I was a volunteer in the YMCA summer children’s holiday programme. My job was to help  supervise the children’s activities under the supervision of a Head Coach. The activities were mostly  physical, e.g. trampolining, tennis or dance.

Being a volunteer means to show a positive commitment and willingness  to work , means  to respond enthusiastically  and professionally, means to be engaged, means to be motivated to help other people.

But not just that, because since the first day of my project I’ve played more of an “ear ready to listen to you” than an assistant activity,  than a simple volunteer. I met different types of children, ages, nationalities, education, experiences and I was so happy that I could help them.

Even after a demanding day, when I saw the result of our work, a child that goes back home calm, feeling secured, confident, understood  and happy , I just felt happy and that I completed my task.

For example, during the dance class, one child couldn’t do the choreographies and started to panic and cry and when I arrived the kid was following me. When I asked her why do you cry he answered because I “suck” When I told her that the point is to enjoy what you do and  it’s not a competition the kid went back calm and happy. Something that fulfilled my heart.

In one phrase what is the result of my volunteering project: a golden experience for both me and the children.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Aleksi Ollonen from Lapland volunteered in Lithuania for a year. The European Solidarity Corps give young people opportunities to travel abroad and participate in volunteer work of their own choosing.

Aleksi Ollonen's working day in Kolpene, Rovaniemi is over. As he answers his phone, he has just parked the car outside his house. Ollonen launches straight into reminiscences of his experiences abroad.

Several years have already passed since he volunteered: at that time, Ollonen was 22 and had recently completed his youth instructor qualification. He had found in his mailbox an e-mail from Rovaniemi youth services, which announced the possibility of participating in an EU-funded period of voluntary work abroad. Ollonen seized the opportunity, made his way to Lithuania the following summer, and spent a year volunteering in youth activities.

Youth activities were highly suited for Ollonen because of his qualification. Ollonen had previously worked with such groups as mental health rehabilitees.

“I had suitable experience, that's why I decided to go to Lithuania. Working in a youth club supported my professional development.”

Ollonen says that the work in youth clubs in Telšiai, Lithuania, was not much different from similar work in Finland. In their free time the volunteers did all sorts of things, for example baked Finnish Christmas pastries.

“We welcomed young people to the youth club and did whatever they wanted. We also organised events”, Ollonen describes his normal working day in Lithuania.

Mutual understanding without a common language

The length of voluntary work periods can vary from two months to a year. Ollonen spent one year, plus a few days’ holiday, in Lithuania. The first six months went by in a flash. This is why Ollonen finds that a full year was more useful than the six-month period he considered first, as he had more time to integrate into the destination country.

The working language was English. Towards the end, Ollonen also learned to speak some Lithuanian. The language barrier was not a problem for Ollonen, even though everyday chores, including shopping, were a bit of a challenge at the start.

“The actual employees of the youth club were always at hand to interpret if I needed to get something specific across”, Ollonen explains.

A common language is not always needed to work together. Most of the young people only spoke Lithuanian. Ollonen and the young people often communicated by gestures, and he says that not having a common language was something fun and exciting for the Lithuanian young people.

“I remember even teaching a card game to a Lithuanian young person who didn't speak a word in English. This person then taught it to others. We did not have a single word of a common language. We just communicated by nodding or shaking our heads”, Ollonen recalls.

International experience and independence

The best thing about volunteering abroad for Ollonen was growing more independent and having new international experiences. Various projects and working together with volunteers from other countries made his work more international.

“I met volunteers from other countries, including Germany, Italy and Spain. This gave me a broader understanding of work practices elsewhere in Europe.”

His brave decision to head off to Lithuania from Lapland was a big change in young Ollonen’s life. The experience taught him a lot, including taking responsibility for himself and others.

“It was the first time I moved away from home, to a distance of 1,400 kilometres all at once. It helped me become more independent.”

Ollonen, who is today employed in Kolpene, Rovaniemi, has continued doing similar work in a day care unit for people with intellectual disabilities. Tomorrow will be another working day. Perhaps somewhere in Telšiai, Lithuania, young people are still playing the card game they learned from a volunteer from Lapland, without having a single word of a common language.

