Alexia and Pauline

Hey! I have always wanted to take part in a volunteer experience and give my time to help and accompany others. During my stay, the only difficulty was the health crisis. Indeed, it particularly disturbed my volunteering.

Nevertheless, I was able to participate in some activities with asylum seekers such as indoor and outdoor games, drawing, cooking and other non formal educational activities. Besides that, the city of Ioannina is very beautiful and historically very interesting.

I particularly liked this city for volunteering with the Greek inhabitants and other volunteers. This stay was a real pleasure and a personal adventure.

At the beginning of October I fly to Greece, direction Ioaninna to do a European volunteer work (ESC) at the Youth Center of Epirus for one month. I am committed to this association to live a unique and enriching experience both professionally and personally.

During this month of volunteering, I was able to meet people, discover a new culture and especially make myself useful to a public in need.

After a few weeks spent in Ioaninna at the Youth Center, I discovered the workings of the association and its team. The objective of my mission was to animate fun (educational and recreational) activities for refugee children and teenagers seeking asylum. Only for several months the whole world has been going through a health crisis. Indeed, covid-19 also affects Greece and affects the daily life of everyone.  As a result, as volunteers we were not able to animate activities with the children, but the accompaniment of adolescents was maintained with barrier gestures to be respected of course. So I went to the center once or twice a week with other volunteers to support the team in the animation of play activities. The moments there were very enriching: discovery of different cultures, sharing, games, cooking, etc. Our presence as a volunteer was very appreciated by the young people, always smiling, it diversified their daily life.

The rest of the time, when I was not at the center, I was working on my personal project (an article of my own), and I was also working with the other volunteers on other projects. Moreover, the purpose of this volunteering was my commitment within an association but also the discovery of the country, the city of Ioaninna, and rich encounters as with the different volunteers present in the association, a very enriching mix in my opinion.

To conclude, volunteering is a great professional adventure because we are committed to people in need but also personal, leaving our comfort zone by discovering another country and other people. 

“This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Youth Center of Epirus and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.”