When asked to reflect on her time here, Ellie said: “One of the simplest, yet power tools I have had the amazing fortune of learning during my time as an EVS volunteer in Sennrüti, is the Hawaiian forgiveness ritual: Ho’oponopono. It centers on the belief that everything is connected and offers a self-love approach to…
Sennrüti, a place of equality
I had previously spent time on several short-term volunteer projects, including two months at a Croation eco-centre, where I gained plenty of useful skills and know-how in the field of permaculture, as well as learning basic Croatian. After this experience I found myself asking ‘How is it possible, that one can gain so much knowledge…
Work is Love in Action
Two years ago I was sitting in a huge, loud, open-space office and my life was passing by without any sense; I didn’t know what the weather was outside of the office or what the weather was inside of me. I was working as a Human Recourses manager in an IT company: well-paid, but leaving…
Marija and Diellina about the climate change in Kagel, Germany
Between 18th and 24th of October Marija Sehtanska and Diellina Mehmeti attended the Networking & Training seminar: “Climate beyond Individual Action! How to organize young people for climate justice” organized by SCI – Deutscher Zweig e.V. The main aim of the seminar was to gather participants from 15 European countries to come together and learn…
The subtle art of being a “decent” camp leader
This question: how to be a “good” camp leader I was asking myself many times while preparing for the international workcamp in August. That supposed to be my second time as a camp coordinator and forth – participating in the project like that. For sure, I was more experienced than my co-teamer, but it didn’t…
Somewhere in the Swiss Forest
For my second time as a SCI Switzerland workcamp coordinator I wanted to be at a special place and country I haven’t been before. That’s why I choose the Swiss Alps. The Alpe Loasa which is right at the border to Italy, surrounded by forest and only reachable by foot was the perfect place to…
Paint the walls away in Mitrovica, Kosovo
After the First World war devastated France, the authorities picked one of the numerous fallen soldiers who could not be identified, and buried him under the ‘Arc de Triomphe’, one of the main monuments of the capital city. To this day, people gather to pay tribute to this young man who represents so many other…
Mutual integration in Monar Wyszków
Have you ever been greeted by a big applause upon arrival at the workcamp? This is how the community of Monar welcomed our little group of volunteers to their summer camp in Bachotek. Dancing around the campfire to the sounds of Disco Polo, we celebrated the start of this special fortnight. The following days went…
At least I tried – our workcamp in the wild
It all started with the Gendered Realities project and the call for local activities on gender equality topic by SCI. The team of three girls Bea from Poland, Vili and Shirin from Bulgaria, who already had organized two workcamps on women empowerment in a small village in Lukovit region in Bulgaria (in 2017 and 2018)…
Relaxation, spirituality and excitement in Draganac Monastery
Draganac Monastery is this kind of place that you cannot describe in one sentence. The moment I arrived there, I felt different vibrations, between relaxation, spirituality and excitement. I arrived there on a Saturday afternoon to help settling the workcamp that GAIA Kosovo and the brotherhood of Draganac organize every year for Slava, a celebration…
Memories of volunteering from El Salvador
My name is Tania and I would love to share with you part of my long term volunteering experience with SCI in the ‘Consciente’ project in San Francisco Gotera (El Salvador). I think that our job as volunteers is to show the world the potential and hidden treasures of the places we visit! That is…
It is part of your work “to improve the environment a bit”
My name is Mitzi, I am 21 years old and I volunteered at the VIA VZW Project in Meihof Asylum Centre in Lint, a small village in the province of Antwerp (Belgium), where there are around 160 refugees, of which about 25 children and 18 unaccompanied minors. Really working in the center with so many children…
