Hello, my name is Leticia and I am from Spain. Here there is some information about my experience volunteering in Palermo.
I was 26 years old when I arrived in Sicily in August 2019, within this opportunity I was looking for trying a different professional field than mine (I am a pre-primary teacher); to live in a foreign country, to learn the culture and language; to live with people from other countries and to find out who am I and who I want to be in the future.

When I was searching for a volunteering project, in my priorities list was to work with vector images and I found out this opportunity within IG in Palermo.
At that moment, I did some researches about the city and the population, like reading old volunteer’s articles and talk to them, and the answers were different depending on the person so I realised that I didn’t want to have any expectations and just let the city surprised me…
When I arrived, it caught my attention all the differences with my city and culture: the crazy traffic, the trash and cats on the streets, the Italian language, the food… little by little the new became normal and I adapted to this place, incorporating into myself the culture and language. I realised now that after these 11 months in Palermo, I end up loving the good things and understanding and respecting the rest.

Working time: I was supporting Massimiliano and Monica at the office of InformaGiovani. In resume, my tasks were to create logos for projects and banners for events; to support preparing informational meetings with youngsters and to support the international projects like youth exchange, workcamp and training course. In this time was included my study time of the language courses, very helpful to learn Italian.

 As the final project of my volunteering, I wanted to do something for Palermo’s society so I decided to do a workshop about sexuality. Searching for information about contraceptives, I realised how broad the topic was and that I had to focus on one point, so I came out with a new idea that became my final project: to create a board game about contraceptives and sexually transmitted infections named SAFERSEX.

In my opinion, the work during these last 11 months has been pleasant and smoothy. Furthermore, I can now work with agility on vector software and image edition, I consider that I am more able to do team working and I have improved my languages and communication skills in both Italian and English.

At the beginning was a priority to learn Italian, so I joined a theatre group and Wingchun lessons. It was very helpful to raise my confidence in speaking Italian and enjoy learning theatre and Wing-chun.
With friends I used to go to the beaches and natural reserves nearby: Monte Pellegrino, Cefalù, Capo Gallo, Mondello beach, Virgin Maria beach...

Also, the historical centre was a usual meeting point to take a walk, eat pizza, listening to the musicians playing on the street.
I discovered the best ice cream shop of all Palermo… I did a great investigation, the winner?
A famous ice cream shop of the centre… I love it.

Finally, I would like to outline that each volunteer service can be different. 
I am happy about my experience because having in mind to be useful to the association but also to myself, I developed skills and abilities that I didn’t have before and now I feel more experienced and ready to the next adventure.

Thanks!

Hi ! I'm a French girl leaving in Palermo for 10 months as an European volunteer. My name is Clémence. I'm 23 years old. I love to work on photography, to create, to travel and to handle time with friends. I came from Nantes, a dynamic and beautiful town in the west part of France, near to the end of the Loire river. I discovered that Palermo got this cultural and human dynamism as well, which make me feel better as home when I came here in September 2019.

 I already did a volunteer service in my own country last year and needed time for my professional project. So it was the perfect time to get this experience in Italy. I choose this country because I wanted to learn Italian, most of all. I'm enjoying now to talk in this beautiful language. I'll improve more as well because I still need to learn more.

When I was looking for a mission, I saw this one in Palermo at Libera Scuola Waldorf.
It's an alternative school with a teachers and personal team really involve in the confidence of the student kids. The kids can come from ~3 years old till ~15 years. Their way to teach follow the Steiner philosophy. A way to teach without a class fuller than 10 or 12 school student, without note so with more time to explain and give knowledge to them and without any competition aspect. That was a really allure way to see the school. For my personal improvement, I knew it was the good project for my year. So I candidated and didn't leave it away until I got the opportunity to come here.

