Hannah in Moldova on EVS - 2010

After a day of travelling I sighed a breath of relief as I met my mentor at Chisinau airport. We jumped into a taxi, not a seatbelt in sight, and one of my very first impressions of Moldova was the roads, or in places the lack of. Pot holes were swerved round on the lane-less roads as we drove up the wide highway and entered the capital through the ‘Gates of Chisinau’; two vast apartment blocks on either side of the road reminiscent of the USSR era. Yet, these were exactly the stereotypes of Moldova that I had heard back home; poor infrastructure and vast concrete blocks left behind from the Soviet times.


However, I was soon to discover that Chisinau, and Moldova as a whole, has far more to offer than what fits into these stereotypes. One of my favourite things about the city is its greenness. Vast parks are found in every district and tall trees line the majority of the streets. Another favourite is all the markets selling fresh produce from the countryside, second-hand clothes at bargain prices and flowers in all the colours under the sun.

I am living with a host, an elderly lady called Lydia, together with another volunteer. We have our own bedrooms and the flat is fully functional and clean. Living with a host provides a great insight into the Moldovan way of life, as well as helping with learning the local language. The latter has been a great challenge, especially as there are two languages spoken here. At first it was difficult to decipher which language was being spoken, let alone understand what was being said. I hope, however, that with continued language lessons this will change. The hosting project of ADVIT Moldova that I am working at is the ‘Aids Foundation East-West’. It is a small office with only three permanent staff, of which only my boss speaks English, which is a challenge. So far I have been involved with preparing for and participating in the Aids Memorial Day, which took place on the 16th May and was a great success. I am the only and first EVS volunteer with this organisation. Due to the on-arrival training and intense language lessons I haven’t been to my project much yet. However, I am really looking forward to getting stuck in and involved with the work that they do.

I have got to know fellow EVS volunteers and there is a great volunteer community in Chisinau. There are always things going on in and around town, which is the benefit of being in a capital city. The transport has taken a while to figure out and I’m still not quite sure which number bus goes where, but I hop on and hope for the best.

It is difficult to answer the question ‘What are your first impressions of Moldova?’ It is simultaneously everything and nothing that I expected it to be, if that is possible. I like the pace of life here, taking things day by day rather than continuously planning ahead. To be a capital city, Chisinau is very relaxed. I am still discovering new things every day and look forward to continuing doing so throughout my stay here.

Hannah's stars on Youth Networks see: http://blog.youthnetworks.eu/2010/07/my-first-impressions-of-moldova/

Hannah is spending 6 months on a European Voluntary Service (EVS) project in Moldova. If you are aged 18-30 and would like to spend 6-12 months volunteering in Europe see: http://www.concordiavolunteers.org.uk/volunteering-overseas/european-voluntary-service/how-to-apply/ to find out more.

Luke in Iceland on EVS - 2010

I have been in Iceland now for two months of an eight month stay. It is a truly unique country and it takes my breath away almost every day. It is an island half the size of Great Britain, but with a population of only three hundred thousand people, it feels much bigger. If you like vast and empty panoramas, countless waterfalls, a huge sense of freedom and a small town spirit in a capital city, then Iceland is definitely for you. Provided you don’t mind the bad weather of course.

I am working, through EVS, for an organisation called SEEDS (www.seedsiceland.org). Based in Reykjavik, they aim to promote understanding and environmental awareness by offering environmental/community project camps which usually last for two weeks. Short term volunteers come from all over the world to take part, and it is my role, along with a family of around 25 other long term volunteers, to organise and lead these camps. To date I have been involved in three camps, and I am currently leading a fourth. I have shovelled volcanic ash in Þórsmörk, just a few kilometres from the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcano and learning how to pronounce it as I did so. I have cleaned beaches and collected Eider down with local farmers in the remote Arneshreppur area, worked in an abandoned Herring factory made famous by Sigur Ros’ video ‘Heima and I have pulled up countless Alaskan Lupins (an invasive species) at Europe’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull. I have met many great friends along the way.

At the moment I am leading a workcamp in the small town of Hólmavík in the Westfjords region of Iceland. The past week has been really great. Working with 5 other volunteers from Russia, South Korea, Italy and the U.S, we have been helping the town prepare for its annual ‘Happiness Festival’. We were given free rein to devise some street theatre, and decided upon the theme of magic and sorcery according to the subject of Hólmavík’s famous museum. Dressed up rather ridiculously we cast spells of happiness on tourists and locals alike, in a town which was once voted Iceland’s happiest town. Next week the team and I will work on the hiking trails in the area, making sure they are properly marked and mapped. On almost every workcamp I have had the opportunity to mix with Icelanders, and I have had some great experiences as a result. I have just returned from a fishing trip out in the fjord, and a wonderful ride into the mountains with the unique Icelandic horse breed. It really feels as if I am getting a real taste of life here in Iceland, and it is great to share that with the volunteers on my camps.

