LGL’s EVS volunteer participated in European Solidarity Corps launch event

Last week I was invited to the event with mysterious name European Solidarity Corps launch event. With no expectation and with the view of free lunch and one day out of the LGL`s office I confirmed my participation.

15391270_10154791269564233_2998401037429971473_oEvent was taking place in European House. Have you ever been there? I am sure that you were already passing by. It is situated in the very city center, at Gedimino Prospektas, at the end of the Vilniaus street – famous street where all the bars and pubs are located. You can recognize European House building among them thanks to the big European Union flag hanging above the entrance. Haven`t you been there? Now you know you can come anytime there for a coffee and information about European Union and you can find a support for your ideas and projects there, if needed. But now back to that mysterious event I participated in.

15384563_10154791269484233_5247567339314260216_oIn invitation it was written there will be an opportunity to meet fellow volunteers from various countries and share experiences about volunteering in Lithuania. In fact, more then 30 EVS volunteers from all the different countries from all over the Europe participated there (yes, free day and free lunch works, hehe). The fact that connects us all is that we all are volunteers in this country – what`s the name? Lithuwhateverania? (I am just joking, in fact we all are even taking a lessons of lithuanian language). During the breaks in small chats I had opportunity to find out that we have different reasons and motivations to be volunteers here – some of us want to work with children and youngsters, some want to improve language skills and travel, somebody was interested in project (like me in LGL ;))… but the thing that connects us is that we are enjoying our time here in Lithuania!

img_20161129_091419And that was proven in the following activities when we did some networking games and icebreakers. The best part for me was the music workshop with Lithuanian musician Jurgis Didžiulis, since I am musician, too and one completely unexpected part of my EVS was playing in a band consisting of EVS volunteers (we even had a concert in summer in Zarasai!). Jurgis`s talk about volunteering, will and passion was really powerfull in connection what he made us do afterwards – recreate the space into music and spread the idea of European Solidarity Corps in that way. We went to the cafe at Vilniaus street playing all the different instruments and percussions singing „Let`s make this whole thing possible, we are building a community“. We had a really great time and all the people passing by us seemed to be having it as well.

15418331_10154791269489233_6949281155972886261_oSo, what is this European Solidarity Corps (ESC) idea about? If you are familiar with European Voluntary Service, this is something similar, but besides volunteering branch this one will have also occupational branch. The idea is to further expand possibilities for young Europeans to volunteer or work for a good cause, in projects where their help makes a difference, and to show solidarity with those less fortunate. The difference with European Voluntary Service is that you are not applying for concrete project, but you register to the system and then companies can choose YOU, so it is in some way easier – you do not have to look for projects and apply for plenty of them, but project will find you. Look for more information about registration and ESC in general in here. I can just recommend you to use this possibility to gain new experiences, increase your skills and at the same time participate and bring your input into some project that will help other people.

All in all, the event that European Commission Representation in Lithuania and Erasmus+ National agency prepared for us was not just free lunch and day out of the office, but the great opportunity to meet people with the same experience as me (and maybe to find new friends, too), to gain a new perspective and find a motivation for the rest of my volunteering here.

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LGL is carrying out the 10-month project “Heading Towards Visibility and Equality” under the Erasmus+ program EVS (European Voluntary Service).