Alex in Latvia on EVS - 2009

Well, I’ve been here for almost a month now, and some early impressions are starting to form. As far as the weather goes, it has been more consistently cold then I was expecting, I mean before I arrived I knew it would be a cold winter, but the average temperature even now is much lower than I expected. The warm stuff I thought I was bringing for the winter is now in daily use in the autumn, we received a snapshot of what the winter would hold for us last week when there was a day of freak snow. It was blizzard-like, and served to illustrate how I may have underestimated the Latvian winter.

This, identified in October, is a very manageable situation, and already I am making enquiries into where a guy like me gets hold of more significant cold weather gear. By winter I will be kitted out and (fingers crossed) ready for anything!

As far as the living arrangements go, the first speed bumps have been hit on the road to happy families, nothing out of the ordinary or anything you wouldn’t expect from a group of under 25’s living together; people not washing dishes, not drying dishes, bathroom not being cleaned, etc.

Leaving aside these more trifling matters (I have never heard an argument that could convince me that an able-bodied person is unable to or shouldn’t have to do their own washing up) the more serious consideration was to do with shared foodstuffs, bread, pasta, etc, and where the money should come from. We decided in the end to introduce a kitty system, whereby everyone puts a set amount into a pot at the beginning of the week and from that we buy things all these little essentials that everyone uses. This should, at least keep everyone happy with regards to basic food, and hopefully head off the “Who ate my last...?” arguments which do no one any good.

And so the domicile is shaping up nicely. We have a rota for cleaning the bathroom and hallway weekly, and are managing to keep the kitchen in a reasonable state most of the time. As far as my digs go, I’ve reshuffled the furniture and am lobbying the system for a desk and chair.

As far as work goes, my job has been both varied and challenging. Most days I function as a language assistant in the English lessons run at the centre, focusing on the speaking side of things. My classes range from adults who already have good knowledge, through high school pupils who know a lot of English but lack confidence, and on class of two 10 year olds and a 7 year old. This last one was dropped on me last minute, I am on hand to fill in for Natasha when crisis arises, and it was actually much easier then I had expected. We had a good text to work from, and once I had got them laughing it all went fine. The secondary school pupils are a challenge in a different way; the text is useful but very boring, so we need to change the pace from time to time to keep people interested. I was at something of a loss about how best to do this, but fortunately for me I was helped by fellow office working volunteer, who has experience working with children in France and suggested singing; we pick a song that everyone knows (for example, “We Are The Champions”) and I write the lyrics up on the board. We talk through it, I explain words they are not sure about, and then we all sing, their nervousness quite overpowered by my enthusiastic (if somewhat tuneless) contribution. The other diversion was actually suggested by one of the students, she suggested that we prepare cards with basic words on them (car, tree, road etc) and each person has to take a card and describe the thing to the others, who guess. An amusing diversion which is actually excellent for developing both their confidence and vocabulary, which I have quite shamelessly adopted in my other classes!

The adult classes are usually small, and more advanced, requiring more intense conversation and careful correction to ensure that they are learning and improving.

The other work we do in the centre is the organisation of volunteer projects for the local population, both foreign and domestic. This can entail talking people through the EVS process, discussing potential seminars and voluntary work in our town, and organising youth projects and exchanges for young people in Europe. In practice office life is usually quite relaxed, it is only when we have a deadline for project submissions that it can get really hectic. Then we will be working late discussing what sort of projects we could run, brainstorming ideas, and then in my case either taking the ideas in bullet points and writing them up, or proofing documents written by others in English. All in all the workload is manageable, and there is more than enough to keep us busy and out of trouble.

So, what else? Well, I am still in quest of a guitar; this is proving a challenge because Rezekne is a very small town, with only one music shop. This obviously makes it something of a seller’s market, and so when I was in at the weekend the bloke in the shop, an incredibly nice man whose one flaw, it would seem, was the somewhat inflexible position he took to his massively overpriced instruments. I (in my very limited Latvian) tried to explain that I was a volunteer, that my funds were limited. Although he agreed that volunteers are generally a good thing, he was unable to get the price down as much as I wanted. We fenced a while longer, in an incredibly good humoured way, and in the end I left, promising to be back in November when I had more ready cash. He warned that all could be different by then, and the time for action was NOW, but I cheerfully resisted.

I left the shop feeling, despite the failure of my mission, very good. This had been, I realised, the first time I had actually communicated in a jovial fashion with a Latvian stranger.

My Serbian Adventure - by Barney Smith - 2009

My Serbian Adventure
by Barney Smith

As I reflect now on my summer experiences, my memories are tinged with sadness. Days after my return from Serbia, I visited my grandfather in hospital. Although frail, he had lost none of his enthusiasm for life or his fascination for the world. Despite the trauma he and my grandmother had been through a year before at the loss of their daughter, my mother, from cancer, he had lost none of his determination or his incorrigible sense of optimism. As I write this article a week after his death, I find it hard to believe that I will never again be able to listen to his sound advice, that I will never again be able to sit and reflect with him about his experiences of life. It is to my grandfather, an inspiration to me in so many ways, that I dedicate my recollections of summer 2009.

