The last 20 days
Every story has an ending, every stage has a final point and every volunteering project has a final term. The last 20 days before the final term of my project were supposed to be on April, but a global pandemic decided to change this and June was actually the last month of my adventure in Greece.
In the beginning of the summer, the life began to move again in a rhythm as close to the one before as possible. With a lot of enthusiasm and many protection measures, we restarted our interaction with people and the reintegration in our projects. From the first day of June, I started a new activity within the Youth Center, the mobile school. It was a great pleasure to work with children again. I was able to see another kind of vulnerable group from Greece and from Eastern Europe in general. The Roma community, especially the part of this ethnic group that is still living in a nomad way. I was able to see how important can be the help offered by an NGO in the integration of those children in the society. Most of the children were learning to speak Greek language, to read and to do basic mathematics calculations during the mobile school program. I was happy to be part of this program even if for a short amount of time and to see more faces of the informal education.
Coincidence or not, first of June is the Children’s Day in Romania and this year, the month of June was the month in which I was working exclusively with children. I was happy to be back for several days in the place where I actually started my journey as a volunteer, in House of Arsis. I was able to meet again the children from there and to catch up with their news and plans during my last days as a volunteer.
Finally, when the last 20 days of the project ended, it came the hardest part of the month, saying good-bye. It was hard to say good-bye to an amazing team that did everything possible for us to have a great experience and to be safe during this Corona crisis. It was hard to say good-bye to all the people from the centers, which are making possible some great initiatives and try hard building a stronger protection environment for children and refugees. Finally, it was hard to say good-bye to the people with which I shared the last eight months of my life. To the three of them I had to say a hurried good-bye due to the pandemic that made them leaving earlier form Greece. With the other two volunteers, Aida and Lars, I shared this uncertain and difficult period and made unforgettable memories.
of the month, saying good-bye. It was hard to say good-bye to an amazing team that did everything possible for us to have a great experience and to be safe during this Corona crisis. It was hard to say good-bye to all the people from the centers, which are making possible some great initiatives and try hard building a stronger protection environment for children and refugees. Finally, it was hard to say good-bye to the people with which I shared the last eight months of my life. To the three of them I had to say a hurried good-bye due to the pandemic that made them leaving earlier form Greece. With the other two volunteers, Aida and Lars, I shared this uncertain and difficult period and made unforgettable memories.
At the end of this experience, I feel lucky and thankful for everything that I lived and after several days in Romania, I am very aware of the opportunities and the development of my life thanks to the European Union’s programs.
I hope that the people that will read these lines to take advantage of the opportunities like European Solidarity Corps and to try them, to try to do something good for the society and to have their own life-experience. I wish them to transform the problems into opportunities, to go out from their comfort zone by experimenting their own work style, and to live every moment of this journey with happiness!
Best wished to you all and good luck!
Corina Chircea
ESC volunteer in Arsis (October 2019 – June 2020)
