Volunteering is a way of making an impact from one’s true kindness. My name is Sofia, I am an ESC volunteer and I would love to share my experience with you. If you asked me a few years ago, I’d never guess that I would be writing this article. To volunteer meant to pick up trash for free to me most of my life. Even though cleaning up the planet is important, you can help in many other ways. I want to highlight the helping part as it brings significant satisfaction to oneself. There is no greater joy in the world than seeing the positive impact of your actions done from the true depths of your heart.
I am from Slovakia, a little village close to Trnava, but my university is in Prague. The sad truth about my country is that young people leave for better opportunities in education and work. I myself am one of them and that is one of the main reasons I have decided to join the volunteers in European Mobility Week. I do not want to leave my country behind, in fact I want to see it thrive as it is my home. This opportunity has given me a chance to help the community I so gladly talk about when I am abroad and to part my ways with Slovakia.
You may have some rough idea as to what European Mobility Week means, but let me explain from my own experience. The message is to spread awareness about sustainable mobility and be part of a change. We all live in this world together, we share the very ground we walk on every day. The thing is, it is not so easy to recognize as it is only natural to see ourselves in a separate bubble from the rest of the world. This is a week that tries to pop the bubbles and let everybody see that their actions are not meaningless, quite the contrary, they can contribute. I make these claims as a former non-believer. It was always so easy to look the other way and just proclaim myself powerless. Both you and I are part of a community, and community is the power.
It is so refreshing to work in a team with like-minded people. The word multicultural describes us the best. I’ve had an opportunity to work with people from Portugal to Indonesia, which has opened my eyes to how different cultures are. Even despite our differences, we have found so many common passions and we can call each other friends this fast thanks to the first week of volunteering. We’ve participated in team-building activities which have deepened our bonds in fun and unexpected ways. The daily morning energizers seemed like such a hassle at the time, but now looking back, I am going to miss them. The team-building activities are an important part of the getting-to-know-each-other process, but for me personally, working together on an assignment is a way to bond. You share a common goal, all of you contribute with your ideas, find a common ground, see how you work and most importantly, you achieve the goal together. The whole first week of preparing the festival was like this to me. We had entered the second week as a team.
It was time to execute the festival with all our might. The program was diverse, with school workshops, breakfast for cyclists, a hike to Katarínka and, the cherry on top, the festival day. I’d love to mention the breakfast as my favorite part. Even though I was not a cyclist myself, I got to enjoy all the food. All jokes aside, I enjoyed every day of the week with all the learning opportunities. I actually liked talking to people about the festival and spreading our message of a better future, where mobility is sustainable and the city is lush with greenery.
To wrap up, I have to mention the last week of volunteering. Do you remember the satisfaction I talked about in the beginning? We all felt exactly that from being able to help, to make an impact for the better with this festival. And the best part, it was our shared success. It is now time to finalize, create project ideas for the future and to document our experience. This is my way of preserving the memories which I’ll always hold close to my heart.
Sofia from Slovakia