**********

(In the picture: Barney with the group of international volunteers)

The Serbian border guard could hardly conceal his amazement. “You’re going to Belgrade? But where’s your car?” I could scarcely blame him for being surprised. There I was, a British citizen with a Kuwaiti residency stamp in my passport, crossing from Romania on foot, carrying a huge rucksack, speaking to the guard in Russian, hoping it was close enough to Serbian to make myself understood. Fortunately it was. “Welcome to Serbia,” he said cheerfully in English, as he stamped my passport. I was on my way.
I had chosen Serbia's fourth largest city, Kragujevac, as my destination for my latest international volunteer project this summer. Although I had been to the former Yugoslavia before – my travels had taken me to Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia – this was to be my first visit to Serbia and I was intrigued by the prospect of visiting a country as yet untouched by mass tourism. Fascinated for as long as I can remember by eastern European culture and history, I had taken the opportunity to make a brief stopover in one of the EU’s newest member states. On a rainy Wednesday morning in mid-July I had found myself on a Wizz Air flight from Luton to the Romanian city of Timişoara, famous as the birthplace of the revolution which would topple dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu and lead to his execution by firing squad on Christmas Day 1989. By the time I had finished sight-seeing the next day, my options for direct onward travel had been limited, so I had taken the train to the border town of Stamora-Moraviţa. From there, in the absence of any public transport, my only option had been to walk across the border.

Now safely in Serbian territory I took a taxi to the border town of Vršac and travelled by bus to Belgrade. After a night in a city centre hostel, I took one of the many buses heading south. By chance I found myself sitting next to one of my fellow volunteers; as we approached our destination we wondered, with some trepidation but also much excitement, what experiences awaited us. On arrival in what was to be our home town for the next two weeks, we met up with the other volunteers, as well as the group leaders, Kosta and Vlada, and Alex, who represented the local volunteer organisation, Viktorija. We walked to the site of our project, the 21 October Elementary School, named after the notorious date in 1941 when thousands of the city’s residents were murdered by the Nazis. This was also to be our accommodation and home for the next two weeks.

One of the most intriguing aspects of international volunteer projects is the variety of backgrounds and nationalities of the volunteers. The other participants came from Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Ukraine and the USA; although the official camp language was English, I had ample opportunities to practise my French, Russian and basic Spanish, as well as learn some Serbian words and phrases. The volunteers included students of a variety of subjects, as well as a beautician, a speech therapist, a judge's assistant and a university professor. We spent the first weekend exploring the town, settling into our new accommodation, getting to know our fellow volunteers with the help of games, and organising a rota for cleaning, preparing breakfast and cooking dinner. The variety of countries represented at the project resulted in us sampling a wide range of national dishes from different parts of the world. Lunches were to be provided by the local student cafeteria, a treat given the quality and quantity on offer. Our visits in the town included the grammar school, the aquarium, the weapons museum, and the Museum of Genocide, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the 1941 massacre. We found that the city had a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere and that we were made to feel very welcome both by the local volunteers and activists and by the people of Kragujevac.

(In the picture:Volunteers on local transport)

Having adjusted to our new surroundings and thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, we were ready and eager on Monday morning to start work. The aim of our international volunteer project was to renovate the outside of the school. This involved painting over graffiti and working to improve and beautify the grounds; we set to work picking up litter, trimming the hedge and cutting the grass. Once this was complete we were ready to begin painting; this was our main job to which we devoted most of the two-week placement. By the end of the project, we could take great satisfaction in the results of everyone’s hard work; those countless hours of working our way around the outside of the school with our rollers and brushes had paid off. We felt that with the start of the new school year, which was just weeks away, the staff and students would once again be able to take pride in the appearance of their establishment and enjoy a more pleasant learning environment.