Translated from Saara Lappalainen's original text

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Hi, I am Kristina from Ukraine and I am 24 years old. Just recently I finished my volunteer year at a cultural and youth centre in Salzburg, Austria. Despite the coronavirus it was a great year, full of great experiences and incredible emotions, new meetings and learning, new cultures and languages. I have always loved children and teenagers, and they in turn were always drawn to me and happy to spend time with me. When I found out about the opportunity to volunteer at the youth centre, I didn't hesitate for a minute and applied. A whole year of working with teenagers is behind me and I loved what I was doing. I enjoyed spending time with the youth, telling them new and interesting things about our world, listening to music and discussing contemporary artists, playing sports and board games, running competitions and organising workshops, recording radio shows and video courses. At the youth centre, I gained a lot of experience in social work, and I was able to put the pedagogical knowledge I gained at university into practice.

Living in a German-speaking environment was a huge plus for my personal growth. In this way I could improve my German and learn a lot about the culture. Communicating in other foreign languages was also a kind of challenge for me, but I coped with it and improved my English and Russian. The project has given me many good friends, some of whom have become best friends, as well as good-natured companions, colleagues and acquaintances. Travelling is a separate page of my project. Yes, even in a pandemic, we found opportunities to travel safely and discover the incredible beauty of Austria.

The support of my relatives, colleagues, volunteer friends and the host organisation accompanied me throughout the year. I can say with certainty that I had no difficulties living and volunteering in Salzburg. I enjoyed the year and made the most of it. Now I am facing a new stage – getting a job, which was also influenced by my year of volunteering in Austria.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Every challenge is a step forward for self-growth, but the fear of getting out of the box that I created myself, can generate non-existent problems. The story is about the ability to win a fight with yourself and learn to lead a group of 5 people in an Erasmus + Youth exchange program at the age of 18 to Cyprus, Protaras.

By being a part of the project, I was privileged to celebrate cultural, ethnic and religious diversity. Exchange experiences and ideas to find the truth and benefit the global community by developing multicultural youth video and magazine materials. Which helped improve both digital skills and knowledge of and around the labour market.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the community of Erasmus + and enjoy non-formal learning methods. Collaboration and the development of significant materials with wondrous, intelligent and creative young leaders from over 16 countries improved communication skills. Working with professionals in the field and gaining new knowledge from outstanding world changers, young people with a passion for not staying still and being teachable.  20-year-old me is certain that participating and moderating an exchange program has made up at least a small portion of my personality.

To constantly develop and seek answers, to promote solidarity between the next generations - that is our future!
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

European Solidarity Corps made it possible for me to take part in a one year long volunteering project in Latvia in 2020/2021. Thanks to that I could make my dreams come true. That was to live in Latvia and develop my language skills –  I had already been able to speak fluently in Latvian, but nevertheless when I compare my skills now and then, I feel a great progress. I have also improved my Lithuanian. These competences I have gained mostly by teaching, passing on knowledge further. Throughout the year I was teaching Lithuanian to the local Latvians, who had been interested in this neighbouring country language. Thanks to my help many youngsters (and not just youngsters) could learn something they would not bring themselves to even start learning. This main activity of the project gave me satisfaction, and except improving my language skills I slowly gained the competence to teach – competence to pass on the information comprehensibly and in an interesting way.

Indeed, the project took place in the worst part of the Covid-19 pandemic, therefore I had to deal with several challenges and difficulties. I had wanted to visit Lithuania and to explore Latvia more. An important part of volunteering projects is to meet people. At Christmas and the New Year volunteers usually go back home. Nothing from this was possible. On the other hand I have gained important competences, such as how to deal with stress or what to do, in order to deal with depression. Also I had to learn how to more efficiently work with the computer. 

Even better I had the opportunity to organize unusual activities as a solution for unusual situation – for example we looked up some Czech and Latvian baking recipes and then baked in professional kitchen in a restaurant. That doesn´t happen every day, does it? In general baking with my amazing colleagues and even more amazing mentor became the best part of the project (at least for me). With my mentor we regularly baked tasty cakes and in December I experienced the best pre-Christmas magical evenings. There Latvian and Czech traditions met: mulled wine and coconut cacao balls (Czech Christmas sweets).

Even though it was really hard sometimes I am happy that I chose to be part of such project.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Hello everyone, my name is Maïté and I am in my second year of training as a Specialized Technical Educator at the IRTESS in Dijon.