My mission is to support a 14 years old girl with special needs. She's a school student in Libera Scuola Waldorf 7th grad class. She can do a lot of things: painting, make jokes (a lot of jokes!), try again and again to improve her dance moves, for examples. But she's doing it slowly and sometimes with a big difficulty of movement. She speaks less than us. She began to speak at school last year. She needs to improve all these aspects. She also loves water. It's her matter because she's so in fluant materials to create and to live in the present moment. She's the kind who live with a lot of freedom in her personality and in same time too much of restrictions, her body as well.
So I'm helping her to live in school with hours to respect, activities to do and involvement in the school work to get. It's an handsome work because you really feel useful and you got a deep human relationship. If she's not allright today, I have to deal with it and find a double-energy for the school day. Energy for her to be more in her school day and energy for me to give her this source of zeal.

I have other tasks to do for the Libera Scuola Waldorf, like help one kitchen work, or take care of the space by cleaning stuff. It's happening when my girl is not at school for the day. Most of time, I'm only working on a day with my girl : from her arrival to the lunch time. I'm doing it from September of 2019 and finish it in the end of June 2020.

There are also some events in the school like the Day of «San Martino» where we went for a walk on mountains with only light in our home-made lantern, or the «Bazar» where the school create a market with responsable items, jewelry, soap, etc. for school, for parents, and who ever is coming ! We also did the «Carnevale» of course ! All the day, the whole school was celebrating and enjoying to be together. Such a good memory!

This experience show me more about how to handle a common rythm. When I’m with my girl, I must get her rythm for being with her and, in same time, find a way to get her in the rythm of school. So I take more time to talk, to make her understand how much time we have before the next class, etc. It needs a lot of patience and sometimes it’s hard, to be honest. But she needs it, so I’m getting motivation back. It can be usefull for later when I’ll work with team, as well.

In plus of this daily activities, I got the opportunity to create my own project in the school. It’s an activity we must do for and during the volontary time. Because of the exceptional pandemic situation, it was not sure how I will do it (by computer, in face-to-face, etc.), but I got all the time the insurance to do it. I planned to do an italian class about the right of the pictures (law) and the principe of the journalistic angle and the proximity law that use journalists to write articles. I got this knowledge during my studies and I did this class by animations activities that I knew how to do it thanks to my last year of volontary in France. At the end, I did this course for one class of the school. I choose the age of teenagers because it’s closer to their habits with phones, and to their growth time. They’re becoming more autonomous, but still need good informations to understand well. I’m glad to be able to try a new activity here.

Volonteering is not just a discover of your abilities in, most of the time, a relationship work. It's also a moving in a new city, a new culture, a new way of living. Learning a new language gave it to me a little headacke at the beginning of my journey. It passed out really quick because I'm lucky to have a mother language near to Italian.
It's an experiment as well about what's a language are. I discovered it's not just a way for communicate. It's also a way of act, with gesture, movements and way of expression. So I get a step to learn myself to another way to act.
The culture is so mind-attractive as well. I had to find my place in all of this. When I got it, I began to enjoy a lot to learn Italians’ way of living, cooking, etc. I saw how they used to take care about olives to make olives oil. Great stuff in Sicilian nature with such amazing people.      

I took time (and money as well... haha) to discover a little more the country. I went to Milano, to Napoli by my own and I went to Rome with the «On-Arrival Training» organised by National Agency. All the time a great time to discover, to deal with another part of Italian culture. Even Italy is not the biggest country of world, there's so much to discover and so different way of living: the north and the south don't have the same road stuff, for example.

I knew already Sicilia because I went for a roadtrip with two friends in last June. It was such an amazing time also because it's such a beautiful region of Italy! I'm glad I didn't see just Palermo. It was, as well, an unexpecting opportunity to meet people from Libera Scuola Waldorf in first time and get one of my most human experience of my life.

I felt so useful, and I know a little more than before as well that it's so important to take a time for others.