(In the picture: group of volunteers taking a walk together)

During the project, because of our early-morning start to the working day, we were able to make the most of the late afternoon and the evening to enjoy our new surroundings, as well as to benefit from the very diverse Serbian traditions, culture and entertainment. Our activities included an evening barbecue, paintball, bathing in a nearby lake, swimming in the town's open-air pool and jogging. We decided to work through the second weekend in order to enjoy our free days at the end of the project, with the work behind us. Together with activists from Viktorija, we hired a coach and travelled south to the northern border of Kosovo. En route we stopped at Kraljevo, an important transit town to the south, where we enjoyed strolling in the sunshine and sipping the ever-popular (with me anyway!) Turkish coffee; we also visited the Žiča Monastery, famous as the first seat of the Serbian Archbishopric. We were to spend the night in a youth hostel, owned by the municipality of Kragujevac, in Kopaonik National Park; as the sun set over the Balkans we took the opportunity to explore the beautiful surroundings. After a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast, we climbed the peak of Pančićev Vrh, more than 2000 metres above sea level, for a panoramic view into Kosovo. It was hard to believe that, just a few years earlier, this tranquil setting had provided the backdrop for the horrors of some of Europe’s worst ethnic strife since the Second World War. Kosovo’s recent declaration of independence was bitterly contested by most of the Serbs we met, many of whom blamed the NATO airstrikes on Serbian targets in 1999 for accelerating the province’s moves towards self-determination. As we returned to Kragujevac, we enjoyed spectacular views of the mountains as well as the Ibar River, which the road followed for much of the route; our journey also included a visit to the Studenica Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Back in the 21 October Elementary School, our work complete and our two-week project sadly behind us, it was time to pack our bags and go our own separate ways; for me this involved an enjoyable few days visiting the Serbian capital, Belgrade, as well as Novi Sad, dubbed the ‘Gibraltar of the Danube’, and Subotica, Serbia’s gateway to Hungary.

Back in my adopted home, Kuwait, where I teach French at one of the Gulf state’s British schools, I find myself in a setting which could not be more different. The rivers and mountains of the Balkans have been replaced by the palm trees and the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula; hills and rolling countryside by dust and sand; church spires by minarets; the sound of the disco by the call to prayer; the da and ne of Serbian by the na'am and la of Arabic; pubs and clubs by coffee houses and the diwaniya; the latest Western fashions by traditional Arab clothing. It is this diversity which for me makes world travel in general, and international volunteer projects in particular, so fascinating and so rewarding, and why I look forward with so much enthusiasm to my future travels.

email: barney.smith@gmx.at
SR21-09 Kragujevac was hosted by Young Researchers of Serbia – Voluntary Service of Serbia from 17/07/09 to 31/07/09.

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POST SEASON EVENT 2009

Francesco, our International Volunteer Programme Co-ordinator, reports on the Post Season Event held from 23rd – Sunday 25^th October 2009 in Brighton at the Whitehawk Youth Centre.

Every year it is great to meet up with many Concordia volunteers during the annual Post Season Event: the atmosphere is always extremely friendly and I do enjoy meeting new friends and catching up with old ones. This year there were 20 of us, 3 Concordia staff members and 17 volunteers, and we spent the weekend between volunteering in the local area, games, drinks and cultural activities.

On Friday evening, we had an abundant and delicious meal prepared by Fiona with the help of the volunteers and, following the consolidated tradition of all Concordia’s events, we played a few silly games and then had a few drinks and time to chat.

On Saturday, we woke up to a grey and rainy day…not the best thing to have when you are supposed to do some outdoor volunteering. However, our group wasn’t discouraged at all and managed to work hard and cheerfully for the Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project. This project is a collection of allotments which was converted in 1994 into an environmental project for the benefit of the local community. The work consisted of building a path and at the end of the day we were very pleased to see the big difference our efforts made.

(In the picture: working at the Moulsecoombe Forest Garden)

(In the picture: our brand new path!!)

We headed back to the accommodation in the late afternoon, had a warm shower, a hot meal and then ready to go out into town to enjoy the Brighton White Night, with lots of music events and clubs open until late at night. A large part of the group ended up in an 80’s and 90’s revival disco, which had everybody dancing until 3 am.

On Sunday we had the great opportunity to meet a group of 11 volunteers from the UK and Barhain in the Middle East who are currently participating in an exchange programme through VSO called GLOBAL EXCHANGE and whom we invited to spend a morning with us. It was great to hear about their experience and Concordia volunteers offered in exchange a drama performance of the highest quality which had as the theme “Volunteering with Concordia!”. It was absolutely great and hilarious! I don’t remember laughing that much in ages… :)

(In the picture above : group from Barhain giving a presentation)

(in the picture:...one of our great performances!)

So, 3 days went really fast and we had fantastic time together. I would like to thank all the volunteers and staff who attended and helped with the running of the event, with a special thanks to Helen B and Helen P for arranging the volunteer work and the driving.

(Francesco Bonini, International Volunteer Programme Co-ordinator)

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Moscow Backwoods – Bitsevsky Park -2009

(In the picture: the volunteers at work!)

Moscow Backwoods is a two-week, environmental project based in Bitsevsky Forest, a Natural Historical park located at the South-western edge of Moscow. This once in a lifetime experience provided an opportunity to better understand conservation and Russian culture. The ability to live with and be shown around Moscow by Muscovites helped the group to gain an insight that we would not have gained had we visited as tourists. Despite it only being a short-term project, I believe that Moscow Backwoods was an excellent life experience.

