Ciao and Guten Tag!

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, Italy. Here they support people affected by poverty. Both counseling and emotional, as well as very practical with services such as canteen, food and clothing emporium, solidarity clinic and dormitories. I chose this project because their work is so important for society. Poverty will increase in the future and more people will need help. At Caritas, I want to experience what this help can look like in practice.

My ESC adventure with Caritas in Jesi started in March and will last until the end of September. So far, I have not regretted it. From the very beginning, I felt welcome at Caritas and in Jesi. The people here are great and Jesi is a small but lovely town in the beautiful Marche. Nonetheless, being here is no walk in the park. Language barriers and the feeling of loneliness often get to me, sometimes overwhelmingly intense. But that´s part of such an adventure and I have to learn to deal with it. I'm curious, what experiences, challenges and surprises still awaits me 😁

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European Solidarity Corps and Servizio Civile Universale volunteers

Ciao! It's Louise. Today I would like to speak about the connection that exists between ESC and "Servizo civile" (SCU) volunteers. As an ESC volunteer, my experience is different from the SCU volunteers in several ways. For one, I am an international volunteer coming to Italy for six months, whereas the SCU volunteers are Italians staying in Caritas for one whole year. Second, the SCU volunteers work in just one service for a three-month period (Centro d'ascolto, cucina, emporio or reception). I, on the other hand, move between different areas of Caritas each day, giving me a wider variety of tasks and responsibilities. This also means it took me longer than them to adapt and become efficient, but after just a few weeks or months, I became more independent in every service, whereas they have to adapt to a new service every three months. I met the SCU volunteers of Caritas during my second week when they returned from their training. I had the chance to work alongside ...

My experiences with migrants in Caritas

Hello everyone! It's Louise. Today, I'd like to share with you two actions in which I recently participated. They taught me a lot, both on a human level and in terms of the concrete challenges involved in welcoming and supporting migrants in Italy. Welcoming migrants on their arrival at the port Two weeks ago, I went with Marco D’Aurizio (President of Caritas Jesina) and other workers of Caritas Ancona to welcome a group of 276 migrants who had arrived on the Ocean's Viking (a boat that rescues migrants at sea) at Ancona’s port. We were there at 8am, under grey skies and a cold wind, ready to hand out breakfast: a bottle of water, an apple, a filled brioche, and tea for those who wanted it. The reception was very closely supervised by the police, which made the organisation very rigorous, but also a little tense. At first, we let people sit down, take time to eat and warm up. But soon, the police were pressing us to get the migrants onto the buses waiting nearby. So, we h...

Volunteer Oct24. 3 months so far!

Ciao, Hola and Hi! I’m Río Rojas Mayorga and it's been 3 months since I'm an ESC volunteer here in Caritas Jesina. Let me update you briefly about my experience! The arrival and first week in Caritas was a mix of emotions between the excitement to start and the confusion of all the new people and information we were bombarded with. At first we didn't have a schedule and it was a little bit messy but, I'm glad I shared so much time with my project partner; it was nice having someone in the same situation. First month Once the schedule was set, we had to adjust not only to the work but also to the people we shared the time with. As all the services are done with local people, at first it was difficult the communication as I had no words in Italian, but I was gladly surprised to find out my will of talking and sharing was lovely appreciated and corresponded, I found out the language barrier was a challenge but i wasn’t fighting it alone. My birthday arrived eventually an...

From Europe to Jesi

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