How did Romania change me as a person?

Volunteering is about giving your time and skills, for the benefit of others, the local community and very importantly yourself. You can learn new skills, build confidence, make new friends, or simply take pleasure in being a part of something or supporting a cause that you believe in. It is a dialectical relationship and transforms while interacting on both sides. The aspect of life that we never had a chance to learn before, or already forgotten how to learn is taught us by the children. Having expectations is not an obstacle on the way of happiness making a smile on a child dispels all the expectations. It helps you how to have fewer expectations from life and live in the present. 

During my project, the students gave me most of the motivation, and helped me to feel more confident and gave me the ability to improve my learning pattern to apply them in different situations. While I was learning about keeping my expectations to a minimum level, I had a chance to find about myself more and learn more about my emotions and how to control them. Meanwhile, I comprehend the importance of accepting the challenges in life and being able to accept the mistake constructively for lifelong learning.

Working with children in a rural area of Oarta de Sus, who had fewer opportunities and perspectives of not being able to find a place in rapidly changing societies gave me another perspective of life and willingness to broaden their horizons. During my consulting for youth and from their experiences, I learned how to cope with uncertainty, solving conflicts, and managing crises. I realized that even if we make one small change in their lives, it will get bigger like a butterfly effect. Therefore, it was important for me to make them observe my consulting and experiences about life. 

I never had the privilege to live in a house with very different cultures before. During my volunteering service, I shared a house with Portuguese, Spanish, Azerbaijani, and Tunisian volunteers. I had a chance to learn about all their cultures, cuisines, and behaviors as well as sharing my own. I developed my intercultural sensitivity, flexibility, and understanding of differences.

Through doing various activities in both urban and rural schools with children, I learned more about Romanian culture and the educational system. I had a chance to comprehend the different behaviors and Romanian education system between children in rural and urban areas. One of the workshops that I have attended, and also from the experiences I heard from other volunteers, lead me discovering more about the Roma Community, and understanding difficulties that they face in society.

After experiencing this life in Romania and get to know me and skills better, I will continue improving myself, accepting more challenges, and continue doing volunteering locally.

Gul Ecem Cam – volunteer  in the project BCV - Building communities through volunteering - funded by ERASMUS +