Volunteer stories
Volunteer's life
Daria Bunescu
22 years, Moldova
EVS volunteer in Lithuania
Describe yourself in three words: Optimistic, polite and friendly
Favourite fruit: Orange
Favourite place you have been to: Prague
Favourite language: romanian
Favourite colour: red, yellow, blue
Favourite music: house, jazz, pop
A dream you wish come true: To visit Japan
Describe Lithuania: interesting culture and traditions; some things are very similar to my country
Why Lithuania?
At that time when I apply for EVS, Lithuania needed volunteer in that moment and I decide to go.
What is your project?
Rehabilitation School-center BITUTE from Jonava. I help a teacher with 1st class
How do you spend your free time?
Travel, making art therapy, cooking, going for hiking, making BBQ, playing football, frisbee, singing, going to the concerts, watching movies.
What is Lithuania for you?
One year of my life with a great people
Best experience in Lithuania?
When we were for 4 days in the middle of the forest with a great team during our training, and after was carting.
Worst experience in Lithuania?
The cold winter
Any future plans after leaving Lithuania?
Come back to my country
What are you doing in ten years?
Travel, volunteering and making a family
Why would you recommend people who want to do their voluntary service to come to Lithuania?
Because you would like it. To live in a country that is in EU but with a lot of things from USSR, with energetic dances and tasty food.
Why would you recommend people to do voluntary service in Moldova?
Moldova is a country with a totally different tradition and culture that deserve to be discovered. People are open and you can find some parts that you never thought that they are. You can live how you would like. This is a good experience for everybody.
Marion Juhtund
22 years
EVS volunteer from Estonia
So you step off the plane in a country which until now had only seemed to exist on world maps. First thought - it's warmer here than home. Second - where the hell am I?
At that moment a new book begins, a book you will carry around with you wherever you go. Every chapter a new adventure.
Coming here, many think that local people have absolutely no idea of the outside world, but living here, you're convinced otherwise. Although most believe the world to be exactly like in the magazines - shiny, tight, exaggerated and perfect. In my experience, all of the taxi-drivers, for example, have had girlfriends from Estonia (or whatever country you're coming from) or then probably exported apples there once in the "golden" soviet times. Some of them, Moldovans, treat you as important guests, some like intruders. But if you take the time to get to know them, even a simple "Buna ziua!" can melt their hearts.
You will find yourself in love with open air markets that seem like dangerous waters. And even though you can hear all those colors and aromas of freshly cooked placintes calling your name, you can not shake off the idea of being eaten alive by hords of pumpkins, watermelons and cheap cookies, just like pirajas. But if you're brave enough, I can promise that once you exit those rusty old gates you'll be stepping back to the sidewalk a richer person.
You're told that trolleybus tickets may bring you luck, but only when you eat them. And luck means nothing here. Being a volunteer in Moldova means that everything can happen, and it probably will, too. Every now and then local people want to fix you up with red-haired missionaries or cure you from all kinds of illnesses their own way. In nightclubs you might find yourself in a situation where you're forced to pretend to be a diplomat's daughter to escape some greasy men. All this mixed together with breathtaking landscapes, almost non-existent traffic culture and amazingly kind people will knock you over, pull you back up and push you into the colorful, dusty and blue skied mess that sometimes even tastes like wine - Moldova.
Maxie Riemenschneider
19 Years
EVS volunteer from Germany
Me and my Dogs
I started my EVS in Chisinau, Moldova in September 2009. At this time, my only project was an “Animation Centre for Children and Youth”. The first month there were ok, not always easy (as I had to get used to the mentality at first), but always interesting. After a while the feeling that I also want to do something else as just working with children grow in me. At the same time, I got more and more concerned about the Moldovan stray dog problem. A dead dog is lying on the sidewalk for more than 2 weeks and nobody cleans it, on a walk to home at night dogs are following me with the hope to get some food or just some minutes of affection, while another dog is dying just right in front of me on a poisoned piece of food. Reasons enough to search for an organization which work with dogs, and try to help these, in my eyes, wonderful animals. With the support of Marina, one of the ADVIT-angels, I found the dog shelter “Casa Katharina”, situated outside of Chisinau, based on and financed from a German organization. Already on my first visit there, I completely fell in love with this place. You enter the gate and immediately 120 dogs start to bark, run to you, jump up on you and try to catch your attention. Right away it was clear: This is meant to be my second EVS Project!