Mi chiamo Efrem Mercer Miko, ho 24 anni e vengo da Maiorca, bellissima isola nel Mar Mediterraneo. Sono arrivato a Palermo il 15 marzo 2019 per un volontariato a lungo termine per l'associazione San Giovanni Apostolo. Da allora ho iniziato a scoprire Palermo, il loro stile di vita, cultura e lingua. Ero innamorato.

Ora ti spiegherò la mia esperienza di lavoro con i bambini palermitani.
Quando arrivi da qualche parte in cui non sei mai stato e non parli la loro lingua, all'inizio è sempre difficile affrontarla. Sei estraneo per i bambini e hanno bisogno di tempo per conoscerti e iniziare a giocare con te o parlare. Devi essere paziente, non correre mai per avere la soluzione in un secondo, dai solo tempo ai bambini.

Ma quando conosci la lingua e i bambini ti conoscono meglio, tutto è fantastico. Ho avuto un'esperienza straordinaria e meravigliosa lavorando con loro. Quando ti considerano parte della loro famiglia, è davvero bello.
 
Quello che stavo facendo nell'associazione è: prima i bambini arrivano dopo la scuola e poi iniziano a fare i compiti, poi fanno uno spuntino e iniziamo a organizzare alcune attività sportive e animazioni fino alla chiusura del centro. Questo è il programma in inverno.
In estate tutto è molto più divertente. Oltre alle attività sportive e all'animazione nel centro, andiamo in spiaggia, nel parco acquario, in piscina.
 
Nel prossimo video mostro tutta questa esperienza che ho avuto in breve.

We also used to organize our own public events, sometimes in collaboration with other Icelandic associations, such as clean-ups in various parts of the city and near the coast, documentary screenings and workshops about good practice to live a more sustainable life.

In every camp, we made also some excursions to show to our short term volunteers the wonders of Icelandic nature but also to make them touch with their hands the effects of the human activities on it, such as the glaciers that are melting because of the global warming and the plastic trash on the beaches.

During my 5 months in Iceland, I had a lot of camps all different because of the different people I met in each of them. Some groups were really active and positive, other were more calm and quiet but it was always really interesting to work and live with the people in the camps, where everyone comes from different countries and have totally different cultures. We always had fun and shared a lot about our lives, our countries and our typical foods during the long dinners.

The best about it was the variety and the understanding that meeting with different cultures bring in your life. But also feeling that my work was being useful and more people were learning about the importance of having a sustainable way of living, because our resources will not last forever and the planet is suffering the consequences of our actions.
However, during my time in Iceland I did not only led camps. Indeed I had also a lot of free time in between them. I really enjoyed this free time because I had the chance to go around on my own and with the other volunteers discovering people, places and the endless Icelandic landscapes.
Iceland is one of the wildest and more complex places in Europe. It is a land of continuous changes in time and in the space that inspired all type of travellers. The nature in Iceland is astonishing; between immense spaces, black beaches, geysers, glaciers, waterfalls, hot rivers, mountains, volcanoes with unrepeatable names and mystical northern lights it makes you feel like on another planet and you just want to discover his inscrutable soul.

This whole experience was very open minding. It was a great way to meet people, build connections, hear different stories, gain a new perspective and learn to appreciate things I used to take for granted. I got in return a lot more than the time and energy I invested in this volunteering experience. It was a fun new way to discover a beautiful little piece of world that made me a more active and involved person.

Hello, my name is Marita and in this blog post I will share my thoughts and emotions about greatest experience in this summer! 

Everything started in the end of June, I send my application – motivation letter to my sending organization in Latvia (Radi Vidi Pats), they answered my email after some days saying that I should have interview with my hosting organization. At that time I was super busy, but I manage time for interview and I was not ready for it at all! At first I thought that it will be very long process for hosting organization to choose the right volunteer,  but in the end of interview I ask question "am I already accepted in this project?" and they said, if I am alright with this project regulations, then YES! Wow, at that time I could not believe that... 
 
