The European Solidarity Corps is an EU program that brings youth from different countries together to support communities and address social challenges through volunteering. The author volunteered in Modica, Italy for one month, living with other volunteers from various countries. Through their hosting organization, they visited organizations supporting refugees and agricultural workers, and conducted workshops on discrimination. The experience improved the author's skills in areas like communication, facilitation, and community engagement. They hope to continue volunteering to promote social change.

1. LET'S DO IT
TOGETHER

2. LETS DO ITTOGETHER BY
ANOOSHA QAISAR
The European Solidarity Corps is a volunteering program introduced by the European Union to bring
together youth from different EU countries to create a better society by supporting helpless people and
responding to societal challenges. Volunteering also enables young people to acquire useful experience, skills
and competences for their personal, educational, social, cultural, and professional development.
Life together with 10 volunteers from Bulgaria, Poland and other parts of Italy in two shared flats is
interesting and sometimes challenging. But we get along well and we are developing our friendships. Conflict
management and group processes are useful knowledge here. But we are growing to become close friends
and that is nice. We volunteers are finding different creative ways to communicate with each other. One of
the main activities that brought us together was the team work.
The aims of this volunteering project ''Lets do it to Together'' is to embrace the values of solidarity, respect for
human dignity and human rights, and promote a fair and equal society in which non-discrimination, tolerance,
and solidarity prevail. Volunteers strive to enhance solidarity between people, while respecting their cultures
and traditions.
I was lucky enough to be a European Solidarity Corps volunteer in Modica, Sicily for one month. My hosting
organization was amazing Associazione Attiva-Mente. To be honest, my volunteering project is going to
finish at the end of April, but somehow it has been very difficult to leave this experience behind. It seems like
writing this article is the official end. But then again, there are no ends, only new beginnings. Well, here they
come, some stories from my volunteering experience I would like to share as I am still in Sicily.

3. Mediterranean HOPE
• As a part of our regular activities, we visited Scicli (a
municipality in the province of Ragusa, not very far from
Modica) and the organisation Mediterranean Hope. They
are running a project “Casa delle Culture” which provides
assistance, education, and leisure activities to refugees,
their families, and asylum seekers. We got to know the
premises and the staff of the Mediterranean Hope, the
asylum seekers and the refugees, in order to work better
with them . We had a walking tour of the city with
refugees during which we had a chance to understand
their life in Scicli. We also arranged different activities
such as a guessing game and a Culture Quilt to know
each other cultures better.

4. Caritas Diocesana of Ragusa
• We also went to the office of Caritas Diocesana of Ragusa where we learnt about the work of Caritas,
among others their Housing First method. It is the initiative to support homeless people by providing
accommodation. We had an informal meeting with one beneficiary of the program in her home to know
her better and understand her issues concerning the social life and the spaces where she lives.

5. Presidium of Caritas
• The last place we visited was a
seaside town of Marina di Acate. It was
a very emotional experience for all of
us. We visited the Presidium of Caritas.
First, we went for a tour to learn more
about the life of agricultural workers
from Romania, Tunisia, Albania etc. in
the so-called "transformed belt". This is
a huge area of greenhouses where
foreign workers are exploited and live
in extremely bad conditions. In
addition, we interveiwed the staff to
understand how they support the
agricultural workers in Marina di Acate.

6. Minors lives in marina
di acate
• Apart from this, we did an interveiw with chlidren living
there about their daily life and played different games to
entertain them in a meaningful way. The outcome was
very nice when we saw the cute innocent faces of these
beautiful kids and their energy.
• As usual, it seemed like time is flying too fast. Mainly I
concentrated on analysing my experience so far – what I
could do better, how to improve my participation in the
activities and what kind of new things I could do. Every
week we have Italian lessons and now i am able to speak
italian language with local people .

7. Liceo Scientifico Galileo Galilei afterschool workshop
• we conducted fun workshops in Liceo Scientifico Galileo Galilei in Modica. The workshops
covered topics of discrimination, stereotypes and prejudice. 13 wonderful students participated in
the workshop. We did the name game activity and energizer to know them better. We also did the
Potato Activity and Here I Stand activity to raise awareness that we all are equal, eliminate
stereotypes and recognize the uniqueness of each individual.

8. Personal project mental illness : myths and
realities
Mental illness awareness
means bringing down the walls of
stigma by sharing our experiences,
stories, and truths. It means
educating others on what mental
illness REALLY is and what actually
people thinking, and helping those
with illnesses know they are not
alone

9. Instructions:
• 1.Prepare the pieces of paper with Mental Health Facts and Mental
Health Myths using the list on the final page of this worksheet. Place them into
the envelopes - each should contain 8 Facts and 8 Myths. Remember to hide
which are Myths, and which are Reality!
• 2. Pair off students and pass out one envelope per student pair.
• 3. Invite the students to go over the pieces of paper together, working
together to separate the Myths from the Reality.
• 4. Give the class around 10-15 minutes for the activity, instructing them to
rearrange the papers into two columns or lists on their workspace.
• 5. Using the table provided, discuss the answers as a class:
• How can you tell a myth from a fact?
• Why does this difference matter?
• How do you believe mental illness myths impact anyone who has been
diagnosed with a mental illness?

