City Health Week was an amazing adventure filled with great moments!
For three weeks, ten dedicated volunteers came together in Trnava, Slovakia pouring their time and energy into various activities that aimed to promote mental health, raise awareness, and foster a sense of well-being within our community. It was a remarkable journey that left a lasting impact on all of us. Together, we danced, practiced yoga, learned, traveled and explored the wonders of health and wellness. 
We want to express our deepest gratitude to everyone involved in these events.
Article about the first week
We are volunteers from different countries who came to Trnava to prepare local events and workshop about the healthy lifestyle and involving people in it.
We are a small group constituted by only 10 and we are full of energy. The group is more and more cohesive every day. Before arriving, we did not know each other, but immediately we have demonstrated the willingness to create a united group in tackling the project. Italy, Finland, Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey are the countries where we come from, and we are proud to have two girls from Slovakia who can help us with the language. After few days we understood that actually we are more than ten because there are our coordinators (also come from different countries) with us that every day help the project to become something of big.
In our first week Trnava has City Health week, where we had a stand with activities we planned earlier in the week. We had a survey about people’s lifestyles and healthiness and shared the knowledge about healthiness and gave tips how to eat according to nutrition recommendations. In our stand you had a chance to play water bong and won your friends. Especially on a warm summer day it was important to remember to drink a lot of water and we had a many wonderful conversations with locals about all these topics. We also had the opportunity to try yoga and Zumba with locals, had a Slovak lesson and a lot of interesting things.
People in Trnava are very friendly and nice. If we talk about the city, it is wonderful. Most of us have never been here before. Trnava is a small town with a very interesting history. On the first day of our volunteering, we had the opportunity to play a very exciting game about the history of Trnava. We learned more about the key events and received a commemorative prize at the end. In addition, it is very interesting to explore the city, it is very cozy. It’ll be a pleasure to stay here for two more weeks!
Our feelings about the first week were quite mixed, we didn’t know what to expect. A long road, new acquaintances, it was all new to us but everything happened as it should. We became friends at once. All our meetings start in the office and this place has become our second home.
Everyone in our host organization Youth For Equality is very positive people with whom you can have a wonderful conversation and spend time.All in all, we are very pleased to be in Trnava and will be happy to spend another two weeks here.
Article about the second week
The second week was really busy, but we also had many interesting activities.
It all started with an international walk where we visited a forest where there was a small playground, we breathed fresh air and just talked and after that in the evening we had street dances by hip-hop dancers. It was a lot of fun for all of us and people who were just passing by joined in as well.
The next evening, we had beach volleyball and although we thought it would be difficult because of the hot sun we really enjoyed it because it was a team game where everyone had a lot of fun.
In the middle of the week, we again attended a yoga class where we were able to relax and gain energy for the following days of the week.Friday was really hard for all of us because we had 4 events that day. Despite everything this day was filled with pleasant memories for our future.
On the weekend, most of us visited other countries and mountains, these memories will remain with us for the rest of our lives.
Like we said, some days are peaceful, some are the opposite of that. Friday was just such a day. We had four events to organize. However, with good advance preparation and organization, we made it through the day well and got good experiences even with tight schedules. The city was full of schoolchildren when there was a local learning event Uciaca sa Trnava. They visited different task points and collected stamps to their passports. Our tasks were tongue twisters in Italian, Swedish, Finnish, and Armenian, and we had a cool map puzzle to kids.
In the evening, there was a gala which was held for local young people who have been active in their community. We helped with some arrangement and after our work shifts, we got an opportunity to join the event. After a long day it was nice to celebrate the past week and get to know even better with our wonderful group.
During last week we had not only many activities but also many workshops. In total, we had 4 workshops in different schools on different topics. The first and second workshops were on Tuesday. There were two parallel workshops: on the first aid and on mental health. On Wednesday, we had an eco-day at the BESST school, where we had two thirty-minutes and fifteen-minutes activities. It was very interesting to work with several groups in a row. Also on Friday, three of the team held a workshop on ecology and health. We had the opportunity to conduct in three languages: English, Ukrainian, and Slovak. In general, the week was very active but exciting.
One of the best moments was the long-awaited cultural night. All volunteers and the coordinators gathered, and we had an amazing dinner. All of us brought some typical food from their respective countries. It was a nice night because we stayed all together, we shared some stories from our countries, and we ate good foods and drank good drinks.
At the end we sang Italian song, and we danced on Turkish music.
Third week and feelings about the project
During the third week we had no less intense program than the previous two. On Monday and Tuesday, we had an open office day, where everyone could learn more about us and the organization. In addition, on Monday we prepared an article, a podcast, and a video for the second week. Wednesday was a very interesting day: we prepared a flashmob and filmed it. It was very exciting and fun.
Three weeks of the best project have run out. For us this time passed imperceptibly as if only yesterday we arrived and settled down and it’s already time to go home. All of us will definitely miss those wonderful days because they were filled with our emotions, although sometimes some of us were sad but together we are a team that won’t leave anyone in a bad mood.
The first week like the following flew by very quickly. The day of arrival worries each of us, because we didn’t know what to expect for the next three weeks, but miraculously everything turned out much brighter than we imagined 🙂
The second and third weeks passed without any problems, we created workshops, demonstrated it in various schools and outdoors for everyone who wanted to join us. We had fun sharing new information and encouraging people to make this world a better place.
Before this project, some of us were unsure what skills volunteering was going to need and were a little worried about the skills required to do so. However, we tried to internalize that everyone has something to contribute to the community, even if sometimes it would be difficult to identify your strengths and skills.
The best part about being a group volunteer is that you’re not alone here. We have ten volunteers here with brilliant ideas and different backgrounds. Also, the coordinators gave us help and advice on how to brainstorm and plan events and workshops.
The group generates several ideas to develop, and we managed to plan and implement many successful workshops and activities. At times there were challenges with communication in foreign language, but it taught patience, as well as listening and empathy skills. Teamwork skills and equal encounters with people are certainly the first things we have all learned during the project. Working with young people and planning inclusive activities are also concrete things we have learned. We all got more courage to face the unknown people and share our vision even in a foreign language.
Many of the things we learn will become clearer later and, in the future, we will find that we already know many things based on this experience.
We recommend every person looking for a new experience to participate in a project like ours. This is perfect for those who feel they want to make a change in society, a transformation that will automatically reflect on yourself. The project will give you the opportunity to meet new people and fully experience the pleasure of being together and sharing. The project can be identified precisely in this word, „Sharing“. The space, the time, the emotions, the pleasures, the difficulties, but also the food, the language, the past experiences, are all points that will be shared and that will bring a significant positive change in yourself.
Today is our last day, and in the evening, we will receive certificates. Now we are sad that we will have to go home, and we will no longer meet in the morning in our cozy office where we will discuss the next project and plans for the day, but we believe that we will continue our communication, because we are one team – we are a family!