After little bit more then one month I was already in the plane for direct flight to Catania, Sicily! And then, went out of plane, get my luggage, found bus stop to go to Palermo….but wait even in airport Sicily took my breath away – my favorite plants cactuses were growing almost everywhere and some great view to very big mountain, what I later figured out was part of real volcano!  
I still had time before bus arrive, so I went for walk to check around, I found cool café and I went in there and took the best street food that I have tasted ever – “aranchino” (from that moment I start to get addicted from aranchinos :D ).

From Catania to Palermo (nearest city where was my volunteering house) it was 3,5 h drive by bus, at first I directly fall asleep, but in the moment I wake up I thought that I am still sleeping! Breath taking away beautiful mountain views get my attention so much that I just could not go to sleep anymore! :) 

When I arrived our group leader, Ibra took me from bus stop to big volunteering home. There I meet for the first time 2 other volunteers with who we worked together for all month. At that moment when I arrived they were making pasta and it was really nice to start know each other, honestly at first moment Paulina (volunteer from Lithuania) and Zaher (volunteer from Syria) looked adult and serious for me, but after some while "ice was broken" between us! 

Latter we meet other volunteers Lucas (volunteer from Spain) and Romein (volunteer from France)! We start to have conversations very quickly and actually we all spoke in very similar level of English, communication in this volunteering camp was super easy and understandable.

Our every working day (monday - friday) started at 9 o'clock. At that time we needed to deliver water bottles (what we fill with water in before day evening) and plants to port, where we insert them in organization boat. 

​Imagine everyday we went to work by boat! Wow... 

When we arrived to island sometimes I got really quick swim with all clothes to have more refreshing working! Then we manually went to water plants and plant some new ones almost every day. Usually it was not very hard job, because we were doing it all together, but sometimes weather was too hot to be very active. 

One thing that suppressed me was plastic trash on island (it was so a lot not from people who comes here and throw something, but because of wind and big waves, so at second working day I started to wear working shorts with the biggest pockets, so I could collect as many as possible garbage. 
 
To work and back we were usually going by one boat, but for two times, I did not want to hurry up, so almost every day I leave island with second boat, in that time when we were waiting for the next boat we were exploring waters with other volunteers, started to call sea creatures as our sons or daughters! Also me and Paulina were collecting seashells and stones, after few days we had them so much so we started to make bracelets from them.

We had pretty lot of free days in first workcamp, because of bad weather, so we took most of it – went to nearest reserve “Capo Gallo” where we excellent spend time and get to know each other better, we also took small trip around Isola delle Femmine. At first two weeks we really enjoyed time near to beach, often after work we went swimming together, took ice cream and played game that we will always connect with these memories - UNO (it was interesting how we complicated rules every time when someone start to get bored!).

 In first workcamp (first 2 August weeks) we did such a great team  job, we cooked foods by groups and separate other household  jobs at second workcamp it didn’t went so good. I think one of the main reasons for it was that we did not had so good communication between us, but you know there is not good or bad workcamp, both of them had good side and bad side. 
For example in first workcamp we really had timetable for cooking, but in second workcamp we were more flexible to job separation and in that time when you have already live together with 6 different  people in one flat it is just understandable to have time alone. I am really grateful for this, because in these weeks I had one of the best hike in my life, where I really start to feel world power! 

Speaking about myself, emotions, what I did in free time, I can surely say that I was not bored at any time, and how can you be if every where you go you see something new? 
As I write I had this super cool craft hobby for all this time when we worked in island and when I had the chance to collect beautiful rocks and shelves. Also this hobby remained me about my home, because at home I am doing similar crafts! One day at Palermo city I even found shop for crafts and from that moment I started to get really in to this crafts! At end of volunteering I gifted handmade bracelets to all my friends these were my souvenirs! 