I have to admit to having some apprehensions before going to Moscow, which were primarily caused by what I had seen on television. So after arriving at the Park, late Thursday evening, after having got lost on the Metro during rush hour (thankfully a female attendant acted out where I should go in front of a crowd of people) I was starting to wonder what I had gotten myself into. However, all my worries disappeared after the warm welcome I received from the people of the Park and by the rest of the group.

During the project we stayed in the gym of a local school that was one stop by metro away from the park. The accommodation was more than adequate as we slept on gym mats and had the use of a shower and warm running water. The volunteers of the camp prepared the food with two people taking it in turn each day as part of the cooking team. This was a great idea as it gave us the chance to experience the national dishes of each other’s countries.

We arrived at the park at 9 a.m. each day to start our conservation work. On the first day we played various games to help get to each other better. The work took place at various locations around the 18 square kilometres of territory that the forest covers. Our main task was to deal with clearing the forest of both litter and areas that had been damaged by fires which are prohibited within the park. Other work was centred around the main administration buildings of the park. This included maintenance on a special nature trail for blind people and helping to design and decorate an open-air classroom. My personal favourite was helping in the planning and execution of the Bicycle rate that is organised every year in the forest for members of the local community. During the two weeks we also had the opportunity to work in another park within Moscow and to visit many others. This gave us all a great overview of the different environmental work that is being carried out in Moscow in order to preserve the city’s natural habitats.

One of the best parts of the project was the large number of excursions that had been organised. There was very little that was not covered, with many tours of the city and visits including the ballet, Moscow Zoo and a local monastery. This was fantastic as it allowed us to see the different elements of Moscow life and experience a bit of what the city has to offer.

(In the picture: Graham with the rest of the group during a night out in Moscow)

When I decided to go to Moscow, probably the last thing that I expected to be doing was to be giving a television interview to Channel 1 Russia, but it happened. The previous day we had been told that a camera crew from a local channel would be waking us up the following morning, as they wanted to film the project and the daily life of us volunteers. This was a big surprise and a very weird experience trying to act normally and not look at the cameras. A few days later we had to do the same thing all over again as the main television channel in Russia came to film us for the day. This trend continued over the two weeks and three television and two newspaper interviews later, I can safely say that we became well accustomed to life in the media.

Despite visiting some of the best sites in Moscow and being on national television, it was often the smaller activities and the free time spent at the school or the park that provided the highlights of the camp. One such highlight was ‘Moscow Families’, where the group split up to spend the evening with a family from Moscow. This was great as it allowed us to meet other people from the Moscow area and get a taste of home life in the Russian capital.

(In the picture: Graham and the group of volunteers)

What truly made the time special was the effort that the Russian host volunteers and theemployees of the park put into welcoming the foreign volunteers. I believe that this was the key factor to the success of the camp as it allowed the group to become great friends in such a short period of time. Their enthusiasm for the project and their willingness to help out with translation and problems faced by the foreigners of the group was incredible. This invaluable contribution to the experience of the international volunteers cannot be overstated.

The project was a very rewarding and authentic experience that went way beyond the work at the park. It allowed the group to make a difference and help the local community. I would recommend the project to anyone.


Graham Haselgrove

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Joe's arrival to EVS in Austria - 2009

"Doing an EVS really makes you feel part of an international community, and already I feel like I'm making some great friendships through it."

Hello all, my name's Joe and I'm currently doing my EVS project in the town of Klagenfurt, Austria, where I'm working for 12 months in the office of the Landesjugendreferat Kärnten - the youth department of the regional government. I got here at the beginning of September, and was welcomed by Heidi, my boss and mentor, who picked me up from the airport and showed me to my accommodation before taking me out to try some of the local cuisine (which is amazing, I hasten to add!). I'm living in a student hall attached to the university in the town, and my room is basically a small studio flat - bedroom, bathroom and a little cooking area are all included.

At the project so far I'm mainly helping out in and around the office, doing odd admin tasks related to the office's work as the EVS sending organisation for this part of Austria. I'm in the fortunate position of having studied German before, so the language isn't posing too many difficulties - although I am having a bit of trouble getting the hang of the local dialect, which is idiosyncratic to say the least. I've also had the opportunity to take a 3 week language course at the university, which was really useful and has also helped me make friends among the Erasmus students studying here. The hall where I live is very international, full of students from across the world, and it's been really interesting to get to know them all. I've also been attending far too many dodgy student parties, but that's neither here nor there...

I've also managed to do a bit of travelling, with visits to Graz, Salzburg and most recently Vienna for my on-arrival training. The latter especially was really rewarding, as I got to meet volunteers from all over Europe working across Austria. Doing an EVS really makes you feel part of an international community, and already I feel like I'm making some great friendships through it.

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