Darja Sorgina - ESC volunteer in Rabka-Zdroj (Poland)
While “People Help The People” by Birdy is playing in the background I would like to share with you my experience as a short term Team ESC volunteer at Rabka Youth Festival.
How did this story start?
Well, 2024 was my gap year and I wanted to have as much experience as possible, so ESC volunteering definitely was on my wish list. Before the Rabka Youth Festival I attended a Training Course on the topic of volunteering, that was run by the Europe4Youth organization, which was the hosting organization for both - training course and then for Teams volunteering that I will tell you about)
Why did I choose to come there again and accept this challenge? The answer is easy - Europe4Youth felt like family and the organization that I trust and want to be part of. The topic of volunteering felt as something that I really wanted to try out, so I applied for this opportunity and never regretted it.
From 7.05 - 03.06.2024 I was a volunteer in Rabka-Zdroj, which is located in Poland. Our Team's volunteering aim was to organize the Rabka Youth Festival that happened from 27.05 - 01.06.
We, as volunteers, had to organize a series of events lasting one week, consisting of workshops, shows, cultural, social and youth policy events.
The set of these events was developed on the basis of a diagnosis of the needs of young people in Rabka and the festival promoted solidarity, civic activeness and engagement of young people at a local level. It served cultural exchange between young people, as well as their engagement and participation in the local decision making.
Aims of the Festival were:
We spent 4 weeks in Rabka with our volunteer crew, and not only had time to work, but to explore the lands of Poland. We visited Krakow, Zakopane and other mountain ranges and places in nature. Even more, we participated in the clean up day, which was organized by the government of the city and cleaned the part of the river and the area around.
First 3 weeks were for us to prepare the program for the festival and do content for the media sources. We were divided in different groups, starting from the photography team and ending with the nerd stuff team, and were in charge of the events and functionality of our groups.
In which groups were I, would you ask?
I worked with the social media team and nerd team, helped to organize the Freakshow and was there for the other groups to help and make a good experience for all of us.
With the social media team we made posts for the social media sources and with the Nerd team prepared workshops on how to make LARP swords and did the fencing workshops with the handmade swords and prepared a lego robot fighting session. And that was absolutely one of the possible ways, how perfect volunteering looks for me.
There were almost 30 volunteers on this ESC volunteering and everyone was unique and brightened up our short, but so special life together. Also, during the festival we worked a lot with Ukrainian youngsters and as a coincidence, I was the only volunteer who could speak russian and could help with translation, inclusion and dialogue between the volunteers and the youngsters at the beginning of the event. This experience will stay with me forever and it changed a lot of what I stand for and want to support and develop.
This was the long and at the same time short path of learning and opening new sides of what people can do if they work together. I think that for me the most important thing that I learned was the team work skill, including teamwork with people from different cultures and backgrounds. I am absolutely grateful for this opportunity and all the people that I met during this volunteering.
So, dear reader, I hope you could get some inspiration and get rid of the doubts about whether it is worth it to get or not get the experience as an ESC volunteer. I wish you good luck and one day hope to read about experience that you'll gain!
Until then, I say goodbye and if you want to know more, don’t hesitate to ask me)
While “People Help The People” by Birdy is playing in the background I would like to share with you my experience as a short term Team ESC volunteer at Rabka Youth Festival.
How did this story start?
Well, 2024 was my gap year and I wanted to have as much experience as possible, so ESC volunteering definitely was on my wish list. Before the Rabka Youth Festival I attended a Training Course on the topic of volunteering, that was run by the Europe4Youth organization, which was the hosting organization for both - training course and then for Teams volunteering that I will tell you about)
Why did I choose to come there again and accept this challenge? The answer is easy - Europe4Youth felt like family and the organization that I trust and want to be part of. The topic of volunteering felt as something that I really wanted to try out, so I applied for this opportunity and never regretted it.
From 7.05 - 03.06.2024 I was a volunteer in Rabka-Zdroj, which is located in Poland. Our Team's volunteering aim was to organize the Rabka Youth Festival that happened from 27.05 - 01.06.
We, as volunteers, had to organize a series of events lasting one week, consisting of workshops, shows, cultural, social and youth policy events.
The set of these events was developed on the basis of a diagnosis of the needs of young people in Rabka and the festival promoted solidarity, civic activeness and engagement of young people at a local level. It served cultural exchange between young people, as well as their engagement and participation in the local decision making.
Aims of the Festival were:
- Raising awareness on European opportunities for young people among youth in the region,
- Empowering young people in Rabka Zdrój to operate successfully within civil society in their town,
- Promote Rabka Zdrój as a youth friendly town,
- Offering opportunities for young people in Rabka Zdrój, especially new inhabitants from Ukraine,
- Offer possibilities for integration for the local community.
We spent 4 weeks in Rabka with our volunteer crew, and not only had time to work, but to explore the lands of Poland. We visited Krakow, Zakopane and other mountain ranges and places in nature. Even more, we participated in the clean up day, which was organized by the government of the city and cleaned the part of the river and the area around.
First 3 weeks were for us to prepare the program for the festival and do content for the media sources. We were divided in different groups, starting from the photography team and ending with the nerd stuff team, and were in charge of the events and functionality of our groups.
In which groups were I, would you ask?
I worked with the social media team and nerd team, helped to organize the Freakshow and was there for the other groups to help and make a good experience for all of us.
With the social media team we made posts for the social media sources and with the Nerd team prepared workshops on how to make LARP swords and did the fencing workshops with the handmade swords and prepared a lego robot fighting session. And that was absolutely one of the possible ways, how perfect volunteering looks for me.
There were almost 30 volunteers on this ESC volunteering and everyone was unique and brightened up our short, but so special life together. Also, during the festival we worked a lot with Ukrainian youngsters and as a coincidence, I was the only volunteer who could speak russian and could help with translation, inclusion and dialogue between the volunteers and the youngsters at the beginning of the event. This experience will stay with me forever and it changed a lot of what I stand for and want to support and develop.
This was the long and at the same time short path of learning and opening new sides of what people can do if they work together. I think that for me the most important thing that I learned was the team work skill, including teamwork with people from different cultures and backgrounds. I am absolutely grateful for this opportunity and all the people that I met during this volunteering.
So, dear reader, I hope you could get some inspiration and get rid of the doubts about whether it is worth it to get or not get the experience as an ESC volunteer. I wish you good luck and one day hope to read about experience that you'll gain!
Until then, I say goodbye and if you want to know more, don’t hesitate to ask me)