At the beginning, there were some communication problems with the workers, as their English is quite bad and my Rumanian isn’t much better. But in time, our funny English-Rumanian-Russian-German Mix established itself quite well.
About the question what am I doing there: Well, everything what you can do for, and with dogs. E.g. taking care of the little, sometimes motherless puppies and wounded dogs; preparing special food for them, paying attention to shy dogs with the aim of loosing their fear as well as simple tasks like washing feeding bowls, cleaning the dog kennels, giving food and water and also, the most hated but also one of the most necessary tasks, collecting their…droppings. Sometimes I’m even allowed to assist the veterinary with operations, one of the most interesting things for me.
Besides my few hours in the dog shelter every week, I also enjoy a lot my free and independent volunteer life in Moldova. I try to learn more about my temporary home country and its culture (learning traditional recipes, traditional handicraft, traditionally customs), spend time with my local friends, try to see as much as possible from Moldova and its neighbor-countries, travel a lot, help to organize activities, festivals and concerts or do crazy things like jumping from a 55 meter high building. All this and much more is possible in Moldova and for this I love this country and my time as an EVS-Volunteer here. So how could I end this little article better than with the motto of us volunteers in Moldova: In Moldova, everything is possible!
Oonagh Sinead O’Connor
22 years
EVS volunteer from Ireland
Describe yourself in three words: Diverse, Adaptable and Amiable
Favourite fruit: Bananas
Favourite place you have been to: Hawaii
Favourite language: French
Favourite colour: Turquoise
Favourite music: I do not have. There are too many to choose from.
A dream you wish come true: To win a lottery and travel the world.
Describe Moldova: To say it is interesting would be an understatement.
Why Moldova?
Because I had never heard about it before and I was interested in the mixture of cultures, as in influenced by Rumania, Ukraine and Russia, and also the political situation here interested me as I am from Northern Ireland.
What is your project?
I am working in Promolex, a NGO that promotes human rights, democracy and civil society in Moldova.
How do you spend your free time?
Attempting to learn Rumanian, reading and trying to meet new people, sometimes successfully other times not. I also spend time with volunteers, obviously.
What is Moldova for you?
A lot about my work, but also about the new people and the new experiences. Everyday is something different.
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Best experience in Moldova?
I have had a lot of fun, but I cannot specify one experience that is on the top of my volunteer experiences.
Worst experience in Moldova?
Travelling from Bucharest, Rumania, to Moldova. It was very stressful trying to get back home safely, especially with my limited Rumanian skills.
Any future plans after leaving Moldova?
I plan to study more and hopefully use the experience I have gained here to get in a similar field.
What are you doing in ten years?
Hopefully I have a job that I am happy in, but I do not have any concrete plans. I take a year as it comes.
What is the situation in Moldova twenty years after today?
Hopefully the country will develop its infrastructure and the political structure and that this will fall down to the normal people in their every day life. Hopefully this will raise the standards for its people and hopefully more Moldovans will stay in their country.
Why would you recommend people who want to do their voluntary service to come to Moldova?
It gives you a unique opportunity to come to a relative unknown country and it gives you the opportunity to gain a whole new experience within European setting. Each day varies new challenges and interesting situations.
Why would you recommend people to do voluntary service in Ireland?
Because the people are friendly and it’s a lot of fun, and to experience the Irish crack.
Rachael Horwitz
22 Years
EVS volunteer from United Kingdom
Projects on Women
Women’s organizations and projects in the country where I am based, Moldova, face many challenges. One thing I noticed when I came to Moldova is the fact that vastly different expectations are placed upon men and women, in terms of the gender roles they are expected to fulfil. I have been asked on a number of occasions why I am not married; despite the fact I am only 21!
