This year in November, from the 25th till the 29th, the annual On-arrival and Mid-term Trainings took place in Sofia in which three out of four Smokinya volunteers participated. Every European volunteer is going through these 2 trainings per their volunteering period. In short, Melanie and Agita will share their experiences with the training and why it is so useful.
On-arrival training usually serves as an opportunity to get to know other people who are in the same situation as you, bunch of just arrived volunteers probably confused about what to do in the new project/country. Gathering as a group consisting of people with more than 20 different nationalities but one common goal was a highly inspiring, unique and out-of-the-box experience. This way I learned about other volunteer projects scattered around Bulgaria and met others who may have a complete different background than myself but share the goal of contributing to the society in one or another way. What is more, the training operates as a safe space to talk about possible troubles or conflicts one may face in the organisational work or as a foreigner and provides you with support and understanding.
I was glad to be there not just because of staying in fancy hotel but building connections, learning more about working in a NGO and showing me the possibilities I have.
Mid-term people have already grown, probably they’ve been through all the problems. They (usually) know what they want and are doing that. Maybe some later problems arise but in general the feeling is – the end is near, what’s next? I don’t want to go home yet and so on. This is not called training, it’s a meeting.
Luckily we had support from the amazing trainer team – Nasko and Zahari. I really enjoyed the freedom of the topics they gave us and the variety of the activities about each topic that we discussed. We had discussions, sharings, games, drawing presentations, meditations, drama pays and so on. That’s the fun way of learning and getting inspired. And the best is that we got to decide what and how we want to do the activity.
I am incredibly grateful for the care we received from the team, I feel very inspired, have new people to collaborate and create with, I’m not worried about what’s going to happen after my EVS, and I know what I’m passionate about doing in these last couple of months of my volunteering.
Melanie & Agita
Want to learn about the benefits of our courses? Click here: https://smokinya.com/about/testimonials/
Find us also at:
https://vimeo.com/smokinya
https://www.facebook.com/smokinyafoundation/
https://www.instagram.com/smokinya_foundation/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/smokinya-foundation
https://www.facebook.com/groups/synergynetworkinbulgaria/
This program is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme to support education, training, youth and sport in of the European Union.
The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an
endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be
held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. //
Подкрепата на Европейската комисия за изготвянето на настоящата публикация не представлява
одобрение на съдържанието, което отразява гледните точки само на авторите и не може да се търси
отговорност от Комисията за всяка употреба, която може да бъде използвана за информацията,
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