Hello everyone!
I am Jose, a Spanish volunteer currently volunteering in Slovenia in Drustvo DIH and I am going to tell you my story. First of all, I guess most of you do not know what is an EVS, so let’s start from the beginning. What is really an European Voluntary Service (EVS)? An EVS project is a partnership between two or more promoting organisations. These organisations are responsible for recruiting volunteers for their project. Volunteers participate in EVS through a Sending Organisation in the country where they live and a Receiving Organisation that receives and hosts them during their period of service. Projects last from 2 weeks to 12 months, and as a volunteer you can work in a wide range of fields, such as culture, youth, sports, children, cultural heritage, arts, animal welfare, environment and development cooperation. At the end of your EVS period, you will receive a certificate confirming your participation and describing your project – the Youthpass. You will receive free accommodation, food, insurance and pocket money. So you only have to go and live!
It was not easy, that is true, lot of days searching on Internet, looking for new projects and opportunities, also a lot of emails saying they had chosen another person for the project. It was frustrating and discouraging. Different countries, a huge change in my life after having spend all my life studying. I felt I needed to do something different, so I chose going abroad and helping people who were asking for it. Although I had to face one of the biggest choices in my life so far and it was not easy at all, it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am really happy with that and I feel lucky to have found the best organization to work in ever. Homesick? Well, I have always thought that home is where you feel happy, so now you can guess the answer.
It has been just two months since I arrived here, and time seemed to go really slowly at the beginning of this life experience. Now, I feel that time goes by too fast and I have a lot of places to visit and things to do in the next ten months. I hope I can do everything I would like to. I still do not know the end of this story, I have no idea about what I want to do in my life after this volunteering service. But it is not necessary, I am experiencing one of the best feelings ever ‘to not need to know what is going to happen next’ and be happy meanwhile.
That’s my story, a part of it, I promise I will tell you more. Let’s start writing yours!
How? The best way is getting information from Movit, the official Slovenian website for EVS. There you can read more about the projects and the best way to go abroad. If you still have questions after reading this information, you can ask our EVS volunteer and talk to him about his experience. Send us your questions to: info@dih.si.
