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I’m Kirill and I’m from Russia. I’m going to help CHANCE International with project management, logistical support and run social media here.
Eldar is on the line!
I wanna share with you about my last year with CHANCE International in Germany and split it into seasons/chapters!
CHAPTER I. Late winter-spring.
I arrived here on February 1st when it was a total lockdown. Can you imagine Alexanderplatz with zero people? Now I can! Did you see Brandenburger Tor without tourists? I have photo proof!
In the first period, everything was closed and there were a lot of restrictions. I want to mention that this time I had mixed feelings: on the one side I was really happy and excited to be part of the team and the organisation gave me full freedom, but on the other side it was a bit of a tough time because it was nothing to do instead of working.
I also want to say that thanks to on-arrival training, I spent an incredible week with amazing people guided by @cedrik_photography. And finally, I found great friends who really helped me to stay optimistic and with whom I shared a great time together! Thank you guys @profilinda @stanlos97 @chloe.j.m_r @lauradevargasv @shanimalrules @puntini.puntini.
CHAPTER II. Summertime.
What do you think about summer in Berlin? A lot of people around, everyone is taking sunbaths and relaxing near canals. And projects had finally started! And almost without restrictions! This period of time is remarkable for me because of a lot of travel. The first and inspiring project by @l_aurama was opened my heart to all the wonderful participants! Arriving @jane.sherbak with her loud laugh and a wide smile! By this time I finished the huge work about creation from the scratch new, modern and functional website of CHANCE International (check the taplink).
CHAPTER III. Autumn.
This period started from my midterm seminar where I spent an incredible week with my friends, met new people from different countries, and together we had a reflection about the last 6 months. Later on, busy months have started because we conducted 9(!!!) projects! My part was to support projects on social media, spread the information about ERASMUS+ Programme and the organisation and also find new active followers who will be interested in future projects. In the meanwhile work with a website, maintaining, support and keeping it up to date was also on me. But the most important thing is that I was a real trainer for the participants: preparation and creation of the sessions, solving problems during the projects, facilitation of the youth exchanges etc. Of course, we’ve been working with colleagues as a team, but I feel like during the “Design and Share Your City” project I upgraded my professional skills a lot! Huge thanks to @natalia_skorik for being always such a supportive person!
CHAPTER IV. Winter.
During the last couple of months, I started thinking more and more about last year. Of course, I wanted to finish all the tasks before leaving. But the most significant thing was that I started to think about the future generation of volunteers – how to prepare them for life in Berlin? How to make the first “cultural shock” period more smooth? The last chapter will be devoted to the creation and implementation of my own project. I’ve decided to create a local community of people with a similar background, who had the same issues after moving to Berlin, and also who can give support to the new young people. We made a call using the power of social media and got a lot of responses! I want personally say huge thanks to Ben and @kakabadze_salome who were the first who believed in the idea! Now the number of people is only increasing now! I feel really happy and proud that this will make the life of new volunteers a bit easy.
P.S. I would call myself not only a volunteer. I’m proudly calling myself part of CHANCE International because together as a team we accomplished a lot. It’s very different from my expectations at the beginning! But even if this year was full of challenges, I’m absolutely a better version of myself! All this Post Scriptum is dedicated to the person who can do an unlimited number of tasks simultaneously – @pishvanovaliliya. During all this year you’ve been a huge part of my life, showing a high level of curiosity, desire to move forward and lead, ability to change and personal development – all this characterizes you as a person without whom the organisation would be totally different!
P.P.S. And I also want to thank myself for all this work which I’ve done and the personal development’s goals which I achieved!
@Skhatum
Hey guys!
Do you remember me? I’m Yevheniia, and I started volunteering at CHANCE International in July 2021.
If it was a story about my past 5 ESC months in CHANCE International, I would narrate it like this…One cloudy day I woke up in a small, but cozy town called Sumy and fell asleep in big, but free Berlin.
