VolleyScience - Alexandra's stories

ALEXANDRA'S
STORIES
Volunteering
April - December 2019
VOLLEYBALL IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE.
WE ARE!

PARTNERS
Yellow Shirts Association - Hosting organisation
ProAtlantico - Supporting organisation
CONTACTS
website: www.volleyballscience.com
facebook: EUVolleyballScience
instagram: volleyball.science
youtube: volleyball.science
slideshare: VolleyballScience
linkedin: volleyball-science
e-mail: volleyball.science.eu@gmail.com
The full articles can be found on the website's blog in the category of
Volunteering stories, Alexandra's stories.
DISCLAIMER
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission
cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information
contained therein.
This brochure has been elaborated during the project “Volleyball is not rocket
science. We are!” (2018-1-RO01-ESC11-061246), funded by the European Union
through the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, in the
context of the European Solidarity Corps, volunteering action.

So, after travelling for eleven hours on a train,
one of the players of the Romanian team, and
also a volunteer (as all or almost all of the team
players were) picked me up from the train
station in Brasov and took me directly to the
Patinoarul Olimpic, more concretely to the ice
rink to have a little training about ice
preparation. Apparently there is this very
important task which is cutting the ice, basically
keep the ice sheet smooth and clean for the
stones to roll perfectly, I am not going to explain
the game here, that would take a whole new
article, I can only tell about my task - cleaning
the ice after it was scrapped, it does not seem a
very interesting role at first, but soon (like after
one hour), those little small freezing tasks
rapidly transformed into funny and cheerful
moments filled with laugh and music, thanks to
one of the ice technician’s playlist, that he would
bring to the rink, as well as his sense of humor.
I realized that this Championship was a very
important event for all curling fans, that
required a great team effort, and everybody was
willing to help, the team players, their family
members, and many other curling fans, some
that even came from Bucharest. I might have
been the only one unfamiliar with the sport, but
it didn’t matter because they welcomed me as a
part of their volunteering group as if I was one
big curling fan. Most of the volunteers were
staying until the end of the day, even if their
shift was over, they would stay to help a little
more and to watch the games. There was literally
no time for bad moods, the clock was running,
games were scheduled and everybody had to
commit to their tasks, even if that meant waking
up at 4.30 in the morning to start the 6am shift
(like me).
Even if my feet were cold, my heart was warm. I
was not a curling “afficionato” but I learned
about the sport, I have never volunteer for a
sport championship before, but I definitely want
to do it again, I didn’t know the environment, but
it exceeded my expectations. I am very grateful
for this experience and for all the people that
welcomed me so kindly. After this, Brasov has a
new meaning to me, and so does sport
volunteering.
My first sport volunteering experience in a
championship when Yellow Shirts, the NGO
I am volunteering for in Baia Mare, sent me
to the beautiful city of Brasov to help
organize the European Curling
Championships C-Division with others
volunteers, little did I know about curling
or volunteering for such an event. Soon
someone told me I would be “helping with
the ice”. The questions kept popping in my
head - how will I help with the ice as I have
never set foot on a curling ice rink before,
how would I be received there by the other
volunteers, and what the hell is curling?
Ok, I’ve watched some videos but didn’t
really understand the rules of the game,
and it is not the same as watching live.
My first sport
volunteering experience
in a championship
Sport Volunteering for Curling
Championship C-division in Brasov

This dark mountain with the little letters
BRAȘOV written on it, that captivates our
attention right away, seems to be hunting the
council square. This square, named “Piața
Sfatului” it’s located in the old medieval part of
town from where you can also visit the black
church “Biserica Neagră”, also known as the
biggest Gothic church in Transylvania.
What’s intriguing in the historical center is the
contrast of the imposing mountain behind the
piazza full of cheerful coffee houses and terraces
all over the place. The piazza and all the
connecting little streets, are so filled with life,
small shops, food, bakeries smelling so good,
that all these places together do not let you feel
frighten by the mountain. Instead, it invites you
to stay, to sit in the piazza and simply enjoy that
unique view. Maybe because tourism hasn’t
overwhelmed Brașov yet, in general, people
welcome you “cu plăcere" (with pleasure), host
you, talk to you, smile at you, and they are also
curious about your home country, your life and
your travel plans. The citizens of Brașov also
seem to be proud of their city, and they are
always willing to help, even if they do not know
English they will find a way to help you.
Any trip to Romania will not be the same without
a stopover in Brașov. And maybe it’s a good thing
that we cannot fully understand the mystic of
the city, as it is better not to uncover its
mysteries and just enjoy it as it is.
Located in the region of Transylvania,
Brașov is one of the largest cities in
Romania and it is surrounded by the
Carpathian Mountains. Many people
consider this place one of the most
beautiful cities in Romania, and some
people say it has a mystical vibe. Maybe it’s
the combination of the mountain and the
variety of colorful places so close to each
other; maybe it’s the weather as the city
seems to have its own climate, usually a bit
colder; maybe it’s the history, or maybe it’s
just mystery.
Although Brașov is a big city with more
than 250.000 people, you can still breathe
clean air due to its surrounding nature, and
you can also hear the birds singing very
clearly and feel the fresh air while walking
on the street. Brașov has this mystical
atmosphere that makes any walk in the city
enjoyable, even if it’s cold or raining,
particularly in the old part of town where
the mountain Tâmpa is widely visible.
The mystical city of
Brașov

