Erasmus+ at its best in Tunisia

  

E adevărat ce se spune: Erasmus+ deschide noi orizonturi! Privind în spate, nu cu multă vreme în urmă nici nu mi-aș fi imaginat că voi ajunge să petrec două luni în Tunisia. Totuși, pot spune că decizia de a părăsi Europa în favoarea caldelor meleaguri africane, tocmai când în România frigul își făcea apariția, a fost una dintre cele mai îndrăznețe și înțelepte decizii pe care le-am luat vreodată. Deoarece cred că un pic de context ar constitui un adaos favorabil în înțelegerea experienței mele, vă voi spune că la finalul verii eram o proaspăt absolventă de master, fără o direcție clară de viitor, și știam doar că vreau să fac ceva diferit. Aveam impresia că nu investisem suficient timp în a-mi înțelege proprile dorințe și aspirații și mă aflam într-un punct mort atâta vreme cât nu reușeam să mă cunosc mai bine. După cum mi-a dovedit experiența din Tunisia, aveam dreptate.

Multiculturalism – Loving, sharing, receiving and giving!

Multiculturalism is defined as how a society deals with cultural diversity, both at the national and the community level according to many sociologists. It is a heterogeneous society in which people coexist but retain at least some of the unique characteristics of their traditional culture. It is the key to achieving a high degree of cultural diversity. Diversity occurs when people of different races, nationalities, religions, ethnicities, and philosophies come together to form a community. A truly diverse society is one that recognizes and values the cultural differences in its people. I live in a flat with other 4 volunteers from Azerbaijan, Portugal, Spain and Tunisia. I would like to define us as a mixed salad bowl with different cultures and unique characteristics.

what kind of future this humanity will get in the absence of awareness, culture and education

Am I being held in the same vortex of the corrupt educational system I experienced in Tunisia?

Do the children get better future?

Are we really helping them or pushing them into the unknown? 

After four months in Romania and after working with variety of students those questions possessed me. Was the international day of the Arabic child, last month.  As an Arabic girl I remembered the children of Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq and all the marginalized children in the world. My big concern is how to benefit the maximum from this experience to be able later to help the Arabic children with what I learned.

Multumesc pentru tot!

Enumerate all the things that this experience has given me is a difficult process. It’s been almost 11 remarkable months of adventures while living and discovering a different country. I had the chance to travel, to develop new language skills, to have new experiences and to meet amazing people.  

Most of this experience and memories are defined by the people I cross path with…The children and young people that welcomed me from the first day and since then always excepting us with a smile, hug or eager to tell us something. The coordinator, mentor and people involved in the project that supported me in everything during this time and that made the activities and this experience really enjoyable.

no matter how different we are, it is never too late to communicate

I am now on the half way of my volunteering experience. I met a lot of people from different

countries and cultures, some I liked some I didn't. As a person I accept people to be part of my life with the condition to have a lot of things in common r, I don’t know if this is right or wrong.

Me and my roommate we didn’t have a good relationship, we stayed in the same room but we never said even good morning to each other. We barely talked. We have never communicated to solve the problem. We only sent negative waves.

Volunteering for who?

It’s hard to believe that I have been here for four months already. I had lived abroad before and also did so many volunteering projects with disadvantaged children before. However, I have never felt that I could actually ‘touch someone’s life, that dense. Here, in my project building communities through volunteering, I have the feeling that volunteering can change someone’s life.

Since high school, I have been volunteered in different associations and the experiences I have made me the person I am now. Volunteerism 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, in fact 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.

First days in Baia Mare

The week before I came to Baia Mare, I was so anxious because I didn´t know which experiences were waiting for me. When I arrived to my new home I was tired and there were a lot of people in the kitchen that impressed me. First days I met so many people and I started making new friends like Tânia and Alejandro- Tania is in the same project as me and lives with me. In the house we are 7 people from different countries and cultures.

The first day of school I felt so nervous because I didn´t know how the children were going to react when they meet me. However, when I arrived everyone welcomed me very warmly and they asked me my name and how I was which made me very happy.