Voluntary service Friedenskreis Halle e.V. - Dzenita 21.2.2019

It has been four months since I started doing my voluntary service in Friedenskreis Halle e.V. and I can already say it has been really good decision to do international voluntary service this year. I am happy that I decided to take this step and tried doing something different. Like every new beginning, it was hard for me to experience some struggles at first when I came to this new environment, but with support and understanding of other volunteers I was able to succesfully get through it, and start enjoying my voluntary service in Halle. I have two places of assignement and I can definetely say that I see that as advantage, I can learn more when I have chance to work at two places that are different by structure and also great opportunity to meet different kind of people there.

Having two mentors who have different approach in their work, is helping a lot when you are trying to get experience in field that you re interested in. In my example, I have chance to learn in the office how workshops are prepared and also to get involved directly when they are done in practice. Currently I have the opportuntity to learn from my mentor who is working in field for peace education, how to organize and participate in workshops and training programs for children and youth. In this field main topics are connected to conflict management, discrimination, diversity, transculture and team buliding. Untill now I had the chance to participate in several workshops who took part in primary schools, and had the goal to spread the idea of non-violent communication and better ways children can use to solve conflicts they are facing on a daily basis. As volunteer in Friedenskreis I appreciate the fact that I have the possibilty to participate in workshops that I am interested in, which I can grow as a person every day with and also become more experienced on proffesional level.

My other place of assignement is at Frankesche Stiftungen Pflanzgarten (school garden), where I help in practical teaching for children that learn everything about nature, taking care of environment and developing practical skills for planting and gardening. Since the moment I met my mentor at this place of assignement, I had feeling that she wants to give as much as possible knowledge to me, because she is pedagouge as well, and wants me to learn good approach to children, so I can apply it also in my work later. In my experience untill now at both places of assignement I had the chance to understand myself better and to get to know, what kind of environment works better for me. I can say that I prefer my work to be directly involved with children, I want to do more practical things, rather than being most of the time in office doing administrative tasks. It is great opportunity to at least try doing both and then deciding what is best for you. In this voluntary service I have got best way to experience it this entire year, and I would not be able to talk about this experience if I am not switching between work at two different places of assignment.

In these four months in Germany, I can say I had been in many diverse situations which I didnt experience before in my life, even though it is not my first time to live longer abroad. I´ve met different kind of people, with different backgrounds and stories, so it made good impact and generally good impression on me. In my free time, I´m still exploring Halle and other cities near by, with the group of volunteers I am closest with. Halle is not a huge city, but it has all we need, and as I am living in center, everything is close and available. On weekends, my roommate and I, are always trying to plan some trip, and get to know this region of Germany better. When the weather is nice, we use it to explore more of Halle with our bicycles. At this period of year we‘re still not available to do outside activiteis so often, that´s why we re excited, that spring and summer are coming soon, so we will be able to do more activities outside.