Cathedrals and churches also guide me through
the streets, as they are spread all around the
city, for example if I see the Holy Trinity
Cathedral I know I’m getting closer to the
accommodation, if I see the Holy Cross Greek
Catholic Church, I know I am near my
coordinator’s office, if I see the cathedral Sfânta
Maria I know I’m close to the Sports Complex
Hall or “Complexul Sportiv” where the volleyball
team plays, etc, as there are many more
churches. Volunteering in Baia Mare can be an
exciting experience, not only because of the
project itself and the competences developed by
the volunteer as a person involved in the
community, and contributing to it, but also
because the city has a variety of NGOs with many
volunteers coming from different European
countries, eager to learn, participate and meet
new people, a true multicultural environment.
It’s interesting to discover the different projects
and it has been fun and challenging to work for
this project, fun because I am taking pictures all
the time and learning more about sports
activities, its organization and volunteering and
practicing sports photography; and challenging
because I am the only one in the project, so far.
To summarize, my feedback about this first
month in Baia Mare is quite positive, every day I
learn something new, I met new volunteers, in
general, people from the city are nice and
willing to help even if they don’t know English. I
have been able to travel twice already, the first
time to volunteer for another organization in
Brasov for a week, though it was work volunteer
related it was a great experience, and the second
time as “mini vacation”, visiting Timisoara and
Szeged in Hungary. Most importantly I’m
excited about the new activities that we are
going to carry out in the future and the many
things I will continue to learn and hopefully to
contribute as well.
The project focus on sports photography,
more concretely in volleyball, and though I
am a sports fan I haven’t played volleyball
in years, and although I like photography I
have never photographed sports before,
which can be quite difficult, so, I decided to
take the challenge anyway, and move to the
beautiful region of Maramures in Romania,
to participate in this new and exciting
project.
The city of Baia Mare is also beautiful and
the place exceeded my expectations, it’s a
city surrounded by nature, not only you
can see the mountainous landscape; you
can also see many trees and flowers when
walking down the streets. If you want to
feel the city you explore the old part of
town, go to the traditional markets, night
clubs, check the theater or go to the
movies; but if you want more contact with
nature you just walk to the “Parcul
Municipal Regina Maria” in the direction
of the Village Museum, to be closer to the
mountains and its fresh air. Also I don’t get
lost here, as I usually do, because the city is
quite easy to understand and its urban
design is not complicated.
First month in
Baia Mare
t has now been one month since I arrive
in Baia Mare to participate in a
volunteering project that will last for
nine months.

During approximately one week I joined a
youth exchange in the beautiful city of
Oradea, not to participate, but to take
photos of the daily activities. I was an
observant and a witness to their ideas,
discussions, presentations and interactive
games.
The exchange was done mainly to promote
voting for the EU by highlighting its
importance, but many other topics were
discussed such as problems and issues that
young people face nowadays, as well as
possible solutions; information and news
spread by the media; the structure and
functioning of the European Parliament,
among many others. From morning until
evening different activities were carried
out, and after dinner an intercultural
evening would take place, one night
organized by each nationality, and so we
had the Polish night, the Slovak and Czech
night, and the Romanian night, which
included a brief presentation about their
home countries, funny videos, traditional
food and dances, music, quiz games, and of
course palinca! I felt motivated by
listening and understanding the
participants’ points of view during the
debates and the discussions, but also to
witness their creative approaches and
original materials designed for the
assignments.
The non-formal education does bring people
together and facilitates the learning process, as
everybody is invited to share their views and
beliefs, and here all opinions matter, every voice
is heard and it can make a difference. During
this time we also filmed short videos of the
participants answering two questions for our
promotional video under the same topic -
promoting EU elections. It was interesting to
listen to their opinions once again, especially
about the issues and problems that they identify
in their communities and countries, and how it
affects them. My role was essentially to take
photos and to plan the promotional video for the
EU elections, as well as helping my coordinator
who was also present, shooting the videos, and
although I really enjoyed the technical task of
photographing a different environment, the
initiatives and the creative games and
workshops going on during the day, helped me
to become more engaged and committed to this
important role that was to capture the moments
and record them for the participants to have
special memories from this exchange. They gave
me topics to reflect on; I hope I got them some
nice photos.
One witness to
the youth
exchange