​The hobby that took my breath away in Palermo was roller skating! At the moment I got to know that it is possible to take big luggage with me, there was no questions to take roller skates or not! Before I packed my luggage I get to know is there some skateparks or some roller skating team, so at the time when I arrived I already know that I will have some great events where to meet roller skate friends! So I took place in two roller skate events – first one was on my second volunteering  week, funny is that I explored Palermo city for the first time on roller skates! The second event was night ride to nearest beachside and back to city, in the end we went for about 26km! Number at this time when I am writing still looks very big, important is also that I started to exercise roller skating just 2 months ago, at first it was very challenging for me, but the great company and swim at beachside went so well!

But what about this one month, what did I understand about myself? 
There was one evening when I had great talk with my group leader and actually at that conversation I figured out my life goals.  
First – CREATE, be creative that is how I put in shelves my thoughts, clear my mind. 
Second – TRY, big inner voice, who all the time is saying to try different things. And I will listen to this voice till I will be died, because this is the only way how I can find that I really like (also what I really do not like :D  ) 
Third -  ENJOY, be with me, be my friend and never ever let anybody throw away my dreams, sometimes just do not care about other voices, just sing with my soul voice! 
Forth – THANK YOU, always remember to say these words, because it is just magic key to open another great door! 

I think these kind of projects are perfect just because I met so a lot new people, who did not know me at all, I really get that feeling I can be myself... 
101 THANK TO EVERYONE THAT MADE THIS MAGIC HAPPEN! 

P.S. 
Meeting my mates again! 
Recently I was one my Europe trip and guess what... I met both of my one month volunteering friends! I visited Paulina at Kaunas (Lithuania) and Zaher at Miskolc (Hungary). 
We are good friends also after project although we are so different and I hope it will stay like that!
​See you soon ;)   

INSECTS’ HOSTEL 
I collected cans and natural materials from villa Trabia (a public garden in Palermo)

• first step: make a drawing to put around the can and then a sticker to protect it
• second step: make one by one a lot of material: wood, leaves, etc…
• third step: put the natural material inside and add your personal touch (with flower from the school garden for example)

The aim: to recycle the natural materials and build a protection for insects against the sun in summer or the snow in winter.

The last 5th of December, in honour of the International Volunteer Day, we, Lidia and Leticia, ESC volunteers in InformaGiovani, had the pleasure to do a presentation about European Solidarity Corps and the opportunities which this offers to youngsters.

It took place in the Liceo Artistico Catalano in Palermo, several groups of adolescence attended the meetings. We had a puzzle game, a presentation about differences and similarities between volunteering and working... Students became very motivated, asking a lot of questions, they were interested in our experience, as well. 

We informed young people about the volunteering opportunity of ESC which is a great chance for them to develop their skills in different areas in non-formal education. 
Volunteering is an option to develop yourself as a person and to grow up in many ways.

If you are between 17- 30 years old and you would like to live an experience abroad, follow this link to join ESC and find further information about volunteering: https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity_en

Still nowadays, sometimes there is stereotype about Sicily in the foreigners. They link the image of Sicily and Palermo to Mafia.  Even when volunteer comes to Palermo s/he is told by her/his friends, family that it’s dangerous there, don’t go out at night, etc...  But after spending one or more months, talking with local young people, knowing the work done by local NGOs, it’s possible to discover how local people, starting from their daily life, react against Mafia.

This video is made by Sergio, Spanish volunteer in Palermo, who wanted to highlight a different picture of Palermo, pointing out at the youth and local involvement in spreading culture of legality. So, he decided to record different anti-mafia marches which he joined during his volunteering and to introduce these with a personal symbolic drawing about the topic. This short film includes videos and photos of marches in memory of Peppino Impastato (9th May), Giovanni Falcone (23rd May),  and Paolo Borsellino (7th July).

The video was made in the frame of "EVS for Building Bridges of Culture" project funded by the Erasmus+ programme. 

