Tugba on EVS in the UK - 2012

"Before I came here I heard about England; there are red phone boxes at every corner , double deckers are all around, nobody go outside without an umbrella , people drink tea at 17.00"

I am 29 years old and from Turkey. I have been in Brighton in England for over 7 months.There is a cliche among EVS volunteers which is ''Time flies when you are doing EVS.'' First I have to tell you this cliche is very true , yeah it really flies!

Here I work for YMCA which is a charity organisation for community and young people. Mostly I join the sport sessions to support youth workers, recently I satrted to run my own sessions as well. The variety of social activities is really wide here.So I gain many experiences in different areas. Actually this is the biggest important thing about EVS, you cannot even imagine how many new different experiences you could have and how much they teach you during your EVS. As an example , I was an extravagant person before and I never managed to organise spending my money wisely. But here, I have learnt how to use my money effectively. So even the factors you might consider as difficulty (like EVS Money is limited) can teach you a lot.

I want to mention about my time in England a bit more. We all know there are some stereotypes about cultures , nations and countries. Before I came here I heard about England; there are red phone boxes at every corner , double deckers are all around, nobody go outside without an umbrella , people drink tea at 17.00 and English people are a bit cold and formal... I cannot say telephone boxes, double deckers disappointed me but it made me suprised how friendly and welcoming English people are, the opposite of their grey and cold weather. EVS gives you the opportunity to experience it on your self.


And of course the main purpose of EVS...
Yes, working as a volunteer gives you the sense of fulfilment and real satisfaction as you would not expect. Especially I felt in this way when I worked with kids with special needs. It is so easy to approach them, you can even communicate with them by eye contact and it sometimes tells much more than verbal communication. This is an experience which you have to have it on your own to comprehend what it really means.

I can tell you even more about my own EVS experience and elaborate it, but it would be boring. I hope you will enjoy your own EVS experience.

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)

Read more about Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project >>

Read more about Barhain >>

Read more about VSO Global Exchange >>

Successful North South Preparation Weekend June 2009

(in the picture, participants during a session)

From the 12^th to 14^th June 21 participants joined the second preparation event in Brighton for volunteers going to overseas projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The preparation took place at the Whitehawk Youth Centre near Brighton, which has basically become Concordia’s second home, as we run many other events there throughout the year.

It was amazing to have such a large group of participants, and it was even more amazing to see that the age range of our groups has changed and our projects are starting to attract volunteers over the age of 30; as well as the traditional 18-25 year age group. Our group ranged from 18 to 50 years old.

Most of the participants had already booked a place on a volunteer project before joining the preparation weekend and India, Nepal, Kenya, Botswana and Tanzania were among the destinations chosen. Other participants instead came to get a better understanding of what Concordia is and what opportunities are available with our North South Programme.

The weekend had a gentle start on Friday with a delicious vegetarian meal prepared by our fantastic kitchen team. This was followed by ice breakers, games and a brief introduction to Concordia: it is always good fun to play silly games and especially name games that help get people together! After that there was the chance to have a drink and socialise.

On Saturday participants started the day with a group building exercise and then straight into a very interesting debate on what volunteering in the South meant for them. The day was really intense and continued with more activities exploring various topics such as cultural awareness, volunteers’ motivation and tricky situations they might find themselves in. Finally, during the last session volunteers could talk informally to staff and past volunteers, who were eager to share their experiences in The South.

By the end of the afternoon, as you can imagine, we were all quite tired, however not enough to prevent us from going for a walk by the sea and an evening out in Brighton! We went to a pub in Kemptown, which is a lively area also full of venues and clubs.

On Sunday we briefly introduced the wider context of the global relations between Northern and Southern countries. After that, an intense Health and Safety sessions provided lots of practical information to the participants, who were left feeling much more reassured about all the technicalities of the preparation for their journey.

At the end of the weekend, the feedback from the participants was very good and they all left feeling more confident in their ability to face new challenges and were eager to join their volunteer project.

I would like to conclude this report with a huge “thank you” to all the volunteers who helped us both with the running of the sessions and the logistic aspects of the weekend. This event would have never been as successful without their incredible help, enthusiasm, commitment and skills. So Thank you to Laura, Tej, Abi, July, Mari and also Helen and Fiona!

Finally, thank you to all the participants for their incredible contribution and positive energy!

(in the picture: the participants at the end of the weekend!)

