Hi, my name is Darya, I'm 25 years old and I'm from Minsk, Belarus.

I have been a long-term volunteer atAssociazione InformaGiovani (IG) of Palermo, Sicily.

Since the age of 17 I have worked as an organizer of artistic and commercial events. Furthermore, I have gained two years of experience as an educator in a children's training center. During this time I earned a bachelor's degree and studied in three different countries.

After the difficult political situation in Belarus began, I began to actively look for opportunities. For two years I searched for a project that was in line with the circumstances and goals I wanted. Luckily, the opportunity offered by IG met all my criteria.

My experience here?

I'll be honest, like every place, there is a positive and a negative side, which will be different for other people. When I arrived in Sicily, I experienced culture shock. It was everywhere: in the people, in the city, in the nature of the air, in the way people vacation, the way they work and the way they live.

For me, however, it was important to delve deeply into the culture, traditions and understand why it is this way and not otherwise, which is why I read and looked at some material carefully before arriving on the island, so as not to build my impression from scratch. Every day I tried to learn something about the place and the volunteering experience, which I couldn't wait to start.

Thanks to the wide range of projects offered by our organization from day one IG actively included me in the work and gave me the opportunity to participate, observe and learn about the projects from the inside.

I had the opportunity to participate as a group leader, a role I had observed from the outside during the summer, twice (If you also intend to have an experience as a group leader soon, you can read this booklet)

It was a wonderful experience because I had the opportunity to work on topics that were new to me (the work of the Waldorf school and refugee assistance) and to meet new people, new stories and better develop skills that I already possessed, which it has had a positive impact on my personal development.

     

After some time, I had the opportunity to share my knowledge of the place and culture with participants of different projects and to reorganize my thoughts and I realized that my attention was no longer focused exclusively on the shortcomings, but on culture, nature and work.

There are many people who in recent months have shown me the "real Sicily“. School teachers, workers from different organizations, volunteers and even market vendors, who keep their culture alive with their noisy “abandon“. People who create this island every day, parts of this living organism that are the greatest treasure of this place.

If you are on the verge of deciding to participate in a project, I absolutely recommend you take advantage of this opportunity. It is a source of experiences of all kinds, both personal and professional but above all it is a useful tool that is up to you to decide how to use it and where it will take you!