Being a camp leader is difficult but immensely rewarding. We are expected to take care of everything from travel, accommodation and food, work on the project, organising environmental activities and finding things to do in the free time. You can imagine that making sure a group of people from all over the world are fed and motivated to work is hard enough, let alone making sure they take something valuable away from the camp. It is also difficult because as a leader it is your job to balance the requirements and expectations of your volunteers, your host in the local community and your boss. Having said all that, it is great fun. I have learned a lot about myself and I how I see my own place within it, and I have become a lot better at communication, especially with people whose first language is not English. It is great to be given the opportunity to learn from so many people, too, and I have been doing my best to make the most of it! I have rarely been busier in my life, but meeting a new group of people every two weeks, getting to know them, sharing ideas and values and being responsible for a group of strangers becoming lifelong friends is truly rewarding. On top of that, the work we are doing feels truly appreciated and worthwhile, and it is fantastic to get such positive feedback from all sides.. My biggest problem lately has only been saying goodbye to so many lovely people.

When I am not on a work camp I am based in Reykjavik, living in a house shared by many of the long term volunteers. They are a really great bunch of people, mostly from Europe, but also further afield. We have become a real family, and it is great to have a home to return to after 2 weeks on a workcamp. Reykjavik is a great place to live, and there is always something happening. When I am there I normally have a day off and a day in the office or helping with logistics before I start another workcamp and the cycle begins again. In a week or so I will begin another workcamp, the SEEDS ‘Photo Marathon’. Over twenty volunteers are coming to receive professional photography tuition and create an exhibition of their own work around a social or environmental issue here in Iceland. I am very excited to see the results!

All in all, every day I get the feeling that EVS was definitely the right thing for me to be doing right now, and Iceland is the place to do it. Thanks to EVS, the people I have met and the organisations with which I am involved, I have great expectations for the next 6 months! All the best from the land of fire and ice!

Luke is spending 8 months on a European Voluntary Service (EVS) project in Iceland. If you are aged 18-30 and would like to spend 6-12 months volunteering in Europe see: http://www.concordiavolunteers.org.uk/volunteering-overseas/european-voluntary-service/how-to-apply/ to find out more.

Joe in Austria on EVS - 2010

A little over three months from my last update, and I'm now on the home stretch of my EVS. The major item to report since then is that the application for the youth exchange that I described in my last post was accepted by the Austrian National Agency for Youth in Action and will definitely be going ahead. We'll be working with partner organisations in Spain, Italy, Slovenia and Hungary and will be hosting 35 participants in total, so it's going to be a big project. In fact it's only now that I've really sat down and considered what needs to be done that I'm able to appreciate just how big! It's daunting, but I'm excited about the challenge too. The fact that it will be taking place in my very last week in Klagenfurt means my EVS will be finishing with a bang.


In terms of what's been going on outside my project, by far the most interesting event was my television debut. The local TV station in Carinthia were filming an EU-themed quiz show and as part of this wanted to include a citizen from a different EU country on each participating team. They got in touch with my boss, who forwarded the email to me, and next thing I knew I was in front of the cameras answering questions with Irmgard and Max, a pair of medieval re-enactment enthusiasts whose team I'd been assigned to. The best part? We won! The prize was a holiday to Brussels, which I got back from last Saturday. That in itself was an interesting experience, in that I got a tour of the Parliament, sat in on a meeting and even got to meet an MEP. I appreciate this all sounds very far-fetched, but the attached picture will show that I'm not fibbing. The whole experience definitely has to rank as one of the most unusual and memorable things that has ever happened to me, and just goes to show that an EVS project is anything but predictable...


See Joe on TV again reporting on his trip to Brussels: http://kaernten.orf.at/magazin/studio/fernsehen/stories/453527/

Joe is spending 12 months on a European Voluntary Service (EVS) project in Austria. If you are aged 18-30 and would like to spend 6-12 months volunteering in Europe: http://www.concordiavolunteers.org.uk/volunteering-overseas/european-voluntary-service/how-to-apply/ to find out more.

