Prázdniny

The summer has come with my favourite project in Český Těšín, it is Prázdniny, a project organized by the organization DDM and developed by the majority of centers and organizations for children located in this small town.

The program is easy, the children have their own flyer with the tabletime and information about the partnership and a cardboard where stamp when they do some activity. The aim is be eligible for a prize lottery that is celebrated on August 30. Each stamp will be a point and will be required for forty to be eligible to enter the prize lottery.

These activities are carried out during the month of July and August in the centers and public's places of the city. In this way, from Střep, we are organising all kinds of activities in the stage of the city as in courts located in our neighborhood Svibice or in our own center.
The program has two parts, one of them is children activities and the second one, the most interesting for me, is about family activities, I mean, the parents have to come with their children and do the activity together.

Until this moment in Střep we have done nine activities:

1. vybíjená in the Frýdecké Stadium, A team game that in Spain we know as "Balón prisionero", I mean dodgeball. This activity we couldn't do it because of the rain.

2. "Lov" in the Svibice's playground, a team game.

3. Malování v přirodě, an activity to draw in the dam.

4. Ringo, in the Stadium, but the time didn't let us enjoy and we did an activity of questions and answers.

5. Koláž, which translated means collage in which we were able to enjoy the imagination of children to expose their summer vacation perfect.

Routine in Střep

In Střep center there are two full-time professionals and anothers six that worked only once a week. Klara and Misha are educator and social worker, respectively, is a pleasure to work with them, have a great relationship with the children and are the cornerstone of my adaptation to European Voluntering Service. Both organize workshops and projects such as helping children in school and social stuffs. My schedule is from twelve to five during the school year and in the holidays from nine to eleven and from one to five.

Střep Program

We started the week with our class of Czech, is only one hour weekly, i guess that this is the worst of my volunteer work as Silvia and I were at different levels and the language is not only difficult, it is also really important to be able to carry out the job effectively, the beginners are very complicated to communicate with the children.
Once the class is finished I am going straight to work.

Monday is the workshop of Klara (one of the workers that comes only once a week) with which they are usually made artistic activities such as calendars, postcards, masks, etc.

On Tuesdays we enjoyed Cristina, the mentor of Silvia, which gives them a dance workshop to children, is a young girl and accompanies its classes of mats and modern music, which facilitates the participation of children. Cristina is learning Spanish because he wants to go on exchange in summer to Spain so that Silvia and I are helping her in everything that we can.

To be a child…

By Manuel Gonzalez Barea

To be a child means enjoying everything and become exasperating for no reason

being happy without reason, crying without cause

enjoying each detail, each trifle

loving with the heart, not knowing about the hate

being protected from all “monsters” of society by mummy and daddy

what means: Don´t think, don´t have problems!

relaxing when you are tired, crying to solve a “problem”

what means: Laugh about trifles adults make every day!

being the center of attention, always the most important thing,

playing with the life, having an excuse,

hugging without asking why,

presenting smiles although nobody asked for it

convincing these “crazy” adults to think that problems are not problems,

getting them to forgive everything when they look at you

what means: receive attention when you need it! 

going at the parent´s hand to every place, not caring about where

what means: learning every day with all kind of actions imitating the adults, 

without knowing the moral of the action preparing yourself for life, without knowing it

starting a race where you are the first one and the last one 

who doesn´t want sometimes going back to his childhood?

Learn to say goodbye

The European Voluntary Service Programme is about learning a lot of new things. In fact, you start learning before your arrival, before you even know that you are learning - from the first inspiration till making the last decision.

You learn practical stuffs, you learn things that change you and make you a better person. You see the life from a different angle and your horizons expand with every single day, with every new adventure you take.

Every experience becomes a part of you, keeps shaping you and enriches you. Lots of the lovely memories, the treasures no one can steal, are formed by people you meet and friends you make. Saying goodbye to them is one of the hardest things ever. My colleague, Klara, said: “the reality makes us behave like machines; we know someone, than we just turn a page and continue living without people we once knew.” As the time passes by, you understand that what is important today, you might not remember tomorrow, and that what you dislike now you will miss for the rest of your life.

It is about getting to know life better. It is all about meeting new people who arrive and leave. You learn how to help people, how to understand them. Before starting your new adventure in a completely new country you need to say bye to your family and friends in your hometown. You are homesick but you will survive. Soon you will get used to the new environment, new people and culture. However, before even realising it you need to say bye again, this time to your new family, new friends, people who were with you through all the good and bad times. And this time it is farewell, if you like it or not, if you want it or not. It is for good.

Thanks to this experience I am learning how to grow up, how to be myself, I am becoming a stronger and confident person. The environment and people around me have affected me in many ways, they have helped to form my personality that never stops developing. I know myself much better know, my strengths and my weaknesses as well.

Never forget that each decision you make in your life takes you to a new point, a new start from where you see life differently, like it has a completely different colour, or from where you realize that you are actually completely colour-blind.