In regards to the sessions, they were more
useful and interesting than I expected, but as our
trainer said in the beginning, we should trust the
process, and that is what I did, I trusted that I
would learn something from it and I did. Non-
formal education is definitely more captivating
and it pushes us to be more participative and
engaged in the activities, easing the learning
process. Besides the fun energizers that kept us
from falling asleep in the morning, and the
games played in groups, there was also time for
reflection about our future, initiatives we can
develop in our own projects and future jobs after
the volunteering program, maybe even figure
out a new career path. Time to think about our
future was an important moment for me during
these sessions, as well as learning more about
the other projects around Romania and finding
not only what’s special about them, but what is
special about my project and what other ideas
can be put into practice with the help of the
other volunteers’ examples and perspectives.
To conclude, I suppose a very important part of
this unique experience is sharing experiences
with the other volunteers, inside and outside the
sessions. Getting to know other people’s stories
and experiences make us feel like we are not
alone and more often we discover people with
similar visions, ideals and beliefs. Sharing
experiences helps us not only in our
volunteering projects, but also personally,
empathy is good for our mental health and
sharing is a way of overcoming difficulties
together. This training program was not only
designed to teach us about volunteering, rights,
obligations and roles, but also to teach us about
solidarity and to encourage us, on our daily lives,
not only as volunteers but as global citizens. I
won’t forget this experience and hope to carry
with me the values and experiences learned on
to the future.
Let me try and resume a training program
that lasts for a full week, five intense days. I
believe no matter how high or low your
expectations are before coming to the
training, in the end you will be
overwhelmed by the experience. Though
the program is intensive, due to all of the
sessions scheduled from morning until
evening, making you feel tired and
exhausted, the good news is it only lasts for
5 days, the bad news is, it only lasts 5 days.
In my on-arrival training there were 13
different nationalities present, a true
multicultural environment pushing us to
learn more about each other cultures and
habits, embracing the differences and
discovering the similarities. The interest
and curiosity of meeting more volunteers
with different projects and from different
regions of Romania was so strong, that all
volunteers found time to talk with each
other between sessions, during the breaks,
breakfast, lunch, dinner and after dinner,
going out to spend the evenings together or
sometimes just hanging out in the hotel.
On-Arrival training -
one-of-a-kind
experience

The final prize was a chocolate, and kids were
especially happy about this but also very
enthusiastic to learn more about European
countries. It was interesting to see the families
playing the games altogether, but also the young
students curious and eager to test their
knowledge. The diversity of the participants
made it all more interesting and also the fact
that many people did not speak English, made
me practice a little bit more the Romanian
language, which was another challenge that I
gladly accepted. Apart from these activities, I
also had the chance to make a photo exhibition
with pictures I took from the city, another
challenge as this was a first for me, and a way for
me to think more about the city of Baia Mare and
how do I see it, found myself photographing a lot
of trees and parks. I guess this is my perspective
of the town. Overall this was a great experience
and my favorite part was the direct contact with
the community, talking with the visitors of the
museum, sharing the same enthusiasm and
curiosity for the games and the knowledge.Every group of visitors entering the
museum, would find the first stand with the
instructions, and for the groups that
wanted to play, a score sheet and a postcard
to collect stamps for every completed
activity were given to them. At the start
point there was a frame that could be used
by all visitors to take pictures, promoting
the museums’ night, the association
“Yellow Shirts” and the local volleyball
team “Știința Explorări”. Inside the tower,
visitors would see an art exposition, and at
the same time play games about European
Union, matching flags with countries and
capitals, and placing small figures of
monuments, each representing a European
country, in the respective country on the
map. After these two games, participants
would leave the tower going back to the
first stand, where they would play two more
games, one about sports, matching the
description of the sport with the correct
picture, and the second one answering few
questions about volleyball and volleyball in
Romania.
Museums’ Night -
Europe’s night and
Sport’s night
For the museums’ night event we
decided to promote Europe’s day,
celebrated on the 9th of May by playing
games about the European Union
countries, to promote sports by showing
some of the most popular and
traditional sports that are played
around European countries, as well as
promoting volleyball in Romania.

