Volunteering Stories: ”First-ever experience” – by Ani

Dear readers, welcome to my page, where I will talk about my wonderful two- month experience as an international volunteer from Georgia at 20 years old.

Everything started when I was going from the university to my hometown by bus, and as luck would have it, I came across a post about volunteering in Baia Mare, Romania, hosted by the T4uth association. Because I was doing nothing important at that time, I decided to try my chances, and after weeks of waiting, I got a Zoom meeting with the coordinator, Mr. Remus Pop.

And this was the starting point of a life-changing experience – From 1st of February to 30th of March. I consider myself a very lucky person, because this particular experience was my first one – filled with excitement, anxiety, lots of life lessons, and most importantly, people!!!

The reader might wonder, ‘how can you feel safe when you are, for the first time, in a completely different environment for two months with people you have just met and even live with’. The answer for this is very simple – Be open to new activities, meet new people, and enjoy every second of it. This past month I did various activities, starting from doing presentation classes for students from high school, continuing with volunteering – helping teachers with kids from different backgrounds, Doing whole quiz for the NGO day, and so much more.

While actively participating in these various adventures, I never felt tired or overwhelmed. I loved doing everything, and if I could i would do it again a hundred times or more. 

The most wonderful experience for me was meeting new people from around the world, with different backgrounds, cultures, and stories, gathered in a tiny city called Baia Mare. I feel very grateful that I got the chance to experience this, and probably the best advice I could give you is:

TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY AND USE THIS CHANCE TO DO AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

The content of this testimonial does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. The responsibility for the information and views expressed in the article rests entirely with the author(s) The volunteer is coordinated by Team for Youth Association in ”Year5” project, a European Solidarity Corps volunteering activity in Baia Mare, project code 2025-1-RO01-ESC51-VTJ-000346804.