Moldova has a very high percentage of women working overseas, many of whom work illegally and some of whom have been illegally trafficked. In Europe’s poorest country where there is high unemployment, some people prefer to leave by any means available to them rather than stay, especially in rural areas. In some villages, only old people and children are left.
I’ve been in Moldova for a month, and am working with two organizations which deal, partly, with vulnerable women – the Charity Centre for Refugees and Winrock Moldova.
The Charity Centre for Refugees provides teaching courses and organizes events for refugees and asylum seekers living in Moldova. As part of my work volunteering for the charity, I have been giving English and computer lessons. While the Centre helps any asylum seeker or refugee in need of assistance or who simply wants to meet with others in the same situation, women and children are frequently especially vulnerable to a precarious situation.
Winrock Moldova specifically works with young women at risk of people-trafficking, as well as publishing research around the subject. It helps to provide employment and educational opportunities to this group. As education around the risks of going abroad has become more widespread, efforts have concentrated in rural areas of Moldova and the Transnistrian region, which has remained a relatively closed society since it declared independence in 1992.
My previous experience working for Rape Crisis and with a centre for homeless people has meant that I am very aware of issues affecting women. The women’s sector is one that even in Western Europe is frequently underfunded and overlooked. Working in such organizations is a real challenge but a very rewarding one.
Ronja WÖSTHEINRICH
20 Years
EVS volunteer from Germany
Realizing Challenges, Difficulties and Achievements
It's incredible how fast time can pass by. Especially when you are doing something as great and exciting as an EVS in Moldova. So when I got the invitation to my mid-term training I couldn't believe that I am already halfway through my stay here. But it is true and thus I took part in the mid-term training from 18-20 May in Lalova, Moldova. During these three days we talked a lot about our so far experiences, problems we had encountered, our learning process, goals for the second half of our stay and even plans for the time after the EVS. It was funny to see how we all mentioned the same things when asked what keeps annoying us about Moldova. Unfriendly shop assistants, packed mini busses, Moldovan slowliness and the „dress code“ were amongst the most frequent answers. Though we all have our very individual experience we soon noticed that many of us were facing similar challenges such as difficulties with finding one's place at work. Therefore it was quite inspiring and helpful to share ideas and find solutions together. Beside the sessions we also had a lot of fun playing games, and energizers. We explored the village, ate a lot of very tasty traditional Moldovan food, went to a honey tasting and visited the monastery of Saharna. All in all it was a nice and instructivetraining.
Only after the mid-term training I realized how much I have achieved during the past three month, I am well integrated at my project, I learned to speak Romanian, I found a lot of friends and I even begin to adapt some of the Moldovan habits. I know that in three month I will have to leave and when I come to think about it makes me quite sad. But the happiness of having found a new home definitely outweighs this and I am looking forward to the coming months.
Alina Osmacova
23 years, Moldova
EVS volunteer in Finland
The notes of a Moldovan volunteer once upon a time in Finland…
August 2008, Chisinau
Destination known
“…it will be quite hard to get visa to Spain….How about Finland?” “Hmm,” I thought. Spain,Finland…why not?not such a big difference. Very soon, due to the global warming, Lapland will become the second AndaluciaJ…So let it be Finland-I said…And my EVS journey to a EU wonderland began…”
August 2008, Helsinki-Vantaa
The Finnish language
“… I remember sitting with my family at the kitchen sofa in my Moldovan house and reading the Finnish-Russian dictionary. To be honest every fifth word was provoking such a laugh of us!:) “matka”, poika”, I don’t even mention the word “pulla”, what in the Moldovan language is a very taboo word(and that was the first word I actually learned in Finnish). Everything sounded so funny…Until I went shopping with a volunteer from Italy on the first day after our arrival to Finland…It wasn’t funny at all, I couldn’t even guess where the beginning and the ending of the words were...”