10. Myth vs. Reality
MYTH
• Mental health illnesses are something that only
adults suffer from.
• Having a mental illness makes life much more
difficult. It’s tough to live independently when
you’re an adult, to look after yourself or find a
home.
• There’s no point in talking about mental illnesses.
Medicine is the best and only way to feel better.
• Some minorities are more vulnerable to mental
illness than others
• Mental illnesses make people violent, aggressive,
and dangerous.
REALITY
• Mental illness can occur in anyone, regardless of their age.
Children and teenagers can also develop mental health
conditions, such as anxiety, depression, or panic disorders.
• Not all mental health conditions are the same. Living with a
mental health illness, or being diagnosed with a mental health
disorder, will not necessarily prevent you from living on your own,
looking after yourself, or finding your own place to live.
• Just like with physical complications, mental illnesses require
more than medication alone. If you catch a cold, for example,
antibiotics will help - but so will a healthy diet and rest. Managing
and recovering from mental health issues involves seeking help
and talking to others. With patience and support, you can feel
better.
• Anyone can be diagnosed with a mental health complication,
regardless of their race, gender, religious background, or where
they live.
• More often than not, people living with mental health issues are
not dangerous or violent. In reality, those with mental health
complications are more likely to be victims of bullying or abuse.

11. • The time as a volunteer in Sicily has passed very fast. The
first week I mainly spent on understanding what is non-
formal education and getting to know the local life in
Modica. At the beginning I was a little bit worried that I
might have too much free time but now I understand that I
have many different activities here and I am very happy
about our first experiences in the facilitation of non-formal
education activities. The activities we facilitated tackled
different topics such as refraining from negative judgment,
myths about different religions in Europe etc. For me, free
time and work were well balanced, and I felt the support
from Attiva-Mente , FRSP and EKS.

12. THANK YOU, MESSAGE,
• I got used to about my life in Sicily. Everything became
familiar and I felt good there. I continued with my activities,
I had an opportunity to make suggestions what I want to do
(thank you, Attiva-Mente, FRSP, EKS team!) and I actually
felt appreciated as well. This one month was full of
challenges, surprises, sadness, overcoming my fears, deep
conversations, long evenings, amazingly good food,
communication problems, self-analyzing and growing as a
person. I am so grateful that I had this opportunity to do my
volunteering project in such an amazing place. And I am
grateful to people who made my European Solidarity Corps
experience so amazing Joining projects with young people
about developing their soft skills and raising awareness
about the importance of being eco-friendly is what I want
to devote myself to. Making new friends, growing
individually and becoming stronger together are one of the
reasons why I have so much inspiration for joining this
amazing initiative! But I believe that, given the opportunity,
I will do everything in my power to bring about change. The
Youth training Programs brings together students and adult
mentors from across the world to promote mutual
understanding, increase leadership skills, and prepare youth
to make a difference in their communities.

13. THIS PROJECT
IMPROVED MY
SKILLS SUCH
AS:
• CONTECT WRITING
• VEDIO MAKING
• SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
• MICROSOFT OFFICE AND WORD
• PROBLEM SOLVING
• HOW TO MANAGE BUDGET , TIME MANAGEMENT AND HOW TO USE TECNICAL STAFF.
• DIGITAL MARKETING
• USE OF WEB RADIO
• HOW TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH AND ITALIAN LANGUAGE
• ORGANIZE AN EVENT , WORKSHOP AND SEMINAR.
• FACILITATION TRANING
• TEAM WORK
• HOW TO START MY OWN NGO IN FUTURE
• STEM SKILLS
• ARTICLE WRITING
• ITALIAN LANGUAGE SKILLS
• PUBLIC SPEAKING

14. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT THE PROJECT HERE IS MY YOUTUBE VEDIO AND ARTICLE
https://www.ialmo.it/news/ialmo-news/lets-do-it-together-
dieci-giovani-europei-in-provincia-di-ragusa-per-conoscere-la-
rete-di-accoglienza/
https://www.ragusah24.it/2022/04/28/volontari-da-tutta-europa-
nel-ragusano-le-voci-di-chi-ha-partecipato/
https://youtube.com/watch?v=bbLrFqSGdxc&feature=share
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXVLJxpV-6A

15. THANKYOU
FORYOUR
ATTENTION