Olya in Bremen // Final Report

Almost one year ago I was preparing all the necessary documents to start my ESC volunteering in Germany. Almost one year ago I was thinking which kind of experience I would like to get from this opportunity. I had a lot of ideas and plans but at the end it turned to be even more than I could imagine or plan…

Just a little reminder: During the whole year (October 2020 – September 2021) I was volunteering at the Theater11 & KiWi Schule, working on the projects about integration through different kinds of art (for instance, drawing, theatre, dance). Mostly I was working with bilingual children, teaching them different art techniques, classical ballet dance and languages (Russian and English). During my volunteering I also got an opportunity to slightly touch an area of project & budget planning that I consider very important for my future working plans. As my project “Achieve recognition through social media” was dedicated to work on organization’s visibility on social media platforms I was also partly responsible for this area.

And now let’s go back to the experience itself. Honestly speaking, it is not the easiest task for me to write about all the things that I have learnt, all the skills that I have improved, all the nice people who I have met during this year. There is so much to share that it is difficult to find a starting point. But let me just quickly take a look back at the beginning, middle and last months of my work in Bremen.

Although corona regulations became stricter, I experienced and learnt a lot during my first months of volunteering. Everything (tasks at work, people in my surrounding, general atmosphere in the city) was new for me and I was very passionate about getting to know my environment as much as possible. I was so lucky to experience supportive and warm-hearted approach from people who surrounded me.

The next months of my volunteering were a lot about practicing and improving different kinds of skills, of course including the social ones ☺ I was discovering new cultures thanks to other volunteers who come from all over the world. I should add that every conversation was for me like a small imaginary trip to the country that we were talking about. It was especially very refreshing when the strict corona regulations were in place and there were no possibilities to go abroad. Additionally, it was a time when I acquired a plenty of technical skills at my workplace(s). I got a chance to open new classes at the school (English and ballet), learnt how to work with different programmes for video editing, and dived deeper in the area of the project planning. And the last but definitely not the least, that was a time of a rocket progress in improving my German language skills.

The last months of my volunteering brought such a diverse experience in my life as well. I was (finally) able to work on rehearsals and performances from Theater11 as corona regulations were not too strict anymore. Together with my colleagues from the theatre I was organizing and participating in an art summer camp for children which took place on a beautiful island Borkum in the northern Germany. I got a chance to make (this time) not imaginary trips (☺) to some countries and amazing places in Germany that I always wanted to see. All these activities increased a level of inspiration in my heart, and I shared it with others through my paintings.

Working later on creation of my Youthpass (being a volunteer you will definitely hear this word many times ☺), I realized even more how bright and diverse this volunteering year was for me. I would like to sincerely thank all the people who co-create this wonderful year together with me. I strongly believe that such the volunteering opportunity could bring a valuable experience to everyone who is eager to know more about themself, others and the world around us. 

Bist du auch dabei? 😉,

Olya

Olya is hosted by Integration durch Kunst e.V. (Theater11) on the project “Achieve Recognition Through Social Media”, financed by JUGEND für Europa and the European Solidarity Corps.