From Europe to Jesi

Hungary, Portugal, France, Austria, Spain, Basque, Poland, Germany and Italy. When nine people from different european countries sit around a table, it's either a small political conference, or a happy gathering of European Solidarity Corps volunteers.   Last weekend we visited our colleagues in Cingoli. They are ESC volunteers with the Italian Red Cross and Vicolocorto is also responsible for their project. Until now, we only knew each other from stories of our common mentor Giulia and a small online competition about the Eurovision Songcontest. That's why we were very happy to finally meet in person. A joint city walk through the beautiful Cingoli (it absolutely deserves the name "Balcone delle Marche"!), the obligatory stop at the ice cream parlour, dinner at the pizzaria and card games until late at night. Little by little, we got to know each other better: Nine young people from nine countries with different ages, languages, backgrounds, interests and plans...

Yes, the idea of talking about personal thoughts and feelings in front of a crowd of strangers is really a bit scary. That's what we thought too when we were asked to speak at a public event about our voluntary service with the ESC. We had no idea what to expect and therefore prepared ourselves well: Summarised our motivations, experiences and future plans on notepads, drew little posters and practised the introduction in Italian. But in the end it was quite relaxed. We sat together with the organisers in front of about 20 people and Carolina - our tutor from Vicolocorto - spontaneously translated our talk into Italian. Afterwards, we had a snack and drank together. Sometimes the imagination is worse than the actual happening - you can also say that about the ESC 😉   To draw attention to projects, share experiences and perhaps inspire others. This was the purpose of this public event on 12 May in Jesi by Vicolocorto, to wich we were invited to talk.  The core of the eve...

 My name is Kamila, I came from Poland and I'm 19 years old. I've started volunteering in Caritas in February.  The story of me coming here is a little bit complicated. I really wanted to do an ESC project since I was... a little bit younger teenager. I was inspired by my sister, who did it after her studies, a few years ago, but since I was probably around 13 years old during that time, I was definitely too young.  During my last year of high school I was really overwhelmed and decided to take a gap year.  I didn't want to stay in Poland during that time, and I recalled about ESC programme, so even before the exams I began searching.   Initially I wanted to apply for a project in Ireland, but in the meantime my parents convinced me to go to university so I threw that plan away. I was studying for few months, and during that time I was doing some works in community, like Food Not Bombs, but I still wanted to do the ESC project, so I've decided to temporarily dro...

My name is Simona, I´m 27 years old and I´m from Germany. After I finished my studies, I decided to do a voluntary service with the European Solidarity Corps (ESC). This is an EU programme for young people to promote a social and diverse Europe. For me, it's a great opportunity to broaden my horizons abroad and contribute to a good cause.    I think that´s important in order to become sensitive to problems and grievances in our society and way of life. For me, charity is not only a religious commandment, but rather a part of being human. Because don't we all hope for a more considerate community and social participation? However, my desire to volunteer abroad is not only motivated by my faith. I want to better understand this world and my own role in it. And I want to get to know myself and my personal limits better. In my past, I've learned that this works best when you step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself.   That's how I ended up at Caritas in Jesi...

The organization that we’re doing our project in, is Caritas located in Jesi, Marche. It is a part of the charity organization Caritas Italiana, which was created in the 1970s . Here, in Jesi the service is mainly focused on helping those finding themselves in difficult social and economical situations, for example people suffering from poverty, or refugees. The local organization is constructed both by workers, local volunteers and volunteers doing servizio civile , and us, people doing European Solidarity Corps. Caritas Jesi offers a lot of different faculties, such as Food and Clothes Emporium, Canteen, the little clinic, Casa delle Genti and dormitories. The most notable ways in which we - European volunteers - can help, is by working in some of these faculties and helping other volunteers. We can work in: Food Emporium - in this place the work revolves mainly around selecting and cleaning fruits and vegetables, that would later be "for sale", for the people in need. We...

When I decided to do voluntary service abroad, I had absolutely no idea how to go about it. I had questions upon questions. Where do I want to go? What do I want to do? How long do I want to stay? Can I afford it financially?  So I took out my laptop and entered the jungle of different initiatives, organisations and offers. But I soon realised that I have a completely different problem: my age. I knew that by the time I could start the voluntary service, I would be at least 27 years old. And with that, I would have reached the age limit of many voluntary services abroad. Disappointing and incomprehensible for me.  That's how I became aware of the European Solidarity Corps (ESC). And the more I looked into it, the more excited I became about the possibilities: 👍 The age limit here is 30  👍 A huge range of project topics, such as inclusion, health, environment, culture, sports, etc.  👍 The Projects last between 2 and 12 months  👍 A wide choice of project coun...