Well, the purpose of the festival is to
promote physical activity and a healthy
lifestyle, but now that I have been there and
experienced it I can answer this question
with more details. Imagine a typical music
festival, full of green spaces with colorful
poufs spread around, the street food, and of
course the bar somewhere near the stage,
but with a much smaller stage and not such
loud music. Now imagine that instead of a
band on stage, you have dance instructors
with a microphone inviting the audience to
join their workout making the participants
following their steps. And this is just a
small part of the festival.
There were all kinds of sport activities all
around the arenas and also in the garden
next to Cluj Arena. From 13th to 16th of
June (Thursday to Sunday), from morning
until evening, there were always activities
going on, for professionals and amateurs,
anyone who wanted to participate either to
practice what they already know and test
their physical shape, either to try
something new as the choices were many.
Volunteering for
the Sports
Festival
When my coordinator asked me if I wanted
to volunteer for a Sports Festival in Cluj-
Napoca, the first question that popped into
my head was “what is a Sports Festival?”
I was amazed not only by the quantity of sports
that were present, over 30 sports were
represented in this festival, but also by its
diversity: from basketball, beach volleyball and
handball to Yoga and Pilates, fitness, Zumba, to
horse riding, skate, karate, darts, golf, kayak and
even oina, the Romanian traditional sport
(similar to baseball), among many other sports,
as the program was very wide. Besides all the
sport activities, the music and the concerts,
there was also a major event happening on
Saturday, the tennis match that counted with the
participation of the well known tennis player
Simona Halep, filling the BT Arena with 9000
people. And that is a lot of people, at least in the
eyes of a volunteer.
It was kind of adventurous to work in this
festival, and challenging because I was the only
foreigner volunteer, and as I don’t speak
Romanian yet, it was sometimes difficult to
communicate with the participants, but at the
same time, a great Romanian lesson, as I learnt
so many new words in four days. As a volunteer
in this kind of festival you feel compelled to
participate in the activities as well with the other
participants and try out everything. I personally
think this was a great initiative to encourage
people to practice more sports, it definitely
pushed me, I forgot how great exercise, more
specifically dance, makes me feel, I hoped it
helped other people to discover or rediscover
the sport of their dreams too, as it is good for the
body, mind and soul. It was also interesting to
communicate with the instructors and the
professionals, got to know more information
about the sports represented, it was like being
an insider and an attentive observer. I’m glad I
was part of the event, it was my first sport
festival participation ever and I can’t wait to do it
again!

We started the event with a short quiz of seven
questions about Portuguese fun facts, and then
did a role play to present the most important and
touristic places of our country, starting in
Guimarães, (considered the birthplace of
Portugal, this is the city where the battle that
ensured Portugal’s independence happened);
then we moved to Porto, (the second-largest
metropolis after Lisbon, and currently one of the
main tourist destinations in western Europe);
after we stopped in Lisbon (Portugal’s capital)
and we finished our little road trip in the region
of Algarve, where Portugal receives many
tourists every year to enjoy the sea and the
beaches. Right after our role-play we invited
everyone to form a little train, going around the
tables of the terrace, dancing and inviting
everyone to join us again in Porto to celebrate
“São João” by listening to Portuguese popular
music and launching sky lanterns through the
sky.
Well, the purpose of the festival is to
promote physical activity and a healthy
lifestyle, but now that I have been there and
experienced it I can answer this question
with more details. Imagine a typical music
festival, full of green spaces with colorful
poufs spread around, the street food, and of
course the bar somewhere near the stage,
but with a much smaller stage and not such
loud music. Now imagine that instead of a
band on stage, you have dance instructors
with a microphone inviting the audience to
join their workout making the participants
following their steps. And this is just a
small part of the festival.
Portuguese
traditional
festivities - Arraial

We were finally celebrating our
Portuguese festivities by sharing this
moment with other volunteers, our
coordinators and the local community; and
also sharing more information about the
Portuguese culture and geography
presented in the forms of posters and a
small museum. We posted a map with the
main places to visit in Portugal, and short
biographies of the most important
Portuguese figures, the history of Fado, and
some translated poems and songs, as well
as pictures of traditional food, and most
importantly, actual food was served to all
the participants. I believe we can consider
this one of the most important aspects of
our event, as food is a great part of our
culture and daily lives (we are constantly
thinking about food) and it took one day to
cook everything, from the cakes and the
sweets, to the salty food (almond pie,
“pastel de nata” pie, small coconuts,
molotoff, “rissóis”, “pataniscas” of codfish,
”rojões”, there is no easy translation really,
the only way to know what this is, is to taste
it!) It was a pleasure to be part of this
Portuguese team, and I hope all the
participants learned more about Portugal,
enjoyed and most importantly, had fun at
the event!
Portuguese
traditional
festivities - Arraial

