Hello, I am Maria and I am a German volunteer working in WTZ with disabled people which is located in Bydgoszcz-Fordon. Coming to Poland to work with disabled people was very unexpected and threw me off a little bit since I did not know what to expect. Also I have never worked with disabled people before. However, it turns out to be one of the best experiences I have had so far. The people are so generous and giving- and they do not expect so much in return. This work really opens eyes – it makes you realize that nothing is as bad as you have ever thought in your life. Your problems do not look bigger than they seem anymore.
The same can be said about the polish colleagues, the other international volunteers as well as our coordinates- they are all very kind and a great support!
Another newly task assigned to me was to teach German as well as Russian which came by surprise since I was born in Russia but have never used that language outside my comfort zone (excluding friends ans family members). Anyway, it turned out to be lots of fun to be a teacher. You can finally improve all mistakes your teachers every made and be a great/fun teacher instead.
Being a EVS volunteer also makes it possible to get in contact with other volunteers in Poland for example through our training sessions that you have with many volunteers from other organizations. These take place in another city and you basically discuss your EVS experience and your development in general which gives you the opportunity to network.
This month was a speacial one since our fellow volunteers in Wroclaw invited us to a special workcamp they had going on in their organization called TRATWA. This was a great opportunity for us to help them in restoring an old building but also to see again and discover another city. TRATWA is also a nongovermental organization, however, focusing on kids with difficult family backgrounds. Due to their expansion into another building the volunteers of TRATWA created a project to restore parts of that old building – and this is where we came in – my roommate/fellow Spainsh volunteer from Wiatrak, Sandra. We were basically responsible for restoring windows, window frames, creating a vertical garden and repainting an outside wall. Although it was tough work as you can see from the pictures- we also had lots of fun. Wroclaw is a great city especially forl all youngsters since it is a student city and therefore has a huge nightlife. But also TRATWA, the staff, kids and volunteers were very welcoming. It was a week to remember and I can only suggest to engage in such projects since it does show you and give you more insight into how other NGO`s operate. A big THANKS to them but also our hosting organization WIATRAK to be such a good support about it and allow us to go.
In order to get a glimpse of our work there take a look at our exclusive pictures! Enjoy 🙂
evspl 