My name is Marta. When I ask myself about the reason why I found myself coming from Poland to volunteer in Palermo I think it was some kind of calling from the inside to do something more than just routine student life, challenge myself and meet people. So here I am and still couldn’t believe that it has already happened.
In Palermo time flies differently. It has been 2 months since I arrived but it feels like I have been living here very meaningful part of my life. At first glance everything in this city seems similar to what you already know but after a while you realize that the truth is „everything is different”. Coming here from Poland I didn’t expect to be suprised as much, I have been in Italy before, I have volunteered also in my life but I feel like I have been living a different life here, and what’s more it started to be the life which I fell in love with.

My project was about co-leading international project organised by IG in cooperation with local partners Scalo 5 B focused on urban decoration and restoration local areas. I worked with 4 amazing volunteers from Spain, Italy and France. Our goal was to build the flower boxes to decorate Piazza Mediterraneo in Ballarò and also paint the theatre structure in hosting organisation.

But in reality we achieved even more. For over a week we have been spending whole days together working, eating, discovering Palermo and all of these days made as to become friends. 
Thanks to people who create Scalo 5B we had an amazing boat trip on Lisca Bianca.

We had also trip to Cefalù nearby Palermo!

Moreover we met with local society from Azzizart association who takes care of periphery of Palermo. Together we did urban decoration activity in Romagnolo. We restored and painted old abandoned boat at the beach area to put the plants inside.

Working with the wood and painting was sometimes challenging experience but totally worth of excitement and happiness we could feel at the end of our work celebrating the final result of our project. We left little piece of us at Piazza Mediterraneo installing our boxes there and I hope this will be the way in which Palermo will remember us because what is sure we will remember Palermo…

In August I was also involved into supporting an international mobility with many young people from 5 different countries: Estonia, Belgium, Slovakia, Spain and Italy. We have been having workshops about many topics: tolerance, intercultural understansing, digital activism and how to use digital tools. We could explore other cultures through disscusions and tematic nights organised by each country about its culture.

What I realised is that even couple of months spent in different environment around new people, being dedicated to meaningful work can make a big impact on your life. To change yourself a little bit you don’t have to change your whole life, you can just rearrange your plans for a couple of months thanks to Erasmus volunteering. What still remains inside of me is the feeling of wonder how my volunteer work and people I met here have made me a happier person.

I’m Paulina, 20 years old student from Lithuania. I was taking part in a short-term volunteering in Isola delle Femmine village near Palermo.  There I spent one month and I had two work camps in Natural Reserve of Isola delle Femmine. 
Palms and huge cactuses in the streets, clear blue sea, hot sun and stunning mountains were the first signs that time here will be unforgettable. From the first days in Sicily I was amazed by its landscape. It was my first time in southern Europe, so this place was unique for me.

On work days we were going to the natural reserve. We had to prepare water bottles, then sail with motor boat to an island. There we were planting and watering plants. In the hottest summer months island looks really poor, so our work helps them to survive. Another thing is that island ground is full of rocks, that means it’s hard to make holes for plants and even for the plants it’s not easy to grow.

We had free time after work, so we tried to spend it usefully. We were going to the beach, hiking or exploring city of Palermo. To my mind, it’s worth to try Palermo nightlife, because it was fun at our time. 

This volunteering was great for me, because I improved my English skills, I experienced multicultural group, met different people and expand my horizon. 
And the most import thing to me was the feeling of freedom. By saying this, I mean how easy everything was going there, how people was relaxed and opened to make friends. That everyone enjoys the life, don’t worry too much and feel free to be themselves. 
These fast-pasted days it’s common to forget those things. So, for all others that need this feeling, I wish to experience it while volunteering abroad. 

Big thanks for the InformaGiovani staff and other volunteers that made my experience great and unforgettable!

By this project I improved my English skills. I lived with foreign volunteers, so I must to talk in English all the time. I notice that, now I am much more confident in expressing myself, making dialogues and talking in English. What is more, I broaden my vocabulary and improved my listening skills, so it's easier for me to understand others better and faster.