In this article i would like to share my personal experience during this program, what I had learned, and why is it important to participate in volunteering. My name is Nina Mačicová, I am 21 years old and i am living in Trnava. Our topic was aimed on European Mobility Week. We are all participating on this topic in our daily lives, whether we realise it or not.
Our group consisted of ten volunteers, eight of them from abroad, Turkey, Romania, Portugal, Spain and Italy, and two locals from Trnava. We had a lot of diversity in our group and we did not know each other, so the first week was mainly about getting to know ourselves. We had sports day, teambuildings and intercultural night, this way we had the chance to communicate more and learn something from every culture. During the first week, we were also spreading our knowledge about Mobility and shared our fears and expectations. We also did surveys and talked to people in the streets, we asked them questions about Mobility in Trnava. It was an important step because we tried to understand the main problems that citizens have or what they like while using public transportations and what kind of transportations is mostly used. The second week was aimed at creating workshops and we were promoting upcoming festivals. One group created a school workshop and other groups created activities for the festival. I participated in a group with a school workshop for kids in ages from twelve to fourteen, it was a challenge for all of us. Some of us never worked with kids or created a project before, we had to overcome some obstacles, think about what we want to create and why we want to create it. Our main goal was to teach kids something about Mobility in a way that is interesting and playful but effective for learning. Creating a school workshop teaches me a lot. It taught me mostly how to communicate in a work environment, but most importantly that kids sometimes need individual treatment. It taught me that communication is key in relationships and how important it is to be patient while teaching someone something new. Before the festival, we were promoting it by giving out flyers, for almost all of us it was a step out of our comfort zone, because we never knew how others would react to us, but in the end it was worth it, it is important to overcome our fears and not be afraid of being seen. The festival taught me how to work quickly in unexpected situations and how important team work is, how to talk to others about mobility in a way that is quick and effective, either with kids or adults. Then another highlight was the Community Hike to Katarinka. It was a really peaceful and joyful day in nature. We all enjoyed it, we cooked some sausages and marshmallows and hiked.
So, why is it important to participate in volunteer projects ? I can tell that this project taught me a lot. I learned new information about sustainable lifestyle, how to improve the way I live or what I am already doing well. I have learned a lot of new and interesting information about Trnava and how this city is trying to progress when it comes to sustainability. I enjoyed teaching others Slovak language and seeing how others feel about Slovak culture, we shared our cultures and respected them. It showed me that diversity is beautiful. I felt the importance to travel and be open to diversity, because we can help each other develop personally and share sustainable ways of living from other cultures. It was a great opportunity for personal growth and growth when it comes to work in a group, sometimes we have more capacity then we think we have. That’s why I am saying yes to volunteering !
Nina from Slovakia