September 2008, Helsinki
“I’m from Moldova”
“…Usually when I say this phrase to an unknown person in Finland when introducing myself I see no reaction on the face, so this brought me to an idea that all the time I have to mention, that “It..is..between Romania..and..Ukraine..:)” and than I see some change in the face expression of the person…”
November 2008, Helsinki-Vantaa
“You can’t take the pictures of kids”
“…I was really surprised when I found out that in my project I’m not allowed to make pictures of the kids due to the fact that some parents don’t give permission for that. To be honest I find it a bit surprising. I’m not a criminal or whatever. Any way I decided to keep away from problems and now I don’t even take camera to the kindergarten…”
December 2008, Helsinki-Espoo
My Finnish Angels
“…My new host family- Tiina and Juha! My Angels!!!!!I think I don’t have to say anything else, it’s clear! And yeahh, their lovely cute pets, a sweety doggy Ellie and a couple of individualistic cats- the picky girl Vintia and the “I-don’t-care-“guy TannisJ Love them…”
Mamaliga experience
“…I decided to make a Moldovan dish Mamaliga, a corn porridge out of corn flavor….At least meat was tastyJ
I asked my parents to send me some corn flavor from Moldova, because what we got out of local flavor, it wasn’t looking so goodJ…”
December 12th, 2008, Helsinki, on the ferry
Tallinn trip
“…In order to integrate completely into the Finnish culture you might need to learn the language, try some Karelian pie and X-mas glogi, may be see the Santa, BUT the mission won’t be completed if you don’t make a pilgrimage to Tallinn by a ferry. Looks like every respectable Finnish considers it as a local tradition to go to Tallinn.
My pilgrimage to Tallinn was supported by purely innocent incentives to see the Old Town and to meet with some Moldovan friends there. I must say my targets were totally achieved. I gave a HUGE “excellent“mark to the Tallinn weekend. Ferry trip was funny thing to me. Well, my main observation is that when you sit or lay down on the sofa(what is more common esp. on you way back to Helsinki), you feel like a king f the boat, but when you stand up and try to move, looks like you are going to fall down from this planet, as it shakes too hard…”
February 2009, Helsinki
Hartwall Arena and Hockey Match
“…To be honest, I’m not a big fan of hockey. But, come on, if you get a ticket for free- you will consider it your matter of honor to go to a hockey match, esp. in Finland. I had no idea who was playing, but it didn’t matter. The most important thing was that the game took place in the Hartwall Arena, where the Eurovision actually was onceJ…”
March 2009, Helsinki-Paris
Alina Irina Paris
“…Just like in the movie: me, my friend Irina and her French friend, and Paris. Well, no flights to Oviedo ,but hey, that was Paris!
He is really charming, he looks at you with the eyes of Notre Dame, he breathes with the wave of Sienna, he talks to you with the sound of carousels, and you definitely feel so envious when you see “his girl-friend”, Ms. Eiffel .She is a real Parisian lady: elegant, stylish, and so magnifying…”
April 30th, 2009, Helsinki
The dream of a 15 year old girl who is now 23 came true
“…Enrique in Helsinki…Enrique Iglesias in Helsinki….Enrique Iglesias in Helsinki????...Enrique Iglesias in Helsinki!!!!!
That’s what I was feeling when I bought the ticket to the concert of Enrique Iglesias in Hartwall Areena, Helsinki. AH!!!!
It was a blast! 2 hours of euphoria! I was screaming, jumping, yelling, I was all into Enrique! He was there to sing for me, we finally met with himJ.And of course every little and not very little girl there thought the same. But he really made each of us feel so special that eveningJ…”
May 16th 2009, Helsinki-Tamissari
Wedding of a Turkish friend
“…Another great moment of my life in Finland. I had a perfect chance to experience the Swedish-Finnish weddingJ. Well, I must say, the shots-toasts or toasts-shots thing was something really new for me and people say that RUSSIANS drink much?!:)
My mum was really surprised when I called her at 22:00 and told : Mum, we have already eaten the wedding cake!”.She said:”Are you joking? so early?”. The thing is that in Moldova we have the wedding cake or what’s left after it(esp. if the weather is very hot, but they put it outside as a part of decoration straight away) around at 2 or 3 o’clock a.m.
But any way, wedding was a blast!...”
May 29th 2009, Helsinki-Tallin, on the way back to Moldova
“…Finland was a blast!!! :)…”
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