My name is Roula. A Syrian who volunteered in a youth centre in Estonia, and it was the best decision I have ever made!
I am a pharmacist but my journey with volunteering started earlier in 2019 with UNHCR and multiple NGOs but I was still very interested in working with the youth category on a day-to-day basis.
I applied to the European Solidarity Corps and interviewed and then I arrived in Estonia in December 2021 in the beginning of the Estonian winter which I haven’t seen anything like in my whole life. It was such a change of environment but it was still both beautiful and breathtaking with its nature!
My volunteering took place in Rae Noortekeskus and even though it was challenging being in a new field and a new environment in a foreign country, I fell in love with youth work and youth centres. I started slowly by getting to know open youth work and what a youth centre does on the daily, then progressed to lead workshops and activities like: sustainable gardening (one of my hobbies) and monthly cultural days. I got to know why Estonian youngsters like Kahoot! And board games so much, my favourite board games are UNO, Dominion and Cascadia.
I was so lucky to participate in important Estonian youth activities like the military defence camp and Malev (which is a summer work camp which teaches youth entrepreneurship and leads them to invest their time in a work setting).
Being a group leader or a rühmajuht in the youth work camp (Malev) has taught me so much about group work with youth and how to address their sense of entrepreneurship with respect and how to learn from it myself. I would do it again every summer for sure.
The military camp was its own adventure! I am thankful for the experience and the time the trainers and military enlisted people took to teach us and train us about their ways, I even learned survival skills like how to start a campfire with cotton and a flint.
Volunteering through ESC has given me access to language resources and training sessions that connected me with other ESC volunteers and expats in Estonia. I was able to introduce my culture and learn about so many more. I am definitely a lot more social than I was at the beginning of the project.
A year later my love for youth work has invested in me changing my career into a Youth Worker at a new youth centre, Valdeku Noortekeskus! Thanks to the life changing opportunity in ESC, I was open to resources that helped me find another direction that I love and I can’t wait to help and guide new volunteers who join ESC and come to Estonia to have the great experience that I did, and even better!
eankvabatahtlik.wordpress.com 