Within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme, I decided to go to Luxembourg to do a 2-month-internship at La Trace asbl, an organisation which does animal mediation.

The International Mobility Officer informed me about this contact. After visiting their website, I wanted to work there because I wanted to discover and to live a unique adventure: using sled dogs to allow people in difficulty to go beyond their problems in order to blossom. An ambition that is close to my heart.

A typical day at the association would consist in feeding the dogs, the goats, the horse and the two donkeys. We also spend time with them and prepare events such as the retirement of a person, or a team building day with the participation of the dogs.

Regarding the steps to live this mobility experience, it was rather simple and I was very well accompanied. I had to plan a budget (with my expenses outside the project in France and my "planned expenses" during the Erasmus+ project). I received a grant before leaving for the country by providing the required documents (agreement, tax form, identity card...) and at the end of the internship, I should receive another grant if I fill in the internship report and a participating report for the consortium.

Finally, concerning the accommodation, it was easy because I am hosted by the organisation.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My story in Latvian Red Cross (LatRC) started in 2017, when in one event some volunteer mentioned that in this organization you can work with kids. That is how I found my way to LatRC short-stay accommodation centre “Burtnieks”. A place where families have come for different reasons to find housing for a short time. Our task was to organize activities for children and young people from this place. Together with the team, we wrote a project to the European Solidarity Corps to find funding for our intentions and activities.

My job as one of the leaders of the project's organizers team in 2019 - 2020 was to help organize events, communicate with the managers at the “Burtnieks” about the progress of events and understand the expectations and needs of the children. We visited the cinema, the zoo, the amusement park together, as well as went on various tours, so that children, despite difficult living conditions, have the opportunity to enjoy childhood. There were many difficulties in organizing activities, for example, given that we couldn't plan our own time peacefully, everything was often done in great haste and excitement, but it must be understood that even when you seem to have planned everything well, things may not be on your side. However, I remember, that after one event a girl came over to me and hugged me tightly because she had never been to the cinema in her life. For such moments it is worth devoting my time and care because it is not so difficult for me, but for someone, it may mean so much.

Often, we forget how valuable for others can be something that seems self-evident to us. We all have time, love, and a positive attitude. It is a resource that needs to be shared. Thanks to the funding of the European Solidarity Corps, we could give children not only that but also give them a warm lunch, when it may not be available to them every day. We could give a toy that they could call their own so that they would not have to feel different at school. We were able to take an eight-year-old girl to her first movie session so that she could tell her friends that she also has experienced this. This project has taught me that happiness doesn't need much unless there is a desire to make somebody happy.
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

At the end of August 2018, I started my journey to Delsbo, Northern Sweden to Camphill "Staffansgården", a place where people with disabilities live. I consciously call it a place for people with disabilities, because the life in the different houses resembles a family flat-sharing community. Staffansgården covers a large area with several typical Swedish red houses, some of which are very centrally located in Delsbo, on the farm belonging to it and in Friggesund, 10 km away. My house, where I lived together with five other people, was situated in the immediate vicinity of the forest, so I spend a lot of time in nature right from the beginning. When I arrived, the forest changed into an autumnal dress, the leaves turned into beautiful colours, the temperature dropped and above all, mushrooms, blueberries and cranberries grew everywhere. It was a beautiful and colourful natural paradise, which I fell in love with immediately.

In the beginning I felt a bit uncomfortable, because it was a new environment, I didn't have my family and friends close by and I couldn't express myself in my usual language. Over time, these feelings and barriers weakened because I met wonderful people at work and in my house. I enjoyed spending my free time with them. Some of them have become good friends who I will visit in the near future.

During the week and on weekends, I accompanied the residents in their daily routine and common leisure activities. The typical daily routine began with a morning round, in which everyone participated. Here the complete schedule and special daily activities were discussed and people had time to talk about their week(ends) experiences. After this morning round the group (including me) split up into the individual workshops for people with disabilities.

Among them were the following workshops: canteen kitchen, bakery, carpentry, weaving, gardening, farm work, paper workshop.

I preferred to work in the carpentry workshop, because I enjoyed working with the big machines and the wood. Two days a week I worked on the farm and my tasks were feeding the animals (cows, chickens, pigs), collecting eggs, working in the vegetable fields and the greenhouse.

