Select language:

itenfrdeesnlelhumkplptrosv
December 18 2024

I'm Emilia, I'm 26 years old and I live in Helsinki, Finland.

I volunteered in Sicily with the European Solidarity Corps because I wanted to broaden my knowledge and experience in the humanitarian field, but I didn't want to commit to a long-term project, so the 17-day project was a good opportunity.

In the project we spent half of the time in a small town of 2000 inhabitants, Milena, and the other half in a larger city, Palermo. In Milena we helped renovate an old abandoned watering hole in a remote place. We cleaned the area, painted a mural, installed photos and planted vines in the fountain that no longer has water.

In Palermo we spent our time at a nature reserve digging a path for a stream so that rainwater can go into a large pool where frogs are born. We also cleaned hiking trails and rebuilt signs. I learned a lot about Italian and Sicilian culture and it was great to learn about the differences between life in a big city and life in small rural towns. I would recommend volunteering ESC to young people who want to learn independence and how to work in a group.

Emilia Edholm