Read here about more dates available for the North South Preparation weekends

Concordia Post Season Event 2008 - 24th-26th October report

Now I know I say this every year but I honestly believe that this years Post Season Event was the best yet! We had around 25 volunteers join us in sunny Whitehawk for a weekend of information sharing, volunteering, games, food and fun. At every Post Season Event we spend Saturday either volunteering or undertaking global education activities. This year we were particularly keen to volunteer as the weekend coincided with CSV’s (Community Service Volunteers) Make a Difference Day - a nationwide initiative to encourage volunteering and Saturday 25^th October was the biggest annual day of volunteering in the UK.

Our contribution to Make a Difference Day was volunteering at one of our new UK projects, Stanmer Organics. Stanmer Organics is a co-operative of individuals and groups based at an 8 hectare site at Stanmer Park in Brighton. They are committed to using the land for organic food production which is sold locally with the aim of reducing road travel & air pollution and being sustainable.

Our first stop was at an apple orchard where we collected apples and pressed them using a traditional hand operated apple press that made a surprisingly large amount of delicious apple juice - several buckets full in fact!

Also based in Stanmer Park is the Earthship a pioneer project in sustainable building techniques. “The Earthship is the most sustainable facility available in England with all electricity and water flowing freely from nature” (Low carbon website).

Mischa Hewitt who was greatly involved in the design and building of the Earthship joined our group and very kindly gave us a very interesting and honest tour and talk on the design of the Earthship, and sustainable buildings. Thank you to Mischa for taking time out from his busy weekend to join us. For more information on Earthships check out www.lowcarbon.co.uk

No post season event would be complete without some get-your-hands-dirty volunteering, so once we had been shown around the Earthship we assisted John and Ben on their allotment planting trees and picking vegetables. The trees were an evergreen hedging plant Elaeagnus ebingeii which make a superb windbreak and also have edible berries and were part paid for by Concordia thanks to the money that Chloe won for us.

Needless to say we went out on Saturday night and painted the town red… well actually we painted it white as Brighton had a number of free events running to celebrate White Night – the night the clocks change. There was free access to the Pavilion, a variety of street performances to enjoy and of course more pubs per square mile than anywhere else in the UK!

On Sunday we ran a global education session on Millennium Development Goals that were created by world leaders in 2000 and aim to reduce global poverty by 2015. Many of the targets look unlikely to be met and we joined the Oxfam led campaign “In My Name” to pressurise world leaders into doing more. For more information go to www.whitebandaction.org

All in all we had a fantastic weekend and it was great to catch up with some old faces and meet some new volunteers. Every year the post season event gets bigger and better and we can’t wait for next year so we can do it all over again! We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who contributed to making it such a success and so much fun.

Concordia Team

Click here to see more pictures from the post season event.

Click here to see the pictures for the "In my name campaign"

Chloe Foster office volunteer 2008

This article was written by Chloe for the Brighton University website (see link below)

"Chloe is studying towards a BA (Hons) Education.

I am writing this with a huge smile of my face as I am honoured to have won joint third in the Student Community Prize Competition. I volunteered with Concordia; a local charity who host UK community projects. They set up, send and receive international volunteers for short and long term projects of all types. Projects range from restoration, conservation, archaeology, construction, arts, festivals, children's play-schemes or teaching.

I first discovered Concordia in February 2007 after a meeting with @ctive Student, which helped me to discover my interests and potential and they recommended Concordia to me. Later I enrolled on the 'Concordia Coordinator Training Course'. I spent 4 days learning how to be a coordinator. My role involved leading a group of ten volunteers at a ten day health festival project in May 07. I enjoyed my experience so much that when I was offered the chance to carry out an internship as part of my degree in Education I jumped at the chance and got back in touch with Concordia. In the spring this year I spent ten weeks with Concordia being involved in numerous roles including training, administration and advertising. Alongside my volunteering I also carried out a research project on volunteer motivations.

I am looking forward to going to Germany this September where I will take part in a community restoration international volunteer project. By going overseas I hope to gain a truer insight into more of what Concordia do. On my return I plan to continue volunteering in their office alongside my final year of studying and can't stop spreading the word of how great volunteering is!"

[Chloe eventually went to the project in Germanyand now we are waiting for her report! Concordia Team]

read this article on the Brighton University website on http://www.brighton.ac.uk/careers/jobs-volunteering/active-student-case-study2.html