Hello, my name is Diana Tereshchenko. I have eight years of experience working in IT and educational companies, where I was involved in event organization and sales. This year, I decided to fulfill my long-held dream and take a gap year. In this article, I’ll share how I chose where to volunteer, what I’m currently doing, and whether this experience has been beneficial for my personal development.
Why I decided to dedicate a year to charity
For several months now, I have been volunteering with the non-profit organization Youth for Equality as part of a charity program from the European Solidarity Corps. This program offers people aged 18 to 30 the opportunity to volunteer in charity projects across various European countries. As part of my project, we organize lectures for schools on topics such as mental health and improving English language skills. Additionally, I conducted 2-3 sessions per week at the Integration Center for Ukrainians.
I wanted to experience working within a charity organization to understand how everything functions from the inside and how I could contribute. I specifically chose an educational project because I was interested in sharing the knowledge I had already gained. At various stages in my life, many people have helped me, so this opportunity also became a way to give back.
Overall, there can be various motivations for participating in charity projects:
- Desire to help others: People feel an internal need to make the world a better place by helping those in need.
- Search for meaning: Charity provides a sense of purpose and significance in life.
- Personal experience: Those who have received help themselves often seek to give back by helping others.
- Professional development: Participation in charity projects can be a step forward in a career, expanding skills and knowledge.
- Social recognition: Charity work often leads to societal recognition and improves one’s reputation.
- Personal beliefs and values: Some people consider helping others to be their moral duty.
What are the advantages of such a career move?
- Opportunity to find oneself: For example, one of my colleagues was a guy from Madrid who decided to take a gap year after finishing school to better understand what profession he wanted to choose.
- Skill development: Through the program, you can acquire skills such as project management, communication, leadership, conflict resolution, or even try your hand at teaching.
- International networking: During the project, I met about 40 participants from different countries. This greatly broadens one’s worldview.
- Enhancing your resume: Experience in charity organizations and participation in socially significant projects adds value to your resume and increases your competitiveness in the job market.
My responsibilities within the project and program features
For over four months now, I’ve been volunteering with the non-profit organization Youth for Equality in the Slovak city of Trnava as part of a charity program from the European Solidarity Corps. The program covers expenses for travel (to and from the project), food, accommodation, insurance, and provides pocket money throughout the project, which lasts from 2 to 12 months.
As soon as I arrived, my colleagues showed me around Trnava (also known as the Slovak Rome due to its many churches). My project duties included:
- Participating in international projects (including Erasmus).
- Organizing local events (classes in schools on physical and mental health, a series of English improvisation classes for youth, stretching classes).
- Collaborating with charity organizations.
- Participating in workshops and discussion clubs.
- Fundraising.
- Writing a marketing strategy for the organization.
How to get the most out of such an experience:
- Choose a project that personally interests you.
- Be proactive: propose projects, tasks, analyze what the organization lacks, and bring it in.
- Don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know something or don’t like something. You usually have support from the sending organization, as well as a mentor with whom you can openly discuss everything.
- Don’t fear the new and understand that there are people around you who will support you.
Over the course of more than four months, the program:
- Helped me understand the structure of charity organizations (in reality, their tasks are very similar to those of any commercial company).
- Taught me how to work with young people and conduct classes (before this, I had little experience with public speaking).
- Gave me the opportunity to share the knowledge and practices I acquired in different countries.
