My volunteering experience in Timisoara.

by Obada Alzeer Alhouseini (Palestine)

A leap into the unknown Romania

My volunteering experience in Timisoara, Romania Urban dictionary defines volunteering as an activity where an individual or a group of people provides services for no financial or social gain to benefit another person, group or organization. I wanted to experience the feeling myself and so I participated in the largest voluntary project called “Youth Centers Up” in Europe, where 125 volunteers from around the world and 30 from Romania have gathered to rebuild 5 old buildings and turn them into urban youth centres during my summer break. This team volunteering short-term project lasted about 2 months and was about solidarity, participation, community involvement and social inclusion. I was one of the lucky young people who were part of it and took the opportunity to make a change, benefiting of the occasion to develop important skills and abilities such as teamwork, sense of initiative and organizing events. The first stage of activities was evolved around getting to know the other volunteers and the city, where the project took place, called Timisoara. It sure is a special city that is known for its beautiful, full of flower parks and for its heritage buildings that date back to the 16th century when it was conquered by the Turkish armies. Since Timisoara is a rich cultural city with a particular architectural heritage, which gathers in a relatively small space an impressive heritage from different epochs and cultures, traces of different ethnic communities who have left their identity marks here, Timisoara have earned the title of European Capital of Culture in 2021. The second stage of activities involved community engagement, teambuilding and planning. My 24 team colleagues and I got to discover the community where the activity will happen. We engaged with the locals living there and tried to convince them to be part of the process. We showed them the place so that they can compare it once it’s done. Then with the help of our Romanian guide, we were able to set a plan on how the whole process will happen and how much it would approximately cost. The third stage was the toughest one of all. We started with the “rebuilding”. Our host organization had a motto “we don’t have architects, money for new furniture or fancy tools, but we believe in the power of the community and innovative approach that can be done by young people.” And so, we found ourselves in the middle of real construction work that would usually require skill and experience but somehow and with some help we managed to do a pretty good job, that won my team the prize for the most astonishing transformation and the most creative use of space. There was never a competition against the other centers, but we felt we earned a well-deserved celebration, which leads us to the final stage. After cleaning up and repairing the furniture that we received from the community and setting up the space, we organized our center opening ceremony. We received a fix budget and it was up to us to decide how we want to organize it, so we hired a band and bought pizza and drinks. Then we invited the community to see the results. The looks on their faces! They were so surprised by what an amazing job we have done. We knew it was all worth it once we saw the smiles on the children’s innocents faces, joyfully playing in a safe place that used to be a dumpster. This experience has been one of the most exciting events in my life. Sure, they didn’t pay us for what we did, but they gave us much more than that. Teamwork competences, communication skills in a foreign language, awareness of cultural differences and social competences, sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, and knowledge about the European Solidarity Corps were only some of the few things we got to take with us home but the part I am most thankful for are the memories with the people I worked with, whom I now call my friends.