5. prosinca obilježavamo Međunarodni dan volontera koji je 1985. proglasila Opća Skupština Ujedinjenih Naroda.  Volontiranje je tim činom u međunarodnoj zajednici prepoznato kao aktivnost kojim se promiče filantropija i dobrotvorna akcija na dobrobit zajednice, koju obilježavanjem 5.prosinca promičemo i na koji način prepoznajemo volontere diljem svijeta kao pojedince koji zajednici nesebično pridonose. Zato ovim putem zahvaljujemo svim volonterima. Danas je vaš dan! Povodom Međunarodnog dana volontera donosimo vam priču i fotografije naše volonterke Oriane; 

Hello, my name is Oriane and I am from France. 

I came to Croatia in September to volunteer in an 8 months project.

I studied psychology in France for 3 years and I always wanted to leave my country alone so I decided to take a gap year. Thanks to the European Solidarity Corps, I had the opportunity to come to volunteer in the organization YPGD.
During my volunteering, I organize and participate in workshops with kids and youth, I try to make people open up to Europe.

Despite the pandemic situation, I try to travel as much as I can across Croatia during my free time.
If I had to find some negative points, I would say that the beginning can be really hard, it is the time I needed to adapt (because of the new culture, environment, language, mentalities ; you just need to be patient and opened to the new experience by trying to not compare things here to your native country). Also, I have a lot of free time, so it can represent a good point if you find things to do, but it can also be boring (and especially during this pandemic situation !).

About the positive points, I would say the discovery of the new culture enriches me, it makes me grow up, I meet lots of new people (from Croatia, but also foreign volunteers from all over Europe), I can experiment myself out of my habits, my people, my culture ; and I get to know myself better. I am definitely improving my english level (that can be really useful), I can also learn Croatian.

You know everything now, thank you for reading me and doviđenja !


Oriane