Have you ever heard of the European Solidarity Corps?

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 countries, even if they are mainly limited to the EU

👍 👍 It´s EU funded. Food, accommodation, insurance, arrival/departure costs and even pocket money - all included.

So I finally registered on the ESC database, created a profile and started applying. The application process is a bit more complicated (e.g. you need both a sending organisation from your home country and a hosting organisation in the project country), but absolutely doable. My ESC volunteering adventure has started.

I think the European Solidarity Corps programm is a great EU initiative and a great privilege for all young Europeans who want to work for a social and diverse Europe. Here you can find more informations about it: https://youth.europa.eu/solidarity_en

Comments

Arrivederci, Jesi!

I can’t believe time has passed so quickly. It feels like yesterday that I arrived in Jesi and got a tour though the whole Caritas facility. But since then, six months have passed. This experience has been valuable to me in more than just one way and I will never forget the precious time that I spent here. It’s hard to put into words how much this project helped me grow personally and how much I learned while volunteering here. I’m so grateful for all of the people I got to meet during my stay in Jesi. My ESC project here gave me the opportunity to make friends from all over the world who shared a lot about their countries and cultures with me. Therefore, they made it possible for me to widen my horizons and it’s their fault that so many places got added to my travel list 😆 Of course, I also found a lot of new friends from this area who introduced me to Italian dinners (something I’ll certainly continue after coming back to Austria!) and who often planned trips to show me around the a...

Ciao, sono Emma!

Ciao! My name is Emma and I joined Caritas Jesi three weeks ago as the new ESC volunteer. I have only recently gratuated from school in my home country, Austria. After having studied for years, I could not picture myself attending university right away, which is why I decided to take a gap year. I wanted to use it to improve my knowledge of the Italian language, as I had already studied it at school. However, finding something suitable, even after I had learned about the European Solidarity Corps, turned out to be rather challenging. I eventually came across Caritas Jesi and decided to send in my application, which turned out to be just the right decision. After having completed all the necessary steps before my departure, I finally arrived in Jesi three weeks ago. As you can see, I haven't been here for long, but I already feel like being a part of the diverse, committed and unbelievably welcoming team of Caritas Jesi. At the beginnig, I had this fear of feeling alone in a foreign...

Ciao, cześć, hallo, hola, olá, salut, szia, tere and terve!

Ciao! It's Louise and Emma. Today we would like to share a wonderful experience with you, which we have made last Saturday. But first, we need to go back in time a bit… About 4 months ago, I (Louise) was called for my "On Arrival Training" (if you're wondering what is the OAT, go see our blog post on this topic ). There, I was lucky to meet other ESC volunteers who have the same coordinating organisation as us (Vicolocorto), and also live in the Marche region. I particularly bonded with Laura, a finnish girl who is doing her service at the Red Cross of Cingoli, and Madalena from Portugal, who is volunteering in Caritas Senigallia. After the training, we kept in touch and decided to see each other again... which we did. We visited the Frasassi caves, Ancona, and -more important for our story- at the end of August, we organised an ESC lunch at our appartment in Jesi, where we all cooked traditionnal dishes from our home countries. From that day, we had the idea to do s...

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