Progetti di Volontariato Europeo

Le nostre volontarie Ucraine hanno finito il loro periodo di volontariato in associazione lo scorso Agosto. Abbiamo un pò riflettuto sulla loro esperienza con noi, sul contributo che hanno dato alla nostra associazione e ai nostri utenti ma anche su ciò che hanno avuto modo di imparare in questi 10 mesi. Ecco un pieghevole che riassume il valore di Help and Empower Yourself:

My 10 months project is about to end. I am happy and sad at the same time. But what can I do..time is flying, life is moving on! I t was an interesting experience. Of course there were things I didn't like and couldn't get used to, but definitely, there were a lot of positive moments.  I had time to travel and see the island, which was nice. I met many international people. I was forced to learn Italian, because very few people speak English fluently, and learned a lot about Sicilian culture.  I met many challenges, but this is actually what life in another country is about. Finally, I started loving olive oil, which I never used in cooking before. For the first time in my life, I participated in the Gay Pride and local carnival.  Speaking about volunteering in the organization (working with disabled people), it was unexpectedly easy.  I think that's because everyone was really friendly and open to communication.  It was my firs...

Il Palermo Pride ha sfilato 28 Giugno lungo le strade della città. Carri, tante gente, colore, diversità, colorata e multiforme. Si è diretta fino a Cantieri culturali alla Zisa per la festa finale. Tutto questo per una parata nel segno del rispetto e della difesa dei diritti umani.  Ho partecipato qualche volte nel Kyiv Pride, ma Il Palermo Pride è più grande. In Ucraina e anche in Italia sono molte le battaglie ancora in corso e sono molti, purtroppo, gli episodi di violenza ai danni di persone Lgbt. Non solo la violenza ai danni di persone Lgbt, ma anche le persone con disabilita, i migranti, le donne sono oggetto di forme di bullismo e violenza. Per questo oggi è più importante stare insieme per supportare i diritti umani. Natalia

Art…Who doesn’t love art? Nowadays it’s everywhere, and it is impossible to imagine our lives without it. Everything is art and art is for everyone. But have you ever thought what is actually art and how powerful it can be? It’s well-known that art connects people, countries, cultures. Have you ever thought that art can heal people, and helps those in need, those with difficulties, those who actually can learn this world only through arts? That was what our last project about. Art of inclusion. The project gathered partner-organizations from Portugal, Germany, Romania, and Italy. The week was full of cultural events and activities. The program consisted of: painting sessions, visits to the museums, creating photo exhibition, handcraft activities etc. It was unbelievably enjoyable to watch how everyone was deeply involved in the process. One more time I was convinced that art is full of love,  feelings, when people create (literally anyone), ...

Sono una volontaria nel Sud Italia, a Palermo e l'esperienza che sto facendo è davvero di speciale. Essere parte di una grande squadra che sta lavorando per i bisogni e i diritti per la gente con disabilità che sono svantaggiati in qualche modo e l'idea di fare la differenza nella vita di qualcuno è una grande sensazione. Penso che SVE dovrebbe essere più diffuso. SVE è un programma ERASMUS +, organizzato e finanziato dall'Unione Europea. Ieri si è tenuta il 22 maggio a Palermo la Festa dell’Europa 2019. Questa festa non è una sola festa ma anche la festa per tutti cittadini europei…senza barriere, senza pregiudizi! L’Unione europea non è ancora perfetta. C’è ancora tanto da fare, tanti problemi. Ma anche L'Unione europea ci sono tanti cose   impagabili come: il rispetto della dignità umana, la libertà, l’uguaglianza, la solidarietà e è il diritto per tutti di essere felici. L'UE promuove l'inclusione e la partecipazione delle persone con di...

Another beautiful day, another beautiful festival – the Day of Europe. The festival was held in a nice park, so we could enjoy it during the day, as well-organized event and meet a lot of little – young smiling people. Another exciting moment for our guys to socialize, watch, participate, understand, enjoy. It is so important for the EU to treat disabled people equally, but what is more important is to teach others to have lots of respect and responsibility for these people.   And this is what everyone could notice: children of different ages showed lots of respect   and friendliness to our guys. It was so nice to watch it. People need to see other people. People need to know there are different people, some have problems, some don't,   some are happy and smiling, others prefer to hide their feelings. Meeting new people is as important as sharing experiences.   That's why I am glad we had the opportunity to  leave the office and...

  The first time in my life I participated in the Carnival. Before preparing, I wasn’t sure how serious people take it, and it was my mistake to have no costume. The Carnival was so colourful, so exciting. How nice it was to see smiling faces,  masks  and messy carnival staff all around. Immediately you dive into the holiday atmosphere, get the holiday mood and feel so warm among all the people. Seems that the whole crowd is one big happy family. What was important for me to notice is that while the  Carnival you truly feel the quality between everyone. People don’t divide into social groups, don’t ignore other people’s needs and respect each other while enjoying the festival. Isn’t it wonderful how one event can unite different people? It is! And I feel very sorry that in Ukraine we don’t have national Carnivals which bring so much joy and love to people.    I hope to see other Italian Carnivals. And next time (for sure!) i will get a cost...

We had some new activities lately: guitar classes, couple visits to museums, reading poetry. I noticed that everyone (including myself) enjoyed spending time while doing new things. It's always exciting to get new experiences. Most of all I was impressed by how guys admired playing the guitar, although many of them were holding the guitar for the first time. It seems that music brings a lot of happiness to the collective mood every time during the guitar lessons, everyone is singing and enjoying the rhythm.  I also think we had a great time when visiting art exhibition and the palace museum. No doubts users were entertained by getting some cultural information as well as spending time in the city. I am really very satisfied with my Ukrainian course and that users are always fully engaged in it. It is very pleasant they are interested in learning my mother tongue and do their best to be good students. It makes me surprised and thankful at the same time...

The last month in   the organization was quite busy and crowded. So,    firstly together with guys we prepared a lot of handcraft    souvenirs    for the Christmas market. It was a special project, because   all of the souvenirs were made of recycled materials, and I enjoyed myself during those creative workshops. Not less enjoying was the Youth Exchange. It was the first time for me to participate in the project like this and I found it truly exciting. The week of very well-planned activities passed quickly, I learned a lot about the topic (Hi-Tech Youth Work),   I met a lot of new people coming from Latvia, Malta and Spain. But what is more important, I made good friends with the best guys, we had so much fun together, I can’t remember when I laughed so much the last time! It was an incredible week! The final event was the staff party, the best ending of the year before Christmas holidays. The first thing I was surpr...

This is the 3d week of my staying in Palermo. I like how Uniamoci Onlus unites people, i like friendly and home-like atmosphere here, its pleasant to see how people enjoy themselves in this place. This working week   was short but very busy. We did lots of crafts, watched “Friends”, learned basic Ukrainian, made traditional Portugeese masks, started another recycling proiect.   I liked how people reacted to Ukrainian language lesson. It was much fun to repeat those strange Ukrainian letters and phrases, wasn’t it? ;) I hope the next lessons will be as fun and enjoying so that guys could learn some words and make a small talk in Ukrainian. It will make life a little bit easier when welcoming another volunteers coming from Ukraine J ! хороших вихідних! побачимось! 😉😉😉 Galia