The Spirit of Europe

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 pizzeria 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. Looking at it this way, isn't it amazing and great?😊

Finally, we went for a little hike the next day. On white sheets in front of a breathtaking panorama, we had a picnic together and enjoyed the sun and life. And then our visit was already over.

Thank you guys, for the lovely weekend, your hospitality and good company 💙

For those whose projects end now: All the best for your future!

And to those who're staying a bit longer: Maybe see you soon!

Comments

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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