ESC Team with Cooperativa One in Crotone, Italy | Carla, Elias, Vânia and Ly Share Their Experience!
The ESC Team project “Team for Healthy Life – T4HL”, financed by the European Solidarity Corps programme and run by Associazione Joint in cooperation with Cooperativa One in Italy, has come to an end!
The overall objective of the project, in accordance with the priorities set for 2021, was to promote well-being and a healthy lifestyle for the volunteers and local communities. It was an opportunity for participants to reclaim a space to socialise in a healthy and safe manner, while engaging in volunteer activities that promote the inclusion of vulnerable groups, health and wellbeing in communities.
Project activities touched on specific themes, in accordance with the host organisation and the needs of the local community:
- nature and outdoor life
- mental health
- health prevention/health promotion
- conscious nutrition
Let’s see what the participants have to say about it!
Carla’s Testimonial
Two months is enough time to feel part of a place, to live. T4HL is the first team project i have done and the experience has made me want to do more and more. Living in the south of italy, organize our minds to cooking for 15 people everyday, picking peas and planting peperoncino and melanzane and cooking pasta with the food we have collected from the fields. Working delivering food to people with less economic resources, create comics about our dreams, helping to make the bella calabria hostel more accessible. I recommend doing European volunteering projects and I specifically recommend the team project, if you want to live a short but intense adventure, to wake up in another country for a while and work in a team with other people and feel that collaboration together. In the team project everything is living and sharing the moment together.
Elias’ Testimonial
As soon as I saw the project posted in EU solidarity platform – I told to myself – “ Im going and this is it… “ – I smiled and applied. Before applying I was really unsure which path to take, I was left to think what would I really want to do in my next years of life. Then coming to this project I was still undergoing some personal processes regarding finding my own identity and talents I want to master. One of the only expectations I had is to meet other down-to-earth crazy backpackers or an other latvian in the project. In the first moments of arriving to the Italy, I knowed its going to be awesome project and it indeed was. I learned a lot from others, everyone came from different backgrounds and cultures and it was so intresting to see the contrast between us, morals, lifestyle and understandings. English was a forgotten language to most of us, which made it more iconic to communicate. But as I love theatre and humour I always took the front row in the play. I also learned to completly accept, let go of control and take responsability for myself, compassion and how relaxed attitude can help in daily personal life. All of the participants and all little, precious moments together, live within my heart and I am very grateful for being apart of this. As all projects, its always something to improve, like your home.. you bring new decors, new technologies, pets and so on… here I would love to see an other responsible person helping the team trainner or manager to assist with tasks, activities and preparation in and before training, as well as having some other plan B, more structurised time-schedule for upcoming activities and free-time. I would definetely recommend this project to others as an experience to embrace your freedom in terms of daily activities, relationships and free time, also for learning and experiencing many forms of work that can be done and benefical for community, society and other corps. Big thanks to Alessandra, team and everyone involved to make it happen. Overall, bello come pasta pomodoro. Grazie mille. 🙂
Vânia’s Testimonial
I applied for this project because I have always had a deep love for international adventures. I come from a small village where nothing really happens and that has made me really curious about other cultures and ways of living. I have always wanted to know the world beyond my village. Going to Italy was one of the ways to make that possible. I tried not to have any expectations so I could be surprised. And, indeed, I was many times. I learned that in reality, the Portuguese and the Italian people are not that different. I got to know that through the way we faced everyday challenges and through some conversations with locals about different topics. I learned a lot about myself and how I act in different environments. I also learned patience and how to sit back and relax, something that is very difficult for me to do. I, or we, did a lot of things. My favorite activity was going to the farm. Being in nature, in silence, getting my hands dirty, was really fun. It is something that I never do and that I realized that I should devote more time to. I also really liked the times I had to cook for everyone along with the rest of my team. Helping each other, learning from each other and laughing with each other was one of my favorite things in this project. In general, I have good memories from this project. The group had a good dynamic, and we had a lot of fun together. There were times that we got really frustrated because we either had to wait a lot or we didn’t really know what to do but we always had a way to make it enjoyable. I would recommend this experience to young people because I think getting to know people from different countries as well as their cultures is very enriching. Also, getting out of our comfort zones is always a good thing. Everybody should go alone on an adventure to another country at least once in their lives. I’m glad I had the chance to do it.
Ly’s Testimonial
Hi, my name is Ly, and I am from Laos. After graduating in Hungary, I decided to extend my European adventure with some volunteering. I’m applying to this project because I’m on my gap year, and I’m eager to contribute to something meaningful—especially in Italy, one of my favorite countries. Ending my European chapter in Italy just feels perfect! I learned about this project from Anita during her arrival training for another project in Italy. After discussing it with her, I realized this was a fantastic opportunity. During my two months in Italy, I have done in a variety of activities: helping on the farm, working with the WWF to maintain the turtle hospital during nesting season, preparing food for the group and engaging with young people, etc. This project was a wonderful chance to grow as an individual and to learn from fellow volunteers from diverse cultures and perspectives as well as you will get a chance to hand-on experience in so many things. The best part? I made connections with people from all over the EU! Plus, I picked up new skills, explored beautiful places,
and tasted the best fresh local products from the source. Of course, eating spicy foods in Calabria. Moreover, I had time to learn more about myself. I believe this project will help you learn a lot too, and you’ll definitely enjoy every moment of it!
ESC Teams
The special feature of the ESC Teams is its short duration, ranging from 2 weeks to a maximum of 2 months. This aspect makes it accessible also to young people who work or study and cannot dedicate a whole year to travel! Despite the brevity of the projects, Group ESCs offer meaningful and intense life experiences, during which numerous professional skills can be acquired. Moreover, by sharing life and work with a group of people, similar to a community, lɜ participants have the opportunity to create strong bonds even in a short period of time.