Unica Radio Raccontiamo la città che cambia
In this episode of the podcast, we meet two short-term volunteers, Loan and Shannon, who came from France to Cagliari, Sardinia, as part of the European programme European Solidarity Corps (ESC).
Working at the organization TDM 2000 was Loan’s first time volunteering. Her main goals this month were to improve her English, learn more about the culture of this island, meet new people, and of course to help others. By the end of the experience, she had acquired certain skills such as time management, managing her pocket money, and communication. Indeed, this experience allowed her to be more independent, to have more confidence in herself, and to learn more about her capacities and limits.
For Shannon, however, this was not the first experience in volunteering, as she had previously done an 8-month civic service in her city, Bayonne. The mission was called “peer mediation”. It consisted of going to classes of high school students to talk to them about various themes such as gender relations and responsible partying. Of course, there were 3 months of training before starting the process. She was able to train her and her team thanks to a sociologist and the Bayonne family planning.
During the month of volunteering at TDM 2000, both Shannon and Loan helped with promoting international events, wrote posts for the blog along with other volunteers, and created content for Instagram.
Travelling abroad
Shannon and Loan definitely realize it is not easy to go “alone” to another country, since you might be anxious because of the language barrier, getting lost, fear of travelling… These things can totally hold back an individual with a thirst for adventure. However, they think you just need to have a good dose of courage and go for it! Of course, no one is safe from a bad experience, and sometimes you just have to take a leap and jump into the unknown… After all, you will gain a lot of self-confidence in the end, it’s a gift!
Are you interested in volunteering abroad? Do not miss some of the previous podcast of the project LIVE in collaboration with UnicaRadio.