All of this, surrounded by nature and with a
great soundtrack, there was even a concert on
Saturday. The environment was great,
everybody was friendly, from the volunteers to
the people who had their own stands, either to
sell or to promote poetry, or just inviting you to
play games, sing in the shower (true - there were
shower curtains for people to sing behind, or just
read poems), making GIFs, writing words on a
pot to cook new poems, among others.
One of my favorite creative places was a small
table standing in the middle of the garden, with
an old type writing machine on it, in front of a
chair, just waiting for someone to sit down and
write, and you could write whatever you wish.
The event was, in my opinion, a big invitation to
creativity, imagination and inspiration. The best
invite one can get. I witness creative ideas, found
people with great imagination, and got inspired.
In conclusion I can only say it’s a pity that this
was just one event, and not a regular weekend.Street Delivery was one of my favorite
events so far, there was music, poetry,
artistic montages and many forms of
entertainment. This is the perfect event for
those who love words, but also for anyone
who is looking for a little bit of inspiration.
The festival, that took place in the Dacia
Park of Baia Mare, intended not only to
deliver poetry, but also to provide a
comfortable space for people to relax, enjoy
and to feel at home. You could go to the
garden with an hammock, or use one of the
puffs to seat and breathe the fresh air,
chilling out with friends, read a book, or
even play with your dog, or other people’s
dogs; or go around and play some of the
didactic games, like the ones we also had in
our stand, creating your own song by filling
out the blank spaces of Portuguese songs,
or taking up the challenge of writing a
poem with five words related to volleyball.
Street Delivery -
Inspirational
festival

It was nice to see how the kids behave so
comfortably around the volunteers and their
happiness when they see them. Once we are
there, it’s their work to follow our rules, and our
purpose to meet all their expectations, to have a
fun, play dynamic games, learn and enjoy. And I
am sure their expectations include a lot of
games! They need a lot of different activities,
otherwise they lose focus and attention, it’s a
challenge to keep them entertained and focused
for a long time. A challenge that Greentin’s
volunteers don’t fear and manage very well. I
learned that not only do we need to prepare well
for the activities by planning diverse games for
the kids, but that sometimes we can just follow
their lead and develop their ideas. Praise their
creativity and join them!
We went to two different schools, spent two
mornings in each school and although it was
only a short term experience for me, it was quite
meaningful and I very much enjoyed the time I
helped develop some of the activities. The
energizers, the games with obstacles, making a
paper kite, singing and dancing songs, a treasure
hunt, charades, prison ball, promoting sports,
including one morning dedicated to volleyball,
when two volleyball professional players joined
us to teach the kids volley and they all played in
teams. Kids really like activities that require
movement, to run, to catch, to jump, to dance, to
play team sports. I believe sport activities play a
very important role, the exercise is good for
their health, they like it and they have fun. Team
sports also teach them about cooperation,
mutual aid and support, working in teams,
increasing their team spirit.
In four days together with the Greentin
volunteers, and the volleyball players we
manage to develop many different activities with
the kids. Not only did we promote sports,
encouraging the kids to do more exercise, but
we also played didactic games, such as trying to
allocate different ingredients and foods into the
right categories of the food pyramid, teaching
the kids about a healthy diet highlighting the
importance of eating vegetables and fruit every
day in stead of sweets and burgers. If playing,
learning and having fun at the same time was the
goal, then I believe we accomplished it.
It’s 9 AM in the morning, we are travelling
to the village to meet the kids from school
during the summer break. I am joining the
volunteers from Greentin organization, to
assist and participate in the activities they
have planned for them. It’s my first time
making activities with kids and I am
curious to see how they will react to the
different games, they are really eager to
play! First question they asked when we
arrived was “Are we going to do something
today?”
Activities with kids
from Oarța and
Bicaz schools

As a football fan, it was a really nice
experience for me to volunteer for the
friendly match played between
Universitatea Cluj-Napoca team from
Romania and Paok Salonica team from
Greece, to celebrate the 100th anniversary
of Cluj-Napoca. The task was simple, the
people were friendly, I had the opportunity
to re-encounter other volunteers from the
Sport Festival, plus I got to see the match
and be a part of its celebration.
I have never been so close to a field while a
game is being played, it was a different
perspective and a great feeling to be so
close to the field where the action is
happening. Before the match the national
anthems were played and during the 15min
break there was a laser show accompanied
by music and images from Cluj-Napoca
team playing throughout the years.
Although Cluj-Napoca team lost, in the end
I was happy to be having been a part of this
special day, and participate in its
celebration.
Celebrating the
100th anniversary
of Cluj-Napoca
football team

