My experience as a volunteer.

Hello everyone! I would like to tell you a little bit about my experience as a volunteer in Romania and also about being volunteer in general, because i think that it's fun and important to share. Many people have told me things like: "Why are you doing this? What is volunteering? Why are you wasting your time! Are you making money out of it?" and similar stuff. To be honest, volunteering is not for everyone. Especially not for the closed minded people and people that are so comfortable in their own little bubble. Volunteering is a blessing. And i will try to tell you and convince you why.

As a young man, that has been a part of many NGOs, Erasmus+ programs, training courses and different activities related to this field, I am telling you that it is the best thing to do in your free time, especially if you are in high school or college. It has changed me and my life completely - in a good way! The biggest change for me it was when i left my country and went to live in Romania for 7 months to do a volunteering project. And that was the best period in my life so far. For short, we were 7 volunteers in total (the project lasted 1 year but we were divided in 2 groups) and the aim of the project was developing 8 European key competences and raising our employability by volunteering in a project that was benefiting 4 rural and one urban communities with promoting non-formal education for children in kindergartens and primary schools.
We were staying in the beautiful city of Craiova (which i am planing to write a whole article about) and i miss it so much. Craiova is located in southern Romania, around 4 hours driving with car west from Bucharest (the capital). Here is a photo that i captured of the "old town" full of cafes, bars, restaurants and shops.

What i learned from this experience:

Many of the stereotypes that i had about Romania were quickly changed by meeting new local people from Craiova and Romania in general. They helped me in every situation needed and they guided me to the right direction, just to fit in to the society better.

The teachers were amazing because they were letting the kids do what they want without setting some sort of boundaries. They were extremely creative with their paintings, crafts and any other activities that we were doing. They looked and felt free. That is what i enjoyed the most about working with them

This experience helped me to overcome some fears that i had such as speaking in front of strangers or a large crowd, it made me more aware of organizing my time more efficiently and i increased my punctuality. It made me realize how important it is to meet all the people involved in the project and beyond, because maybe those people can help you and be a factor in something in your future, you never know what can happen.
I became more creative and more open minded when it came to the activities that we were doing with the kids. I learned not to be afraid to take risks, which it was okay if we made mistakes or not being afraid to ask if something was unclear.
Over all, this experience helped me see myself in a whole different perspective and position that i never thought that i would be in. And it made me realize how much powerful the youth can be.

Thank you so much for your time! I will write more stuff related to this topic!