Through supported volunteering programm Step by Step we give a chance to young people with fewer opprotunities to volunteer abroad. Meet our volunteer Jess, who travelled abroad for the first time last year.
| Jess, a trainee youth worker, got involved with UNA Exchange in summer 2015. She overcame many fears and anxieties about travelling alone and spent three weeks on an environmental/renovation project in France. |
JESS’S STORY
“I think I chose the volunteering project in France because I always wanted to go abroad and I also like the feeling of giving something back to the community. I expected to be quite terrified and nervous as it was my first time travelling abroad and on my own and I was just like:
„Oh my god, I think I am lost… Oh my got whats gonna happened to me? Will i get kidnapped!”
But once I did it I realized it was actually quite simple. Now I have done it once I feel I can do it again.
It was refreshing to do something else
I just wanted to change more than anything. I was doing the same thing seven days a week so it was refreshing to do something else for three weeks in France. I also don‘t sleep very well because I do overnight shifts in work on weekends so getting up 7:30 in the morning and going to sleep to 9:30-11 was actually really nice.
The work that I chose at the work camp was agriculture and renovation. I was making concrete, drilling holes and I was using equipment I have never used before so it was quite new experience. It was brilliant, not just because the good time I have but also because of the good feeling I had from it, which makes me to want to do it again and again. I actually didn’t want to come back- I would gladly live over there at do that work!
I felt like a part of the community
After work we went to festivals, went shopping, went to the river, had picnics… I didn’t have TV or anything else there although I really love to collect DVDs and I have a lot of DVDs at home but when I went out there I didn‘t miss it at all, because we just made our own entertainment, we had our own fun.
I remember that once we were in a village called Brinique and I found the village be quite boring personally. But we found a bar and one of the volunteers Ali found a guitar there. We were sitting on the table, he was playing the guitar, we were singing Zombie by The Cranberries and Wonderwall by Oasis, we had a good laugh along the table and I just felt great, like part of the community.
If you have the opportunity, take it
This project gave me a lot of confidence and a sense of independence as well because when I was out there I budgeted my own money and I had to write down a list what we needed for shopping. I learned a lot of team work and I improved my communication skills: I had to because couple of girls didnt speak the best English and most of them told me that I spoke too fast…so I had to slow my speech down, I have to say basic words, so they could understand.
I opened up to one or two other volunteers, which is something I don’t do in general, maybe it was because I thought that I never see them again. I was surprised that I got along with everyone…I literally loved everone there. I have been volunteering in Merthyr for about 4 years give or take, but to go abroad and do something completely different in a completely different way was a brilliant experience, it was new and fascinating. Thats why I think that if you have the opportunity, take it. Don’t think twice. It may seems scary at first but once you get through it, you will be addicted to it.”
FOLLOW JESS!
- Start your own international volunteering journey with us! Take a look in our database and take part in one of short-term projects in over 60 countries worldwide!
- Would you like to know more about our Step by Step programme? Find out more about supported volunteering here
- Are you a local organisation and would like to support your young people with fewer opportunities to volunteer abroad or in Wales? Become our partner!