This past weekend I had the opportunity to
volunteer for the Be You Association for
“Be You 3x3 challenge 2019 powered by
Meda Park” in the beautiful city of
Târgoviște. Another challenging
competition I was happy to help out and
another challenge for me, as this time I was
also in charge of taking pictures. I was one
of the photographers walking around the
court with the camera trying not to annoy
the spectators, to catch the best moments
in a finger’s click, a process that I am still
learning. I also learned more about 3x3
basketball, also known as streetball or
street basketball, this sport is played on
only a half court with just one basket and it
started in the streets of New York city by
the boys who did not have many other
opportunities to spend their free time.
Former basketball player Richard Kirkland,
even says that streetball is more than a
game, he says it was a “way to express
yourself”. In fact, I might say that this is
one of the sports where you witness more
determination in the players, apart from
the strategy, the fast movements and the
team work that is present in any team
sports, I would say that to play 3x3
basketball attitude is vital.
In only three days I saw more than 200
matches; took more than 2000 pictures,
watched players of all ages, young and
elder, professionals and amateurs, as well
as wheelchair basketball players and gazed
at their amazing moves and perseverance.
In between and surprisingly (at least for
me) the UK freestylers team (Andrew
Wilding, László Puskás and Tarryn Algar)
apparently big names in the freestyle
world, delighted us with their
demonstrations defying gravity and
jiggling basketball balls like they were
oranges. I was amazed by their talent! All
matches condensed in three days, from
morning until evening, witnessing all the
competitiveness, diversity and joy, the days
and went by as fast as the games.
This was a great experience for me to practice
sports photography, and I have to thank the Be
You Association for letting me do it, and a way to
admire the show in a different perspective, that
is, through the lens of a camera. I discovered a
new city – Târgoviște is very beautiful and played
an important role in the past in the history of
Romania (go check it out it); I rediscovered a
sport that I didn’t know much about and found
out I really like it; and once again, met amazing
people who made me feel incredibly welcomed,
spending time with me, assisting me and even
helping me improve my photographic skills. I
could not be more grateful.
3x3 challenge = 3
days x competition,
fair-play and
surprises

Following one of the UN Youth 2030 goals which
is to increase their “engagement with young
people and support them in realizing their
rights” I would add that the young climate
activists are not only looking for their rights to
be fulfilled but for the duties and obligations to
be fulfilled as well, and the commitments to the
Paris agreement is just one of them. They are
asking for responsibility and for action. They
might bring hope and faith in humanity but as
young activist Greta Thunberg says “more than
hope is action” that we need.
Younger generations nowadays also have more
access to information and their knowledge is a
powerful tool for change, as well as technology,
to spread the word and to rise their voices and
we need to hear them, because they might be
young but they have the right to be angry to a
future that is being stolen from them. Most
importantly the young climate activists are not
just blaming or pointing fingers to the
government, politicians and big companies, but
rather focusing on solutions and providing
answers. They have done their research and they
know that the resolution to this big problem is
within our reach, and this is why they keep
fighting for climate justice, creating and
designing better equipment, devices and
procedures to help the environment,
continuously coming up with more and better
ideas.
That it should combine knowledge with
critical thinking, include information on
sustainability and climate change and
advance gender equality, human rights and
a culture of peace. For today’s celebration I
chose to reflect on climate change, young
people everywhere are bringing awareness
to this crisis, pushing boundaries and
asking all generations to do something
about it. They don’t want to be another
witness to this issue, they want to be the
solution; they don’t want to conform to the
situation, they want to act on it. Young
people today are more aware of the
consequences and will suffer from them,
more than any other generation before;
they also care more about our planet’s
biodiversity and the risks that future
generations will face.
Youth International
Day

As many young people I also look forward to live
a decent life and wish to have a meaningful
participation in this world, it is not always easy
to find our place, and it seems to be more
difficult than ever now, the worries and
concerns of the older generations are much
different, they wish for a safe retirement, young
people wish for a safe climate. If the priorities
are different, then maybe everything else should
be different too, and to quote Greta Thunberg
one last time “If solutions within the system are
so impossible to find, then maybe we should
change the system itself”. Or maybe young
people are just bringing old ideas to a new light,
either way; we do need their courage and
bravery to continue to pave the path for the
future.
Like UN Secretary-general António
Guterres I also believe in the power of
young people and I want to join in their
vision of the future and not “lose faith in
humanity”, a so common used expression
that clearly resumes many adults state of
mind, which consequently reflects on their
carbon foot print. I believe that everybody
has the obligation to respect and protect
the environment. I believe that as much as
we found a thousand different ways to
destroy it bit by bit, we can also found other
thousand ways to heal it and rebuild our
ecosystems. But I also believe that some
entities have the power to make decisions
and changes at much bigger levels than we
do just by recycling and changing our diets.
If all the parties were meeting their
commitments and fulfilling their
obligations would we really need to fight so
hard for our rights?
Youth International
Day

