testimonies from the volunteers Archives

Here is the story of Viveca. She is doing an European Voluntary Service (EVS) in France. EVS is one of the projects under the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission to give young people in Europe a chance to volunteer abroad.

I started my 12-month long EVS journey in June 2016 in the beautiful town of Hendaye on the French side of the Basque country region. My EVS project is about assisting in mobility projects such as youth exchanges in cooperation with the local twinning committee, assisting in communication about cultural events in the region, and participating in organizing events about Europe especially in May 2017 during the Month of Europe.

I first heard about EVS during a university fair in Glasgow, which led me to get in contact with Xchange Scotland. For my current EVS I applied for in January 2016 through the EVS database. The application process was fairly simple. I applied, had an interview with the coordinating organization, kept in contact with Xchange Scotland, and got accepted for the project approximately a week after applying. The project itself, however, took a while to get accepted for funding and, hence, I was kept on my toes until everything was finalized couple of months later.

This project has been absolutely amazing so far. I have made loads of new friends, participated in interesting projects and seminars, and learned plenty of things about the Basque country, youth mobility, and the process of organizing events. To top it off, I have learned French, and even a little Spanish and Basque. I cannot emphasize enough how great of an opportunity EVS is for people to do something interesting and beneficial for themselves and the communities.

Thank you for sharing with us your story Viveca! 🙂

Do you want to know more about EVS opportunities? Please, contact us!

12 volunteers from all over Europe – from Sicily to Finland, Catalonia to the Czech Republic – came together to live and work in the Knightswood area of Glasgow.

The volunteers worked alongside local community charities from the West Integration Network to help out with events around Refugee Week, go into schools to help with workshops and also to support the Knightswood Fun Day and community parade. The volunteers stayed at Knightswood Congregational Church Hall.

As the volunteers found out, Knightswood has the highest concentration of refugees in Scotland – and integration has not always been easy.

But the events that the volunteers contributed to help promote understanding of refugees and bring people from different backgrounds together. This was the theme of the project.

In their free time volunteers watched a film about refugees at the GFT, went to the Glasgow Mela and had trips to Stirling, Loch Lomond and Edinburgh.

Volunteer evaluations

“The best bit was working with children, talking face-to-face with refugees and having the chance to do some creative action”
“I learned to help children, to share my experiences and many other things. What surprised me most is how everybody overcame their differences. What I got out of the experience was respect.”
“I’ll never forget these 2 weeks. I’m proud of myself and the group. We made solutions when we had problems. Having the chance to meet, work and talk with local people, with refugees, with children and foreign people has been the best. Also the parties and the pubs!”
“I learned to approach people who seem very different to me, and make an effort to learn about them”

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I cannot emphasize enough how great EVS is for people

Volunteering in the Refugees Week