Our City Health Week: A Three-Week Immersion into Community, Health, and Action in Trnava
From June 4th to June 24th, the historic city of Trnava became the stage for a meaningful and unforgettable ESC team volunteering project: City Health Week.
Organized and coordinated by the local association Youth for Equality, this three-week volunteering experience brought together a diverse group of international volunteers with one shared goal – supporting community well-being through creativity, connection and action.
Throughout the project, volunteers took part in a programme prepared and supported by Youth for Equality, while also having space to contribute their own ideas, interests and skills. Together with the Youth for Equality team, they supported different community activities, helped with practical preparations and gradually contributed to the implementation of the City Health Week programme.
What followed was not just a series of activities, but an opportunity to learn, cooperate, meet the local community and discover what volunteering in an international team can look like.
We laughed, we supported one another, learned from each other and left profoundly inspired.
Here’s how it all unfolded.
Week 1: Building the Foundations of Connection and Curiosity
The first week focused on getting to know each other, understanding the project and its objectives, discovering the local community and preparing volunteers for the activities ahead.
From the very beginning, we took part in ice-breaking activities, team-building games and group reflection that helped us get to know one another and learn how to cooperate as an international volunteering team.
Working in different groups allowed us to connect with every participant, creating a dynamic and inclusive atmosphere in which everyone could gradually find their place.
Our discovery of Trnava began with the game Mocný opasok, an interactive city exploration that led us through the streets of “Little Rome”, solving riddles and discovering stories behind the city’s medieval charm.
This was followed by a geocaching adventure that encouraged cooperation, communication and exploration of the local environment.
These activities helped us become more familiar with Trnava – not simply as the city hosting our volunteering project, but as the community in which we would spend the following weeks.
We also took part in Slovak language activities, helping us learn useful phrases and better understand the local culture.
An important part of the first week was learning more about the health-related topics of the project and the local context. With guidance from the Youth for Equality team, we helped prepare and carry out a small health survey among residents of Trnava.
Rather than approaching the community with assumptions, we spoke with local people and listened to their perspectives on health, lifestyle and community life. Volunteers supported the collection of responses and later helped reflect on and present the findings.
This gave us an opportunity to practise communication with local residents while also developing a better understanding of the topics that would shape the activities in the following weeks.
Week 2: Contributing Ideas, Preparing Activities and Connecting with Nature
During the second week, the project gradually moved from exploration towards preparation for the public activities of City Health Week.
With guidance and support from the Youth for Equality team, volunteers actively contributed to the preparation of the upcoming Health Festival.
We brainstormed ideas together, discussed what might be interesting and accessible for different groups of local residents, and helped develop interactive activities related to topics such as physical well-being, nutrition and mental health.
Different volunteers contributed according to their interests, experience and skills. Some were more interested in creative activities, others in communication, health topics, visual preparation or working directly with people.
From games about nutrition to activities encouraging reflection on emotional well-being, volunteers had opportunities to bring their own creativity into the programme while receiving support from the Youth for Equality team.
This process was an important part of the volunteering experience itself. It was not only about preparing a public event, but also about learning how an idea can gradually become an activity, how to cooperate in an international group, how to divide roles and how to adapt an idea according to feedback from others.
The atmosphere was collaborative and creative, and volunteers learned from each other while preparing different elements of the programme.
A highlight of the week was our participation in Upracme Slovensko (Clean Up Slovakia). Together, we supported a local environmental activity by helping clean a public space.
It was a simple but meaningful way of contributing directly to the local community and connecting environmental responsibility with healthy and pleasant public spaces.
We also had opportunities for informal team activities and discovering the surrounding region, including a hike to Smolenice Castle. These moments helped strengthen the group, offered space for informal reflection and created connections between volunteers from different cultural backgrounds.
Week 3: Supporting the Activities and Meeting the Local Community
The final week brought together everything we had been learning and preparing.
One of the main activities was the City Health Week Festival, where Youth for Equality, together with volunteers and local partners, created a welcoming space for local residents to explore different aspects of health and well-being.
Volunteers supported the Youth for Equality team with the practical preparation and implementation of the festival and actively engaged with participants throughout the event.
Local residents could join different activities related to movement, physical and mental well-being, creativity and healthy lifestyles.
Children and adults participated in games and interactive activities that volunteers had helped prepare together with the Youth for Equality team.
For volunteers, this was an opportunity to see how the ideas discussed during the previous weeks could work in practice. Depending on their interests and confidence, they supported different parts of the programme, explained activities to visitors, interacted with local residents and helped create a friendly and inclusive atmosphere.
Another important experience was our participation in Učiaca sa Trnava (Learning Trnava).
Here, volunteers supported Youth for Equality in delivering games and interactive non-formal education activities for local students. Some volunteers helped with practical organisation, while others interacted directly with students or supported particular parts of the activities.
We also supported activities connected to the Community Run, organised in cooperation with the local running community. Volunteers helped with practical tasks, interacted with participants and supported the welcoming atmosphere around the event.
One especially memorable moment was our visit to Trnava Town Hall, where we were warmly welcomed by the Vice Mayor of Trnava.
The meeting gave volunteers an opportunity to present the volunteering experience, share what we had been doing during City Health Week and learn more about the local context. It also showed us how cooperation between civil society, volunteers and local institutions can contribute to community initiatives.
What We Learned – and What We’ll Carry With Us
How do you summarize such an experience?
It’s difficult to put into words.
During these three weeks, we were not simply participants following a programme. With support and guidance from Youth for Equality, we gradually became active contributors to it.
We learned how to share ideas, listen to other people, cooperate in an international team and contribute our own skills and creativity.
Some volunteers felt more comfortable with communication, others with creative preparation, research, sports or interaction with the public. The volunteering environment allowed everyone to contribute in different ways while also trying something new.
Going outside your comfort zone can be difficult, especially when you are living in another country and communicating in languages that are not your own.
But the project created a supportive environment where volunteers could learn by doing, make mistakes, ask for help and gradually become more confident.
The office and preparation meetings became spaces for exchange, laughter, reflection and problem-solving. At the same time, the most important part of the experience happened outside – in our encounters with the people of Trnava.
We interacted with residents throughout the project: while conducting the survey, during community activities, at the Health Festival and through other local events.
These encounters reminded us that when you travel somewhere, the most important part of a city is often not its landmarks, but its people.
Our final days were dedicated not only to completing activities but also to reflection, evaluation and dissemination. Volunteers looked back at what they had learned, selected photographs and materials, shared their experiences and helped document the project through different communication outputs.
City Health Week was therefore not only about health.
It was about community, volunteering, learning, cooperation and human connection.
For many of us, it showed how international volunteers, when provided with guidance, support and space for their own initiative, can actively contribute to activities created for a local community while developing their own skills at the same time.
Final Podcast
