Unica Radio Raccontiamo la città che cambia
Katarina Winkler is 24 years old, and currently lives in Frankfurt, Germany. She works as a special pedagog, and actively trains in karate. Apart from that, she has briefly been involved in different volunteering projects – for example, in Croatia, where she originally comes from. Wanting to travel and explore different cultures, Katarina came to Cagliari, Sardinia, in July 2022. Here, she helped the local association TDM 2000 organize its annual International Summer Week.
During her one-month volunteering service in Cagliari, she was involved in participant care and communication. International Summer Week 2022 gathered together around 140 participants from different countries. Katarina’s main responsibilities were to provide them with all necessary information for a successful event, help them out in case of any doubts and questions, and keep them feel welcome throughout the festival.
Katarina thinks that this experience, the challenges and lessons learned along the way definitely helped her improve both on a personal and professional level. It was a great chance to meet people from all around the world, and become acquainted with other cultures, traditions and habits.
Why everyone should try ESC
This was Katarina’s first experience doing a short-term European Solidarity Corps volunteering project. And, while for now she is settled back in her home in Germany, she believes that she might do another ESC project in the future – perhaps in a more Northern country. Of course, she realizes moving abroad and being involved in a project with new people in a new place can be a bit scary and challenging. However, she believes the lessons learned along the way can truly be rewarding, so she recommends this experience for other youngsters as well.
If you’re interested in more stories about volunteering, listen to other episodes of the LIVE project podcast on Unica Radio!