Simon's report on his project in Kenya 2009

(In the picture: the volunteers and the members of the local community dancing together)

Ebusiralo, September 2009

Jambo. Welcome to my little review of the Ebusiralo workcamp, which I was fortunate enough to attend last year. The continent was Africa, the country was Kenya and this volunteer was more than a little nervous. However, remembering the maxim ‘be flexible’ I set off on what has been one of the most memorable experiences I have had to date.

Orientation in Nairobi from the Kenya Volunteer Development Association Director advised the gathered volunteers from many European countries and Japan that we would encounter cultural differences but essentially to go with the flow and if an doubt ask. We were also taken to Kibera to meet with the Kibera Youth Reform group. This is a self-started group, formed when the locally feared and armed young gangsters had lost many of their number due to violence. Their decision was to become a force for community support not severance. It is a remarkable story and the experience of Kibera showed those of us who have never experienced dire living conditions the worst we could expect.

Happily for us our project took place against the backdrop of beautiful hills and lush vegetation (despite much of Kenya being in the grip of an extended drought, you may remember the news footage?). However, the reason Western Kenya is relatively lush is that the seasons consist of short rains (about a 30-minute downpour most days) and long rains (which is what it says on the tin!). Don’t be put off by this, generally the rain is a temporary inconvenience, which does not get too much in the way of what you are doing and you learn to live with it. Our accommodation was a concrete house with a tin roof, set in a compound of about 5 other houses and we had access to a large communal rainwater tank.

Our project was about a 50/50 split of international volunteers and Kenyan volunteers. Despite the task essentially being advertised as construction it quickly turned out to be so much more (and far better for it). Remember the maxim? So I found my self one day digging trenches for a new teaching block, the next wheeling hardcore in a wheelbarrow for a mile time after time, the next helping to mix concrete, learning to lay bricks and so on. However, I also spent some time teaching English (being the only native English speaker in the camp) at the local primary school, other volunteers taught maths and science. Language in Kenya is very interesting. With English I did not really have a problem. However, as well as Swahili there are numerous regional dialects, which have commonalties but are not the same. Apparently using Swahili is equivalent to speaking very proper English in the UK, think of the 1940’s films!

(In the picture: volunteers at work)

The project subdivided the group into a series of committees for kitchen, health (cleaning and water), work and entertainment duties. This meant that the members of each committee would have to organise the entire work camp to ensure that the necessary tasks were performed. Undoubtedly the work committee enabled us to achieve the overall goal of the project (don’t expect a plan if you are starting from the beginning of a construction project!). However, the other committees were just as important in ensuring that we could survive (food and water) and had other activities to look forward to.

Having now carried buckets of water for drinking, cooking, washing and construction over what are laughably short distances by Kenyan standards I have a real respect for the value of water. And yes it is possible to have a perfectly good wash in half a litre of water. Our kitchen had no roof, which was ideal for letting out the smoke from the open fires over which we prepared all the meals but not so great at keeping out the rain! Preparing food for almost 30 people with three pans, three knives, some of the biggest wooden spoons I have ever seen (I kid you not, these were 3 foot beasts) and wood which gives off an aroma which had us shedding tears for every meal, is a significant challenge! And yet we did it with so much success that when I got home I felt like a child for the first day, marvelling at running water, gas and an oven. Did I really need those things?

(In the picture: Simon and the wooden spoon)

I quickly realised that the construction was a highly visible but ultimately not necessarily the greatest contribution we could make. It is the people that matter. Our interaction with the primary school, our chats to members of the polytechnic (‘A’ level years in England) and encounters with members of the community, enabled us to share our experiences and learn from one another. Money is not the only currency in the world. The community elders managed to procure an astonishing amount of materials from their community. Personally, I was deeply touched at the enormous kindness shown to me when I was sick in the first week of arrival (not food or water related I should add). Also our relationships with the Kenyan volunteers was (and still is) very important. We did everything together for three weeks and it was fascinating to swap tales of life experiences with them.

As for our leisure time, the entertainment committee did us proud! We visited numerous homes in the community and shared beautiful traditional Kenyan food with them, accompanied by storeys and sometimes music. We visited Lake Victoria, hiked to the equator (as you do) and visited a rain forest. Not bad for a construction project!

I needn’t have been nervous about going to Kenya as a volunteer (if heading out there keep mentioning you are a volunteer, there’s plenty of volunteer rates to be found!). The sheer kindness of people was amazing. Whilst there were challenges and some things could have gone differently I do not remember a day going by when were not laughing about something, it was a genuinely a happy experience. Many people have asked me if I would I do it again? My answer, when can I go?

If anyone wants to get in touch you can contact me by e-mail: simonbonsall@hotmail.com

Happy volunteering!

(In the picture: volunteers in a group photo)

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