Posts

The Final Days Before Home

Image
 How A ESC Project Ends  Youth Pass Ceremony After 10 months of living in Ukraine the time came to finish my ESC and return home. This feeling is a bitter sweet one as you have begun to settle in the county you have called home but long to return home and see your family and friends. Though part of me was sad to leave the other knew its was time and thus, I beginning finishing my work which I had started 10 months ago. The finishing of Final Projects  After the completion of the youth insight festival and the conducting of my final interviews for my research project. The majority of my work in Ukraine was done and only small tasks, events or administration was left to do like filling out my youth pass. In the final months I did get the opportunity to present my research about the Vinnytsia architecture history at both the Donetsk University and Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University. I was also given the honour on providing feedback for a group of history students who were passing thei
Post a Comment
Read more

Festival Spirit

Image
 Youth Insight Festival  Opening Persentation The Youth insight festival was a major mile stones for my ESC volunteering experience. Our organization Pangeya Uiltima worked together with Voronovytsya House of Culture to create a festival for the local youth who wish to get involved in both media production and the performing arts.     Planning and Organisation The planning of the festival began as early as February when our team lead by Anna, our Italian Volunteer, began brainstorming ideas of what actives or events should be included in the festival. As the weeks went by our team built a festival schedule that included the following; Open Screen (we youth could enter their short films for screening) loop Cinema (The viewing of Pangeya films made during 2020-2021)  light Cinema  (A theater preformist by a local theater group from Voronovytsya)  Photo Exhibition (Digital Story)  Theater Workshop Singing Workshop Calligraphy Workshop Painting with a Local Artist (A local painting from Vo
Post a Comment
Read more

The forthcoming of Spring

Image
 A New Team A New Direction  Team Field Trip to Ukraine Village In April our team expanded with the arrival of three new Volunteers. This changed lead to new opportunities but also struggles as our new team faced uncertainties with lockdowns announced right in the middle of our spring planning. Planning and Evaluating our Situation  The end of March saw the success of our language café and frist photo exhibition. Our team wanted to build on this success with the launching of a Italian cinema club and closer co cooperation with Vinnytsia's universities which meant our language café and other clubs began to have new and younger  life. This with the arrival of three new volunteers meant that everyone was very excited for the coming month. Upon the arrive of the new volunteers our team began planning for Stina, the eco centre development project, where two of the volunteers would be perimetry based.  Team Meeting With the New Batch of Interns I began planning the next photography exhib
Post a Comment
Read more

Traveling and Adventure

Image
 Traveling Around Ukraine Chernobyl Fair Ground One activity that was highly encouraged while on ESC was traveling. Through traveling one gets to explore different parts of the country and experiences the culture in a more unfitted way. Learning how to use the public transport, communicating  in non verbal ways and eating new foods are just some of interesting things one will do during their  ESC. Sophia's Catherdral Kyiv The holy Trinity When I frist arrived in Ukraine there were three cities that everyone kept mentioning as places to visit. These are what I will call the holy trinity because almost all voluntaries and tourist who visit Ukraine will go to one or more of these cities. They are Kyiv which is the capital of Ukraine and for most people the frist city they will see. Odessa which is a large port city on the black sea famous or infamous depending who you ask, for its beaches. Lastly, L'viv with its beautiful architecture, trendy cafe's and vibrant food culture. O
Post a Comment
Read more

The Fruits of Our Labour

Image
Visualising Success Frist Place Winners Photo Exhibition Seeing the results of your work is a very important part of ones ESC experience. Without tangible results its hard to find the motivation to push on through the difficult times. One of my the most rewarding parts of my ESC was seeing finished products or events related to my work. This helped me grow during my project and my non formal education.  Opening night Photo Exhibition Photography Exhibition  One of my most successful and proudest achievements in the frist six months of being in Ukraine was the planning, running and showing the work of my photography club. The idea was to give members a project to help improve their photography skills. The theme, Vinnytsia by Night was decided upon to improve, night photography skills, handy during Ukraine's long winter, and to help develop ones personal expression as a photography. We asked participants who signed up to send in the following photos: A photo taken at night, Neon ligh
Post a Comment
Read more

More Than Just a Volunteer

Image
 Working in Ukraine My colleges from Pangeya Ulitma The working day of an ESC volunteer heavily depends on one's ambition and their NGO's projects. Some volunteers may have a typical nine to five job, whereas others may work primary in the evening. For me, it's a nice mix of both where I do get a flexible work day preparing to teach and run actives at night. Some of the actives and class are composed of the following: Language and Cultural Clubs My main activity for this project is preparing weekly language and culture clubs both in English and in Dutch. With these clubs I try to build a lesson plan based on the communicative learning method and instead of testing the students for prior knowledge, I give a small lesson on a topic related to either the Netherlands or an Anglo country. From this we learn interesting facts or new vocabulary that will lead into a speaking exercise. This will allow the students to have a chance to practice speaking either Dutch or English. First
Post a Comment
Read more

Stina

Image
The Sound of Silence My Trip to the Small Sleepy Village of Stina     The Eco Centre When I first arrived in Vinnytsia everything was new and exciting. The people were new, the city was new, the project were new. Even the mysterious project of Stina, the rural development project run by Pangea Ultima, was new.During my introduction week. My new colleagues would express their feelings about how they experienced Stina. For some it was a rural get away, a chance to relax and unwind from the stress of living in a city can bring. For others it was a summer camping trip. Where outdoor actives ruled the day and almost always ended with a campfire, roasted marshmallows and scary stories. The final group expressed their feelings as if a great injustice had been committed. Their words filled with horror as they recounted their version of events. So, it was with these mixed reviews in my mind. I concluded that Stina would be like living in rural NZ with the same scenery and lifestyle as Alita, Si
Post a Comment
Read more