In the afternoons there were activities such as dancing, swimming, yoga, gymnastics and floorball, which the residents enjoyed very much. We, the volunteers, were also involved in the activities, so that once a month we organised a volunteer café for everyone and prepared some delicious desserts as well as lovingly made the decorations for annual festivals.

In my free time I was also able to create some great memories that I still often remember to this day, such as ice fishing, attending and helping to organise local concerts and festivals, long walks, skiing, canoeing, swimming in lakes, cycling and much more.

Today I am happy and grateful to have had the courage to experience all these wonderful moments.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Everything started with our very first project meeting of the “Green Agenda” project group. Apart from the trash collection event we had a few (actually also pretty cool) ideas, like cooperating with Fridays for Future, painting the streets to raise awareness, or holding an educational workshop to improve peoples’ knowledge about sustainable products, greenwashing, and sustainable food seals. After discussing for a while, the main reason for deciding to realize this event was that we wanted to do something visible, physical and we wanted to have a “real-world impact”.

When we started the planning process, we quickly realized that things would not go as smoothly as we had all hoped (and actually expected) in the beginning. The first problem was that almost our entire group was based in Vienna, which made organizing an event in multiple cities and regions as we had intended complicated. Thus, we decided to focus on the three cities in which at least one EuroPeer was living – Vienna, Salzburg and Graz. The person from  Salzburg and me, who lives in Graz, automatically became the “project managers” for those cities. Plus, our plans strongly depended not only on the corona situation in Austria but also on the engagement of the people working in the municipal offices in those cities. 

When the day finally arrived, I was extremely surprised by how many people showed up to participate! Luckily, I had a little advantage in Graz as I am studying Environmental System Sciences and thus I had many motivated colleagues who participated. All over Austria, we were more than 50 people! I had already received gloves and trash bags beforehand and handed them out one after one as the people turned up. To ensure COVID-19 safety, I said people could turn up within a 45-minute time frame and I sent them out only in pairs.

We spread over the whole city and cleaned streets, paths, riversides and even the city mountain! Not even the rain could stop us! In the end, we had collected roughly 10 full trash bags and some people even waited with me until the trash was picked up by the garbage disposal. 

My personal highlight? Two women were standing at the entrance of their shop, asking us what we were doing and why we we doing this. After we had explained it to them, one of them went back into the shop and brought us a bottle of sparkling wine as a present!

I was truly happy with how this event turned out and thus, there will definitely be a trash collection event 2.0 by EuroPeers Austria!
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My name is Sigurd Vedsted Drejer and I am 21 years old. I worked as a teacher’s assistant at a German school, W-I-R Schule, in Berlin from September 1st 2019 to August 16th 2020 through The European Solidarity Corps.

In the summer of 2019 I graduated high school and I worked at 7/11 during my school years. Furthermore, I spend my free time hanging with friends, playing computer games and running. I wanted to use my gap year for something meaningful and I had no interest in working at 7/11 full time for a whole year just to save up money. I got a message on Lectio about the possibility of volunteering in Europe for free and I went to an info meeting and found it very interesting. What mainly made it interesting was that it was free. I already knew you could travel to countries and pay way too much to help a community. To me it doesn’t make sense to pay to do volunteer work because you offer your help. Besides, I have an interest in EU and its values and you learn a bit of that during your stay. That is why ESC made a lot of sense to me. So many things were awesome during my volunteer year. If I have to mention one thing, it’s to live together and get a whole network of volunteers from all over Europe. People had different jobs in Berlin. Some were assistants or performers at a children’s circus while others ran a church café with a focus on homeless people so there were always interesting stories from people’s work place. I myself lived with three girls from Tanzania, Spain and Turkey and I worked with a girl from Poland. There were often cultural exchange when we were together and I learned a lot about other nations politics and cultures.

You get a whole other view on yourself and Denmark as a country. I learned a lot and I dare to say that I have learned more about myself that year than all three years of high school. I learned German and I made friends from all over Europe. I have learned a lot about other cultures and I have learned how to work with kids with and without disabilities. I have learned a lot about Berlin and Germany. There are so many things that I’ve learned that I can’t mention it all. After I got home from Berlin, I started studying geography at Copenhagen University. It is my dream to return to Berlin to live and work, and I have no idea whether it will be for a year or permanent. I can’t imagine staying in Denmark from now on until I die. My gap year has definitely given me a wish to work in especially an EU-country.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026