My Story from one year in The Netherlands with ESC (European Solidarity Corps)
By Jovan Leshev If you have done any sort of volunteering work in any capacity, inevitably you have been asked how or why you would be doing paid work without being paid. It is never easy to explain why or how one decides to spend a year in a foreign country to serve as a volunteer. The positive experiences, the people I met, and the challenges I had to overcome while living and serving as an ESC volunteer in the Netherlands were more than enough reasons why I want to share my story. When I was selected as a volunteer from the Rock Solid Foundation to serve in their social restaurant Aan Tafel I was beyond excited. It was one of my long-standing wishes to live abroad, and this was the perfect opportunity to do just that. Aan Tafel is a social restaurant in the small town of Lunteren run entirely by volunteers and staffed by people with disabilities. Having worked in hospitality for a number of years, I thought this would be one of the easiest challenges I have faced, but the reality proved different. I had never shared working space with people with special needs and although challenging my time there taught me patience, compassion, and solidarity – qualities that every human being should possess if we want to live in a better world. My time in Lunteren and in Aan Tafel resulted in opportunities to learn, improve myself, and develop skills that I never thought I needed. In addition, great opportunities to meet, work alongside, and nurture relationships with people from all over the world, different age groups and cultural backgrounds, while helping me understand how astonishingly similar we all are when it comes to our core values. My long-term volunteering was not just limited to restaurant work. Rock Solid Foundation provided me and my fellow volunteers with opportunities to do meaningful volunteer work on a number of other projects, such as collecting food and clothes for people in need and organizing creative workshops for the elderly and people with disabilities. Along the way, I participated in various other activities they had going on in which we met and shared experiences with other volunteers in the Netherlands resulting in a bigger network of people and creating even more friendships along the way. It was not just working and learning, however. During the one year I spent as a volunteer, I got to immerse myself in a culture entirely different from my own, travel, learn a new language and visit places I had never seen before. I even got a chance to join a local choir and create even more experiences that are positive for me. So, yeah. If any youth is looking for a chance to do something meaningful and create some wonderful new experiences while living abroad and meeting people from all over the world, this is the perfect opportunity for you. Do not hesitate to volunteer, whether it is your time, your knowledge, or sometimes just your positive attitude. In the social restaurant Aan Tafel in Lunteren there is a quote hanging on the dining room wall: “When you have more than you need – build a bigger table, not a higher fence.
Local Volunteers
This opportunity is for locals only. Please refer to the Macedonian language page for details.
Participation in the Community Service Fair
On December 7th, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., this year’s Fair for Volunteerism was held in the Foyer of the Culture Center – Bitola. It featured 11 non-governmental organizations from Bitola and the region, as well as the work of local volunteer clubs, which presented their volunteer opportunities and shared their success stories and projects. Among the 11 organizations that took part in the Fair was YMCA Bitola. This was a great opportunity to connect volunteering opportunity providers and high school students in the city. The fair is the sixth such fair in a row, which is organized by the American Corner in Bitola and is primarily intended for high school students, students, and young professionals. The other organizations that took part were Sefra International, MKC Bitola, Together Macedonia, Interact, Lions International, Sumnal Bitola, CEDI, Zlatno Pero, and the Center for Culture from Bitola. More photos from the event are at the following link.
Local Volunteer Awards
The Council for Volunteering of the Municipality of Bitola awarded the local awards for volunteer/volunteer action for 2022. This award is given on the occasion of December 5 – the International Day of Volunteers and the purpose of its award is to encourage and promote volunteering in Bitola, to increase the visibility of volunteers and positive volunteering practices, and to inspire further promotion and development of volunteering at a local level. YMCA Bitola is part of the Local Council for Volunteering (LCV) of the Municipality of Bitola, which has its representative in this Council. The winners of the award this year were Ferzije Asanovska, Valentina Sokolovska, and Marija Boškovska, awarded as volunteers for 2022, then the “Association for protection from multiple aspects – VIKTORI” from Bitola, awarded as an organizer for volunteer work for 2022 and Natasha Darkov – volunteer coordinator for 2022. The prizes were awarded by the mayor of the municipality of Bitola, Toni Konjanovski, who thanked the awardees for their actions so far, wishing for many more successful volunteer activities in the next period, for which the municipality is always ready to provide the necessary support. The event took place on the premises of Mladi Hub in Bitola. You can see more photos from the event at the following link.
Green Agenda through Green Bair and 1000 woods for 1 acorn
For several years in a row, the YMCA supports the “Green Bair” initiative, which is trying to realize the idea of reforesting parts of the area called Bair in Bitola. It is an area consisting of bare hills that suffered from the fire a few years ago in this part of the city. This is the fourth such action in a row and this time 200 evergreen seedlings of black pine were planted. In the past three years, more than 400 evergreen seedlings were planted in this area, some of which have been successfully adapted and are already greening the area. Several associations of citizens and some companies support this initiative, which we hope will continue to happen in the future. More information on the activities and photo galleries is available here и here. In addition to this, in the second half of October 2022, the team of the ZEMI ZDIV platform, where the YMCA is a part, started the preparation for the implementation of the environmental action “1000 forests from 1 acorn” which aims to raise environmental awareness among children and adults about the importance of trees in the process of environmental protection. The action consisted of collecting healthy oak acorns that were distributed to children from primary education with the aim of planting them at home, growing the trees and transplanting them to a permanent location. With this action, we want to interest them in their active involvement in the process of planting new trees, and to motivate them to continue with such healthy habits in the future. The goal is for each child to have their own oak tree that they will grow and later plant in a specific location. This year, this action as a pilot project was organized in three elementary schools in Bitola (OU St. Kliment Ohridski, in OU Dame Gruev and OU Goce Delchev) within the framework of complementing the teaching of natural sciences. You can see more pictures and video of the action at the following link and video.