During these three days, not only we shared our
passion for volunteering and motivations, but
also stories from past experiences in projects,
events, youth exchanges, school/university
exchanges, among many others. By sharing
experiences not only we contribute with new
ideas, methods and good practices, but also we
learn from other’s experiences as well.
One of the exercises we did in group was to say
what volunteering means to us, and for me it has
been about sharing and learning, I feel like I
have learn so much in such a short period of
time. This exercise was done using the “dialogue
method” which I didn’t knew before, it consists
in sharing stories, experiences or an opinion in
group without interruptions, meaning, we are
not allowed to ask questions to the person who is
talking, we should only listen, it was the first
time for me and I definitely recommend this
method.
VoluHUB - an
encounter of
volunteers for
volunteers to talk
about volunteering
That’s what we did for three consecutive
days. We were a very big and diverse
group of volunteers from different parts of
Romania and other countries of Europe,
different ages (17 to +30), and from
different associations and projects, but
with many things in common;
volunteering was just one of them.

This was a great way to meet people who share
some of the same ideas and values as me (I’m
sure many others felt the same). It is not always
easy to find people who understand and care for
the same values, solidarity, empathy,
cooperation, etc and so I am glad to have met
volunteers with similar perspectives, passions
and interests.
VoluHUB - an
encounter of
volunteers for
volunteers to talk
about volunteering
Another important part of this big
encounter was to hear experiences about
volunteering from a coordinator’s point of
view, during one exercise in our group we
had one coordinator who explained some
of the activities and events organized, how
they were organized and the “road to”
become a coordinator, which is basically -
a lot of work, doing many different things
and not giving up.
Last but not least, what really inspired me
during these three days was meeting very
young people super engaged in civic and
volunteering work, some of them started
to volunteer at 15 and at 18 they already
have more experience than me. It was
really great to meet responsible and
dynamic young people who embraced the
world of volunteering so passionately and
who are working continuously in
associations and thinking about a better
future for them and for the others.

I have to say my expectations for the Mid-
term were not so high this time - it’s only
three days, in a place far from Brasov to
share again stories and experiences - This
was what I heard before but the reality
turned out to be much different, much
better. On the first day I re-encounter many
volunteers I had already met before during
the on-arrival training, later on I realized I
knew almost everyone in the training
group, and although we are a very diverse
group we did worked very well together (at
least for these three days). I believe most of
us shared the same good feeling of meeting
again. Some volunteers live really far from
each other and Romania is a really big
country with not so fast trains so the mid-
term served also as reunion.
The place was a bit isolated but surrounded by
great landscapes and beautiful nature, especially
for pine tree lovers, there are also some hiking
trails nearby and lots and lots of quiet and
tranquility. In the second day we had the
opportunity to go to the city center of Brasov to
complete one of the tasks, also a good way to
visit the old town, even if it is for the 5th time
(for me) Brasov is one of the most beautiful cities
I have ever visited.
Mid-term is also good for us to pause our
volunteering projects and take time to reflect
not only on the things we accomplished
meanwhile, but also to think about the future
and to share our anxieties, fears, ideas and hopes
and realize that we are not the only ones who
don’t have a clue of what to do in the future. Not
due to the lack of opportunities, but because we
have many different possibilities ahead of us and
sometimes the most difficult thing to do is to
choose. This small break also forced us to enjoy
the present, recognize the problems but also our
strengths and what make us continue in the
volunteering path, to share contacts, plan new
trips, get to know each other better, celebrating
what is worth and encourage one another.
Mid-term - An
encounter of
stories, a
reencounter of
volunteers
Three long and intense days, sharing
stories, new tools and volunteering
experiences during the day and telling
jokes and other kind of stories during the
night. I also enjoyed the activities planned
for us, as some of the tasks had to be
managed by ourselves working in different
groups, giving us more autonomy and the
freedom to express and to try different
ideas. I believe this helped us to explore
more our creativity, to be more dynamic
and improve our decision-making skills. All
of this in this beautiful place called Poiana
Brasov just one bus away from the city.

