Testimonial "Volunteering work to combat unemployment"

What if… you wake up in the morning and you have zero idea where you are… there are just two possibilities for people like you…

You just woke up in the heaven for all the help you provided for people in need during your career as a volunteer… or the second option is you are discovering another piece of Universe Youth in Action and today is the first day of project. So, you jump out of the bed and practice in front of the mirror sentences like „my name is… Favorite color – yes blue as well“, deleting 3% of your memory to remember 18 new multi-culti names, bright smile on the face and you are pretty ready for the getting know each other session… 

It wouldn’t be the training focused on fighting unemployment with volunteering when it would have usual structure – so don’t be surprised when you instead of typical activities find yourself sitting with another participants in the tram KISSing ( Keep It Short and Simple way ) each other just with basic information about yourself... Don’t worry that you don’t recognize the people belonging to the group – the people are heading to join the next volunteering adventure and then the rest of the people in tram practicing different styles of their sour faces floating through their daily routine... But it’s hard to stand the positive vibe and so it can happen that a smiling face complete the sour faces collection and  you land on the seat with some local people explaining them why the  tram ride is such an intercultural experience… 20 minutes later on the another side of the city you can just see the next track of  the rainbow supporting the colors of Ostrava leading to office of Charita. 

Empty, silent streets at 10 a.m. representing the high rate of employment quickly change. After entering house we can see curly head of director which is a sign of quality ideas hiding inside... After short introduction of all participants and their information there was served second round of coffee to get ready for information which will lead us as best practice base on the way through the seminar. Curly hair delighted by silver color of experience started to deliver information about the Charita organization… Presentation slides felt more like slice of sweet cake representing the achievements of the organizations in different areas. We say “thank you“to this NGO for sharing good practices and knowledge about work with both, clients and volunteers.

If the baking spirit of Christmas is slightly knocking on your door and you feel like to contribute to  this cake with your flavor and put some more spices – here is the place to start…

Charita’s contacts:
596 621 094, 731 625 789
ostrava@charita.cz

PS: One of the media results of the project is a video about the experience of a Polish EVS volunteer in Czech Republic. We invite you to see it!

Written by Andrej Dobes and Milda Kvederaviciute