This story has no borders and on the sixth day of my ESC trip, I welcomed the sun rays of Armenia. There I met people, who became trustful friends and helped me to stay myself. The experience gained during the “Time for your performance” youth exchange has overwhelmed me with friendliness and sincerity, as well as taught me more about body consciousness. It was the best beginning of my story. Still, I did not say “Goodbye” to Armenia yet. 😉After coming back to Berlin, office life and the preparation for the upcoming projects have started. I`ve never faced such a lifestyle before and I am still not sure if it fits me. They say, it is hard only in the beginning and it worked out for me. The first weeks were stressful and challenging, I did a lot of activities, which I`ve never done before. Project management is a new and unknown thing for me.
Aaand the next destination was..Armenia! Familiar streets, language, people, but unfamiliar responsibilities which sometimes seemed frightening. It was my first experience being a team leader during the youth exchange. The only good fitting word to describe that experience is ‘challenging’. But the people I met were incredible. I`m so grateful for them.
After Armenia there was a period of preparation for local Berlin youth exchanges, searching for the participants and implementing the projects into reality. A new experience happened again – I tried myself in facilitating. The first steps were taken with a trembling voice and a big desire to leave the room straight away. It was amazing though! During my third project, I could organize and facilitate not perfectly, but more confidently.
When the story touches on the highlights of my ESC journey, I should mention that I started to understand people deeper and better. Sometimes it plays a trick on me, but mostly it helps to communicate. This feeling cannot be described in words.
The other highlight is people. I met crazy, smart, friendly, open, warm-hearted, sincere and kind people. They play a big role in my life. I wouldn’t be myself without them. I`m sincerely grateful for the people I met.
Each story has its end, but I’m not going to finish it now, so see you in 7 months..
Time to go back in time and remember my extensive volunteering experience in Chance International, Berlin in 2017.
During this year I had an opportunity to meet amazing people, who changed my life, to find unexpected friendships, to face challenges, to coordinate exchange projects, to experience the situations of giving and receiving support, asking and accepting help. It was a challenging and enriching experience. This year turned out to be a wake-up-call for me to act and make decisions about my life.Here I want to say many thanks for our team: Nastia, Liliya, Oleg!
28 000 000 seconds of CHANCE
Lilya; Nastya; Ira; Herr Bronniger; Lena; Karina; Rauf; Dasha; Oli; Katie; Roman; Herr Slyva; Herr Bubny; Zasha; Tanya tourguide of God – Thank you all.
To meet; to get to know; to present the program; to drive around; to feed; to show; to search; to watch; to teach; to learn; to try and find a new approach; to play; to tell stories; to call; to hurry; to scold; to praise; to motivate; to interrogate; to rally the city; to prepare and collect documentation; to finish a program; to congratulate; to see off; to send – that’s about Children.
To read; to research; to prepare a program; to discuss motivation and meaning; to argue; to misunderstand and to understand; to finally start to understand; to do; to start to understand differently; to do all again; to draw up tables; to go to a seminar; to ask “Youth pass – what is it”?; to learn a lot of new things; to count checks; to get asked “You’ve got any glue?”; to count receipts; to prepare a program; to prepare for a coming group; to receive mail; to send letters; to clean; to wash; to move; to hang curtains; to ask and to get asked “You´ve got any corporate parties?”; to transport; to draft a brochure; to buy tickets; to prepare for excursions; to print a brochure; to rally the city; to move around; to drink tea; to buy cookies for children; to eat cookies; to carry things; to hang posters; to rehang them; to hug; to listen; to hear; to stand your ground; to convince; to tell and to share impressions; to draw conclusions – that’s about Office.
Indira Gandhi; Storckower Str.; Oranienburger; Teufelssee; Alexanderplatz; Kiukuz; Technisches Museum und Spektrum; Unter den Linden; Potsdamer Platz; Bus Nr. 200; Judisches Mahnmal; Zoo; Ritter Sport; Neues Museum; East Side Gallery Park; Karlshorst; Garten der Welt; Victoria Park; Legoland; Miniaturpark; Treptower Park; Charlottenburg; Hackescher Markt; Märkisches Museum; Tegel; Schönefeld; Hauptbahnhof – that’s about Chance and Berlin.