It has been six months since I arrived in
Baia Mare to participate in a volunteering
project within the European Solidarity
Corps in the “Yellow Shirts” association.
For the first few months I was the only
volunteer working in the organization just
with my coordinator, and though I felt a bit
of envy of the other volunteers who were
working together in teams, I enjoyed the
challenge of planning and developing the
ideas on my own. Not having team
members also forced me to communicate
more with volunteers from other
organizations and socialize more to fit in
the environment that was difficult at first,
but that I appreciate so much today. I am
grateful to have met all the international
volunteers, especially the ones who passed
through the “Yellow House” (our
accommodation) and transformed this
place into a cheerful, cozy and super-
friendly habitat. When I think about my six
months here I think of a lot of people.
People that I met when traveling to other
cities - the local volunteers, hostel hosts
and other travelers; and the people that I
met during my stay in Baia Mare - my flat
mates, the international volunteers, the
coordinators and the local community.
Meeting new people has been one of the
highlights of my experience here, as I feel I have
learned so much from them and with them,
during activities for projects, team building
games, planning events, sharing good moments,
overcoming difficulties together and celebrating
what is worth it. In a way and this may sound
very philosophical, I believe that finding good
people helps us to find ourselves. I strongly
recommend a volunteering project abroad to
anybody who is willing to leave their comfort
zone. This experience can help you find some
answers about yourself and what you really love
to do. Also gives you more competences for work
and for life in the future, communicating,
coordinating, taking pictures is just some of the
many skills you can acquire, and all while living
in a multicultural environment.
6 months in this
long term
adventure called
volunteering

The purpose of this trip was to make an
exchange with other volunteers from
another organization who switched places
with us for a period of ten days. During this
time we had the chance to work for another
NGO where we went to three different
schools and prepare activities and games
for four different classes. It was
challenging to learn and do didactic games
with the kids of various ages (especially
from 4 to 10 years old) as we had only
experience making activities with students
from 9th and 10th grades. We took this as
an opportunity to develop and create new
activities using the materials from the
organization which were many and diverse.
Apart from the school activities we also had
the chance to make a short presentation
about the European Solidarity Corps (ESC)
programme in an exchange - structure
dialogue (under Key Action 3) organized by
the same NGO, where we explained the
benefits of the programme and shared our
experience as volunteers to a huge group of
participants from different countries. It was
quite exciting to talk about our perspective
as a volunteer and also to answer questions
about the program as some of the
participants were very interested and
might join the ESC in the future.
During these ten days we did many activities
with students in schools, met teachers and
received support from them, brought non-
formal games to their classes; learned new
creative activities and contributed with our little
experience, most importantly we felt very
motivated to learn and to share what we knew as
the environment was great and inviting us to do
our best.We also visited the peaceful city and
the surrounding mountains, hence the title of
this article. Miercurea Ciuc is located in a
privileged place for nature lovers, specifically
mountain lovers, the air is fresh, it was not so
cold, the people were nice, the organization and
volunteers welcomed us really well and I would
be happy to visit again someday, maybe that
time see a real bear.
Peaceful
Miercurea Ciuc
Somewhere between the Carpathians
mountains there is a small city called
Miercurea Ciuc or Csíkszereda in
Hungarian language, since the majority
of its citizens are from Hungarian
ethnicity. It was very interesting to find
such kind of place in Romania, where
the people, the stores, the places have
Hungarian names and the restaurant
menus are presented in three
languages - Hungarian, Romanian and
English.

I have worked abroad before, but
volunteering abroad is a total different
experience. Going to Romania to volunteer
was an easy-difficult decision. Easy because
volunteering abroad was something I’ve
been longing to do for a long time, but
difficult as that meant quitting my job and
also due to my age, being older than the
majority of the volunteers made me
wonder if this was the right time for such
experience. The answer is now clear - it was
the best decision and I have learned many
more things than I thought I would, for my
future professional life, but especially
personally. Although I was already
independent financially, this experience
made me feel more independent
spiritually.
I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that I want to continue to improve myself,
to take new professional challenges and hope to continue to do volunteering work locally
and to be more involved in my community in the future.
Thank you! La
revedere, Romania
I am very grateful for this experience
and for that I thank the association
“Yellow Shirts”, coordinators, team
members, flat mates, local and
international volunteers, the
community and all the people I had the
privilege to meet and to learn with
throughout the course of this project. All
of them contributed for this life
changing experience that I will never
forget and that transformed me as a
person.

VolleyScience - Alexandra's stories

VolleyScience - Alexandra's stories

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