January 2015, it´s also coordinated
by other assistance).
As I said before, I had
conflicts in my job because I had problems with my listening English and, for
this, I didn´t make the tasks very good and I didn´t go some of the workshops
because I had to fix some things with my mentor and the director.
In the next month, October,
I was in IT.
The experience was the first
step that helped me to know the ambience of that place.
I had still some conflicts
but only with my ex- roommate, no in the group I was working.
In November, I was in Sport.
At the beginning I was quite
good and after I didn´t feel too much good because I felt as one student more
(no one volunteer that helped in the different activities).
Also, the social worker and
the assistance were more confident with one of the ex-roommate I had more problems and sometimes, when they were
absents, they placed confidence in this person.
For those two reasons, I
didn´t feel very comfortable and I didn´t do the activities very well.
In December, I returned to
It Group.
In this month, I introduced
one new idea (one little radio program called “Labas, Jaunuolai!”) and I began
to work along with four of the students of this group.
In January, I continued in
this group and with the idea of the radio program.
I showed the final edition
of the first program to the people of this group and to everybody four days
later.
They really liked it.
In the third program one
student of Sport group participated and in the fourth that same student and two
news (one girl of the house keeping group and one boy of ceramic group)
In the fifth (and in the
next’s), I worked with every students that had interest in this project.
I started this new format on
the first Monday of February.
In that month I changed the
group (Alternative Communication).
At the beginning Egle (the
name of the main person that coordinate this group) showed me the activities
she made with the students.
She worked with the students
in two ways:
a) With only one student
(She made different mind exercises with the
low-level intellectual students).
b) With the different groups
of the center.
After Egle gave me freedom
to offer ideas in different activities and sometimes she gave I worked with the
students as individual way.
I really liked it.
Sometimes we played Alias
together (the assistances and some of the students of different groups).
In this game, they speak
only in Lithuanian to I learn it.
I think I enjoy my
participation in this group and I´m going to continue in this group till the
end of my project.
On February too, I talked to
the coordinators of Music Group to coordinate the small discotheque that the
center organize in the hall every Fridays at 1 p.m.
They accepted and now I´m
the responsible of this activity.
The students of the center
are very happy with me and the other volunteers.
They are very grateful and
transmit quite love to us.
I remember one very nice
experience with one of the students:
The concert of an important
Lithuanian band “Lemon Joy”.
I was with my mentor, the
social worker of IT group (Egle) and one student of this group (Paulius).
We spent good time and I
bought two CDs from the band (One for me and the other for the student).
5. How do you feel now and what are your plans after EVS?
Now I feel very good.
I really like this experience.
I think it has helped me to grow as person and to open my mind.
After my EVS project, as I
said in the question nº2, I´m going to finish my studies of Artistic
Photography in my hometown and later I would like to continue to study because
the economical situation of my country is not so good.
I think I would study
Journalism because my favorite kind of photography is photo-journalism and also
I performed several radio projects that I really liked them.
If I study this degree, I
will be able to improve in both fields.
6. Do you recommend EVS for young people? Do you think that
this is good experience?
I don´t think it´s a good
experience, I think it´s a very good experience.
Every young people between
18 and 30 years should participate in this project.
It will be one adventure
they won´t forget.
JDC darbuotoja Aistė P.
ir/and
Voluntieer from Spain - Javier Gutierrez Lopez
Marie-Theres – tu labai linksma ir draugiška
mergina. Visada buvai aktyvi ir išradinga. Tu visada buvai apsupta centro
lankytojų, jie labai tave mylėjo. Šaunu, kad kartu su tavimi turėjome galimybę
kurti knygelę, kuri vadinasi „50 Šypsenų“. Labai smagu buvo pozuoti nuotraukoms
ir pamąstyti, kas mane verčia šypsotis. Dabar dažnai atsiverčiu savo nuotrauką
knygelėje ir prisimenu tave.