Dresden; Prague; Potsdam; Leipzig; Rostock; Warnemünde; Hamburg; Babelsberg – that’s about our trips.
Hi! I’m Laia, from Barcelona and I work as a photographer and videographer at Chance International in Berlin :)
My name is Dasha and at Chance International I take care of everything social media related. Please follow our Facebook and Instagram pages so I can keep my job!
Hello to everyone who is reading my initial feedback about my volunteering experience at CHANCE International, department of the non-profit educational organisation Chance – Bildung, Jugend und Sport gGmbH!
My name is Kostiantyn, and currently I am serving as a volunteer at the above-mentioned organization, having been on duty since February 2021. It feels really bizarre to realize it’s been almost 4 months since I first arrived to the organization, time truly flies, but at the same time I find there’s much I could share which might be helpful to future volunteers or just random website visitors who might be interested in what I have been through as a volunteer.
All in all, my duties have been quite diverse – I was able to work as a translator, publicist, video maker, work on some legal tasks and communicate with international partners on behalf of the CHANCE International while organizing youth exchange projects.
I am still learning German and planning to carry out some of the far-reaching tasks, but all in all I am grateful for all the time spent so far, and for the support and understanding from my mentors and project-coordinators Nastya and Lilya. The atmosphere in the team is chill and the attitude towards me and other volunteers has always been full of support and respect for human dignity. Working hours, duties and overall conditions are remarkably well so far (for me), and the working ethics and practice truly allow me to enjoy the working process and love what I do.
So much is awaiting ahead, and I am really passionate about the future activities we will soon be getting involved in after the Corona restrictions are eased.
I will be updating my feedback from time to time, so you would get a full picture of what was going on and how my attitude and experienced were shaped during the course of my volunteering year.
So far, this is it. So long.
I came to Germany from Belarus in September 2019 to be a volunteer within the European Solidarity Corps (https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/faq_en) project in the international youth organization, CHANCE International. Volunteering was something I have been dreaming to do for a long time, but I could not find the project that would meet my personal/professional focus. That changed in summer 2019, when I got accepted to help run international youth projects based on non-formal education in Berlin. What I enjoyed about it most, are people and their shared learning process within limited time and space. Aside from the learning itself you go through the crash course of building the relationship not only with others but with yourself.
The year of volunteering at Chance was one of the happiest and brightest years of my life. I moved to Berlin at the age of 19 – and it became a period of transformations for me – as it was the first experience of living independently, and moreover, living in a new city you know nothing about, without any friends or connections whatsoever.
I really enjoyed working on the project and helping to organise youth exchanges. Doing this in the company of cool colleagues (Sveta, Nastya and Lilya) was twice as much pleasant!
With Chance, we organised joint exchanges even after I returned to Minsk. It’s cool to keep in touch and to do something together after a year of volunteering.
During my year of volunteering, I matured a lot, and was able to learn German, meet a bunch of wonderful people and find out what my favourite city is. Having returned to Minsk with new experience, I began to work in the field of organising social projects in Belarus. I can say with certainty that the experience of volunteering at Chance turned out to be really helpful in the end. Having returned to Minsk with new experience, I began to work in the field of organising social projects in Belarus, and it is safe to say that this decision was partly shaped my previous experience at Chance.
The voluntary service at Chance BJS gave me wonderful memories, valuable experiences and new friends. The EVS program gave me the opportunity to help others and at the same time to get to acquainted with a new country and broaden my horizons.
The employees of Chance BJS accepted me as a member of the team right away and were always happy to share their knowledge in the area of organising and managing international youth exchanges. My tasks consisted of supporting the team in PR work and planning events, accompanying young people in Berlin and ensuring good communication within the youth group. Through these activities and through living in multicultural Berlin, I was able to experience many new cultures and get to know enthusiastic people who have shown me a new way of thinking about life. I am very happy to have had this incredible experience in my life, and I would not hesitate to live through it again! ❤️